For your younger, advanced readers (8-13 year-olds who can handle thick books), what are your recommendations? I'm thinking of:
Dragonlance
Icewind Dale trilogy
Drizzit underdark beginnings (whatever it was called, maybe a little too dark for the younger end of that scale)
Belgariad
I'd definitely say THE BELGARIAD by David Eddings and THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA by CS Lewis. The HARRY POTTER series by JK Rowling, and the DARK MATERIALS TRILOGY by Philip Pullman (probably more for the upper end of that age bracket though). Certainly Terry Pratchett's YA work, such as NATION, the JOHNNY MAXWELL TRILOGY and the YA DISCWORLD books featuring Tiffany Aching. Neil Gaiman's STARDUST, CORALINE and THE GRAVEYARD BOOK as well.
Weis & Hickman is a good choice. Maybe the 13-year-olds will also be ready for the likes of Raymond E. Feist and possibly Robert Jordan's WHEEL OF TIME series (maybe the YA editions of the early books?), though parental discretion may be advisable, as both series' early books are fine for teenagers but some of the later ones are darker, bloodier and with some more sexual material.
Garth Nix's Abhorsen trilogy and of course, The Hobbit by Tolkien. And it looks like this Olympian series by Rick Riordan is about to become a sensation.
I'm chiming in about the Chronicles of Narnia, The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter.
But also, even though it's a children's series I can't emphasize this one enough for readers of ANY age or reading level: The "Oz" books by L. Frank Baum. They're still in print and easily accessible after 100 years. They have incredible charm, and in my view, they were the FIRST MODERN FANTASY SERIES EVER. They're what first hooked me onto fantasy.
I'd LOVE to do a children's book... I hope I can get a fantasy pro-writter interested on this one day...
Any D&D novel.
They are generally so badly written (only a few exceptions) that they are perfect for kids.
Most of the work of Diane Wynne Jones is suitable for 8-13 year olds.She's dying of cancer,unfortunately.
As a New Zealander, I also have to recommend Margaret Mahy.
You might also want to check out the Skulduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landry. Any series that features a wisecracking skeletal detective with magic powers (as this one does) is well worth picking up.
I was really into Ed McBain's 87th precinct novels when I was twelve, so I should probably stay out of this. However, that would be going against my personality so... I'll echo the recommendation of Terry Pratchett (and based on myself, his "grown-up" books should not be a prpblem for most kids above 11 or so) and add one for Astrid Lindgren - not so much the Pippi Longstocking books (though an eight-year old might still enjoy those) as some of her later work such as Ronja the Robber's Daughter or The Brothers Lionheart (bit unsure if that last one is the correct title in English). Some other stuff I loved at that age is Alexandre Dumas (the Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo, and so on), Jules Verne, the Sherlock Holmes stories, Kim & the Junglebooks by Rudyard Kipling, or if you want something a bit more modern for those kids I have to say that I think Rosemary Jones's Forgotten Realms novels are very well written, funny (make that hilariously funny), and perfectly suitable for "younger readers." One of them do feature singing bugbears, though - so they have their scary moments.
From my own experience...
Lloyd Alexander - Prydain Chronicles.
C.S. Lewis - Chronicles of Narnia.
Madeline L'engle - A Wrinkle in Time (and its sequels).
Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman - Dragonlance Chronicles and Legends.
R.A. Salvatore - Legend of Drizzt.
From my kids preferences (stuff I haven't read personally, yet)...
Warriors
Harry Potter
New Dragonlance Adventures (WotC Mirrorstone Books)
Knights of the Silver Dragon (WotC Mirrorstone Books)
Wayfinder, PaizoCon Founder
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Yes, Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles was MY introduction to fantasy series at the age of 12. Highly recommend that...although my 9 yr old son has no interest in it, for some reason.
So, judging by what my son is reading I'd also recommend the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan. He also rocketed through the Harry Potter series.
The MythAdventures series by Robert Lynn Asprin is pretty good. Some of the humor is a bit mature, but mildly so. My son has made it through half of the books before losing interest.
Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain series!
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When I was a kid I read the Lord of the Rings when I was nine (and every year thereafter). I also liked...
Andre Norton,
Frank Herbert's Dune (just the first two),
Howard's Conan Stories,
The Dragonriders of Pern,
Watership Down,
The Once and Future King,
Oz (though only the first few - they got real old for me real fast),
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland,
Patricia McKillip's Harpist Trilogy,
Douglas Adam's Hitchhiker 'Trilogy,'
and Piper's Fuzzy Papers. Besides a host of others, those are the ones I remember reading the most (I read a lot as a kid).
My oldest son really loves the Redwall series by Brian Jaques. In addition, Besides those already mentioned above, I would also add
Diane Wynn Jones' books (she has a bundle of fantasy type books),
The Hoka series of short stories (by Dickson and Anderson),
Patricia Wrede's Enchanted Forest Chronicles,
Gordon R Dickson's The Dragon and the George (also The Right to Arm Bears),
Agatha Christie's Miss Marple stories,
The Pig, The Prince and the Unicorn by Karen A Brush,
and Burroughs (almost anything, but start with the first couple of Tarzans).
Most of the others I would add have already been mentioned upthread.
Lots of good suggestions up there—offhand, I'd recommend Isobelle Carmody's Obernewtyn series, too.
You read The Three Musketeers when you were twelve?!
I first read The Count of Monte Cristo when I was twelve. And I still consider it to be my favorite book, outside of science fiction and fantasy.
Oz (though only the first few - they got real old for me real fast)
I might point out that Oz books numbers 4, 5, and most of 6, were pretty plotless. Baum worked on that in 7, and improved upon his style in just about every Oz book since then.
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Oz (though only the first few - they got real old for me real fast)I might point out that Oz books numbers 4, 5, and most of 6, were pretty plotless. Baum worked on that in 7, and improved upon his style in just about every Oz book since then.
Looking at the List of Oz books, I read all the ones Baum wrote and a couple of the others that he didn't. But they never did much for me after the first few books and I mainly read them because I was a reader and they were there to be read. (edit: When I said, "just the first few," above, I only meant that I enjoyed just the first few, not that I hadn't read the others.)
I always much prefered The Blue Fairy Book, The Green Fairy Book, The Brother's Grimm, etc. (though not so much Hans Christian Anderson) to Baum's fairytales.
EDIT: Please understand, I'm not arguing against reading them. Nor against your enjoyment of them. Just for me, if in my tender years, I was offered a choice between the Blue Fairy Book or Oz, I would have chosen the Blue Fairy Book every time. But I also bear in mind I was reading the Lord of the Rings at 9 and the Once and Future King and Dune by the age of 12 or 13. My tastes matured fairly quickly.
I was really into Ed McBain's 87th precinct novels when I was twelve, so I should probably stay out of this. However, that would be going against my personality so... I'll echo the recommendation of Terry Pratchett (and based on myself, his "grown-up" books should not be a prpblem for most kids above 11 or so) and add one for Astrid Lindgren - not so much the Pippi Longstocking books (though an eight-year old might still enjoy those) as some of her later work such as Ronja the Robber's Daughter or The Brothers Lionheart (bit unsure if that last one is the correct title in English). Some other stuff I loved at that age is Alexandre Dumas (the Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo, and so on), Jules Verne, the Sherlock Holmes stories, Kim & the Junglebooks by Rudyard Kipling, or if you want something a bit more modern for those kids I have to say that I think Rosemary Jones's Forgotten Realms novels are very well written, funny (make that hilariously funny), and perfectly suitable for "younger readers." One of them do feature singing bugbears, though - so they have their scary moments.You read The Three Musketeers when you were twelve?!
No, when I was eight. (And about once a year after that until I was fifteen. Hmm... might be time to dig it back out again.)
Oh! I also recommend Arthur Ransome's books. They're full of camping and sailing and kids having adventures on their own, with minimal adult interference (particularly in the case of We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea). Some of the books are meta-adventures, adventures the children imagine they're having (treasure-hunting in the Caribbean, captured by pirates in the South China Sea)—but they're still exactly the same characters, no older or wiser and with no special powers. There are some race/class issues in some of the books (they were written in the 1930s–1940s), but the treatment of gender is pretty darn equitable.
And let's not forget Richmal Crompton's Just William stories. Hilarious good fun about a well-meaning but rather mishap-prone boy set in 1930s England.
(It's a bit like Tom Sawyer with just the funny bits left in.)
Howl's Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones.
Yes, the movie's great, but the book is better and doesn't have Miyazaki's political views shoehorned into it.
Possibly for the upper end of that age spectrum: The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King. It's not horror; it's kind of a classic fantasy tale. As I recall, he wrote it for his daughter Naomi (who hated his scary stuff).