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popcorn
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SF for kids
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Nov 24 02:21 UTC 1991 |
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| 36 responses total. |
popcorn
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response 1 of 36:
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Nov 24 02:30 UTC 1991 |
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jep
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response 2 of 36:
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Nov 24 04:31 UTC 1991 |
I'm not sure what age of kids you're aiming for.
As a 7-8 year old, I read a book called "Black and Blue Magic". I
don't remember who the author was. Somewhere I still have a copy of the
book. It was about a kid in a one-parent family, whose mother ran a
boarding house. A tenant gives the boy a magic potion which grows wings,
allowing the boy to fly.
I also read a book along the lines of the movie, "Secret of Witch
Mountain" (I guess it was, from the ads I saw from the movie when it came
out a couple of years ago).
I have copies of two books I liked when I was about 10: "Stranger
from the Depths", by a man named Turner (Gene?), and "Secrets of Stardeep"
by John Jakes.
As a kid I read everything I could get my hands on; westerns,
biographies, fantasy, science fiction, history... I never paid any
attention to what genre it belonged to. And I didn't pay any attention to
authors, except Dr. Seuss when I was learning how to read.
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popcorn
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response 3 of 36:
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Nov 24 15:28 UTC 1991 |
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mcnally
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response 4 of 36:
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Nov 25 10:22 UTC 1991 |
Madeleine L'Engle
Norton Juster
John Bellairs
The "Witch Mountain" books were written by (I think) Alexander Key.
He had a number of pretty decent books (or at least I really liked them
at the time), most of which were considerably better than the Witch
Mountain series.
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mcnally
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response 5 of 36:
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Nov 25 10:28 UTC 1991 |
Let's see.. upon further reflection, I'd also nominate a lot of
Ray Bradbury's stories, and, for that matter, a great percentage
of the stories by any number of science fiction authors.
I read a fair bit of Kurt Vonnegut when I was a young kid but on
the whole I really wouldn't recommend people give it to their own
kids.
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popcorn
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response 6 of 36:
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Nov 26 04:14 UTC 1991 |
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mcnally
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response 7 of 36:
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Nov 26 07:06 UTC 1991 |
Nope. I read his Welsh mythology rip-off series, which would have been
better if I hadn't been such a mythology fiend as a kid. By the time I
got to them I'd already read most of the stories in the Mabinogeon that
he borrows from.
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krj
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response 8 of 36:
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Dec 10 06:12 UTC 1991 |
I think I got started on Arthur C. Clarke when I was around 11. Clarke
is particularly interesting, from a didactic point of view, because there
are usually no villains in Clarke's stories.
Peter Dickinson's "Changes" trilogy might over well; they were written
as young adult fantasies, set in an England which for mysterious reasons
becomes irrationally afraid of machines; the English smash all post-1700
technology and cut themselves off from the world.
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mcnally
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response 9 of 36:
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Dec 10 07:34 UTC 1991 |
I also liked Susan Cooper's "The Dark is Rising" series. Somewhat
oddly the first book is written for a much younger reader than the
remaining books. The books are (as far as I can remember..)
"Over Sea, Under Stone", "The Dark is Rising", "Greenwitch", "The Grey
King", and "Silver on the Tree".
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popcorn
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response 10 of 36:
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Dec 12 06:59 UTC 1991 |
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mcnally
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response 11 of 36:
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Dec 12 10:07 UTC 1991 |
I'm virtually certain there weren't two more (7) books in that series.
There may have been one more (6), though.
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mythago
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response 12 of 36:
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Dec 13 13:19 UTC 1991 |
Barker's new novel _Imajica_ is very good. It's what he was trying to
do in _Weaveworld_, only he got it right this time.
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zefyr
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response 13 of 36:
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Jun 4 02:44 UTC 1992 |
For children, I'd definately recommend the Lloyd Alexander series. The books
are: hmm...The Black Cauldren, The High King, The Castle of Llyr, Taran
Wanderer, The Book of Three, and I think thats it...A great series. I loved
these when I was younger, and i still love em.
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popcorn
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response 14 of 36:
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Jun 4 03:12 UTC 1992 |
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ecl
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response 15 of 36:
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Jun 5 06:22 UTC 1992 |
The Chronicles of Narnia Series by C. S. Lewis.
I think the best known of which is _The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe._
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mcnally
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response 16 of 36:
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Jun 5 18:46 UTC 1992 |
re #13: I wasn't really wild about the Alexander books as a kid but
I might have been too "old" by the time I read them (actually, I doubt
I was any older than the target audience, but I had pretty odd literary
taste for a kid..) Another factor was probably that I was a big
mythology and folklore fan as a kid and had read most or all of the
Mabinogeon by the time I came across the Alexander books.
One author that I did like that didn't really seem to get much attention
was John Bellairs. Also, the Susan Cooper "Dark is Rising" books were
pretty cool.
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mta
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response 17 of 36:
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Jun 6 17:33 UTC 1992 |
Diane Duane has a really terrific triliogy of science fiction for young
people. It has been published under the title _So You Want To Be A Wizard_.
My kids are nuts about it and are on the lookout for a fourth and fifth
book to come out. (Maybe a good 'home work' assignment to have them
write to Ms. Duane and ask about that. Hm...
I'll have to browse our shelves. I know there are lots more.
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popcorn
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response 18 of 36:
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Jun 7 13:36 UTC 1992 |
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mcnally
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response 19 of 36:
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Jun 9 22:55 UTC 1992 |
Why does that bother you? It wasn't preachy or dogmatic, nor did
it make value judgements concerning real-world non-Christian religions
(unless you worship Tash..) From what I know about Lewis (admittedly
I'm not an expert) I'd say that the Narnia series wasn't intended to
be any sort of Christian propoganda but was presumably intended to
express Lewis's beliefs through an allegory that children could understand
and enjoy. How does the fact that Lewis's story echoed his strong Christian
beliefs differ significantly from any writer's expression of personal
opinion through their writings?
Should I be offended when I read Isaac Bashevis Singer's stories
because many of them are based on traditional Judaic folklore and echo
the teachings and value system of Judaism?
(if it makes you feel any better, there are a lot of Christian
fundamentalist groups who would like to do away with the Narnia books:
they're just chock full of witches and other Satanic stuff.)
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popcorn
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response 20 of 36:
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Jun 10 02:30 UTC 1992 |
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terru
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response 21 of 36:
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Jun 11 03:36 UTC 1992 |
Okay, so at the age of 10 I didn't recognize the religious content until
I got to the Last Battle and worked backwards. I did however know full
well what I was reading when I picked up The Screwtape Letters and I enjoyed
that as well.
I couldn't even begin the Perlandra series. You can't read it as SF after
you'll already started reading Heinlein. And you can't read it as enjoyable
religious allegory because it's neither.
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mcnally
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response 22 of 36:
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Jun 12 16:16 UTC 1992 |
Yeah, I never got far in that series either..
I still don't understand your feelings about the Narnia series,
Valerie, but then I don't understand why Christmas carols offend
you, either..
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popcorn
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response 23 of 36:
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Jun 13 00:45 UTC 1992 |
This response has been erased.
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mta
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response 24 of 36:
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Jun 13 02:25 UTC 1992 |
BINGO!
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