Favorite children's novels/series

[Nesacat]

I find myself reading more and more YA books nowadays. There's some wonderful books being written and I'm often hard-pressed to decide between them and adult books.

Some of my favourites, among a very long list, are:
The Inkworld Trilogy - Cornelia Funke
The Dark is Rising Sequence - Susan Cooper
The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
The Giver - Lois Lowry
The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee
The Phantom Tollbooth - Norton Juster
Matilda - Roald Dahl
BFG - Roald Dahl
Witches - Roald Dahl
Coraline - Neil Gaiman
Un Lun Dun - China Mieville
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil Frankweiler - E.L. Konigsburg
His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
A Series of Unfortunate Events - Lemony Snickett
Fire & Hemlock - Diana Wynn Jones
The Homeward Bounders -Diana Wynn Jones

 

[Jennifer Kirk]

My Favourite children's books certainly include the magic faraway series by Enid Blyton (as well as the adventurous four and famous five). I also read the first three Redwall books by Brian Jacques, but seemed to lose interest the more he wrote. The first three are still fantastic though.

Arthur Ransome's Swallows & Amazon series are still a firm favourite (I just recently bought a complete hardback set and re-read them all). Missee Lee, Pigeon Post, Winter holiday and Peter Duck are still my favourites among them. Great Northern I found a little sad at the end, because the Walkers, Blacketts and Callums are clearly growing up and there is also the knowledge that this is the last written book of their adventures. A part of me forever wants to know what happened to them all (they seemed to be stuck in a time immediately pre second world war).

 

[philoSCIFI]

This is my new favorite thread as a reference to books I'll probably be reading for the 2011 reading challenges on goodreads.com

Thanks for the lists

 

[rdenning]

My list of worth a look YA fiction:
The Keys to the Kingdom Series by Garth Nix
Triskellion by Will Peterson
Darren Shan
Neil Gaiman's Graveyard series is a good read but his best is Neverwhere.

Got to put in a shameless plug for my own Hourglass Institute series - Tomorrow's Guardian is the first. See: Richard Denning - Writer and author, Sutton Coldfield, UK

 

[sloweye]

Five Children and It was fave of mine.

 

[paranoid marvin]

Another vote here for The Phantom Tollboth. It's got a brilliantly dry sense of humour and is thoroughly enjoyable. The only shame is that if it wasnt read as a child , you've probably missed it for ever. Which is a shame.

 

[planetocean]

ALIEN ATE MY HOMEWORK now that sounds like a good read.

 

[eclectic_dragon0253]

Chrionicles of Narnia
Harry Potter
Alex Rider

I'm not ashamed to admit these were my fave kids books, and still are in a way =]

 

[Menion]

I haven't seen anybody post Paul Stewart & Chris Riddell's Young Adult series.
The Edge Chronicles: There are 10 novels in the series and 3 spinoffs.
Paul Stewart

There are three main characters, Quint, Twig and Rook. And it takes part in a fantasy world called The Edge. And on a few pages each chapter there is artwork done by Chris Riddell.
The first three books are: The Curse of the Gloamglozer.

The Winter Knights.
Clash of the Sky Galleons.​

And are about the adventures of Quint and him growing up.

The middle three books are: Beyond the Deepwoods.​

Stormchaser.
Midnight over Sanctraphrax.​

Placed some years in the future and are about Twig.

The last three books are: The Last of the Sky Pirates.​

Vox.
Freeglader.​

And feature Rook, also placed some more years in the future.

And not that long ago they brought out a tenth book to seal the series.​

The Immortals.​

And are about a character called Nate Quarter.

That is not printed order but it is in the right order to read, coming from my own experiance. I loved them when I was growing up and hope other peoples kids can enjoy them aswell.

They still hold a place of honor on my bookshelves.​

 

[Murtagh's_Muse]

I loved anything by John Bellairs when I was younger.

Also, Garth Nix does awesome children/teen series with The Keys to the Kingdom and The Seventh Tower.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

From my own childhood my favourite author is Pamela Brown (Finishing School, Swish of the Curtain) or the Hardy Boys.

For my children - I love Spy Dog by Andrew Cope it isn't quite young-adult I don't think it is junior fiction but it is best book I have read for years.

 

[Jonni]

I love Celia Rees, Garth Nix and Diana Wynne Jones, recently I've read my first Patrick Ness book and was really impressed. I like Whisper My Name by Jane Eagland too, it's like Sarah Waters for young adults.
I also like a lot of older children's books - Tom's Midnight Garden, Midnight is A Place, The Silver Sword, books I read when I was a child that still really hold up now, I seem to read The Secret Garden once a year or so, that and A Little Princess are among my favourite books of all time.

 

[nightdreamer]

Ah! Finally found the thread I wanted without starting a new one. There are a number of books I read as a kid that have stuck with me over the years. Some have inspired me; some are just memorable for one reason or another, ones that made some kind of impression on me. This is not to say that they are necessarily good, but some are. In order as they came to mind:

The entire Tom Swift, Junior, series -- various, under the name of Victor Appleton, II
Have Space Suit -- Will Travel -- Robert Heinlein
The Universe Between -- Alan Nourse
Martin and his Friend from Outer Space -- Ivo Duchacek
Danny Dunn and the Antigravity Paint -- Raymond Abrashkin
Henry Reed, Inc. -- Keith Robertson
Homer Price -- Robert McCloskey
Harriet the Spy -- Louise Fitzhugh
The Lensman Series -- E. E. Smith
http://www.amazon.com/Robert-McCloskey/e/B001ITVSR6/ref=pd_sim_b_bl_1

 

[Juliana]

From my own childhood:
Narnia
Swallows and Amazons
anything by E. Nesbit
The Secret Garden
anything by Enid Blyton
The Hobbit
Phantom Tollbooth
(just the ones most re-read, or I'll go on for pages)

More recent picks:
Harry Potter
Percy Jackson
(I soooo wish both these series had been around when I was a kid!!)
Just read Gregor the Overlander (Suzanne Collins) - very good! Now I need to check out the others in the series...

 

[BIGhay]

I grew up reading the Brothers' Grimm Tales and I still love them now. I also loved 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland,' anything by Roald Dahl and Terry Pratchett. 'Dodger' is already on my 'to-read' list, it's for children but who cares!

 

[Snowflake]

Hans Christian Andersen's original tales
"Roll of Thunder; Hear my Cry"
The MacDuff series

 

[Moggle]

I read YA and some children's books as an adult. The books I read as a child were mostly picture books like Garfield, Heathcliff and some other animal I can't think of at the moment. Those were my favorite.

 

[LastRemnant]

I loved the Narnia books. They were fun and imaginitive, without being rediculous!

 

[LastRemnant]

Also a wrinkle in time was classic

 

[wantamint7]

I loved Goosebumps as a kid and I remember some animorphs.