Great Children's Chapter Books

Remember when we used to called books "Chapter Books," because there used to be another kind? Aw.

Obviously, these lean towards the fantasy end of the spectrum.

Great Children's Books

• A Wizard of Earthsea (et al.): Taoism and fantasy and characters of various races? OMG. Mostly, though, I love the way LeGuin writes. Simple and elegant.
  

• A Wrinkle in Time (et al.): Ridonkulously creative, and finally a book for smart, awkward kids where the moral isn't "If you're different and smart, that gives you the right to be an asshole because you are so great" (ahem, Rand fans). To be fair, though, Meg Murray was super-annoying and teenage-y when I reread the book as an adult. Interestingly, the same thing happened when I rewatched The Little Mermaid.

• The Giver: Hooray for dystopian lit for kids!
  

• Lemony Snicket: An Unauthorized Biography: Hilarious and meta. Two of my favorite adjectives! The endnotes are a hoot.
  

• The Phantom Tollbooth: Thus began the love of puns. Well, being raised on Marx Brothers movies didn't help.
  

• The Prydain Chronicles: The Book of Three is clearly a children's book, and it's fun and all, but not terribly deep. Then we get started. The Black Cauldron, as I've said before, is light years beyond stuff like Harry Potter in terms of moral depth. The High King is fantasy of the best sort. And, interestingly enough, my least favorite as a child is now my most favorite: Taran, Wanderer, where our hero learns to become a real hero by learning--gasp!--diplomacy, empathy, and self-control. Also, all the characters in the chronicles are awesome, though I still hold a special place in my heart for Eilowny, who is a great female character, so yay.
  

Good Children's Books

• A Series of Unfortunate Events: Very funny, dark, and clever. Doesn't quite reach the same genius as Lemony Snicket's biography, and sometimes a bit too repetitive for its own good, but fun as hell.

• Harry Potter: We all love Harry Potter. They are fun. I particularly like the multifaceted nature of the adults--something surprising for children's books. They aren't all capital-E evil in the All Adults Suck and Are Stupid children's book vein, nor are they unabashedly Noble and Good in a C.S. Lewis (retch) sort of way. Good for HP. Sadly, though, I wish the universe wasn't so morally awful. In my ideal version, the ending of the 7th book would have the wizards and the muggles working together in a Coalition of the Good. They'd free all the house elves, grant equal rights to werewolves and trolls, enact anti-corruption legislation in their government (and make it more democratic!), and make the school more progressive and public. The end.

• The Hobbit: I count The Hobbit as a kid's book and LOTR as not. Anyway, it's loads of fun, though I was always upset that Smaug was downed by some random deus ex machina. But what are you gonna do?
  

• Number the Stars: I loved this book as a kid. Does that say something weird about me? (Also: Of course we read this in elementary school. So many Jews, so little time...)

I'm sure I'm forgetting lots... I also have to read some of the new stuff like and I Am the Messenger and The Book Thief. Sigh.