What fantasy should danlo's class read next semester???

[danlo]

We finished reading aloud The Hobbit with five days to spare, during the spring semester that ended today! Yea! It's summer vacation!

There were seven students involved, they took five quizzes and really enjoyed it. They read Ender's Game the semester before and totally got into it. My class is 6th to 8th graders and what I've been recommened, or thought of, so far is:
Sabriel-Garth Nix
The Amber Spyglass-Phillip Pullman
The Beligard-David Eddings
and The Dragonbone Chair-Tad Williams

...surely you guys can come up with something better for this age group?

[I'm Murrin]

Exactly which age group is this? American 'grades' mean absolutely nothing to me.

[duchess of malfi]

The Amber Spyglass is actually the third book in a trilogy. So you might want to go with the first book, The Golden Compass instead.

Garth Nix is an excellent choice. If they enjoy Sabriel, you can go ahead and read the other two books in that trilogy as well, though Sabriel can stand on its own.

Maybe Alexander Lloyd's Prydain Chronicles?

The Belgariad is good beginner fantasy for that age group, too.

The Dark is Rising Sequence by Susan Cooper is a kids' series I've heard good things about, but haven't read yet.

My younger son is absolutely wild for the novelization of
Revenge of the Sith. If the kids are Star Wars fans, that might be a winner.

A don't forget about Ursula K. LeGuin's Wizard of Earthsea.

[duchess of malfi]

Exactly which age group is this? American 'grades' mean absolutely nothing to me.

My younger son is in seventh grade and is 12. So we are talking ballpark 11-13.

[danlo]

The Belgariad? Ah that's how it's spelled! Compass and Wizard of Earthsea sound good...Dragonbone is too long.

[Fist and Faith]

*cough* earthsea *cough*

[gyrehead]

Cornelia Funke's Inkheart. Wonderfully written and really underscores the love of a good bok and the power of story.

[duchess of malfi]

Neil Gaiman's Coraline actually won a Hugo, even though its a kids' book. Good and creepy.

[Fist and Faith]

Or maybe A Wrinkle in Time.

[[Syl]]

Well, if you want to give them a good lesson in morals and ethics, I'd say Wolfe's Wizard Knight books (plus, the fact that he's somewhat of a Christian writer might keep the rabid arm of the PTA away). There's also a ton of mythology (mostly Norse, which most kids don't get exposed to enough) as well as a lot of Arthurian legend. The down side is that it would be a very demanding study, despite the two books' fairly short length, and possibly confusing at times.

If that's too daunting, I'd suggest McKillip's Riddlemaster trilogy. Lloyd Alexander Prydain Chronicles are good too (you could always rent The Black Cauldron, though that's about on par with the animated Hobbit as far as translations go)

Please, though, no Eddings. Even Brooks would be better (and if you go that way, might as well prime them for Covenant with the Landover books). I beg you. If you want to give them fluff, let them read the first three Dragonlance books (ha, for extra material you could rent the anime Record of Lodos War and show how good, entertaining stuff can be created off of D&D campaigns). Feists' Magician books would probably be even better.

Better yet. Bring the focus to the short story. One of the Year's Best would be great.

[dennisrwood]

Watership Down

it's about bunnies.

[Avatar]

If you want to give them fluff, let them read the first three Dragonlance books...

Fluff they may be, but how many of us started off on them, and books like them? I've always thought them pretty damn good for what they were, and occasionally still read them, and many of the other series by the authors.

Feists' Magician books would probably be even better.

Still read these frequently. I think it's a great idea. First one is long, (especially if you use the "preferred edition") but engaging nonetheless.

--Avatar

[Warmark]

*cough* earthsea *cough*

Im reading it now, easy to read in small parts and not to mention great.

[Ainulindale]

Even Brooks would be better

Sounds terrifying

I like what Danlo has come up with with Nix, and especially Pullman, another possibility may be Clive Barker's Abarat.

Others have mentioned Gaiman's Coraline, and Adam's Watership Down which are nice reads, but what about Terry Pratchett??? Discworld!!!

[danlo]

Discworld sounds very tempting-disclaimer: the school librarian suggested Eddings, at which I visibly cringed.

[Avatar]

Discworld is obviously great. The Carpet People is awesome, especially for kids, he first wrote it at 17.

The gnomes series, starting with Truckers is good too, and he also wrote a couple especially for kids, Johnny and the Dead, Johnny and the Bomb and Only you can save Mankind. They'd be great for youngsters. Good suggestion.

--A

[Rincewind]

go with the amber spyglass- discworld is too high level for most 12th graders, i should know, i tried to show some of my friends who are quite intelligent, but alas- no one got the metaphors or the anti climacticism

go with pullman, hes a great writer that most anyone can understand

[Warmark]

The Amber Spyglass-Phillip Pullman

have you done, Northern Lights or The Subtle Knife.
Probabley better to start at beginning of the trilogy.

[Cail]

It's been ages since I read them, so they may be beneath your class level, but I'd suggest John Christopher's Tripod Trilogy (which is actually four books); When the Tripods Came, The White Mountains, The City of Gold and Lead, and The Pool of Fire.

I read them at some point between 4th and 8th grade and really enjoyed them.

[Edge]

I'd suggest:

1) CS Lewis' Narnia Chronicles, or at least 'The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.

2) Susan Coopers' 'The Dark Is Rising' sequence

3) Pratchett's 'Maurice And His Amazing Educated Rodents'.