Wanted! SFF book recommendations for a 6 year old.

[BAYLOR]

The Starbeast Robert Heinlein

The Dragon and the George Gordon Dickson

 

[JunkMonkey]

Okay. People keep recommending Starbeast. I have a 6 year old (like the OP) and, last year, re-read Starbeast for the first time since I was a kid. I can tell you my son would be bored rigid by all the office politics and legal shennenigans. As a twelve year old I loved it - and all the other Heinlein juvies read back then. But a lot has changed in the 40+ years since then and I'm not sure they have stood the test of time that well.

 

[BAYLOR]

Okay. People keep recommending Starbeast. I have a 6 year old (like the OP) and, last year, re-read Starbeast for the first time since I was a kid. I can tell you my son would be bored rigid by all the office politics and legal shennenigans. As a twelve year old I loved it - and all the other Heinlein juvies read back then. But a lot has changed in the 40+ years since then and I'm not sure they have stood the test of time that well.

What about The High Crusade by Poul Anderson?

 

[psikeyhackr]

As a twelve year old I loved it - and all the other Heinlein juvies read back then. But a lot has changed in the 40+ years since then and I'm not sure they have stood the test of time that well.

What about The High Crusade by Poul Anderson?

I think every parent will have to experiment with his/her kid a little bit. It is extremely annoying that they are not all alike.

The High Crusade was great. I haven't read it in ages. Brainwave is pretty cool too, but may be better for somewhat older kids.

psik

 

[BAYLOR]

The Tripods Trilogy by John Christopher

 

[teen]

The Tripods Trilogy by John Christopher

Love those books! 6years...Gobbolino the witches cat, Ursula Moray Williams.

 

[kythe]

I read the Tripods trilogy as an assigned reading in 6th grade. I recently picked up the trilogy again for a re-read. They might be a bit mature for a 6 yr old, but some of that involves reading comprehension when an adult is reading to them.

Catwings by Ursula Le Guin is a very nice picture book. Even though it is a simplistic story, there is a lot of symbolism about what it means to be born different and try to find a place in the world.

 

[BAYLOR]

The Tripods Trilogy by John Christopher

He also wrote a prequel novel to the Tripods trilogy . I haven't read that one.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

In amongst the bubblegum literature (my daughter read the lot)
is a series called
The Fairy House by Kelly McCain - they're really good.

Spy Dog by Andrew Cope - difficult to read but aimed at the age group and wonderful stories.
The Pokemon books are proving a massive revelation. I hate the shows but the books are really good.
Dinosaur Cove by Rex Stone
Reading Enid Blyton's Adventure Series (Island of Adventure etc) this time round I did wonder if these days they would be magical realism or urban/rural fantasy.
Also the Borrowers (which I hated)
Five Children and It by E. Nesbit
Rats of Nimh (can't remember the author)

When she's a little bit older there is the John Christopher books (The Guardians was my favourite)

 

[JunkMonkey]

Re 5 Children and It, The E Nesbit books were a big hit with my middle daughter from about 7 onwards. The last one I read her, The Wonderful Garden, had me, at one point, in hysterical giggles. Ms Nesbit was a very funny writer.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Rats of Nimh

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (1971) Robert C. O'Brien. I have it and a VHS (Secret of N.I.M.H.?) Both are very good. I have one of the two sequels by his daughter and it was OK.

Nesbit was a very funny writer

She's brilliant. I love all the Bastable stories and the Enchanted Castle
Loads of good Edith Nesbit here:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/407

I have some as real books, but I put all those on my 8 yo grandson's Kindle. (I can't buy him the 26 book Amazon Megapack at 71p and while he has an Amazon account (so the Kindle lets Collections be created, or even works at all on later ones) he has no metho of paying for anything online).

Joan Aiken is very good too, but for kids a little "older".

 

[BAYLOR]

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne

 

[JunkMonkey]

She's brilliant. I love all the Bastable stories and the Enchanted Castle
Loads of good Edith Nesbit here:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/407

I have some as real books, but I put all those on my 8 yo grandson's Kindle.

I am not ashamed to say that I stole my first edition of The Wonderful Garden from a restaurant where it was being used as a bit of 'shabby chic' set decoration.

 

[wam]

What is wrong with the original?

The Arabian Nights, by Unknown
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/20916/20916-h/20916-h.htm

Fairy Tales From The Arabian Nights, by E. Dixon
http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/8599/pg8599-images.html

psik

The problem with the original version of the 1001 nights is that they did get a little too adult at times. Be careful and read the material before you read it to your 6 year old. Some of the material from the late victorian period would work well - search Gutenberg for Andrew Lang for the largest set of fairy tales re-cut for children - but some might have issues with Victorian attitudes. Also be careful about the versions of even the best known stories. Grimm's original ending to Snow White has the dwarves torturing the old queen to death, the original Cinderella kills her first stepmother at the start of the story.
Old SF/Fantasy - even by the best known writers - often disappears from print. It's years since I've seen Paul French titles (Isaac Asimov's Lucky Starr children's books) although Bradbury's children's books (Something Wicked this way comes, Halloween Tree) seem to have lasted - possibly because of the films.

 

[wam]

Thank you so much! I didn't know where to start. We've read some Enid Blyton and Roald Dahl together. She's only just turned 6 but has a reading age of 8. She gets bored easily if it doesn't hold her attention from the start or has enough pictures. Her reading is good but her attention wavers.

We are reading Pippi Longstocking and Matilda at the moment. She has been brought up with Studio Ghibli and child friendly Tim Burton films (as any good parent should,) so she loves magic and accepts the bizarre. She is more likely to pick a zombie over a Barbie! Will check some of these out. Thank you.

Given the Ghibli clue, I'm surprised no-one has browsed through the sources of those movies. I don't know most of them but there's always Diana Wynne Jones (Howl's moving castle) or Mary Norton (The Borrowers rewritten as Arrietty). You might be able to find some other names in the credits. I never did find out if Swift was the source for Laputa or just someone who used the same story as source but Gulliver probably needs to be cut for younger readers.

 

[hitmouse]

Have we mentioned Susan Cooper or Lloyd Alexander?

 

[hitmouse]

The Box of Delights by John Masefield. Magical stuff from a former poet laureate. I had this read to me as a child. Published in the 1930s.

 

[Ensign Shah]

Have we mentioned Susan Cooper or Lloyd Alexander?

No we haven't. Thank you.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (1971) Robert C. O'Brien. I have it and a VHS (Secret of N.I.M.H.?) Both are very good. I have one of the two sequels by his daughter and it was OK.

Seconded. A great novel, and a pretty good animated film, though has its flaws.

 

[hitmouse]

The first book in Susan Cooper's Dark is Rising series, Over Sea, Under Stone would suit being read to a mature 6 year old.
Lloyd Alexander's Prydain series which are pleasantly charming and whimsical, would also suit reading to a 6 year old. The stories, set in a sort of medieval mythic Wales were the subject of a particularly bad 1970s Disney movie The Black Cauldron.