Need some literary advice

[bookraptor11]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "augustinapeach" 
<augustinapeach at y...> wrote:
> Hi, everyone.
> 
> Christmas is coming, and I'm looking for books to give my 8-year-
old 
> son.  He is a fairly advanced reader (has finished all five HP 
> books) who really likes the fantasy genre.  Usually, I like to 
> browse through a book before I recommend it to him (hope I don't 
> sound like "Mommy Dearest" -- just not quite ready yet to explain 
> certain things to an 8-year-old!!), but I can't see myself having 
> much time to do that in the next month. I'm wondering if any of you 
> might be able to give me a brief review of the following books -- 
or 
> be able to suggest others he might like.  
> 
> Eragon -- Christopher Paolini
> The Thief Lord -- Cornelia Funke
> Wicked -- Gregory Maguire
> A Rumor of Dragons -- Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman

The Thief Lord is a fantasy of two boys who run away to Venice to 
escape being split up by their aunt and uncle, who want the cute 5 
year old but can't be bothered with his older brother.  They fall in 
with a group of street kids who are led by the Thief Lord, an older 
boy who gives them a place to live and brings them items that they 
can fence.  Readers find out early about the boy's true identity.  
Most of the book is taken up with stealing a wing that is missing 
from an animal on a carousel, which is rumored to have the magical 
ability to make the young older and the old younger. Nice story, can 
lead to good discussions on growing up and growing up too fast. There 
are two nice, intelligent adults who offset the nasty or foolish 
adults. (I like Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events for the 
humor, but all the grownups are evil or idiotic, or sometimes both!) 

A Rumor of Dragons is actually half of the first book of the 
Dragonlance Trilogy, repackaged for older children and teens. The 
text is the same as the adult version. The violence is not as graphic 
as some adult fantasy novels, but is higher than a children's book.  
Also, one character, Tanis Half-Elven, is a half elf because his 
mother was raped by a human; this is stated but the episode is not 
described in the text. 

If you see similar books by Robert Jordan, this is also an adult 
fantasy series, The Wheel of Time, given the same treatment as the 
Weis and Hickman trilogy.

I can also recommend Midnight for Charlie Bone by Jenny Nimmo. 
Charley discovers he can hear what people in photographs are saying. 
When his grandmother and her nasty sisters discover this, they send 
him to Bloor Academy, where he finds other children with unusual 
gifts.  It turns out there are 12 endowed, all descendants of the Red 
King, a powerful magician, and not all of them are good. It doesn't 
have the complexity of Harry Potter, but is a good story. The second 
book is out, but I haven't read it yet, and a third will be 
published.  

Hope this helps.

Donna