I just recently saw a trailer for the movie “The Seeker: The Dark is Rising.”  Apparently, this is the movie version of the first of the Dark is Rising series written by Susan Cooper sometime back in the 60’s.  To me, this series is on a par with the Chronicles of Narnia, Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter.  However, it is vastly different in style, setting, and tone from each of those.  I loved this series.  It is haunting, mysterious, spooky, and unique.  Unfortunately, from what I could tell from the trailer, the movie is none of the above.  The main premise (in the book) is that a shy, reserved English boy, the seventh son of a seventh son, moves into the English countryside, and through a series of events on his eleventh birthday, discovers that he is the last of the ”Old Ones,” beings such as Merlin and other legendary figures, who use their powers in the great and eternal battle between good and evil, or the “Dark” and the “Light.”  Reflective of this huge burden and responsibility, Will is characterized as being solemn and wise beyond his years–an adult in a boy’s body.

Now, somehow, in the movie trailer, Will and his family are definitely American and the setting seems to be suburban America, he’s somehow become older–thirteen or fourteen maybe–he plays video games and is dealing with learning how to talk to girls.  When he finds out about his unique powers, he says something like “Cool!” and asks if he can fly as well.  To me (and to the many other fans commenting on the trailer), this interpretation is almost sacreligious.  You might as well have put the Narnia kids in Orange County or put Frodo in jeans.  I don’t know what they were thinking when they put this movie together, but unless the trailer is misleading, they have completely butchered this book.  People who have not read the books think that maybe this show is some sort of rip-off of Harry Potter, when the only thing they have at all in common is that they are both set in England and they both have boys who find out about their powers on their eleventh birthday (not sure what the significance of the eleventh birthday is–maybe it’s an english thing). I will, of course, go see it, in the hopes that it’s not as bad as the trailer makes it seem, but I will have very low expectations. 

So, in thinking of these books, I thought I would mention from time to time books that I loved as a kid, but I don’t think are as well-known as they ought to be. Unfortunately, I can only think of a few right now, but if I think of more, I’ll just write about them later.  (I’m afraid you will notice a predisposition towards fantasy novels.  I’m sorry, but that is my main reading fare.)   

Mrs. Piggle Wiggle:  I’ve mentioned this series to a few of you before, but I highly recommend reading these to your kids.  It’s about a neighborhood widow who loves all children and has a sea chest left to her by her pirate husband that contains magical cures to all of the normal childhood ailments.  We’re not talking measles and mumps here, we’re talking classic childhood illnesses such as talking back, refusing to take a bath, being a slowpoke, not cleaning your room, slow-eater/tiny bite takers, bullying, and so on and so forth.  Kids will love the inventive and ridiculous cures, but in reading them to my kids now, I find some of the biggest charms being the glimpses into 1940’s small town dynamics (hello, Maybury), the ridiculous names, and the classic interactions between the parents as the frantic mother calls all her neighbors for advice about her child’s issue (some things never change).  I think there are five or six books in the series.  Try the first one and you’ll be hooked.  This would be a fun one to see made into a PBS mini series or something.

The Oz books:  There are many more adventures after Dorothy returns to Kansas, far more to the land of Oz than the Munchkins and the Yellow Brick Road, and many more characters that you would love to meet.  For the older reader, there’s some interesting historical satire: a feminist revolt, for instance, where all the women in the Emerald City decide that they no longer wish to do all the cooking and cleaning and so storm the palace (where the Scarecrow is king), using knitting needles as their main weapons.

The Meg Lanslow mysteries, by Donna Andrews: not kids’ books, but really fun modern-day mysteries with a quirky spin.  All the books have birds in the title, such as We’ll Always Have Parrots, Revenge of the Wrought-Iron Flamingos, and Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon.  The heroine/amateur detective is a blacksmith artist, and the settings of the murders range from a sci-fi convention to a video game software company, to a colonial/Revolutionary War re-enactment fair.  The guy who died usually deserves it, and the guy who did it is always a surprise.  If you’re into bone-chilling thrillers, this is not the series for you, but if you like your whodunnits filled with wacky characters and witty repertoire, you’d enjoy this series.