The end of an era in Bruton mansions. Molly and I started reading Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone back in 2005. She was pretty instantly hooked and in the last couple of years we've read them all and seen th emovies.This week we reached the climactic final chapters of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and Thursday night we finished it. Without ruining any of the ending for anyone, although I don't really think anyone who really cares will have not read it by now. Suffice to say it was a great couple of nights getting to the very satisfying ending.
Although what on earth will we spend our time reading now?
Suggestions for the next epic please..........
Philip Pullman would be one to put on the 'when Molly's slightly older' list. Has she read Ursula Le Guin's classic Earthsea books? One of the rare fantasy works to be published both as a Penguin and a Puffin version for adults and kids (both pretty much the same though), omnibus with the original quartet in one volume easily available.
ReplyDeleteDiana Wynne Jones also does gorgeous fantasies for younger readers (the Miyazaki film Howl's Moving Castle is adapted from one of hers) and she also has a series set in a wizard school which I think she started before HP, or at least predate HP being so big.
And there's mr Pratchett of course - good range of younger reader's books as well as Discworld, with books like the Wee Free Men series and Maurice.
Michelle Paver has a lovely series which begins with Wolf Brother, set in a stone age scenario. Can be quite scary (bear attack, father killed) but also very good, with a bit of an eco message (author travelled among hunter-gatherer societies to research the book, faced off a bear in Alaska). She's a very nice lady too.
Julie Bertagna is also recommended - Exodus was an interesting bit of younger reader's SF, set in a drowned world where a girl persuades her kin to leave their islands which are slowly vanishing for the fabled cities built to withstand the flood, coming to the semi-submerged ruins of Glasgow beneath a raised city above. Again some nice eco messages and observations about refugees in there without soapboxing.
The Bean and I really enjoyed Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell's Far-Flung Adventures: Fergus Crane, Corby Flood, and Hugo Pepper. They're terrifically well constructed, funny, exciting, scary fantasy adventure stories.
ReplyDeleteWe haven't read any other multi-book series, but I'll fling out some other books anyway. We had a reasonably successful go at The Hobbit, although it is a little grim towards the end. Alan Ahlberg's The Boy, The Wolf, The Sheep And The Lettuce which will probably send Molly into a tailspin. Daniel used to lie awake at night - "it just keeps going round in my brain". Philip Pullman's The Scarecrow and His Servant is a lot of fun, especially as you get to put on lots of comedy italian accents while reading it.