One for the Morning Glory—John Barnes. Top of my list. Action, adventure, a prince who has lost half of his body, and Highly Unpleasant Things It Is Sometimes Useful To Know. The Face in the Frost—John Bellairs. Up there with A Wizard of Earthsea for good takes on wizards, and less likely to be found in the course of everyday life. Speaking of Ursula LeGuin, the first three Earthsea books are a good plan, and I highly recommend Very Far Away from Anywhere Else. The Phantom Tollbooth—Norton Juster, if she hasn’t read it yet, and if the illustrations work correctly on the Kindle. Has she read The Westing Game—Ellen Raskin? That one’s probably in her school library. Oh, and of course for introductions to SF for someone who likes mysteries, try The Caves of Steel—Asimov.
The Phantom Tollbooth is enjoyably mind-opening, if handed to a child at about the right age. It’s very light-hearted, but is liable to instill thinking about thinking. I read it when I was 10, and again at 12, and again at 14, and again at 16, getting deeper appreciation each time.
Also, I suspect the Tiffany Aching books are ideal—but I’m a huge Discworld fan, ymmv.
Voting this back up from −1. It appears someone has been downvoting all instances of anyone seconding others’ recommendations. Why do this? Multiple recommendations for a single work provide additional useful information; that multiple people agree that the work is worthwhile, and think so strongly enough to vocalize their support after it’s already been raised to attention.
They may be doing so because they think simple upvoting is a better way to to second recommendations. However, this isn’t really the case because many recommendations mention multiple books, so doing so would not clearly endorse a specific book.
Plus, upvoting doesn’t distinguish between “I agree that some or all of these books are good recommendations,” and “Thanks for suggesting some plausible sounding candidates.”
I agree that The Phantom Tollbooth is especially useful for multiple reads. I read it when I was 8, then when I was 10, then 13, and again when I was 15. It’s a wonderful example of a multi-layered children’s book that adults can appreciate on an entirely different level than kids.
Also, it taught me much of the basics of good writing, in a way that primed me for reading, eg, Orwell’s essays on the use and abuse of the English language.
One for the Morning Glory—John Barnes. Top of my list. Action, adventure, a prince who has lost half of his body, and Highly Unpleasant Things It Is Sometimes Useful To Know.
The Face in the Frost—John Bellairs. Up there with A Wizard of Earthsea for good takes on wizards, and less likely to be found in the course of everyday life.
Speaking of Ursula LeGuin, the first three Earthsea books are a good plan, and I highly recommend Very Far Away from Anywhere Else.
The Phantom Tollbooth—Norton Juster, if she hasn’t read it yet, and if the illustrations work correctly on the Kindle.
Has she read The Westing Game—Ellen Raskin? That one’s probably in her school library.
Oh, and of course for introductions to SF for someone who likes mysteries, try The Caves of Steel—Asimov.
Seconding Phantom Tollbooth.
The Phantom Tollbooth is enjoyably mind-opening, if handed to a child at about the right age. It’s very light-hearted, but is liable to instill thinking about thinking. I read it when I was 10, and again at 12, and again at 14, and again at 16, getting deeper appreciation each time.
Also, I suspect the Tiffany Aching books are ideal—but I’m a huge Discworld fan, ymmv.
Fourthing Phantom Tollbooth.
Voting this back up from −1. It appears someone has been downvoting all instances of anyone seconding others’ recommendations. Why do this? Multiple recommendations for a single work provide additional useful information; that multiple people agree that the work is worthwhile, and think so strongly enough to vocalize their support after it’s already been raised to attention.
They may be doing so because they think simple upvoting is a better way to to second recommendations. However, this isn’t really the case because many recommendations mention multiple books, so doing so would not clearly endorse a specific book.
Plus, upvoting doesn’t distinguish between “I agree that some or all of these books are good recommendations,” and “Thanks for suggesting some plausible sounding candidates.”
I agree that The Phantom Tollbooth is especially useful for multiple reads. I read it when I was 8, then when I was 10, then 13, and again when I was 15. It’s a wonderful example of a multi-layered children’s book that adults can appreciate on an entirely different level than kids.
Also, it taught me much of the basics of good writing, in a way that primed me for reading, eg, Orwell’s essays on the use and abuse of the English language.
One for the Morning Glory also has very playful use of words—if she likes that, she might also like “The Throme of the Erol of Sherril” by McKillip.
Any chance she’d like some Bujold?
Voted up for the Westing Game.
Second “One for the Morning Glory”—it’s brilliant on so many levels.
(Though I’m not totally sure it’s age-appropriate. On the other hand if she can read OftMG, you can certainly start her on Pratchett too.)