child perspective, not YA

[Kendra]

I have liked books in the past that are from a child's perspective, or a young person, but not for a YA audience. The Ice Palace and In Youth is Pleasure come in mind, and also the beginning of The Waves. They are slower-paced books.

I don't want books from a 3 year old perspective. I want the books to maintain an adult audience, but to have that sense of... childish perspective, like lack of understanding of worldly things, a focus on the sensory and one's own world. If that makes sense. I can't really describe it.

But I'd like to see if anyone has any suggestions for what I'm driving at. I recently bought Mouchette, where the protagonist is a young girl.

[RachelAnne]

Have you read any of the Flavia de Luce novels by Alan Bradley? The Sweetness At The Bottom of the Pie" is the first book in the series. All are narrated from the perspective of Flavia, a precocious, chemistry-obsessed eleven-year old growing up in a dilapidated manor house in post-WWII Britain.
Room is told from the viewpoint of five-year-old Jack, who has known no world beyond the room where his mother has been imprisoned for the last seven years.

[Colby]

[karen, future RA queen]

Lullabies for Little Criminals was amazing, and was very much from the perspective of a child who sees without understanding. there is also Asta in the Wings, which has a similar feel of a child in extraordinary circumstances. in both,the reader can see the whole picture and feel concerned for the characters, but they are caught up in a magical world of their own creation. both very good books.

[[deleted user]]

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is an adult book with a teen protagonist. He is also probably on the autism spectrum, and his experience of the world is focused on unusual things.

[Cheryl]

I can suggest more from people w/ asperger's if that does fit. Related is of course the classic Flowers for Algernon.

[Kendra]

thanks guys! Will look into them all.

as for books on autism, I've read quite a few. i'm autistic so maybe that is why I relate more to this/enjoy this kind of perspective in books.

[Claire]

This isn't what you asked, BUT.... have you read Marcelo in the Real World? It's written from Marcelo's perspective. He is an autistic teenager (maybe late teens?) and because he is autistic, he has a very simple and childlike view of the world. His dad makes him come and work at his law firm, so he's thrown into the real world. It's very good!

Sorry if that's not what you're looking for.

[peg]

"Room" by Emma Donoghue is a powerful novel narrated by a five year old whose innocence intensifies the depravity of the situation he and his mother are forced to endure.

"Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" is another book I really enjoyed, and "To Kill A Mockingbird" is one of my all-time favorites.

[Cheryl]

Oh, I'm reading something perfect right now! The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet. The main character isn't even in puberty yet, but he 'maps' every aspect of his life, and has developed such skill in draftsmanship that the Smithsonian, not realizing he's a kid, invites him to Washington. He's innocently self-centered, and while smart enough to know his parents have their own lives, opinions, etc., he doesn't really take them into account as he decides what to do about this invitation. The margins are full of selections from his notebooks. Definitely a book aimed at patient adults (and shelved in the adult section at my library), but so far it's clean enough for clever teens.

[Tuck]

i 2nd that ts spivet, wonderful book

[Mir]

Hotel Paradise is a slow, atmospheric, sort-of-mystery about a girl (11 or 12, I think) working at a run-down resort who becomes obsessed with the drowning of another girl years before.

[Rod]

A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes definitely has that naïve, childish perspective, yet very unsentimental and often disturbing.

[Cheryl]

That book by Richard Hughes was good, indeed. Btw, I was ultimately very disappointed by T.S. Spivet.

[Micha]

OK, this is probably too YA for your request, so I might be way off-base with this recommendation, but my favourite book as a girl (maybe 13) was Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder. I loved that a girl around my age loved philosophy and what I deemed to be "Greek culture" as much as I did!

Another option I would recommend is Elegance of the Hedgehog. It is only partially from the perspective of a young girl, but if you haven't read it yet you might enjoy it.

[Micha]

Would anyone agree that our group read, The Night Circus is partially from a child's perspective or does it not count because it is written in 2nd & 3rd person narratives.

[Mir]

The Ninth Life of Louis Drax is also alternating child and adult perspectives. I didn't love, but our fearless leader did.

I haven't read this so I can only say that it fulfills your general request: Girlchild: A Novel

If you want a really old school example of this, there is Simplicissimus.

[Peter]

At least a couple of Grisham's books are from the child's perspective, including A Painted House.

[Mir]

Here's a pretty new pub: The Land of Decoration

[Tuck]

drinking closer to home is simply incredible and wonderful kids pov, but she DOES grow up eventually Drinking Closer to Home

[Tuck]

i just read two starred reviews for kid pov novels. they sound very exciting #1 via mexico DF Down the Rabbit Hole: A Novel and author of smillas sense of snow fame new one (supposed to be more funny than cold) The Elephant Keepers' Children

[Algernon (Darth Anyan)]

I have on my TBR pile The Painted Bird . from the synopsis it seems to fit: a young boy drifting from place to place during WWII, having some horrible experiences.

[Nadine]

Did somebody mentionThe Boy in the Striped Pajamas? I second Room, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet.
Life of Pi is told by a boy a bit older as is Wild Orchid. Wild orchid however is told by a girl with Aspberger's Syndrome and the narrator's voice seems quite innocent and young to me.

[Kevin]

Ender's Game and A Prayer for Owen Meany

[peg]

"Tell the Wolves I'm Home."

"Ellen Foster"

[Jan]

A really nice one is 'How the soldier repairs the gramopone' by Sasa Stanisic!

[shanghao]

Does The Little Prince count? Reading that always transports me back into looking at the world with child-like wonder. As is Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window.

[D]

Try The Book of Bright Ideas by Sandra Kring. I agree with others' suggestions of Room and TS Spivet - all great reads.

[Stuti]

I hear you, brother. Try Chains, Matlida, Breadcrumbs or perhaps The Lightning Thief, Artemis Fowl or The Looking Glass Wars.

[Becca]

I think you may like Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend. It's a beautifully-written book.

[Karen]

The Age of Miracles was really great and was from an 11-year-old's perspective. It's basically day to day life as seen by a girl in middle school after a really slow and gradual cataclysmic event starts.

[Larissa]

I haven't read it, so I'm not sure how on-point this title will be, but I believe that James Agee's A Death in the Family is narrated, at least in part, by a young boy.

[Larissa]

Oh! And one of the main first-person protagonists of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter is Mick Kelly, an adolescent girl. (Wonderful book!)

[Grey]

Behind The Scenes at The Museum by Kate Atkinson

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Behind-The-Sc...

[Melanie]

You might try Mathilda Savitch, or The Earth Hums in B Flat, or even Ella Minnow Pea, if any of those are to your taste. Young girls narrating the stories.

[Sam~~ we cannot see the moon, and yet the waves still rise~~]

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas I don't know if you've seen the movie, but the book is better by far. The MC, Bruno, is around nine, so he definitely has the perspective you're looking for. It takes place in Germany during WW2.

[Re]

Some of my favorite books are told from a child's point of view, at least for most of the book.

Cutting for Stone, Abraham Verghese
The Power of One, Bryce Courteney
Cocktail Hour under the Tree of Forgetfulness
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Lisa See
The Shadow of the Wind, Zafon
Goldfinch, Donna Tartt
The Rise and Fall of Great Powers, Tom Rachman

[Erin]

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

[Sarah]

The Room by Emma Donaghue. This book was intense. You as the reader understand what's going on to a certain extent, but the little boy doesn't at all. It's a roller coaster of a read for sure.

[Erin *Proud Book Hoarder*]

(horrorish but great) (for the anthology that became the movie stand by me)

[Larissa]

WOW, PEOPLE! WHAT A GREAT THREAD! So many good books here! I too love non-YA books with child narrators.

Try Salvage the Bones if you want devastation followed by hope. In this very short, heartbreaking, but fierce novel, the two weeks before Hurricane Katrina are just as enthralling as the terrible event itself.

I really enjoyed Donna Tartt's The Little Friend. A girl tries to solve her little brother's murder (found hanging in her front yard). What a cast of characters! I read the hardcover and later listened to the audiobook and later still, tricked my husband into wanting to listen to it.

The Round House is an excellent book featuring a teenage (or maybe pre-teen?) boy trying to find justice for his mom who was raped and beaten. So good!

And then, I can't help it, but Jane Eyre starts when Jane is very young and unloved and abused. She is quite the scrappy character! By the time she grows up, you have just fallen in love with her and cheering for her all the way.
.....

Just gonna lurk here and get more recommendations! :-)

[Leeann]

Words is wonderful if you can tolerate Christian themes. The novel alternates between the point of view of a woman grieving over her child's death and a ten year old girl's life with her mother's boyfriend after she was abandoned.

You can probably guess how it ends, but that doesn't stop the book from being a great read.

[Juniper]

@ larissa -- totally agree! this is a great thread. :) hope it's okay to start it up again, so late after the initial request.

a few suggestions:

* Thirteen Shells
* Oreo
* His Whole Life
* The Afterlife of Stars
* All the Light We Cannot See
* Bone & Bread - this one begins with sisters as adults, but goes back to their earlier lives, so may not be what you are looking for, really.