lirazel | (no subject)

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I don't have time to just sit down and read for very long when I'm with my family, so I mostly just read a page or two here and there when I have a moment. This is obviously not the ideal way to read most books, including almost all of the ones I have on my ereader at the moment, so I am asking for book recommendations.

I'd love to read any really good middle grade or classic YA books that you really love, preferably either fantasy or historical fiction in nature. If they're MG, they can be written at any time, but if they're YA, I really prefer them to have been written before about 2010, which is (imo) when the YA publishing industry really jumped the shark.

Some books in this vein that I did not read as a kid but that I have enjoyed discovering as an adult: Monica Furlong's Juniper and Wise Child, The Sherwood Ring and The Perilous Gard, The Book of a Thousand Days, The Raging Quiet, The Star of Kazan, and I, Coriander.

And some of my favorites growing up: L.M. Montgomery and Robin McKinley, obvs, the All-of-a-Kind Family series, the Borrowers series, Betsy-Tacy series, the Gone-Away Lake Books, Witch of Blackbird Pond, Mara: Daughter of the Nile, The Bronze Bow, Little Women, the Little House series (I know), Ella Enchanted, etc.

Anyone got any recs along these lines?

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Oh my goodness, Betsy-Tacy (and Tib).

Much beloved! I reread the about five years ago or so and they held up, which delighted me!

Lloyd Alexander and Diana Wynne Jones are my go-to-authors for this, have you read anything of them already?

King of Shadows by Susan Cooper (and also her more famous The Dark is Rising series).

Very out of print but worth it: Elizabeth, Elizabeth (UK title Robinsheugh) by Monica Furlong.

Not fantasy or historical, but The Mozart Season by Virginia Euwer Wolff.

You might like Weave a Circle Round by Kari Maaren, which is more recent than your cutoff but feels like an older book.

Robinsheugh! Which, btw, is by Eileen Dunlop, as I had to Google to check because I knew I didn't recognise Monica Furlong. Dunlop wrote some similar novels, too. I think I rather liked A Flute On Mayferry Street or something like that, as well. (I'm not sure how easy/light a read they were, though.)

Dunlop's books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/d/eileen-dunlop/

Oooops, yes, Eileen Dunlop! (I got mixed up since lirazel mentioned Wise Child/Juniper up in the the OP.) I've never read any of her other stuff.

I was looking for biographical information on her recently, and there's not that much, but she's still alive (!) and I found a talk she gave to the Walter Scott society, mostly about teaching Walter Scott to kids, but which has a substantial autobiographical component.

I was looking for biographical information on her recently, and there's not that much, but she's still alive (!)

Those two facts tend to go together for the less obscure people, because the Obit is often the main source of info! I'm happy to hear she isn't dead, though. Her books were, I think, only published by a smaller publisher, which is a shame - I think some of them could definitely have been better known and had a wider reach otherwise. But that's cool. <3

Thank you! That definitely sounds like my thing!

I definitely read all the Lloyd Alexander books as a kid. I didn't read Diana Wynne Jones, and I've had trouble getting into her as an adult, though I adore any and all stories about her torturing J.R.R. Tolkien by making him do his actual job.

I was about to freak out that there was another Monica Furlong book I haven't read yet! But Robinsheugh sounds like exactly my kind of thing (and very similar to, say, Elizabeth Marie Pope) and I just saw that Noted Weirdo Jo Walton blurbed Weave a Circle Round, so that's promising too. Thank you for the recs!!!

All the Lloyd Alexander is a lot of Lloyd Alexander! (I know having obsessively read it all as a kid, except for some of the stuff from his pre-children's book career -- and some of that my library actually had in the stacks, it just took me until my later teens to realize that I could request it.)

I hope you can get a copy of Elizabeth, Elizabeth/Robinsheugh, because it's great! (It's not the same reading experience it was for me at 10 -- it was actually too scary for me to finish the first time around -- but then I came back to it when I was a bit older.) And yes, I found Weave A Circle Round because both Jo Walton and

mrissa recommended it (Mrissa's journal is a a great place for book recs generally!)

Dragon's Blood and Sister Light, Sister Dark, by Jane Yolen. They both have sequels but in both cases I like the first books the best.

Have you read/do you like Margaret Mahy? She really has that vibe for me, and if you don't know her I can give specific recs. She wrote fantasy and contemporary, but her contemporary books had a very fantasy-esque vibe.

Have you already read Lloyd Alexander's Westmark trilogy? I assume you've read his Prydain books.

Playing Beatie Bow by Ruth Park, excellent Australian timeslip novel.

The Hero From Otherwhere, by Jay Williams. Delightful children's portal fantasy.

All of a Kind Family series by Sydney Taylor. Autobiographical historical fiction, similar feel to the Little House books, about a Jewish family in turn of the century New York City.

+1 Playing Beatie Bow and All of a Kind Family!

I've never heard of Margaret Mahy! It looks like maybe she wasn't published widely in the US? But I will have to seek her out. And yes, I've read both Westmark and Pyrdain!

And Sydney Taylor's books are some of my very favorite of all time--I reread them early during the pandemic.

It doesn't look like the rest of those are easily available through public library ebooks, unfortunately, but I will add them to my to-seek-out list for future reference. Thank you!

If your library has any Margaret Mahy books, I could make specific recs from what you have.

If you give me your email I can send you epubs of the books that aren't available.

Another vote from me for both Mahy and Playing Beatie Bow (and Ruth Park more generally)!

I know you've read a lot of Redwall (!!!) but since they're so many maybe you - like me - didn't read *all* of them. That might be a fun series to go back to.

Haha, yeah, I probably never read any of the ones published after about 2000, but he kept writing!

I really strongly recommend Adele Geras’s middle grade books, and, to a lesser extent, some of her YA (the majority of which was published in the 1990s and 1980s).

Some good books to start with: The Girls in the Velvet Frame (middle grade historical fiction set in 1910s Palestine, about a family of five Jewish sisters, their widowed mother, and their day-to-day lives. Also featuring an older brother who immigrated to New York but has not contacted them since, and a glamorous unmarried aunt adored by all the sisters) or Voyage (historical fiction taking place on a ship full of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe as they travel to make new lives in the US, really gentle and compassionate, but covering a lot of heavy stuff in terms of what the characters were leaving behind).

She also wrote a great historical fiction YA series retelling three fairytales (Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White) in the setting of a 1950s British girls’ boarding school. Some content warnings apply for this series that I might need to tell you if you feel you want to read it.

I first read all these books when I was a primary school-aged child (even the YA, which wasn’t really age appropriate), but have reread them many times in adulthood, and they really hold up well.

I have actually had the Velvet Frame on my to-read list for a long time, but I wasn't aware of any of Adele Geras's other books. They definitely look like things I would be very interested in--not available on library ebook atm, so I'll have to seek them out later. But I certainly will--thank you for the recs!

I've actually somehow ended up with two print copies of The Girls in the Velvet Frame, so if you absolutely have no other option to access it I don't mind sending one copy to you in the mail (one is my childhood copy and the other I bought cheaply secondhand, so it's not as if I paid huge amounts of money for either). It's a shame Geras's books are hard to get through your library as they really are wonderful.

Another middle grade author whose books you might like is Jackie French. She wrote a lot of children's historical fiction set in nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century Australia, and some science fiction (although I have no idea how well that's held up, since science fiction tends to seem dated very quickly).

Just off the top of my head, books I have enjoyed over the years that fit here: The Hired Girl and Splendors and Glooms by Laura Amy Schlitz, The 101 Dalmatians by Dodie Smith (so charming! Dodie!), Princess Academy series by Shannon Hale, The Folk Keeper and Chime by Franny Billingsley, maybe some Karen Cushmans or Eva Ibbotson's fantasy-comedies for kids!

+1 Laura Amy Schlitz -- also A Drowned Maiden's Hair, but I think The Hired Girl will be of particular interest to you as historical fiction about a farm girl who runs away and ends up as a live-in servant to a Jewish family in Baltimore in 1910ish.

And Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!, which is written as a performance piece but easily reads like a novel.

I've read the former but not the latter!

I heart Billingsley!!! And also the Cushman and A Drowned Maiden's Hair. I shall look up the others! Thanks!

Edited 2023-05-07 23:58 (UTC)

CanLit recommendations: Alison Baird's The Dragon's Egg was my absolute favourite when I was growing up. William Bell's Stones is aimed at an older audience, but it is still very much pre-2010 YA. Jean Little is, as always, the GOAT of Canadian children's lit - Orphan at My Door, The Belonging Place, From Anna. Similarly, Kit Pearson's Guests of War trilogy.

Unfortunately, I can't find any of those at my local libraries, but I will make note of them for later seeking-out. Thank you!

Going to my list of favorite authors (which means alphabetical recommendations...): Nancy Bond's A String in the Harp, not-quite-time-travel set in Wales; I think there are some Peter Dickinson middle-grade and YA fantasy books?; if you've read the Gone-Away Lake books, have you read the Melendy books by the same author?; Kate Gilmore maybe?; Margaret Mahy definitely; SF by the ultra-obscure Anne Mason; Jenny Overton for sure, although she's a bit obscure too.

Unfortunately, I can't get any of those (except Enright! Who I love!) through my local library, but I am making note of them in hopes of finding them later. Thank you!

A classic but you didn't mention it: Sabriel by Garth Nix

I've been reading Grace Lin's books to my kid an they are really great. I especially like her Chinese inspired fantasy series starting with Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

I also really liked Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer by Kelly Jones

Gosh, I haven't revisited Sabriel since I was a small child. I wonder how it holds up?

Grace Lin's stuff sounds lovely! Thank you for the recs!

I reread Sabriel a few years ago and thought it held up well!

Dropping in again to say I also really recommend the middle grade historical novels The War That Saved My Life and The War I Finally Won by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley to just everybody! I think I've mentioned the first one to you before, but I just finished a reread/first-read of the sequel, so I figured I'd put it out there. :)

You have recced that to me before and I have meant to read it! Now would be a good time--thank you!

I'm currently in the middle of an absolutely classic by-the-numbers Horse Girl Book, except that it was published this century and has some liberal politics: Bea and the New Deal Horse. It does exactly what you need a Horse Girl Book to do, and also has Black and disabled secondary characters and talks a lot about collective action.

I also really love most of Cynthia Kadohata's work, especially, in order, A Place to Belong, The Thing About Luck, and Weedflower. Though, if you, like me, were traumatized by Sadako and the 1000 Paper Cranes as a child, a stressful time is probably not ideal for reading A Place to Belong.

Omg, that is so cute! I'm glad to know that people are still writing those kinds of Horse Girl Books!

I have never heard of Kadohata, but I am excited to check her out! Thank you!

The Dark is Rising Sequence (1965+) by Susan Cooper – pastoral fantasy set in England and Wales, with English folklore, Arthuriana, Celtic and Norse myths, and all that good stuff.

The Neverending Story (1979) by Michael Ende – beautifully-written portal fantasy which I’d call a story-about-stories. So much more complex and lovely than the movies.

Lumatere Chronicles (2009+) by Melina Marchetta – character-driven fantasy that starts off as a story about a curse put on a kingdom and the exiles who are trying to get back home. Lots of political intrigue, morally complex characters, and family feels.

Howl’s Moving Castle (1986) by Diana Wynne Jones – I would describe it as magic, domesticity, and hilarity. I haven’t read much DWJ, but I love her wit.

A Curse Dark as Gold (2008) by Elizabeth Bunce - Dark, ghostly Rumpelstiltskin retelling with a determinator heroine and a sweet marrieds!romance.

Secret Country trilogy (1985+) by Pamela Dean – neat twist on the portal fantasy where a group of cousins find themselves transported to the fantasy world they thought they invented and have to deal with all the court intrigue, danger, and magic that come with their roles. Very meta and very literary in the typical Pamela Dean way.

Thank you thank you, hon!

Late to the party, but wanting to add my vote for Howl's Moving Castle. (If you have seen the Ghibli movie then it is... VERY different. It starts more or less the same, but the book is much more complex.) There are two sequels: Castle in the Sky and House of Many Ways.

Now I haven't read Archer's Goon or Dogsbody in YEARS but my goodness I loved them so much. Both standalones, and both centered around genuinely fascinating concepts. (omg just the idea of someone else knowing them is making me all flaily.)

Generally adore Diana Wynne Jones, although never got into the Crestomanci series when I was young and they seem just that touch too 'young' now. But your mileage may vary!

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