(no subject)

[cahn]

Oh hey it's December now, which means I should get presents for D's nieces. (D's nephews have now all graduated high school, and so they either get gift cards or we might try to figure out a family gift.) Which means I am asking you for help! Nieces are senior in high school and freshman in high school. The freshman isn't as much of a reader. The senior loves to read, so finding something good for her is more important. Senior!Niece also loves fantasy.

Last time I asked for recs, years ago, someone recommended Tiffany Aching, which the nieces were too young for at the time, but now may be the time (if I haven't passed it already). I just started Wee Free Men and am enjoying it a lot so far, and that may be part of the present. (I guess Tiffany is 9? so maybe technically too young for Senior!niece? But the book does read to me as more of a high-school reading level than a 9-year-old reading level.)

Other things: D's sister and brother-in-law are extremely devout and conservatively evangelical Christians and don't read fantasy at all (though they have come to accept their kid reading it). I don't think I could give her anything at this time that, say, has explicit sex scenes, or a gay or trans main character, and I'd also be a bit wary of too much violence/horror-themes. So, for example, Some Desperate Glory, which I already gave to D's nephews, is out.

Extra points for subtext of "here's how you grow up" and "here's how you deal with a flawed parent." (My sense -- which could of course be mistaken -- is that D's sister is an incredible parent that anyone would be lucky to have, and brother-in-law is less so. I do not think that there's anything particularly bad going on (I'm sure I have at least my share of flaws as a parent too), just that I remember at that age books being a helpful way to work through figuring out independence and becoming a different person than my parents.)

Comments

[landofnowhere]

Diana Wynne Jones seems like the classic fantasy author for "here's how you deal with a flawed parent", though I'm not sure specifically which one to recommend.

[landofnowhere]

It occurs to me that Till We Have Faces is a "growing up with a flawed parent" book by an author that the parents likely approve of.

[cahn]

...this is BRILLIANT! Thank you, this is almost certainly going in the present!

[thistleingrey]

Tagging on--Chrestomanci perhaps more than Dalemark for resonance, but Dalemark might be parent-friendlier (it's almost historical, low on the fantasy). I'd skip Fire and Hemlock, though I'm fond of it myself, because of its alt-hell issues.

And Dalemark reminds me, perhaps Patricia McKillip's Riddlemaster books, which a friend's mom loaned me in ninth grade. Of McKillip's relatively more recent stuff (I haven't read past 2005), Ombria in Shadow and Alphabet of Thorn are the two I remember as distinct, amid her general folktale feel; Ombria is probably the more accessible of the two.

[thistleingrey]

I mean, ultimately, the nearer in time we go with copyright dates, the likelier things are to resonate for your nieces. Stuff that worked for general-us (DW folks) may seem horribly outdated or irrelevant to current teens, unless they like dipping into other times (not only places). :)

[cahn]

Yeah, this is a good reminder -- older niece as well as my older one have humored me a bit more in reading older stuff, but my younger one especially (and I get the sense younger niece as well) is not interested in reading the kinds of things I think he should be! :)

(Although what I really ought to do is bribe his friends to tell him to read the books I want him to read. He was dead set against Harry Potter and Rick Riordan until one of his friends got into each series, and then he devoured them!)

[thistleingrey]

There's hmm, general media literacy (including books but not only), and then there's fun, and I think teens should get some fun as well! Enough assigned stuff in school as it is. :)

(Glad he enjoyed the Rick Riordan books!)

[cahn]

It's true! Plus which the local teen has so much stuff going on in general that it's hard to get her any time to read at all. Last year she had a teacher who would give them some reading time in class to read a book of their choice, which I actually really liked.

[cahn]

I've given them Chrestomanci already! :) Yeah, I kind of feel like the Dalemark books are less teenage-friendly? Fire and Hemlock is, hm. I really like it too, but I feel like its weirdness quotient is perhaps too high for these particular kids -- though I'd be happy to have my own kids read it. I will think on it. Maybe the Derkholm books?

Ohhhhh the Riddlemaster books!! I love those so much. I haven't really read her past 2005 either.

[cahn]

Ha, true! I have actually previously gifted the nieces a couple of the Chrestomanci books, so we are on the same wavelength here :D