A Neuro-Diverse Percy Jackson Party
My daughter Lizzie has fallen HARD for Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson books.
Like me, my daughter has Level 2 Autism + ADHD (inattentive type). She has a seriously wonderful friendship group in which almost everyone is neurodiverse (and almost no-one is straight, lol). I have a pretty good sense of some of her friends, and the rest I can’t really remember properly but I can rely on them to be kind. Which is important later.
The Percy Jackson books are about teenage demigods, all of whom have ADHD (which sharpens their battle reflexes) and dyslexia (because their brains are hard-wired to read Ancient Greek). They go on quests and are attacked by monsters a LOT. The books are very famous (plus the movies and the current TV series) so several of Lizzie’s friends already know the general vibe, and some have read the books (either before or after hearing Lizzie talk about them for many happy hours).
Percy Jackson loves blue food, and is a son of Poseidon (so he’s very connected to the sea). Therefore, the first thing I did was order a bunch of blue lollies online, from Lolly Warehouse who (unfortunately?) provides lollies in bulk. I also ordered about six books from Lizzie’s wish list, and when people asked what to get her I had books ready to give them, which was what Lizzie wanted most. She is also getting a Camp Half-Blood T-Shirt (which I was very anxious to acquire as she was given a “Wise Girl” T-shirt for Christmas and she literally hasn’t worn a different shirt since then! I really want to wash it!)
There’s an official Percy Jackson cookbook and it’s incredibly good. We’ve literally made twenty-seven of the recipes, and there are several that we make over and over. The “Blue Velvet Cake” is really nice, so I cooked that (yes I screwed up the icing slightly). As you can tell, that’s a mermaid/pirate set of cake toppers. There are pirates and sirens in the books, so that works great!
I also made Tzatziki using the book’s recipe. It has lots of Greek recipes, for obvious reasons! Plus it can be made the day before.
On the invitation I asked people to dress as Greeks, characters from the book, or monsters—and to wear swimmers underneath. Some of them forgot, which is fine as the characters are all American teenagers so… done! But some of them looked AMAZING. My greatest regret is that I didn’t take photos of them in costume.
Everyone was assigned a character, and was given a piece of paper with some details including their allies etc. I’ve read the first five books (and I’m onto the second series), plus I used the Percy Jackson wiki… and Lizzie’s encyclopaedic knowledge to check details. I definitely fudged things a bit, because we ended up with a total of TWELVE kids coming to the party, which is a lot!
There are some characters that would have been great, but it was slightly spoilery to use them. Most of the characters I used appear in the first book.
Some of the characters have skills and heritages that are not immediately known, so there are very minor character-based SPOILERS from now on.
The main trilogy of friends are:
Lizzie’s favourite character is Annabeth, so that was a no-brainer. This is what we used for her hat that lets her turn invisible (the hat style is NOT book accurate, lol):
One of her friends is especially good with animals, so I decided she was Grover.
One of the friends didn’t know anyone else, so I chose them to be Percy so they had lots of links to people via their character. Percy has incredible sword skills (and one of Lizzie’s friends gave her a blue hairbrush recently in honour of a certain moment in the books, so we had two decorative weapons).
The next natural category is more demigods, plus Tyson since he’s Percy’s half-brother. My son Tim was Tyson, because he’s quite over-powered (fun), and Tim knows the kid playing Percy so I thought Percy’d enjoy having Tim as their brother.
____________
Clarisse is a bully with zero social skills, so I was a little nervous about her. But the person who I’d decided could play Clarisse was absolutely thrilled. It turns out Clarisse is literally their favourite character…. and she (the kid) does boxing! So that was really cool.
The dryads at Camp Half-Blood grow strawberries, so of course we had those!
There are two more demigods who don’t actually join the group at Camp Half-Blood, but Nico in particular is a fan favourite character. Plus, children of Hades is cool!
___________________
I decided to let the two main teachers of Camp Half-Blood be characters too, even though it’s a major thing in the books that gods (like these two) aren’t allowed to go on quests. So there was a certain amount of fudging book rules. Why not?
___________
AND I chose to also write up Kronos, the big bad of the first five-book series. I knew one of the kids was super confident and would enjoy being a villain (including being targeted and “hated” by every other kid at the party).
Even though the characters have wildly different power levels, they all have skills and faults and so I was able to make sure everyone got a ‘hero’ moment in the quest.
They really enjoyed reading their character sheets and working out who was friends with who and what their powers were. One of the kids has only one hand, so they suggested it had been lost in a monster battle. (See THIS is the quality of friends my daughter has!)
We ate while waiting for the stragglers to arrive (but, as often happens in the neuro-diverse community, two of them simply didn’t show up at all… which was fine. Arguably, the only essential character was Grover).
I gave them a little safety talk, which had three purposes:
- Making sure everyone was okay with having water balloons thrown at them.
- Making sure the newbie had a quiet room to retreat to (which he did, several times). Quiet rooms are so good for Autistic kids!
- Making sure everyone knew the ground rules for when cats were around.
Here’s a painting one of the kids has been working on for Lizzie. How cool is it!?!
The quest had three main stages.
STAGE ONE: GAUNTLET
Camp Half-Blood is a sanctuary for demigods… but it can be VERY dangerous to get there. So we changed into swimmers and went out to our driveway. In small groups, the kids had to run the entire length of the driveway while getting pelted by water balloons (by other kids).
We’re on a battleax block so the driveway is long, but we also have an old mattress so in order to slow down the kids as much as possible, I laid down the mattress and hung shadecloth over it (using bins and outdoor pegs) and told them they had to crawl across the mattress under the shadecloth. It worked great! They were very easy to hit while crawling.
The teachers (Chiron and Dionysus) ‘defended’ the camp (ie they joined my husband and I in throwing balloons at the kids), and Percy and Tyson did too (just because they have water powers). The logic doesn’t quite hold up, but who cares?
Thalia was armed with water guns, and allowed to fight back (except not at Percy as the actual human kid didn’t want to be targeted at all).
Annabeth could wear her invisibility hat, which meant no one could throw anything at her (but she still got wet due to being nearby).
Kronos can manipulative time, so he could choose a moment to shout “STOP” and then I counted five full seconds during which no one could throw anything at him.
Conner is sneaky due to being the son of the god of thieves, so he was in the group with Kronos, which gave him a slight advantage.
As people reached safety, they joined the defenders.
As I suspected, the kids who were hesitant about getting targeted soon wanted to be hit, so our groups went as follows:
- Thalia, Annabeth, Grover (a historical combination if you’ve read enough of the books).
- Clarisse, Nico, Bianca.
- Kronos, Connor.
- Percy and Tyson.
- Chiron and Dionysius.
(I made the kids pick up ten broken balloons each before going inside. We filled most of the balloons the day before the party.)
I’m personally going through a prawn-canapé phase, and of course they’re seafood so that was sufficient excuse for me to make some. Also, my mum has a devilled-egg plate and I wanted to see how canapés go in it (great, except they tend to want to slide around—they’d work better on cucumber slices or basil leaves).
STAGE TWO: GODDESSES GIVE A QUEST AND A CLUE
I appeared to the party in the guise of Artemis, goddess of the hunt (who is a fan of Bianca) and said, “Please help me!
Four of my fiercest hunting cats have been trapped by a terrible enemy!
As a goddess I am not permitted to actively rescue them, but Chiron and Dionysus may act even though they’re gods, because they’re men so they don’t count [Artemis is extremely sexist in the books].
I recommend you seek Athena’s favour. She also loves the hunt, and the crunch of fangs rending flesh and bone. And she’s wise.
Please rescue my sweet deadly kitties! Oh… and when you free them, be careful or they’ll definitely eat you. But I’m sure you’ll figure something out!”
Then the kids decorated cupcakes as an offering to Athena. Dionysus got three cupcakes instead of just one, since he’s the god of food (and wine of course). In practice that meant that when someone felt they’d screwed up their cupcake, Dionysus could save the day by giving them one of their spares.
Athena (ie me, with a white sheet hung over my Artemis dress) accepted their offerings, and said:
I accept your offerings,
And wish to aid the kitties.
I’m not allowed to intervene…
The drakon holds the key!
STAGE THREE: BATTLING THE DRAKON
I ordered a dragon piñata online (from ebay for $30), filled it with individually-wrapped lollies and put in a key I cut out of a piece of cardboard.
In order to simulate difficult terrain, the kids had to stand on a mini trampoline while hitting the piñata. I placed it near a swing which I swung at the kids to represent a ghost army. If the swing touched them, they were wounded.
There were four distinct groups. The first group were armed with pool noodles (NOT an effective weapon, even against cardboard): Kronos (because he doesn’t have a physical form), Grover (not a demigod so no super strength), and Dionysus (a god… but I said he was probably drunk because… well, god of wine).
The second group also used only a pool noodle, but the ghost army didn’t attack them: Nico and Bianca (who as kids of Hades can command ghosts to go away), Annabeth (who can sneak past ghosts in her invisibility hat), and Connor (who is sneaky due to being the son of Hermes, god of thieves).
The third group is super strong, so they didn’t have to use a pool noodle—they could use their fists. That group was Tyson, Clarisse, Chiron, and Thalia.
And finally, Percy. Percy has amazing sword skills, so he was allowed to use an actual (replica) sword. Yes, one made of metal.
In the second round, groups one and two could use their fists and group three could use a baseball bat.
The drakon soon died horribly, and its delicious sugary guts were pulled out along with the cardboard key.
We returned inside and I gave them ambrosia aka cake (which heals demigods), starting with the wounded.
I brought out Artemis’s terrifying hunting cats, in a zipped carrier.
I asked the kids if they remembered anything that might be important at this stage… and they DID remember that the cats will eat them.
Luckily, we happened to have a satyr with the ability to speak to animals, so Grover released the cats, making sure they promised not to eat anyone first. (And I made sure all the kids were sitting down and several had dangling toys to draw the kittens to them safely—two of the guests have adopted cats off me in the past; like I said, this group is fundamentally kind and that’s important even with the extremely chill attitude of Ragdoll kittens.)
As a bonus, Poseidon (aka my husband in a Hawaiian shirt) appeared to deliver this conclusion:
Congrats for now your quest is done!
Enjoy the spoils and have your fun.
To praise the heroes you’ve become
Welcome all to my kingdom.
So at that stage, anyone who wanted to could go in our spa.
We all just relaxed after that: admiring the kittens, or eating more food, or going in the spa.
What worked well:
*The characters were fun, and helped with any social awkwardness because they gave people a role to play. Also, it didn’t matter that two people didn’t show up because a lot of their powers were similar. Some kids would definitely want to choose their own characters, which would take time and be quite complex. But I got lucky.
*The water balloon fight worked well despite unusually cool weather and a lot of Autistic sensitivity. The water balloons themselves were surprisingly unpredictable, literally bouncing off people sometimes and other times exploding for no reason. So someone truly sensitive would probably get wet unless they were very far away. They hit pretty hard too, and in the chaos instructions to avoid head shots can’t be followed accurately. One of the kids said, “This is the best party I’ve ever been to!” and I get it. Waterfights can be fun, but waterfights while playing a heroic character? AMAZING. It’s like baby’s first role-playing game.
*Cupcakes were a nice break from the violence although it was crowded around the table.
*Piñatas are very risky if you have kids with hyperactive type ADHD, but this group was careful and trustworthy even though they were hyped up.
*Once the quest was done, I got to chat to some of the kids, which is always incredibly rewarding. I accidentally made one of them cry, but she said it was with happiness. She is one of my favourites so I hope that is true.
*Percy (aka the newbie) told two of the others, “I can tell you’re really cool” which was such a classic Autistic thing to say, and the recipients absolutely loved it.
*The kittens were extremely popular! Not every group of kids could be trusted, especially in a party setting. But these guys were great (and the kittens were able to leave the room if they wanted—but this is an especially social litter, which was why I wrote them into the party in the first place). It helped that these guys are teens rather than young kids, and none of them have hyperactive-type ADHD.
What surprised me or didn’t work so well:
Kronos came outside, spotted the water balloons, and immediately threw several balloons at me! THAT I did not expect! But it was funny… and my phone survived despite getting soaked. So, yay!
Blue food colouring (and especially the blue icing) got everywhere.
I had the party in the morning so it wasn’t too hot, but that made everything a scramble and I really wasn’t ready in time. I should have made the party at least three hours long. In the end it was cool and even a little rainy. But everyone handled it well. Weather is always tricky, and neuro-diverse or disabled kids are more likely to be thrown by it.
Because people had to change clothes multiple times, I had no hope of keeping track of the kids I didn’t already know well. Like many Autistic people I’m terrible with faces!
One of the parents was fascinated by the devilled-egg plate. She’d bought one for a friend without realising that’s what it was. Knowledge acquired!
Autistic parties are awesome because:
Autistic people tend to accept their fellow weirdos.
Autistic people tend to ignore silly rules like “Only be friends with people the same age as you” or “Stick to small talk”. So you get a genuinely interesting mix of people and of conversational topics.
Autistic people tend to have at least one special interest and they go deep on that topic, so you can find out some amazing things if you just let them talk.
Autistic people absolutely glow when an Autistic adult lets them know they’re in a safe place (eg by asking everyone’s pronouns and/or indicating a safe room).
One of the adults (also neurodiverse) was absolutely thrilled when she asked if she could help and I gave her a job. When Autistic people offer to help, they mean it.
Don’t forget to:
Have at least one quiet space and make sure people feel able to use it.
Check in with potential sensory issues. Ask questions like: Are you okay with having water balloons thrown at you? Are you sensitive to noise, and if so what can we do about yelling? Should I turn off the ambient music? Should I turn down the lights? Are there any smells (coffee, bananas, air fresheners) that bother you? Will you be okay with X number of other kids in one space? Would it help to be outside or would it be better to be inside? What are your safe snack and/or treat foods?
A lot of Autistic people are extra uncoordinated and/or have hyper-mobility (joints can be dislocated easily) so things like water on the floor are more hazardous than for neurotypical kids.
Just knowing someone is trying their best to be accommodating can mean the world, and make people feel much safer (which also makes them more flexible).
If someone doesn’t know many people or is shy, figure out a way to put them in a pair (eg “John and Bob, can you two please cut up these strawberries for me?” or “Peta and Jane, you both love dogs. Why don’t you show photos to each other?”) It’s much easier to interact with one person than a group, and it gives a shy person an anchor. Giving a job to a shy and/or Autistic kid can help them a lot because a job is a nice clear role for them to play.
Make sure someone with inattentive-type ADHD hears and understands safety instructions.
Make sure someone with hyperactive-style ADHD is able to fidget and/or move around.
“Worst one I’ve ever played”: Reviewing the Reviewers
This is an article I wrote a while ago, 2015 or 2016 I think, when my FIRST interactive novel was freshly published. I’ve written a LOT of stories set in my magical steampunk universe, and the full list including reading order is here.
It finally happened: my first interactive (that is, Choose Your Own Adventure-ish) Australian steampunk novel is wandering unsupervised in the great big world, gathering reviews near and far (and scaring its mother half to death).
My very first review was the comment “Worst one I’ve ever played”, accompanied by one star. I was genuinely amused by such a start to proceedings.
Then the very clever and well-respected Emily Short published a review on her blog, and said, “All in all, then, this is both the biggest and the best of the Felicity Banks games I’ve tried so far; the worldbuilding is more extensive and the plot better structured.”
She also said the beginning was nicely paced while the end was rushed… which is funny since another reviewer said the beginning was boring but don’t worry because it gets better once you get into it.
People say, “Don’t read your reviews” but with material like this, how could I resist?
The reviewers above well and truly set the tone for what was to come. Another reviewer described the book as “Offal” and wrote, “The weird world it is set in succeeds at making no sense and remain unappealing at the same time.” That person was so passionate they reviewed it in two different places. Another said, “The setting wasn’t well explained and I couldn’t make sense of it, and the story was incredibly short, and when I mean short, I mean god awful. I was done in 15 minutes, and I didn’t even figure out what was going on, and no skill was required.” They concluded with the advice: “Skip this one at all costs.”
Other people said, “Cool universe and concept”, “Original and well written”, “I love a good well-thought-out setting, and I could tell that the world was thoroughly planned”, “I was hungry for more steampunk/clockwork creatures, and I wasn’t disappointed. (Actually, thinking about it now, this game has the same kind of story that I was hoping for…).”
I’ve been a little wary of promoting the game in certain places, since it has some violence, and some (*gasp*) sexual diversity. I knew the setting of a steampunk Australia was special, but I would never have guessed it could be considered controversial. All I need now is to be banned, and I’ll know I’ve got it made.
I’ve been working non-stop to get the rumbling engine of promotion moving, and I now have a weird feeling that I’ve managed to start something I can’t stop. That’s the entire point of the exercise, but that doesn’t mean it’s not scary to see the train suddenly belch fire and clatter off beyond my control.
Good luck, little e-baby. I know your friends are out there.
My interactive steampunk novel, Attack of the Clockwork Army is set in Australia. You can choose to be male or female, gay or straight, an innocent or a liar. You can even choose to fight for the British, or not to fight at all.
The book is available as a Choose Your Own Adventure-style app for your device on Amazon, Apple, Android, and Chrome. You can also buy it directly from the publisher (an easy way to buy and read it on your computer).
The app stores list it as “free, with in-app purchases”. What this actually means is that the beginning is free, and then you pay $5 (once!) to read the rest.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/attack-of-the-clockwork-army/id1042824941?mt=8
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/attack-of-the-clockwork-a/oojmcpcnhdedgiegdocaedonlgfhlpgj
Young adult fantasy books
I write, therefore I read.
In honour of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Day June 23rd (which I first heard about on http://www.alanbaxteronline.com/), the below is all about books I’ve read lately – in alphabetical order by author. Almost all are brilliant – and the others are successful 😉 I am sticking to people that I think are alive, and as a control I’ve put in C.S. Lewis (Narnia), J.K.Rowlings (Harry Potter), and Stephanie Meyer (Twilight) because most people have a familiarity with one or all of those. No spoilers, except some info (as limited as possible) in ratings warnings.
Australian authors get an asterisk, and members of ROR (a writing group with an abnormal amount of talent, found online at http://www.ripping-ozzie-reads.com/) get two.
I will also take requests to review other books – as long as they’re YA fantasy, and available in my library. Make requests at my blog.
CASSANDRA CLARE
City of Bones
City of Ashes
City of Glass
ie the Mortal Instruments series
(Also the infamous Lord of the Rings Secret Diaries – mature content – as Cassandra Claire.)
Free sample: Clary shook her head. “Don’t stop there. I suppose there are also, what, vampires and werewolves and zombies?”
“Of course there are,” Jace informed her. “Although you mostly find zombies farther South, where the voudun priests are.”
“What about mummies? Do they only hang around Egypt?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. No-one believes in mummies.”
“They don’t?”
“Of course not.”
Review: I read the three books in three days – many people have. They are extremely addictive. Funny, with well-drawn characters and an involving story. Mild cliffhangers at the end of books one and two (a plot line is left dangling in the foreground, but the main characters don’t get stabbed in the final paragraph or anything like that). Clare is a master of vivid description.
The second-biggest plot is an extremely angsty love triangle (which some people will find sickening in one or more aspects). It’s written very very well – and the main character does at least try to do the right thing – but angst is still too big a plot line for my liking. On the other hand, every aspect of the relationship/s has a strong bearing on the main plot, and every character is going to stick with me (unfortunately, a lot of the non-love-triangle characters are left relatively undeveloped except for promising hints). The love plotlines really reminded me of what it was like to be a teenager in love but trying to not be selfish or stupid – they are seriously well-written (sooooo much better than a certain Bella). The main character does sometimes make stupid decisions, and although the plotting has been done very well over the three books some of it is a bit transparent (I guessed or figured out several things before the characters did). Other parts are so clever they made me gasp.
Rating: M (seriously scary violence, including an attempted rape by a demon – brief but creepy), adult themes including homosexuality and incest (no sex happens on-screen at any time). Bad things do happen, including death/s of good people.
Recommended for: age 10 and up, including adults.
EOIN COLFER
Artemis Fowl
Six books in the series so far.
Free sample: Nguyen brought the cup trembling to his lips.
“Don’t be alarmed, Mister Xuan,” smiled Artemis. “The weapons will not be used on you.”
Nguyen didn’t seem reassured.
“No,” continued Artemis. “Butler could kill you a hundred different ways without the use of his armoury. Though I’m sure one would be quite sufficient.”
These are smart, interesting books. One reason is that they’re spy books – but definitely fantasy. (Fairies are real, they live mainly underground, and they have really awesome high-tech equipment – including strap-on wings.) Artemis is an interesting character (12-year old genius), and a sympathetic one – as are all the others. He’s meant to be a criminal mastermind (and he is), but he’s a decent kid, too. High adventure – but without compromising on intelligent writing.
Rating: G
Recommendation: 7 and up
BERNARD CORNWELL
The Last Kingdom series
Many other books
This guy knows his historical information, and never ever bores you by shoving in bits of research he’s particularly proud of (as so many do). Great, involving, sensory style; meaningful and exciting plots; well-drawn characters who deserve to be cared about (even when they are, technically, selfish pricks). I read the first book on my honeymoon and had to read the second and third IMMEDIATELY. (Luckily my husband had the same reaction.)
Rating: M to R (realistic violence, sex including unpleasant sex/rape) – depends on the series
Recommended for: 14 (depending on the kid) to adult (entertaining and involving without compromising on depth or intelligence)
*JOHN FLANAGAN
Ranger’s Apprentice series
Strangely compelling. Like Horowitz (below), I just don’t consider Flanagan a good author. Yet I keep reading. Flanagan’s books make me feel like I’m getting my buttons pressed, one after the other (including cliffhanger endings). I did eventually stop reading. But he pushes those buttons very well – smallest kid around gets picked for special task; best friends fight (for the first time) over a girl; etc.
Rating: G
Age recommendation: 6 and up
**RICHARD HARLAND
Worldshaker
Many other books (various genres and age but he’s fond of young adult steampunk)
Richard Harland is a fascinating individual. This book has been compared to the work of Philip Pullman and Philip Reeve, but Harland brings a satirical wit to the table that is unique. It is very funny.
His world is fully-realised and original, with vivid characters and an interesting story. His diagrams of the juggernaut are a highlight, but the book never gets bogged down in over-complicated details.
Free sample: Gillabeth took Antrobus over to the slides. . . “No flapping, no waving,” she ordered. “You know how Grandmother likes to see you slide.”
Antrobus came sliding down, arms fixed at his sides like a wooden doll. There was no way of telling whether he enjoyed or hated the experience.
“Now again,” said Gillabeth.
Rating: M (gory violence, bad stuff happens to good people)
Recommendation: 8 and up, definitely including adults.
ANTHONY HOROWITZ
StormHunter
This is the beginning of a long and wildly successful series. (Not actually speculative fiction, sorry – spy genre.) It’s interesting to me that the good guy’s bosses are highly unpleasant and evil people. Horowitz’s style sucks, some plot twists are predictable, and his characters are cardboard cut-outs.
It was terribly fun to read. Terribly, terribly fun. I laughed out loud (with pleasure) at some of the ridiculous scenes. It’s described by the author as “adolescent fantasy” and it’s the best example I’ve read. (I confess I won’t be reading more, despite how enjoyable it was.)
Free sample [Our twelve-year old hero, Alex, is being attacked by two men on quad bikes. He has already managed to dispatch one guy AND steal his quadbike. Now he’s on his way to dispatching the other – who, like the first but unlike Alex, has a gun]: The quads were getting closer and closer, moving faster all the time. The man couldn’t shoot him now, not without losing control. Far below, the waves glittered silver, breaking against the rocks. The edge of the cliff flashed by. The noise of the other quad filled Alex’s ears. The wind rushed into him, hammering at his chest and face. It was like the old-fashioned game of chicken. . .”
Rating: PG (unrealistic violence, including death)
Age recommendation: age 7 to 17
BRIAN JACQUES
Redwall series
Each book is about heroic animals (badgers, mice, moles) fighting bad animals (weasels, wildcats, etc). The animals do talk – there are no humans – but the battles are absolutely serious, violent, and deadly. This contrasts bizarrely with how incredibly jolly the good guys ALWAYS are with one another. The series quickly gets repetitive (if you liked Martin the Warrior you’ll like Lord Brocktree – they are almost identical, except with the characters from the first book played by their own relatives in the second book). The worst part for me was the world’s most annoying accents – and plenty of them. I enjoyed the fact that the bad guys were actually unpleasant to the extent of often handily killing one another – it’s nice to have a genuine BAD guy every once in a while (plus it adds plausibility to the good guys’ victories).
Free sample: Dotti wiped her lips ruefully on an embroidered napkin. “I bally well wish we could, I’ve never tasted honeyed oatmeal like that in m’life. I say, Rogg, how the dickens d’you make it taste so jolly good, wot?”
Rogg chuckled at Dotti’s momentary lapse from molespeech. “Hurr hurr young miz, oi chops in lot of. . .” [let’s just stop it here, or I’ll bally punch meself, wot wot?”]
Rating: M (violence)
Recommended for: 8 to adult (if you like that sort of thing)
**MARGO LANAGAN
Black Juice
Red Spikes
Tender Morsels
. . . and many others.
I haven’t actually read all of these, because they’re all collections of unrelated short stories. Margo Lanagan is hard to pin down because she writes such a wide variety of work. She is very literary, which in my mind means stunningly beautiful writing, intelligent plots, and deep characters. Her work has such an intense emotional impact that I plan a restful evening AFTER reading it. But when she writes for a younger audience it’s much lighter.
Rating: G to R
Recommended for: 15 to adult (more for adults)
DEREK LANDY
Skulduggery Pleasant
Skulduggery Pleasant: Playing with Fire
Skulduggery Pleasant: The Faceless Ones (first cliffhanger-ish end)
The opening line of the whole series is: “Gordon Edgley’s sudden death came as a shock to everyone – not least himself.” This humour/horror series is enormous fun from beginning to end (not that we’ve reached the end yet). There are interesting and complex characters throughout, and their secrets are still being gradually revealed. Very very funny.
Rating: PG/M (horror violence, but not hard-core unless you’ve never read horror before)
Recommended for: age 8 and up, including adults (for fun)
C.S. LEWIS
Narnia series (seven books in total)
I love every book in this series. Original world (though it doesn’t feel original any more, because there are so many imitators – and it bears some resemblance to Middle Earth, since Lewis and Tolkien were friends), though some people find it limited (I find it cosy). Interesting, realistic characters (main characters shift throughout). The arc from first book to last book works well despite the fact they were written out of order, and The Horse and his Boy is fascinating to me because it looks at the same world from a completely different angle. Some people have argued that Lewis is sexist or racist because of the way women are treated (particularly in a battle), and people with dark skin are usually evil. I disagree with the racism – the dark-skinned Calormenes are simply an enemy country, with good and bad citizens (but predominantly bad because hey, they’re the enemy). The roles of women do show that Lewis is a man of his time, but it has a chivalric (rather than patronising) feeling that suits the medieval-ish world (eg women shoot arrows rather than fighting in the melee). Great, exciting plots.
Rating: G (with – arguably – religious themes)
Recommended for: age 5 and up, including adults (particularly Christians, who have a whole other level to examine – it should be noted that Lewis did not intend them to be thinly-veiled Bible stories, but an exploration of how Jesus would appear and behave in Lewis’ world. The Jesus-esque character doesn’t ruin the stories, which is the main thing).
STEPHANIE MEYER
Twilight (I only read the first one)
Excellent writing style, good characterisation of the hero (for sympathy – it irks many readers that she has no flaws whatsoever). Almost no plot (other than romance) for hundreds of pages, which annoyed me (there’s about 100 pages of action at the end). The whole basis of the romance seemed to be physical (rather than anything to do with the personality/lack thereof of either party), which also annoyed me.
MUCH angst. Much talking about angst. Probably would have been better at half the length.
Rating: PG (sexual symbolism) to M/MA later in the series (on-screen sex). Mild violence.
Recommended for: emos. (ooh, the claws come out!)
Approximate quote: “Ooh, you’re ever so pretty. It’s so hot that you want to eat me! I’d rather DIE than be single, wouldn’t you? Oh that’s right, you are dead. . . Let’s have babies!”
*GARTH NIX
Sabriel
Lirael
Abhorsen
I love Garth Nix and want to have his babies (by which I mean his books). Sabriel is possibly the best book ever written, and although Lirael and Abhorsen feel like one book split into Part One (with good resolution of the main emotional conflict, but including only the leadup to the main physical conflict – not a true cliffhanger, but not one to be read on its own) and Part Two – they are also extremely good (and don’t skip Lirael just because it’s the middle of a trilogy – you will miss the coolest coming-of-age tale ever).
Rating: M for scary supernatural gore and plenty of death (not limited to naughty people).
Age recommendation: Twelve and up – but if you’re an adult, you should definitely read it. It isn’t dumbed down or irrelevant in any way. Even the romance is mature (not in rating, but in emotional depth and maturity).
Keys to the Kingdom series
If I hadn’t read Sabriel etc, I would have been more impressed. This series is a quest-per-book series, where there’s a magical item to be attained, and every climax involves getting said magical item. This makes it a little dull for my taste. On the other hand, the world is original and interesting, and the characters and their problems are good. There’s also over-arching plot lines that draw you through the series. I don’t really recommend it, though – not for adults (even though I’m drawn in enough to be faithfully reading every book as it comes out). There’s just not enough depth to it – I feel like Nix is pushing buttons of tension rather than drawing us into a new reality where we really care what happens. Oh, and each one ends on a major cliffhanger.
Rating: G
Age recommendation: 8 to 12
The Seventh Tower
Very good – not as good as Sabriel etc, but clearly written by the same person (not in any repetitive way, but in the emotional depth and originality). I’ve only read the first three (of perhaps seven), and I’ve chosen to put it out of my mind until it ends (cliffhangers BUG me).
Rating: PG (possibly M) violence
Age range: 12 to adult. Worth reading as an adult.
As far as I know, only the first three books are out.
**MARIANNE DE PIERRES (who, incidentally, read one of my novel openings in a competition and stopped me at the con to tell me how fabulous I am)
Nylon Angel etc
Gritty futuristic world, shining with imagination. She has a tough main character (this is the beginning of a series) with a serious and interesting problem. I enjoyed it, and would have read on except this was definitely a world where rape was common, and I just can’t handle that.
Rating: M (violence, rape in past and probably future)
Recommended for: 14 and up, including adults.
PHILIP PULLMAN
Northern Lights (Golden Compass in North America)
Subtle Knife
The Amber Spyglass
Free sample: Lyra stopped beside the master’s chair and flicked the biggest glass gently with a fingernail. The sound rang clearly through the Hall.
“You’re not taking this seriously,” whispered her daemon. “Behave yourself.”
Review: Philip Pullman is a grumpy and egotistical man, an angrily fanatic atheist – and a true master of storytelling. This story sprawls a bit in all the lies and schemes going on, but it sprawls because it’s so magnificent and epic. It wasn’t until book three that I realised Pullman didn’t just hate the church but hated God – that’s when his convictions leaked into the story the most clearly (the book was written as an answer to Milton). But I was still impressed by the originality of what he did with the character of God.
Rating: PG (violence, symbolic sex, religious theme)
Recommendation: age 7 and up, definitely including adults
Ruby in the Smoke
Shadow in the North
The Tiger in the Well
The Tin Princess
There’s not a hint of preachiness in this series. Each book is a truly fun, original adventure tale set in 19th-century England. the Tiger in the Well has a particularly interesting plot (it’s improved if you read the books in order, but you don’t have to).
Rating: PG (sex)
Recommendation: 10 and up, definitely including adults.
PHILIP REEVE
Larklight
Starcross
Mothstorm
(these are illustrated in an intricate steampunk style by David Wyatt)
These are the first books, in my mind, to overtake Narnia as being the best books ever written for children. They are the funniest books on this list. For this quote, I opened the first book at random (because I was that confident): “I returned the locket to my jacket pocket, though privately I felt that Jack and his friends would not have tried to steal it. They were too busy dividing up the mounds of loot which they had stolen from those Martian ships they’d raided. I do not know quite who it was who started the rumour that crime does not pay, but I can assure you they were wrong. It pays very well. . .”
These are tales of high adventure – space pirates feature – in a brilliantly-realised alternate history/future (sort of Victorian times, but in space).
Rating: G
Recommendation: 6 to adult. If you don’t laugh within three pages, you are probably dead.
Mortal Engines
Predator’s Gold
Infernal Devices
A Darkling Plain
Another brilliantly-realised world, but a much darker one. The characterisation is a particular strength – the pain of one of the characters still breaks my heart. There is a LOT of violence, and bad things definitely do happen.
Rating: M (violence)
Age Recommendation: 12 to adult.
Free sample: He remembered dying. He remembered a girl’s scarred face gazing down at him as he lay in wet grass. . . What was her name? His mouth remembered.
“H. . .”
“It’s alive!” said a voice.
“HES. . .”
“Again, please. Quickly.”
“Charging. . .”
“HESTER. . .”
“Stand clear!”
And then another lash of electricity scoured away even those last strands of memory. . .
J.K. ROWLINGS
Harry Potter series
This is funny and imaginitive, and gets increasingly scary (sometimes to a worrying extent for parents, including possession and mind control of a good character). Has been criticised for being evil due to (a) popularity (b) people who believe all fantasy is evil (c) misinformation spread online, mainly by the Christian community. Characterisation is a bit stereotyped (eg Hermione is the “good/nerd girl” and Ron is the “dorky friend/source’o’humour”), but the biggest fault is that the hero suffers from angst. It IS realistic that a teenage boy orphaned by an evil wizard (and then blamed for everything bad that ever happens) would start whining about it – but no-one wants to actually READ that. (It might have been okay in summary – “and then Harry walked off with Ron, whining all the way. Then he saw a pretty butterfly and got over himself” – but by the end many fans were hoping Harry would die.)
Rating: PG to M (horror violence, possession) depending on the book.
Recommended for: 10 (depending on the kid) to adult
PAUL STEWART
Edge Chronicles
Seriously cool, wondrous world illustrated in grotesque beauty by Chris Riddell. Everything about this series is great. It does tend to sprawl a bit in terms of overall plot, but only because there are several quite different stories told in the same world (which makes the world 3-D, in my opinion).
Rating: G
Age recommendation: 7 to adult.
Free sample: The spindlebug paused for a moment at the foot of the sweeping staircase and looked up. The skin, as transluscent as the high arched windows above, revealed blood pumping through veins, six hearts beating – and last night’s supper slowly digesting in a see-through belly.
SUMMARY
Best book for your kid: Larklight by Philip Reeve (but beware some of his other books)
Best book for your teenager: Sabriel by Garth Nix
Best book for a reluctant reader: Ranger’s Apprentice (John Flanagan) or StormHunter (Anthony Horowitz)
Best short story writer: Margo Lanagan (my favourite is the well-known Singing My Sister Down)
PS thanks to Ben for corrections
Felicity Banks 