Re: summer reading

From: Anastasia McPherson (mcpherso@MAIL.MED.UPENN.EDU)
Date: Fri May 16 1997 - 10:41:37 PDT


>
> Some of the recent postings concerning sf/fantasy we read as
> children got me thinking: does anybody know of or own a list of
> good children's sf/fantasy? Specifically, a girl-friendly one?
> My mother is head librarian for a small rural library, and she
> has been bugging me for an anwer to this one (based upon what she
> saw me reading as a child, no doubt :) )
>
> Thanks all. You can just respond to me, if you like, at:
> bgray@ece.ucdavis.edu
>

        Well, I dont know about girl friendly, but here is the stuff that
I read as a child fantasy wise:

The Chronicles of Narnia - kinda goes without saying.

The Lloyd Alexander books.

Susan Coopers's The Dark is Rising Series - loved this one so much that I
can even remember the poem that went along with it -

When the dark comes rising
Six shall turn it back
Three from the Circle
Three from the Track

Wood Bronze Iron
Water Fire Stone
Five Shall Return
And one Go alone

Iron for the Birthday
Bronze Carried Long
Wood from the burning
Stone out of song
Fire from the Candle Ring
Water From the Thaw
Six signs the circle and the Grail gone before.

Now my memory is getting a little fuzzy, but has anybody else read this
series by Susan Cooper - I believe that at least one of the books was a
Newberry Medalist.

Anything by Madeline L'Engle.

A wonderful book called A String in the Harp set in Wales where a young
boy finds a harp tuning key that allows him to travel in time and relive
the life of the bard Taliesin whom some say is Merlin and whom some
credit with large parts of the Mabinogian. (Incidentally, the Lloyd
Alexander books are based on the Mabinogian as well.)

Anything by Joan Aiken though these are more Dickensian take offs as
opposed to strict fantasy. Anybody remember Dido? Joan Aiken also wrote
great gothics for grown ups which have always been a guilty pleasure of
mine. Unfortunately, I can no longer find them in the states.

That does it for me for the moment.

Tasia



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu May 25 2000 - 19:06:12 PDT