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[CCBC-Net] Fantastic Fiction: New Fantasy Literature
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From: Monica Edinger <monicaedinger>
Date: Sat, 6 May 2006 12:46:07 -0400
I sometimes feel these days as if I'm in a fairy tale myself. Fantasy is my hands-down favorite genre and my wish PHP* was that it would get more respect in this country. Well, that is the case...sort of. That is, there's a whole lot more fantasy being published, but not a whole lot more being taught in classrooms. So I feel that I must have wished on that coin from Edgar Eager's Half Magic and be happy that I got half my wish in a way that didn't result in total mayhem.
This year I've got a bunch of eager fantasy readers in my classroom, including three incredibly precocious girls who have all made their way through Philip Pullman's HIs Dark Materials trilogy. One haunts a couple of fans sites (and will no doubt, on Monday, want to talk about the latest news about the film). They are also big fans of Cornelia Funke's Inkheart and Inkspell and are after me about when the next will come up. Several kids have read Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus Trilogy which, to my mind, gets better with each book. The final, Ptolemy's Gate, is one of my favorites of the year thus far; the ending is breathtaking.
I haven't given these next books to my girls yet, but I absolutely adore Megan Whalen Turner's The Thief, The Queen of Attolia, and The King of Attolia. This last is an extraordinary work on its own --- another favorite of the year for me (and probably top on my list). Certainly, those who have read the others first will have a different experience from those who have not, but I think both readings would be wonderful. What a world Turner has created, what characters, what plot!
Then there are Rick Riodan's entertaining Percy Jackson books, clever updates of the Greek myths. His newest, The Sea of Monsters, is to my mind even better than his first, The Lightning Thief. These are both making the rounds of my classroom; I've got one girl who keeps asking me for "more books like those." (She is very specific that she wants more updated stories about the Greek gods --- any recommendations?)
What else? Rowling is still going strong, so's Nancy Farmer ('ve got a kid happily plowing her way through The Sea of Trolls right now), or how about Kenneth Oppel? The bat fantasies are great fun as are those grand Verne-like adventures, Airborn and Skybreaker. And then there is the wonderful Terry Pratchett with The Wee Free Men and A Hatful of Sky. Loads more, but I'll let others chime in.
Monica
* Pre Harry Potter
Date: Sat, 6 May 2006 12:46:07 -0400
I sometimes feel these days as if I'm in a fairy tale myself. Fantasy is my hands-down favorite genre and my wish PHP* was that it would get more respect in this country. Well, that is the case...sort of. That is, there's a whole lot more fantasy being published, but not a whole lot more being taught in classrooms. So I feel that I must have wished on that coin from Edgar Eager's Half Magic and be happy that I got half my wish in a way that didn't result in total mayhem.
This year I've got a bunch of eager fantasy readers in my classroom, including three incredibly precocious girls who have all made their way through Philip Pullman's HIs Dark Materials trilogy. One haunts a couple of fans sites (and will no doubt, on Monday, want to talk about the latest news about the film). They are also big fans of Cornelia Funke's Inkheart and Inkspell and are after me about when the next will come up. Several kids have read Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus Trilogy which, to my mind, gets better with each book. The final, Ptolemy's Gate, is one of my favorites of the year thus far; the ending is breathtaking.
I haven't given these next books to my girls yet, but I absolutely adore Megan Whalen Turner's The Thief, The Queen of Attolia, and The King of Attolia. This last is an extraordinary work on its own --- another favorite of the year for me (and probably top on my list). Certainly, those who have read the others first will have a different experience from those who have not, but I think both readings would be wonderful. What a world Turner has created, what characters, what plot!
Then there are Rick Riodan's entertaining Percy Jackson books, clever updates of the Greek myths. His newest, The Sea of Monsters, is to my mind even better than his first, The Lightning Thief. These are both making the rounds of my classroom; I've got one girl who keeps asking me for "more books like those." (She is very specific that she wants more updated stories about the Greek gods --- any recommendations?)
What else? Rowling is still going strong, so's Nancy Farmer ('ve got a kid happily plowing her way through The Sea of Trolls right now), or how about Kenneth Oppel? The bat fantasies are great fun as are those grand Verne-like adventures, Airborn and Skybreaker. And then there is the wonderful Terry Pratchett with The Wee Free Men and A Hatful of Sky. Loads more, but I'll let others chime in.
Monica
* Pre Harry Potter
-- Monica Edinger The Dalton School New York NY edinger at dalton.org monicaedinger at gmail.comReceived on Sat 06 May 2006 11:46:07 AM CDT
