Good children/adult books recommendations/discussion

Some (most?) of my favourite or most enjoyable books seem to be the type that can be enjoyed by both children and adults. Sometimes marketed for children, young adult, nothing in particular, or known as “crossover” or whatever.

Let me list some of my favourites to get the idea 🙂

In no particular order:

The Dark is Rising Sequence, Susan Cooper (re-reading this at the moment. Love it)

Swallows and Amazons (all of ’em), Arthur Ransome

His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman

Harry Potter

Narnia series

The Phantom Tollbooth

Winnie the Pooh! Getting a bit young here, but it’s great 😉

Anything by Joan Aiken, Philippa Pearce, Diana Wynne Jones, Alan Garner (often weirdly disturbing or unsettling), Penelope Lively, Robert Westall

Classics like, um, The Secret Garden or Alice in Wonderland

Ursula Le Guin, Earthsea trilogy… does that count? Other (generally fantasy) stuff that doesn’t seem to be aimed at anyone in particular, eg Brandon Sanderson

I daresay there’s loads more that escape me at the moment.

Any more? What are your favourites?

Holes by Louis Sachar

Discworld.  The tiffany aching thread is the young adults one but fits well in the whole area and also is great for adults

Agree with all OP’s choices!

Rosemary Sutcliff

Peter Dickinson

Michelle Magorian

Cynthia Voigt

Jenny Nimmo

Terry Pratchett (Chalk series)

Tanith Lee

Liked the Radio 4 version of ‘The Dark is rising’, especially the music.

Kidnapped Robert Louis Stevenson

Really enjoyed James and the giant peach too!

Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is also a very good read.

My dad read is clan of the cave bear and valley of the horses when we were about 7.

When I read them about 15 I discovered all the bits he had edited out.

We loved it as tiny kids

I loved it as a mature teenager

Alan Garner (often weirdly disturbing or unsettling)

I wouldn’t argue with you there, there’s a section in, IIRC The Moon Of Gomrath, where the main character group have to crawl through underground tunnels, potholes, under Alderley Edge, and even a mention of it triggers my fear of being trapped in a confined space.

My first thought was Catherine Webb, who has also written as Kate Griffin, and is currently writing as Claire North, and I’m about 3/4 through the last book of her current series about Penelope, wife of Odysseus, which has taught me loads about Greek history and the myths and legends attached to it.

Cat’s first book was written when she was 14, during her school holidays, I read it following reading her first book as Kate Griffin, and it’s an amazing book for a teenager to have written, it  reminded me of Roger Zelazney, a remarkable writer who’s books I’ve read countless times.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_Webb

Just to add, writing isn’t Cat’s actual job, she trained at RADA as a theatre lighting technician and designer, and she now works as a lighting technician for bands. She turned up at a book signing at a major London comic shop in her work gear of tee shirt, very worn jeans and steel toecapped work boots.

Both the OH and me enjoyed reading the Percy Jackson series with our kids – a well constructed mix of fantasy and Greek mythology.

I enjoyed the Study series.

I’ve read the first six books as listed here (Study 1-3 and (unrelated) Glass 1-3).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_V._Snyder

Other than that, how old is “young adult?  I read Hitch-Hikers Guide when I was maybe 14 and it was genuinely life-changing.

Neil Gaiman. Coraline, The Graveyard Book, The Ocean at the End of the Lane.

The last one had a truly amazing theatre adaptation ad well.

The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.

Mum read them to me as a kid and I’m half way through the last book of LotR and really enjoyed it

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch. Only older teenagers though as the first book is possession of people by Punch (as in Punch and Judy). Turns out Punch is a homicidal maniac …..

I think he has done some books for the younger reader but not sure of the titles

Holes by Louis Sachar

Came here to say this 🙂

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch. Only older teenagers though as the first book is possession of people by Punch (as in Punch and Judy). Turns out Punch is a homicidal maniac …..

The whole series would be good for older teenagers

A couple of other classics – White Fang and Call of the Wild

And my usual recommendation – Lonesome Dove. Not a teenage book, but no reason why (older) teenagers wouldn’t enjoy it

The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle gets a lot of love. It sounds like a classic fairytale but it’s written in a very dreamy, metaphoric style. Good book for anyone to read, but the folk who really love it read it as a teen I would guess, as it’s a gateway book like Catcher in the Rye. Points the way to other things.

Alan Garner (often weirdly disturbing or unsettling)

I’m working my way through the Alan Garner canon. Apart from a couple (Brasingamen, Gomrath) they are really, deeply weird and only borderline comprehensible.

Eragon, Septimus Heap, Quarkbeast.

Lonesome Dove

I like Lonesome Dove but I think a lot of teenagers would find it proper old fart writing and switch off. There’s also not much in it for teenage girls. Although some of the female characters are strong women they’re basically either wives or prostitutes.

I’m working my way through the Alan Garner canon. Apart from a couple (Brasingamen, Gomrath) they are really, deeply weird and only borderline comprehensible.

But often fantastically rewarding when you persevere. He was one of my favourite authors as a young teen, and the stuff I’ve read as an adult is almost all excellent, if, as you say, deeply weird. The world would be a poorer place without writers like Garner.

artemis fowl books by eoin colfer, less violent than the rivers of london

I think Railsea by China Mieville  is supposed to be for YA, I thought it was great. The other stuff of his I’ve read is pretty adult though.

 character group have to crawl through underground tunnels, potholes, under Alderley Edge,

That’s in The Wierdstone of Brisingamen, makes me squirm a bit!

The Phantom Tollbooth

Wow – I haven’t heard of that for a long time – fascinated me as a kid.  Weird book

Left field suggestion – Little house on the prairie series.  Not sentimental schmaltz like the TV series – really nicely written and gives a real feel for the hardships.  I really enjoyed reading them as an adult

The Fireborn series by Aisling Fowler is also good – fantasy books with magical creatures plus lots of action and adventure. Even the more discerning elderly members of the family have enjoyed them.

The Lockwood and Co. series by Jonathan Stroud is really good. Luckily, they were already all released by the time I read them as I couldn’t put them down.

Watership Down is a **** great book.

Superbly drawn characters, telling a fantastic story about leadership in its various forms. Beautiful evocation of a landscape too. Just happens to be about rabbits.

I first read it at aged 44, then rabidly encouraged my 12 year old daughter to read it. She absolutely gorged on it. Really gratifying.

I’ve kept quite a few picture books from my childhood and bought new copies of some for the kids, including:

The entire Richard Scarry collection

The Yak books

Gumdrop

Fungus the Bogeyman, and one of my most prized possessions is Fungus the Bogeyman: The Plop Up Book

My kids CBA with books despite me buying literally hundreds over the last 15 years, I tried to reboot my eldest’s internet in books by getting him a few graphic adaptations of classics, including Slaughterhouse 5. The remain unread

Yes to Watership Down as well. The Plague dogs is another great read by Richard Adams with animals as the central characters but it’s a bit (lot) more bleak.

Read a series called ‘spooks’ with my son which I’d recommend to 12-16 years, lots of it set around Pendle and the surrounding areas.

The Lockwood and Co. series by Jonathan Stroud is really good.

I enjoyed the TV series, if that’s any help.

The most recent Alan Garner book I’ve read was Red Shift.

…I don’t even know what to say.

The Lockwood and Co. series by Jonathan Stroud is really good.

+1 🙂

Oh and the Series of Unfortunate Events. The Netflix series was also great!