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Joined: Jan 2001
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Pooh-Bah
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Here at work the clinic is buying Christmas gifts for a couple kids, an 8 year old girl and a 12 year old boy. The girl requested books but didn't specify any titles. Can anyone recommend any good children's books for her and maybe for her brother too?


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Carpal Tunnel
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Do you know the children? Are they reading at age level?


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wwh Offline
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I expect to have stones thrown at me, but I think Kipling's The Jungle Book and the Just So Stories are good for those ages.


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old hand
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Dear Doc

I think Kipling's The Jungle Book and the Just So Stories are good for those ages

No stone throwing here. Just recommending also, by Kipling:

Captain's Courageous

Stalky and Co. (though perhaps for slightly older readers - best school stories ever written, Wodehouse included).

cheer

the sunshine warrior


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With E. B. White's Charlotte's Web you can't go wrong. Perfect for the 8 year old. The 12 year old might feel a little "too old" for the tome, but I secretly read it at 12 because I missed it when I was "younger" (secretly from my friends, that is), and I loved it!


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Pooh-Bah
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I do not know the kids and can only hope that they are reading at age level. Thanks for the suggestions.


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addict
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For the boy, I'd recommend Daniel Pinkwater. Some of his stuff is more for high school kids, but all of it would be great if he is at all sophisticated. His stuff is hilarious, thought-provoking, and wonderfully subversive. A more recent recommendation would be Michael Chabon's Summerland -- a fantastic novel about friendship, family, tradition, magic and baseball. Again, it may be a bit intimidating for a 12-year-old, but if he could handle Harry Potter, this will be no problem.

For the girl, I have to recommend Cat, What Is That? by Tony Johnston (Author), Wendell Minor (Illustrator). It is a beautiful poem about just what a cat is, with passages like:

It is the Slink.
It is the Sneak
on velvet toes
stalking the Squeak.

The words are rivalled by the amazing paintings, which could carry the book all by themselves. I'll look through my daughter's bookshelf tonight for more.


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Well, I was almost an eight year old boy by the time I finished LOTR for the first time, and had started on Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, so there might be a couple of options.


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Max, don't skew the curve any more than you absolutely *have to.

Alex, since The Cat in the Hat has become Disney-pervasive (well, even if it hadn't), I'd recommend that and maybe another Seuss book for the 8-year-old. For the boy, maybe the Harry Potter books?
Anything by Daniel Pinkwater, as FlatL suggested, is a great choice, too.


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I second the Seuss recommendation - The Lorax should be mandatory (except in those states of the US where it is proscribed).


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