YA Diana Wynne Jones books???

[Prairie~Phlox]

Does anyone have children that read these? There are quite a few that are YA books, do you know if they are ok for an almost 11 year old?

Thanks,
Phlox

[dangermom]

My kids are still little, but I'm a huge DWJ fan. I first discovered her books when I was 11.

I would recommend that you start with the ones in the children's room and work your way up. Only a couple have anything like Adult Themes (as in any mention of sex): A Sudden Wild Magic and Deep Secret, both adult books. (They're pretty minor mentions.) People die, but the books aren't gory at all.

To start, I would give these in order:

Chestomanci Chronicles
Howl's Moving Castle books (3)
Power of Three
Ogre Downstairs and Witch's Business, both older titles and not as great
Eight Days of Luke (read this when you do Norse mythology)

Depending on maturity, I'd do the rest of them later. Not because of themes, but because DWJ tends to be layered and difficult to understand. And Dark Lord of Derkholm pokes fun at the conventions of fantasy novels, so it helps to have read some already.

Have fun!

[Prairie~Phlox]

My kids are still little, but I'm a huge DWJ fan. I first discovered her books when I was 11.

I would recommend that you start with the ones in the children's room and work your way up. Only a couple have anything like Adult Themes (as in any mention of sex): A Sudden Wild Magic and Deep Secret, both adult books. (They're pretty minor mentions.) People die, but the books aren't gory at all.

To start, I would give these in order:

Chestomanci Chronicles
Howl's Moving Castle books (3)
Power of Three
Ogre Downstairs and Witch's Business, both older titles and not as great
Eight Days of Luke (read this when you do Norse mythology)

Depending on maturity, I'd do the rest of them later. Not because of themes, but because DWJ tends to be layered and difficult to understand. And Dark Lord of Derkholm pokes fun at the conventions of fantasy novels, so it helps to have read some already.

Have fun!
Thank you so much. Dd is pretty advanced in her reading, but I will start with the suggested.

Kristine

[dangermom]

Then I'm sure she'll enjoy all of those. I still enjoy them! After she's done with those, I would recommend

Dogsbody
Tale of Time City
Archer's Goon
Dalemark Quartet
Derkholm books
Hexwood
Time of the Ghost has somewhat darker themes, in which characters' pretend occult game as children has very serious consequences years later.
Fire and Hemlock is my favorite, but also the most complex.
The Merlin Conspiracy is for teenagers, but is also a sort-of sequel/same universe story as Deep Secret, which is a bit more adult (though only slightly).

Oh, and The Game is a novella that anyone into Greek mythology might enjoy.

Read 'em yourself! :001_smile: Of course, all this is, is my idea of what might be a good progression of difficulty, that's all. I read them myself in a very different order!

[nmoira]

My 6yo has read all the Howl books. I've only read the first, but found it absolutely charming.

[Willow]

All of mine are huge DWJ fans. Again we started with crestomanci and worked up from there.

[Lorna]

Our eleven year old is a sensitive soul and he loves Dianne Wynne Jones, as does his sister. We also started with Chrestomanci and Howl's Moving Castle. There is a beautiful Japanese anime film of Howl's Moving Castle too which she is sure to enjoy.