[Closed] What literary classic for a child!?

Kidnapped
Around The World In 80 Days
Gulliver's Travels

Avoid anything by Hardy. Suicidal claptrap.

Sudacrem on a cat thread.

The Hobbit.

Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Harry Potter?

To Kill a Mockingbird.

Bit of Mark Twain?

White Fang by Jack London?

Plop the owl who was afraid of the dark.

Treasure island?

Machine gunners?

My family and other animals?

Swallows & amazons.

Tales from the faraway tree.

Jungle Book

The cat in the hat.

The Odyssey trumps them all.

The Secret Garden
Wind in the Willows
Charlie And the Chocolate Factory
The Railway Children
The Lion the witch and the Wardrobe

tis an endless list realy

5 children and it?

Thanks all for the suggestions (even the less serious ones)
Keep em coming..:.

[url= https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_children%27s_classic_books ]apparently its no an endless list[/url]

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
The Water Babies
The Borrowers
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Watership Down
Not sure if they qualify as "Classics" ?

[url= http://www.11plusguide.com/11-plus-exam-preparation/reading-succeed/classic-book-list-children/ ]Here a list from the 11 plus guide[/url]

I loved the Swallows and Amazons books (still do). My old man read them as a kid and got me on them. I intend to encourage my little lad into them when he's old enough.

My favourite (as a child) was The Coral Island by R.M. Ballantyne

Oliver Twist

I would add: -
- Just William - surely a classic now
- The Three Musketeers
- Day Of The Triffids
- The Silver Sword

To Kill A Mockingbird and Whie Fang are brilliant earlier suggestions, as is Kidnapped.

20000 Leagues Under the Sea.

The Call of Cthulhu

Anne Frank's Diary. Just been republished in a new edition. Proper history.

There is enough pish about wizards and upper-class brats having "adventures" for her to read in her own time.

There is enough pish about wizards and upper-class brats having "adventures" for her to read in her own time.

First coffee-nasal-enema of the morning, thnks 😀

Something by Dickens, HG Wells or RL Stevenson?

Love the quote from the '11 plus guide'

While the majority of these books wouldn’t be enjoyed by most children,

That's right - literature ain't meant to be enjoyed! 🙄

With that in mind, may I recommend Ulysses by James Joyce, perhaps Beowulf in Old English, or for something impressively dense, perhaps Peter Andre's autobiography?

Seriously, the definition of 'classic' is so broad that everything from Roald Dahl onwards falls into it. At that age, instilling the love of reading is the key, not painfully trudging through something unenjoyable for the sake of it.

Apart from Roald Dahl as a kid I read all the Willard Price books - theres about 14 of them about all sorts of adventures

Great books - just ordered a couple for my 7 year old to start reading

well so far today I've learnt that the Moomins are based on a 'classic'

(still think snorkmaiden's a bit of a slut)

My brother read the odyssey and iliad at that age.

[img] [/img]

Quite possibly the best kids' book ever.

My brother read the odyssey and iliad at that age.

In the original Greek, I hope.

Ulysses by James Joyce

I'd be worried about any kid that got to the end of that!

My faves as a kid:
The Midwich Cuckoos
The Chrysalids
Rogue Male
Lord of the Flies

"Three Men in a Boat" by Jerome K Jerome.

I giggled my way through it when I was ten.

I'd be worried about any kid that got to the end of that!

I had trouble getting to the end of it at 18. Not an entirely serious suggestion!

Rogue Male is a good one. I re-read that recently and had forgotten just how gripping it is.

Lord of the Flies too, Animal Farm perhaps?

Northern Lights trilogy by Pullman?

Jeeves and Wooster?

Not being sexist, but most of the above are very much "boys' books". with all-male protagonists. So consider

Black Beauty
The Secret Garden
Alice in Wonderland & the Looking Glass
Little House on the Prairie etc
The Swallows & Amazons series
CS Lewis' Narnia series

epicyclo - Member

"Three Men in a Boat" by Jerome K Jerome.

I giggled my way through it when I was ten.

And every couple of years since, I bet.
🙂

I Am David by Anne Holm.
The Guardians by John Christopher.

"not being sexist" so girls are supposed to read about ponies, rabbits and talking horses. I think that IS sexist.

I read loads of Science Fiction at that age - but I kind of had to, had read every book in the house (although I gave up on The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich) and all the kids books at the local library. Finally decided to attempt the Space Ships shelf and loved it !

P.S not sure if I should admit to this, but my father had the complete works of Nevil Shute. So I put them in alphabetical order, and read them in that order. Sad childhood...

"not being sexist" so girls are supposed to read about ponies, rabbits and talking horses. I think that IS sexist.

I didn't imply that at all. I'd rather my daughter read about girls doing stuff than getting the message than only boys/men can have adventures or do exciting things. Frinstance, in Treasure Island, I think the only women mentioned are the hero's mother & LJS's black wife. Even Wind in the Willows has all male characters, possibly excluding the washerwoman. From Lord of the Flies to Lord of the Rings to Huckleberry Finn (now banned in many schools in its original text) , it's all about the boy.

Apropos Treasure Island, how do you like this quote:

" I forgot to tell you that Silver is a man of substance ; I know of my own knowledge that he has a banker's account, which has never been overdrawn. He leaves his wife to manage the inn ; and as she is a woman of colour, a pair of old bachelors like you and I may be excused for guessing that it is the wife, quite as much as the health, that sends him back to roving. " ??

Unless the child is extremeley patient or the type who would sit down with a dictionary of idioms and a dictionary to read an unabridged classic then this will turn out to at best be tedious, at worst, remain incomplete.

Buy one of those abridged collection of classics. I read them as a child. I still read the unabridged versions as an adult.

Or stick to the more "modern" classics that are easier to read if you're dead set on it being an unabridged set. Orwell, Hemingway (Old Man And The Sea), or maybe one of the Sherlock Holmes books if they count as classics.

Or use some artistic license. If Shakespeare counts and she likes theatre, then take her to a play and read the play together when you're done.

hels - Member
P.S not sure if I should admit to this, but my father had the complete works of Nevil Shute. So I put them in alphabetical order, and read them in that order. Sad childhood...

I really like Nevil Shute now. I think Ruined City is a classic.

My lad is 9 and has done Treasure Island, hard going mind with the old-English; Stig of the Dump. I'd have thought a wander into Waterstones and look at the classics in the kids section.

A Town Like Alice is one of my favourite books - probably too old for an 11 year old, well a normal one anyway, depends on her reading age. It isn't racy but has some sad parts. It also has strong female characters.