Carol_A

Taking our 13-year-old and 17-year-old to Italy and Greece this summer. I've gotten lots of wonderful recommendations from previous Fodor's lists, but I don't know enough about many of the books to know if their suitable for teens. Any suggestions specifically appropriate for kids?

ira

The Iliad and the Odyssey.

Xenos

My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell

elina

In my opinion at least the 17 year old is an adult as far it comes to literature. Also 13 year old is old enough for the same books that adults read. That is, if s/he is used to reading books. If you have good suggestions just give those to the kids.

I know at least I grew out of children´s/teen´s books by the time I was twelve.

Mimar

For the 13-year-old, it depends on how good a reader s/he is. It also depends on what you mean by appropriate. But here's a couple suggestions:

Mary Renault's books about ancient Greece, especially The Bull From the Sea (about Theseus), and the Mask of Apollo (about a Greek actor).

I, Claudius for the older child

A book of Greek myths. (I read these when I was thirteen, and the knowledge came in very handy later when I was an English major.)

Also I saw in a bookstore, a picture book showing drawings of ancient sites as they are now with see-through overlays of how they looked in ancient times.

ira

Ooops,

Left out the Aeneid.

jgg

Highly recommend Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone. It is a historical biography of Michelangelo. I couldn't get my 12 year old (almost 13) to read it before our trip last month, but maybe yours will be more willing. It will definitely give them greater insight into the works of Michelangelo.

My 12 year old daughter loves myteries and really enjoyed the Donna Leon mystery series. They all take place in Venice. They are adult books, but appropriate for teenagers.

julia_t

If you are going anywhere near Venice, then your 13 year old should read The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke, published in the UK by Chicken House, but it should be available on Amazon. It is a magical and exciting adventure story about two orphaned children on the run who meet up with several others living in an abandoned cinema. Their leader is the mysterious Thief Lord. I read it first and thought it a great book - so atmospheric, my daughter read it at 13 and loved it, and my 12 year olds are reading it now.

Donna Leon writes excellent detective novels set in Venice, about a dozen titles to date.

brotherleelove2004

Eleni by Nicholas Gage

MargrietVanderBanck

Gerald Durrell was an English naturalist, who spent some of his childhood years in Corfu. This book and a collection of short stories called Birds, Beasts, and Relatives are hilarious accounts of his early explorations into animal life and of his highly eccentric family (brother Larry was the novelist Lawrence Durrell). The descriptions of Corfu in the 1930s are lyrical and evocative.

MargrietVanderBanck

I seem to have cut off the first part of my post, which was to endorse the suggestion of My Family and Other Animals.

M

llamalady

Mary Stewart wrote some books sited in
Greece IIRC - certainly suitable for
teenagers.

carolyn

One of those books by Mary Stewart is The Moonspinners. It was made into a movie starring a young Hayley Mills, too, although not as good as the book, of course.

elaine

carolyn
you and I ought to start a "Moonspinners"
book fan club.
It's the book that sent me to Greece on my first trip to Europe.
Carol, I still love the book, your 13 year old might love it too.
There's a romance, but it's chaste.

Underhill

Besides "The Moonspinners," there are other fine Mary Stewart books set in Greece. I can't decide whether "This Rough Magic" or “My Brother Michael” is my favorite--they're both excellent.

For Italy, besides the Donna Leon books (I love them) there is the series by Lindsay Davis set mostly in Rome.

Carol_A

Thanks so much. These are wonderful ideas! They've read the The Thief Lord and loved it, and the older one has read the Illiad and the Odyssey. I really appreciate all the great suggestions!