Amanda, on books for the Slightly Bigger

Today we have the last of Amanda's posts on books for littles. Of course, the littles have grown since Monday, they're not so little any more....

For the Slightly Bigger

For sneaking flashlights ‘neath warm sheets.

The Bears’ Famous Invasion of Sicily, Dino Buzzati/Frances Lobb (translator)

KING LEANDER. He is the King of the Bears, the son of a King who in turn had a King as a father. He is therefore a bear of most ancient lineage. He is tall, strong, valiant, virtuous, and intelligent too, though not as intelligent as all that. We hope you will like him.

The Phantom Tollbooth, Norman Juster/Jules Feiffer

Attached to one side was a bright-blue envelope which said simply: “FOR MILO, WHO HAS PLENTY OF TIME.”

Half Magic, Edward Eager/N.M. Bodeker

A book about four sensible children who enjoy both libraries and the books of one E. Nesbit. Also covers such subjects as borrowing money from another’s pocketbook and accidental arson.

Boy, Roald Dahl/Quentin Blake

Dead mice in candy jars and goat poo in pipes.

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More, Roald Dahl/Quentin Blake

A boy who talks to animals and magic of every other sort.

Matilda, Roald Dahl/Quentin Blake

Our heroine reads many great books, outwits several cruel adults, and composes at least one limerick. Also, a small and charming cottage.

The Witches, Roald Dahl/Quentin Blake

For children who hope to survive into adulthood, the most important book of them all.

The Magician’s Elephant, Kate DiCamillo/Yoko Tanaka

Leo Matienne had the soul of a poet, and because of this, he liked very much to consider questions that had no answers.

The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread, Kate DiCamillo/Timothy Basil Ering

He drank the soup in big, noisy gulps. And when he stepped out of the saucer, his paws were damp and his whiskers were dripping and his stomach was full.

Harriet the Spy, Louise Fitzhugh

A book with a surfeit of tomato sandwiches.

The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman/Dave McKean

There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife.

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, E.L. Konigsburg

Claudia knew that she could never pull off the old-fashioned kind of running away … She didn’t like discomfort; even picnics were untidy and inconvenient: all those insects and the sun melting the icing on the cupcakes.

A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L’Engle

It was a dark and stormy night.

The Willoughbys, Lois Lowry

Their father, an impatient and irascible man, went to work at a bank each day, carrying a briefcase and an umbrella even if it was not raining. Their mother, who was indolent and ill-tempered, did not go to work. Wearing a pearl necklace, she grudgingly prepared the meals. Once she read a book but found it distasteful because it contained adjectives.

His Dark Materials series, Phillip Pullman

All of the best things of any worlds exist in these three books.

The Westing Game, Ellen Raskin

The Halloween moon was full. Except for her receding chin Turtle Wexler looked every inch the witch, her dark unbraided hair streaming wild in the wind from under her peaked hat, a putty wart pasted on her small beaked nose.

A Series of Unfortunate Events, Lemony Snicket/Brett Helquist

In this book, not only is there no happy ending, there is no happy beginning and very few happy things in the middle. This is because not very many happy things happened in the lives of the three Baudelaire youngsters … I am sorry to tell you this, but that is how the story goes.

The Wonderful O, James Thurber/Marc Simont

Pirates ban the letter O. Hrrible, wnderful things ensue.

The 13 Clocks, James Thurber/Marc Simont

His hands were as cold as his smile and almost as cold as his heart. He wore gloves when he was asleep, and he wore gloves when he was awake, which made it difficult for him to pick up pins or coins or the kernals of nuts, or to tear the wings from nightingales.

* images one by Littlebirds
* image two by Jaime M
* image three by Buttonhearts