Thursday, October 05, 2006

Six Year Old Seeking Castles, Arthur

Christine M. is seeking some recommendations for her son, S. (Christine and I have been friends since 4th grade (I know!) and S is my godson.)

Anyway, the challenge: S is six but reading up a few grade levels. Last year, he read most of the Magic Treehouse books; he's read the first two Harry Potter books. S wants books on King Arthur and Castles and medieval things.

Any ideas? Most of my reading is YA, not middle grade. I'm inclined to think Mimus; but is that too violent? I've also recommended books about Robin Hood and the Redwall books. Make suggestions either here or at Christine's place.

6 comments:

christine M said...

Thanks for the link, Liz!

Anonymous said...

Not really castles, but definitely fantasy - how about The Spiderwick Chronicles by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi?
debbi michiko florence

Little Willow said...

The OutCast series by Christopher Golden and Thomas E. Sniegoski, which I may have told you about before, would be great for him! The first book is called The Un-Magician. There are four books total, and they should be read in order. They take place in a world run on and by magic, where EVERYONE can do magic - except for a young boy who was born without any magical abilities. Loaded with adventures, friends, good guys and gals, bad guys and gals. Talking crow, a mechanical buddy, a bodyguard with camoflague abilities. A council with plenty of power-hungry persons. Magic and technology (loads of inventions from the boy).





I second the Spiderwick recommendation. He should be able to blaze right through those.

The Phantom Tollbooth, of course!

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court for the obvious reasons.

Urchin of the Riding Stars for action/adventure with critters.

Perhaps some John Bellairs, if those aren't too spooky-scary for him.

Anonymous said...

Edward Eager, if he hadn't already had them as read-alouds. Some of E. Nesbit's would work, too. And the Gerald Morris books are geared older, but the earlier ones should be fine.

Anonymous said...

Edward Eager's "Knight's Castle," without a doubt. My six-year-old boy who is reading a few grades up adores it. It has Robin Hood, Ivanhoe, and toy knights in a toy castle that the children play with during the day and find themselves shrunk into at nighttime.

The rest of the Eager books are good, too (all involve magic), but Knight's Castle will be perfect.

I haven't read "Castle in the Attic" yet, but I've heard it's very good.

There's an Usborne book of knights stories -- 3 short stories including Gawain and the Green Knight, at the right level for this age. It's not as long a read as a real chapter book, but excellent for him to read himself. My son couldn't put it down when he first read it -- he literally walked to the table while holding it and reading (and I said, "This is truly my child.") Usborne also has various nonfiction on castles and knights.

Jim Weiss has a good story tape on King Arthur and the knights. Doesn't get into the Guinevere / Lancelot issues, which I didn't feel like explaining to my six-year-old (of course, I later took him to Damn Yankees where he saw attempted seduction . . . ).

... said...

Not sure about the age-appropriateness, but what about some of Diana Wynne Jones' books? I think they're probably at the same reading level as Harry Potter.

I'm pretty sure Chrestromanci has a magical castle. There's also Howl's Moving Castle and its sequel Castles in the Air.

I'd also suggest Robin McKinley (i.e., Beauty), but it might be a little difficult for 6.