Hey, fellow readers. I hereby ask for help. I have two nephews, ages 8 and 6, and I’ve got no idea what titles to get them for Christmas this year. I am the Book Aunt, so I have to get something cool and interesting, and readable, but while there are often age recommendations on the fly-leaves of books, there’s no such thing as children insurance that guarantees the child in question will like what you send.
So, suggestions please: What’s are good titles for bright, kinda geeky but leaning more toward engineering geekery than computer geekery, boys?
(Girl books? No problem).
If it helps, in previous years they’ve received Where the Wild Things Are and In the Night Kitchen, and stuff like that.
I’m more about classic titles that hold up than trendy stuff.
And I prefer to buy hardcovers.
_Super Zeroes_ (and there is a sequel) by Rhiannon Lassiter? The then eight-year-old son of a friend of mine enjoyed that a lot (disclaimer: I know the author).
_Swallows and Amazons_, or is that very much a UK children’s book?
Can’t offer anything good for the six-year-old off the top of my head.
My kids like the Magic Treehouse series a lot. Love Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. And you can never go wrong with the “Classics” Im trying to think what else, my 8 yo is more interested in non-fiction than fiction so I don’t know many titles! My 6 yo is still in the early reading stage.
I meant, my 7 yo, for the second age. Not 6. :P
I recently finished the English translation of Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke, a German children’s author. By the same author there’s also The Thief Lord, of which I’ve seen the movie-version.
That’s about the extent of my knowledge of children’s books though. Maybe I can get the hubbykins to recommend some Sci-Fi.
What about fantasy books, Melissa? I love “Coraline” by Neil Gaiman so much that I’m recommending this to everybody! It’s a children fantasy book BTW. In fact, I’ve done a review on my blog sometime ago. ;)