Wonder-full Children's Books (Part 2)

Chapter books filled with magic, animals, and happy endings

First, welcome new subscribers! My name is Elise. I’m a Catholic wife and mother of 3. I’m a lifelong bookworm/nerd who made it official by double majoring in the Program of Liberal Studies and History at the University of Notre Dame (Go Irish!). I received a Masters of Arts in Teaching post-grad, and taught both middle and high school English for several years before deciding to stay at home after my son was born. I’ve worked as an online tutor and, this coming year, will be serving as an Upper School English, Theology, and History tutor at my children’s school, our local Regina Caeli Academy. This Substack was born out of my desire to write more consistently, and the habit of commonplacing I’ve developed over the past few years. I hope you enjoy what you read!

A while back, while reflecting on my 2023 year in reading, I wrote that “according to C.S. Lewis, a children’s story that can only be enjoyed by adults is not a particularly good children’s book.” In Part 1 of this series, I wrote about picture books that, as an adult, I find truly enchanting. And I am absolutely gobsmacked by the response I got. Thank you to all who liked and commented. I truly loved hearing people’s memories of some of the books I shared, and knowing that I was able to connect people with books they haven’t tried before. In this post, I would like to share longer children’s books that, I think, pass the C.S. Lewis test.

Chapter Books

1. My Favorite Classics:

   1. A Little Princess (Burnett): I received this gorgeous edition, illustrated by Tasha Tudor, for my 8th birthday. My Mom wrote a lovely note for me inside. It is one of my most treasured books. I’ll quote my reflection on this from the above mentioned year in reading post: “Sarah Crewe’s determination to act “like a princess” despite the cruelty she endures after the loss of her father, and her fortune, is admirable. Despite her suffering, she refuses to let her tormentors degrade her sense of self-worth or her belief in doing the right thing. Finally, A Little Princess does what so few modern stories will do; it offers a happy ending. While not shying away from “realism” in its portrayal of poverty, classism, and servant abuse, Burnett refuses to let darkness and despair have the final word.” And, like all of the children’s classics in this section, it does not talk down to children. Reading all of these books, especially if read aloud and discussed, is a great way to expand your children’s (and likely your own!) vocabulary.

   2. The Wind in the Willows (Grahame): I came to this book far too late in life. But I just bought a not-falling apart copy at a book sale and I am going to be picking it up again soon I think. This is one of the best books about friendship ever written, in my humble opinion. Rat, Mole, Badger, and Toad are as different as one would expect different species to be, each with a distinct personality. Yet, they all try to seek one another’s good; forgiving each other when needed, and ultimately delighting in the gift of one another. And, like many of the picture books I recommended, it is a book that reminds us of the numinous in the natural world.

   3. Alice in Wonderland (Carroll): I remember reading this during a car ride to some vacation or another, and how much fun it was. I loved the illustrations, I loved the word-play, I loved the zaniness of Wonderland and the Looking Glass World. And I loved Alice; both her curiosity and her comedic frustration with the strange rules of the imaginary worlds she explored. And as an adult, I’ve come to recognize that I need Alice; for she reminds me that the “rules” of the strange world of adulthood that seem so obvious to me are still new and confusing to my children, and that their curiosity, their “whys,” are valuable and worthy of consideration.

   4. The Little White Horse (Goudge): This book is pure British magic. Beautiful countryside, magical animals, a mysterious manor, an orphaned child. It is also a book where good prevails over evil, love over hatred and anger, and beauty over ugliness. Just read it, delight in it, and share it with everyone you know.

   5. The Hobbit (Tolkien): I can’t say anything about this book that others haven’t said before and better. I received it as a Christmas present many moons ago, and I can still picture the exact chair I sat in when I read it for the first time. It’s a much easier read than The Lord of the Rings, perfect for whetting your children’s appetite for Tolkien’s other works. Yet, like the best fairy tales, it doesn’t shy away from darkness and fear. Major characters lose their lives in the conflict between good and evil. Good characters make unfortunate decisions, and must suffer the consequences. And we see that the most ordinary and humble of beings can rise to the level of heroism when the occasion calls for it.

2. Where the Red Fern Grows (Rawls): Ok so this book will probably make you cry (Note to self: Rereading it while pregnant and hormonal is maybe not the best idea). The dogs do die in the end. But their death is the result of their love for their master, and for one another. And there is real beauty in that bittersweet ending. When I first encountered this book, as an elementary school read aloud, I was enchanted by the description of Billy’s life in the country. I loved how much time he spent exploring the world around him, and I was impressed by the various skills and abilities he possessed at such a young age. The glimpses I got of a different way of life, one that used to be the norm, began to cure me of the chronological snobbery I didn’t yet know I possessed. And if you want your kids to love Wendell Berry some day, this book is as good a place as any to start. Final content note-there is an accidental death of a young boy in the book. Again, I had this read to me in elementary school, when I was a fairly sensitive/empathetic kid, and I don’t remember being unduly disturbed. But you know your kids best!

3. Five Children and It (Nesbit): I’m only just getting into E. Nesbit with my children and I’m having a blast. In this more ‘modern’ fairy tale, five siblings discover a sand-fairy who grants them a wish a day, lasting only until sunset. Whether wishing for beauty, riches, or to be relieved of the care of their baby brother, the siblings discover that getting what they want isn’t always a good thing. Nesbit’s writing is excellent, really lends itself to being read aloud, and really runs the gamut from laugh out loud hilarity to heart-rending pathos. I’ve found that Nesbit is one of those children’s authors who writes for both the parents and the children simultaneously; there are implications and hints adults can chew on while children can enjoy the story as it is.

4. The Neverending Story (Ende): I reread Ende’s fantastic tale about a year ago, and wrote about the surprising ways it dovetailed with St. Augustine’s Confessions. Like Five Children and It, The Neverending Story reflects on what happens when our desires are fulfilled, and what are the deeper longings at the bottom of our superficial wishes. It is also a wonderful reflection on the way a good story can truly change our lives, offering us the comfort and companionship we need in difficult moments. Finally, it is beautifully written, and filled with all kinds of fantastical creatures and landscapes.

5. The Secret of Platform Thirteen (Ibbotson): I had a whole collection of Ibbotson books I devoured as a kid, and like an idiot got rid of a bunch of them when I was trying to downsize somewhere around college. I’ve slowly begun to build my collection back up, and The Secret of Platform 13 is one of the best. In King’s Cross station, once every 9 years, Platform 13 becomes an opening to the magical Island; home of all kinds of fantastic creatures. When the newborn Prince is lost during a visit to London, the King and Queen of the Island must wait 9 years before they can mount a rescue mission to recover their son. Adventures ensue, and the magical world hiding just under the surface of our world is revealed. If you think this sounds like another beloved fantasy series, you would be correct. Ibbotson’s came first, and when people pointed out the similarities, Ibbotson said of Rowling: “I would like to shake her by the hand. I think we all borrow from each other as writers.”¹

6. The Doll People (Martin): I think most children have wondered, at one point or another, if their toys are really alive. The Doll People is an imaginative exploration of that concept, focusing on the ceramic doll, Annabelle, who has been passed down from mother to daughter for many years. Annabelle and her family befriend the plastic dolls owned by another denizen of the house they live in. And Annabelle and Tiffany (one of the plastic dolls) embark on a mission to discover Annabelle’s missing Aunt Sarah. I love the ‘rules’ Martin creates for what dolls can and cannot do, and the detective element is a fun one. Fans of The Velveteen Rabbit might enjoy this more light-hearted depiction of the secret life of toys.

7. The Dark Hills Divide (Cameron): I bought this during the golden days of the Scholastic book fair and immediately fell in love with it. It is the first in a wonderful series which I cannot recommend enough. This book is a smaller and less overtly fantastic tale, though talking animals are a major feature. It is in the subsequent books that the tale gains more cosmic dimensions, with the adventures of the protagonist (Alexa) becoming part of a much larger conflict between the forces of good and evil. As an older teen and young adult, I also realized that this series has to be intended as a Christian allegory. The ultimate villain is known as Abaddon, and he has corrupted a race of giant beings called seraphs. Abaddon is opposed by the mysterious being known as Elyon, who lives in the heavenly Tenth City and works through the human and animal characters of his world to bring about Abaddon’s defeat. Also if you want to interest your kids in chess, the first book heavily features chess (including pictures of a chess game) as part of the plot.

8. Anthropomorphic Animals

   1. Redwall (Jacques) This book was absolutely formative for me. The beautiful vocabulary, the luscious descriptions of food, the epic battle between the forces of good and evil, the beauty of community life at Redwall Abbey, and the creative way in which Jacques gives each animal species a distinct culture, all of it enchanted me. I own nearly every book in the series, including a signed copy I scored at a used book sale. Modern critics have complained that the books are too formulaic; they are completely missing the point. It was the guarantee that good would win over evil, that I found so comforting. Furthermore, there are books in the series where Jacques complicates the good/evil binary of certain animal species, and plenty of the ‘good guys’ are imperfect individuals who make mistakes, learn from them, and grow in virtue. Finally, Jacques doesn’t shy away from showing that good’s ultimate victory comes at a cost, with beloved characters losing their lives in various conflicts. These books are excellent preparation for the parents who wishes their child to read Tolkien some day.

   2. The Capture (Lasky): This is the first in a very extensive series (16 in the main series, 3 in a related series). It depicts a world of anthropomorphic owls who can fight, read, write, create art, and more. For most of the series, including this first one, the main character is Soren, a young barn owl who has grown up on stories of the Guardians of Ga’Hoole, a group of knight-owls. When pushed from his nest by his evil brother, Kludd, he is captured by the horrible owls of St. Aggie’s, who use brainwashed young owlets as slave labor for mysterious tasks. The first book details Soren’s escape from St. Aggie’s with friends he makes along the way, and in the second book he and his friends discover the Guardians of Ga’Hoole. In subsequent books, they become part of the order and part of a greater conflict between the forces of good and evil, in which Soren’s brother (Kludd) reappears. Lasky clearly draws on ideas and tropes from Arthurian legend in her creation of this series. And I love the way in which her imaginative world is formed by the biological realities of owls. A final note; I would consider these to be darker books than, say, the Redwall series. I read them in middle school was fine, but if you have a sensitive child, they might be worth pre-reading.

   3. Time Stops for No Mouse (Hoeye): Similar to the Redwall series, Hoeye imagines a multi-species world of anthropomorphic animals. Unlike the Redwall series, Hoeye’s conceit is distinctly modern. Yet, his creation is just as imaginative and incredibly clever to boot. Our hero is a very hobbit-esque mouse, the quiet bachelor and watchmaker Hermux Tantamoq. He falls in love with the adventurous aviatrix Linka Perflinger when she drops off a watch to be repaired, and sets off on a rescue mission when he has reason to think he is in trouble. The detective-novel element of the novel is very well-handled, and an excellent way to prepare children to read about human detectives when they are older.

   4. The Tale of the Swamp Rat (Crocker): I need other people to read this beautiful book because I NEED someone to talk about it with. It tells the story of Ossie, a swamp rat of southern Florida, who is raised by the ancient gator “Uncle Will” after tragedy strikes his family. Despite this sorrow, he lives a good life with his unexpected caretaker, forging friendships with other swamp creatures, and listening to the stories, dreams, and wisdom that Uncle Will passes on to him. When drought strikes the swamp, a preaching stork called “Bubba” seizes upon Ossie as a scapegoat, slowly turning the other swamp denizens against him. How Ossie deals with, and ultimately overcomes, this cruelty is a fascinating tale. Crocker’s animal world is a delightfully creative microcosm of southern culture, dialect and all. It is a book made for reading aloud on firefly lit summer evenings, and one that will inspire a greater appreciation for the natural world in its readers.

9. The Great Good Thing (Townley): This book was one I frequently checked out from my elementary school library, and recommended to me by a librarian who recognized a bookworm in the making. The main character, Sylvie, is the main character of her very own book in a delightfully meta-tale which plays with the feeling all readers have experienced one time or another; that the characters we read about are real people. When Sylie’s book is threatened with destruction, she must save the inhabitants of her story by migrating to the imagination of a beloved reader, and from there must deal with the existential threat that develops when the reader grows up and begins to forget them. I can’t emphasize enough how much this book is a love-letter to readers. It honors the ways in which certain stories forever alter our mental landscape, and reminds us how very important it is to pass down these stories from one generation to the next.

10. The Phantom Tollbooth (Juster and Feiffer): Our dopamine addicted culture could learn a great deal from the protagonist of this book. Milo is a bored young boy who, one day, finds a mysterious tollbooth in his room. He hops in a toy car, passes through the tollbooth, and visits a magical realm based on linguistic and mathematical humor. He eventually embarks on a mission to rescue the Princesses Rhyme and Reason, whose banishment from the Kingdom of Wisdom has caused chaos. This was another book read aloud to me by an elementary school teacher, and while I didn’t remember the specifics years later, I remembered the sense of wonder and whimsy the book inspired. When I reread it as an adult, I found myself laughing at the author’s wit. A treat for adults and children, and an entertaining way to introduce children to important linguistic and mathematical concepts.

11. The Borrowers (Norton): Another book I discovered in adulthood that I wished I had read sooner. Pod, Homily, and Arrietty are a family of Borrowers, tiny humanoids who live hidden lives in the homes of “human beans,” borrowing the odds and ends they need to survive. Arrietty befriends a lonely human boy who has come to live in the home she and her family borrow from. And neither his life, nor the life of her family, will be the same. G.K. Chesterton, in his essay Tremendous Trifles, narrates a fairy tale of two boys. The first wishes to be a giant, the second to be a “pigmy about half an inch high.” It is the second boy who is able to embark on an adventure, seeing the beauty in a world greater than he is. The Borrowers, then, is a very Chestertonian tale. It is also delightful for the male/female friendship that is not in the least romantic, and for the frame narrative that lets the reader decide for themselves to have faith in the truth of the narrative. I haven’t yet read the others in the series, but I look forward to doing so in the future.

12. Fairy Tale Retellings

    1. Wildwood Dancing (Marillier): I judged this book by its cover at the library as a teen, and neither the cover nor the story itself disappointed. It is a gorgeous retelling of the “12 Dancing Princesses” based on Eastern European folklore. Every full moon the five sisters Tatiana, Jenica, Iulia, Paula, and Stela are able to cross into the Other Kingdom, where they can meet, play, and dance with a variety of magical creatures. The Other Kingdom is a beautiful place, but is nevertheless dangerous, and our narrator (Jena), employs various rules to keep her and her sisters safe during their sojourns into faerie. In the real world, the sisters find their lives upended when their father (a merchant) must travel for business, and their father’s cousin (Uncle Nicolae) dies in his absence. Nicolae’s son Cezar, increasingly takes control of the girls lives and seeks vengeance on the denizens of the Other Kingdom, who he blames for the drowning death of his older brother years before. Mysteries are unraveled, true love is tried and tested, and all is ultimately resolved in the end, though not without cost. The characters, the folklore, and the atmosphere of this tale are phenomenal. The exploration of such weighty themes as sexism, grief, guilt, and coming of age are well-handled. A minor priest character is portrayed in a positive light, which is always nice. All that being said, it is definitely a book for OLDER children/teens. There is a brief scene of sexual assault (forced kiss and hand down a dress) so be advised. Finally, the sequel is one that centers on goddess worship (though ultimately portrayed as part of the same faerie realm as the first book) with “true” worshippers seen in a positive light. Any well-formed Christian shouldn’t have an issue with reading it as simply a fantasy tale, but, again, every parent knows what is best for their families.

    2. Goose Girl (Hale): Another fairy tale retelling for teens, this time of the Grimm’s tale of the same name. Hale’s writing has a poetic quality, and I love that she rewrote a fairy tale in which story-telling and folklore play such a central role. Princess Ani is a wonderful heroine. Like so many teens, she struggles to “fit in,” to carry the weight of the expectations thrust upon her, to discern between true and false friends. And yet, she learns to overcome all of these struggles, and her growth in selflessness and self-confidence is a joy to behold. The romance is sweet, and the side-characters endearing. The subsequent Books of Bayern are enjoyable, but none measure up to the magic of this first one.

    3. The Two Princesses of Bamarre (Levine). I love Ella Enchanted, but I have always preferred this tale of Levine’s. Princess Addie is a wonderfully unexpected heroine: shy, fearful, a homebody. She is an artist with pen and thread, and her artistic talents actually save her life at key points in the novel. When her beloved protector, and sister, Meryl falls ill with the incurable Grey Death, Addie embarks on a quest to save her. I love how Levine subverts expectations by giving the quest not to the sword-wielding and adventure hungry Meryl, but to Addie. I adore the fantastic world Levine creates; her depiction of dragons, in particular, is brilliant. I love how she weaves excerpts from Bamarrian epic poetry into the tale. Most of all, I love the fierce bond between the two sisters, and the way in which they must learn from one another to become the incredible young women they are meant to be.

    4. East (Pattou): This retelling of the Norwegian folktale “East of the Sun and West of the Moon,” narrated by multiple characters, is the only book I’ve encountered with a character who shares my name. Alas, she dies a couple of pages in as a child. That tragedy notwithstanding, I fell in love with this book over and over again as a teen. And when I read it as an adult, it felt as comforting and magical as ever. I’m not normally a fan of POV switches in books (outside of the epistolary novel), but this one is an exception. As in The Two Princesses of Bamarre, I loved how the heroine (Rose) has a crafting talent that ends up saving her life/being crucial to the plot at multiple points in the story. Pattou also does an excellent job of depicting a family that is full of imperfect individuals who ultimately love each other, and must learn how to love one another better, warts and all.

13. The Book of Three (Alexander): Another book that is excellent pre-Tolkien reading. Like Tolkien, Alexander draws on myth and folklore to create his fantasy world, called Prydain. Specifically, he draws on Welsh folklore (which means if you want to read this aloud to your children definitely look up a pronunciation guide ahead of time). Taran, caretaker of the oracular pig Hen Wen, must rescue her from capture by the Horned King, the servant of the evil Arawn. His attempts to save Hen Wen become tied up with a larger quest to save Prydain from being overrun by the Horned King and his undead soldiers. Taran is accompanied by a wonderfully quirky cast of characters, among whom I can’t pick a favorite. I love how Alexander engages with the question of what it means to be a true hero, and of the differences between heroic fantasies and the reality of heroic self-sacrifice.

14. Shiva’s Fire (Staples): Steeped in European folklore and history, it’s always a joy to delve into the mythical worlds of other parts of the world. Shiva’s Fire tells the tale of Parvati, an Indian girl whose birth is attended with cataclysmic signs and wonders, and who early on displays supernatural powers tied to her ability to dance. As someone who took dance lessons until college, I loved learning about the traditional Indian dancing style known as Bharata Natyam in this book. The book, in the context of the Hindu religion its characters ascribe to, explores the conflict that can arise between duty and desire, and explores concepts of fate and free will as well. Also interesting for teen fiction, it portrays the panic poor Parvati feels when, separated from any maternal figures, she has her first period. Her only friend at the dancing school guides her through this important rite of passage, and it is an important reminder of how much female community matters.

15. The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles (Andrews): I owe my elementary school teachers a great deal, because this is yet another book that I discovered because a teacher with good taste read it aloud to us. And yes, it is the Julie Andrews who wrote this book. Siblings Lindy, Tom, and Ben are trained by Professor Savant to enter Whangdoodle Land, a refuge created by the last Whangdoodle for all the fantastic creatures of myth and legend. Professor Savant and the children wish to meet the Whangdoodle, though his Prime Minister, the Prock, distrusts humans and tries to stop them. I love that the ability to enter Whangdoodle Land is ultimately predicated on developing the children’s abilities to observe and concentrate on the world around them, in addition to their imaginative capacities. We could all stand to learn from Professor Savant in our screen-addicted world.

And that’s a wrap! Read any of these books? Have opinions about them? Any new titles you want to check out? Sound off below, and thank you for reading!

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1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_of_Platform_13