Children's Books

The latest part of my liveblog is up! Now it's time for a rescue mission and a Game-Breaker power bestowed upon our protagonist. Hmm.

Story Breaker Powers are only as game-breaking as the writer makes them XD

True!! Which means we have a power that can vanish or be weakened when it's convenient, which in turn makes the story inconsistent.

Which is why story breaker powers just don't really work. (The smart thing for the bad guys to do would be to take hostages and threaten them. Sam can teleport, but they can't!)

edited 12th Apr '16 2:48:20 PM by BonsaiForest

Here's the latest entry of my Samantha Stone and the Mermaid's Quest liveblog.

The heroes' victory may turn out to be the path to a future villainous victory...

39 clues and Charlie Bone

39 Clues I've heard of before. What exactly is it again? It sounded strange.

I covered the last few chapters of Samantha Stone and the Mermaid's Quest in my liveblog. What a weird book.

Percy Jackson and Alex Rider are favorites of mine.

I don't know if that counts, but I'm collecting an old series of books aimed at kids from the 50's to the 70's, and that were collecting tales and stories from all over the world and history.

However, the Values Dissonance sometimes hits... Hard. I'm currently reading the "Tales and Stories from the Far West" book of that series, and in a framing device, it brings up a narrator who's a modern plantation owner, who : A) says the Civil War was nothing more than the North being jealous of the South, and B) drops the N-word unashamedly. In a kid's book of the 70's.

And, of course, Native Americans are frequently called "savages". Because holy shit, guys.

I think kids of the 70s would not understand Deliberate Values Dissonance. Damn.

I collect and read Star Wars books, including the kids books with original stories (Jedi Apprentice/Quest, etc.)

Just finishing up reading the Rebel Force series.

I finished my liveblog with my final thoughts on Samantha Stone and the Mermaid's Quest.

Came across a fairly obscure book called May Bird and the Ever After. It has sequels but only the first one is at the library.

I'm sure Animorphs has been mentioned here before (of course, it's basically the posterchild for What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?) but I like John Bellairs's work a lot. It's a nice mix of corny, creepy, and outright horror.

I've read some of his work as a kid. Yeah, he does mix in horror, loathsome bullies, and adventure, in what I'd read.

I like how the outcast nerdy protagonists aren't so stereotypical. Harry was short at first, but he was also an instant expert at broomsticks and could run around a dungeon. Hermione read a lot, but all of her books were pertinent to the plot. Bellairs wrote about fat kids and asthmatics who tried to fight like in comics and failed miserably.

I figured this would be the perfect place to ask. Does anyone here know of a kid book, or book with a kid protagonist, that deconstructs elements of kid novel stories?

Like for example, something that deconstructs a kid adventure or kid mystery story. Where the kid goes and does their thing, goes on their adventure, and then Reality Ensues. Something like that. I know there's A Spy in the Neighborhood for example, in which three kids think an eccentric local lady is a spy, and it turns out that nope, she isn't.

But are there like real adventures where things turn out realistic and dangerous, for instance?

I tend to only read kids books and old literature (like Gatsby and before) these days. I feel there's more character to them.

One of my favorite books as a kid was "It's Amazing, It's Incredible, It's Terrible!". It involves a kid from the "world of tv commercials" being sent to our world, and being shocked at how the real world is vs commercials. I'd love to find that book again to see if it still holds up, not to mention to see if any of the commercial tropes that are brought up are still around today (the book was written around the late-80s).

I just got Warrior Genius from the library; I checked out the series because Michael Dante DiMartino wrote it and found it a fun read, although the character of Aaminah is a straight-up Expy of Katara.

I'm also thinking of rereading Wings of Fire and actually reading the sixth book onward, although I've heard there's a significant Genre Shift. I love dragons and the feel of the series; it's like a fantasy-action cartoon.

I still read Holes from time to time. Age demographics mean nothing next to a well-written book.

Late reply, but my handle comes from a children's book. I also adore Katherine Rundell's Rooftoppers, which has some of the most gorgeously evocative prose of any book I've read.

Yes. I still read books for kids. I am not ashamed to admit it. I find kids books to be a bit more entertaining and interesting to me than adult books, which to me, tend to be either too formulaic, melodramatic, or poorly written. Or maybe I just can't find any good ones. Some of my favorite kids books are Anne of Green Gables, A Little Princess, a few things by Roald Dahl, Circle of Magic, Ramona Quimby, and a few other books.

Edited by TwilightPegasus on Jun 14th 2019 at 9:30:50 AM

I read kids' books, but I have kids that I read them with.

I'm fond of Thomas the Tank Engine books, and I like other series like Astrosaurs, Astrosaurs Academy and Guardians of Ga'Hoole.