I think that my kids read it in 7th grade so not "children's book" like say, Splat the Cat or Diary of a Wimp Kid but certainly a middle-school book (also,TKAM is probably my most favorite book ever!)
Oz is the highest-scoring person ever to fail to graduate.
Willow ,'Him'
Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
DawnK - Aug 10, 2011 3:25:57 pm PDT #15895 of 28342
giraffe mode
Amy - Aug 10, 2011 3:26:02 pm PDT #15896 of 28342
Because books.
When I hear "children's book" I generally think under twelve. But that might just be me.
-t - Aug 10, 2011 3:35:22 pm PDT #15897 of 28342
I am a woman of various inclinations and only some of the time are they to burn everything down in frustration
I wouldn't call it a children's book, no.
Hm, $50 day pass + 6-7 hours of driving for a reading . . . I'll have to think about that.
Eta: if "children's" includes YA, then maybe. The two are distinct in my mind.
zuisa - Aug 10, 2011 3:47:58 pm PDT #15898 of 28342
call me jacki; zuisa is an internet nick from ancient times =)
We read To Kill a Mockingbird in my Honors English class in 9th grade. But I definitely would have understood it younger. I don't think I'd call it a children's book.
Sophia Brooks - Aug 10, 2011 4:22:03 pm PDT #15899 of 28342
Cats to become a rabbit should gather immediately now here
We read it in 11th grade as an outside reading. We had a choice between TKM, Catcher in the Rye, and Of Mice and Men. I think I could have read it younger, but the themes were teen appropriate, I think, even though viewed through the lense of younger children.
megan walker - Aug 10, 2011 4:48:11 pm PDT #15900 of 28342
"What kind of magical sunshine and lollipop world do you live in? Because you need to be medicated."-SFist
Someone on G+ posted a question asking for everyone's favorite children's book, and listed To Kill a Mockingbird. I love that book, but I wouldn't call it a children's book, right?
Nathan Branford had that on his blog today and I thought the same thing. Especially with today's YA category, I always assume "children's book" means well below teen years.
Amy - Aug 10, 2011 5:00:57 pm PDT #15901 of 28342
Because books.
That's who it was on G+!
Strix - Aug 10, 2011 8:53:12 pm PDT #15902 of 28342
A dress should be tight enough to show you're a woman but loose enough to flee from zombies. — Ginger
I would term it a classic with a child protagonist and a child's POV. I don't think it falls as YA, per se, but I think it's very germane to inclusion on MS/HS reading lists.
Kathy A - Aug 11, 2011 7:31:14 am PDT #15903 of 28342
We're very stretchy. - Connie Neil
My junior high book club always had TKAM as its first book of the year (it was the teacher/moderator's favorite book), so I first read it the summer between 6th and 7th grade. I definitely "got it," but then, I read Roots in 5th grade and loved it, so I was weird.
DavidS - Aug 11, 2011 10:34:09 am PDT #15904 of 28342
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
Knut and I both thought that NPR's List of Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy Books was incredibly boring.
So we traded picks and made our own top ten of just Fantasy and I like our list better. (They included series so we did too.)
1. The Circus of Dr. Lao - Charles Finney
2. Gormenghast Trilogy - Mervyn Peake
3. Lud-In-The-Mist - Hope Mirrlees
4. Mythago Wood series - Robert Holdstock
5. Land of Laughs - Jonathan Carroll
6. The Magic Toyshop - Angela Carter
7. Fafrhd and the Grey Mouser series - Fritz Leiber
8. Riddlemaster of Hed series - Patricia McKillip
9. The Dying Earth - Jack Vance
10. Iron Dragon's Daughter - Michael Swanick