This is a fun one, I chose to do "characters who learn something about themselves" for this week's Top Ten Tuesday because it's such an easy prompt I can take the time to do it properly. Here are my top ten. These are all wonderful books, and I highly recommend all of them!
1. The Shadow Children books by Margaret Peterson Haddix
The kids in this series are illegal. They are third children in a society that only allows two children per family, and they will lose their lives if the population police ever find them. The series revolves around a couple of different "shadow children" as they assume fake identities in order to join the outside world and fight the oppressive government that bans their existence. Several characters learn a lot about themselves as they discover not only how to function in the world outside their sheltered existences, but how to dig deep down and find the bravery needed to win the day.
2. Double Identity by Margaret Peterson Haddix
I love this book so much, which you may have noticed by how often I use it in these lists! I really can't say anything about what sort of identity crisis Bethany comes to, but it's really a doozy and it's one of my absolutely favorites.
3. The Missing books by Margaret Peterson Haddix
I'm not really sure how much I can say about the Missing books, because the first book would be completely spoiled if I explained the overarching premise of the series. All I'll tell you is that it's not a metaphor when I say that the characters "discover their identities."
4. The Candymakers by Wendy Mass
This is a book about many things, including candy and friendship, but it also deals with the stresses of fulfilling expectations versus pursuing your own dream. One character in particular learns to value his/her own abilities because they are what give him/her joy.
5. Tree Girl by T.A. Barron
This is a little book I read when I was younger, and absolutely adored. Looking back it's a little weird, but it's definitely got that aspect of identity crisis as the main character makes her way through the forest, and winds up discovering her own identity.
6. The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen
This is a book about completely losing your own identity, and immersing yourself in another's. Sage doesn't learn anything about his "identity," per se - after all, a false name doesn't erase the past - but he does learn about his own strengths as he slowly comes to accept the fact that he is much better at being royal than he had originally believed.
7. The Sisters Grimm books by Michael Buckley
Poor Sabrina Grimm hates her fairytale detective family, and just wants to go back to her normal life. But as the series progresses Sabrina learns to value the work that her family does, and to appreciate her own power as a Grimm and as a detective.
8. The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester
All of the main characters in The Girl Who Could Fly have talents that tie in with their personalities, but for the first half of the book they don't really respect themselves or their talent. Over the course of the story they learn not only to trust one another, but to trust themselves and their abilities. They learn that they are strong, especially when they work together.
9. Things Not Seen by Andrew Clements
Yeah, this is one of my favorites. Bobby wakes up one morning invisible, and spends the next few weeks trying to figure out how to reverse it, and how to convince DFS that his parents didn't kill him and take his body. He becomes friends with a blind girl named Angela, who helps him to discover things not only about himself, but about the rest of the world as well.
10. The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine
Addie is the shy, clingy sister. It's Meryl who is the fierce one. But when Meryl gets sick with an untreatable and fatal disease known as the Gray Death, Addie sets out on a quest to find the cure. She braves all sorts of dangers and discovers that there are no limits to what she could do, if she was doing it for her sister.
There we go! Have you read any of these, and do you agree that they fit on this list?
Showing posts with label Andrew Clements. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Andrew Clements. Show all posts
21 April 2015
My Top Ten Favorite Authors
When I saw this week's Top Ten Tuesday prompt, I couldn't help but smile! Who doesn't like reeling off their favorite authors? This was probably the easiest post I've ever written, and one of the funnest. I hope you pick up a few new books/authors to check out as you read through here. I tried to include a few favorites from each author so you can check them out if you're interested.
If I had to make a list of one, and choose a single favorite author, I wouldn't even blink before choosing her. She has written over 30 books, and I have read every single one of them. I adored some, I loved others, and merely liked others, but I have never actually disliked a book by Margaret Peterson Haddix. And after so many books, I find it extremely unlikely that this trend will ever change.
3. Gordon Korman
She has a few books for older and younger people that I'm not a huge fan of (the older books are too racy for me, and the younger ones too slow), but the rest of her books are amazing. She always comes up with compelling, unique story ideas that keep you on your toes. Some of my favorites of her books include the Willow Falls books, the Twice Upon a Time series, and The Candymakers.
7. Jennifer A. Nielsen
I fell in love with Jaron from The False Prince back in 2013, and haven't looked back since. I devoured the rest of the Acendance trilogy and moved on to her Underworld Chronicles. It's for younger kids, but I enjoyed it and my middle-school-aged brother liked it even more than I did. Just recently I read and loved Mark of the Thief, the start of her new series, and I'm looking forward to finding out what happens next. She has a World War II book coming out that's centered around the Berlin wall, which I can't wait to read. It's called A Night Divided.
This is another author whose books I absolutely love. I'm the kind of person who hunts down as many books as I can when I like an author, so after finishing her amazing Dragon trilogy I moved straight into her Princess books and the Castle Glower series. I have never met a Jessica Day George I didn't like, and I don't believe I ever will!
Those are a few of my all-time favorite authors! What are yours?
1. Margaret Peterson Haddix
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| Click to check out my review |
2. E.D. Baker
She does some great fairytale retellings. Her Frog Princess series is one of the few series that can get away with having eight books all about the same characters, and not get boring. I also love her book Wings, which isn't so much a retelling as it is a modern continuation/reinterpretation of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.
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| Click to check out my review |
He is hilarious. Hilarious. I fell in love with his books years ago, and got my next oldest brother hooked as soon as he reached middle school. I am determined to foist his books on my youngest two siblings once they get old enough too, because his books are awesome entertainment. Even the names are charmingly silly: two that come to mind are The Chicken Doesn't Skate and No More Dead Dogs (incidentally, two of my favorites!).
4. Andrew Clements
Most of his books are for elementary and middle school kids, and that's where I was when I fell in love with them. Somehow I never really fell out of love with his books, and I still turn to them when I need a break from my normal fare. He also has a phenomenal YA book called Things Not Seen, which is just amazing.
5. Wendy Mass
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| Click to check out my review |
6. Angie Sage
Two words: Septimus Heap. It's one of my all-time favorite fantasy series, and is just all-around amazing. She's writing the spin-off series now, called TodHunter Moon, and it's one of the few spin-offs I've read that actually maintain a significant amount of the charm of the original series.
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| Click to check out my review |
8. Rick Riordan
Yes, he still goes on this list. I'm not a huge fan of the Heroes of Olympus books, so I may come across as kind of negative toward his books on this blog (in fact, I even did a post listing his most-used cliches!). However, I really do love the Percy Jackson series and that will never change. Those books are hilarious, heartwarming, and altogether charming, and will never lose their space on my bookshelf. And for that, Riordan gets a spot on my "favorite authors" list.
9. Jessica Day George
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| Click to check out my review |
10. James Riley
Riley is a master at fracturing fairytales. His Half Upon a Time books are hilarious, and so heartwarming. On the surface his writing style feels kind of juvenile (read: lots of exclamation marks), but this style of writing becomes part of the overall feel/humor of the books. I love how he takes all of the fairtyales and sets them in an alternate universe to our own.
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