Children Narrators

How does a novel narrated by a child differ from a story told through the voice of an adult? Find the answer by reading one of these insightful books told through the eyes of child protagonists.

The Particular Sadness of Lemon CakeThe Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender
A young, unassuming girl grows up learning to harness her ability to taste people’s emotions in food and becomes aware there are secrets her taste buds can’t interpret.

We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo
A ten-year-old Zimbabwe native escapes the closed schools and paramilitary police control of her homeland in search of opportunity and freedom with an aunt in America.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
Bored and lonely after his family moves from Berlin to a place called “Out-With” in 1942, the son of a Nazi officer befriends a boy in striped pajamas who lives behind a wire fence.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
An eleven-year-old aspiring chemist with a passion for poison is propelled into a mystery when a man is found murdered on the grounds of her family’s decaying English mansion.

Tell the Wolves I'm HomeTell the Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt
When her godfather and best friend dies, a fourteen-year-old girl receives a package in the mail that helps her realize she’s not the only one struggling with grief and an unexpected friend may be just what she needs.

Whistling Past the Graveyard by Susan Crandall
Determined to get to Nashville to find her mother in 1963, a nine-year-old girl runs away from her strict grandmother’s home, accepting a ride from a black woman traveling alone with a white baby.

Room by Emma Donoghue
A five-year-old boy narrates the story of growing up in a single room where his mother tries to protect him from the man who has held her prisoner for seven years.

Peace Like a RiverPeace Like a River by Leif Enger
The story of a father raising his three children in 1960s Minnesota is told through the voice of an eleven-year-old asthmatic boy obsessed with cowboy stories.

Life of Pi by Yann Martel
When his family emigrates from India to North America aboard a Japanese cargo ship, the son of a zookeeper finds himself alone in a lifeboat with a hyena, an orangutan, a zebra and a 450-pound Bengal tiger.

In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner
A seven-year-old’s world of carefully guarded royal privilege is swept up in the chaos of revolution and forced exodus from Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

The Little FriendThe Little Friend by Donna Tartt
A twelve-year-old girl, who has grown up in the shadow of her brother’s death from hanging, resolves to solve the murder and exact her revenge.

Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons
Having suffered abuse and misfortune for much of her life, a child searches for a better life and finally gets a break in the home of a loving woman with several foster children.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
Despite his overwhelming fear of interacting with people, a mathematically-gifted, autistic boy decides to investigate the murder of a neighbor’s dog and uncovers secret information about his mother.

Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl
After a childhood moving from one place to another, a teenager attends an elite North Carolina school in her senior year where the deaths of a teacher and student awaken her analytical instincts.

The History of LoveThe History of Love by Nicole Krauss
Sixty years after the book’s publication, a fourteen-year-old girl named for a character in the story tries to find the author as a cure for her widowed mother’s loneliness.

Paddy Clarke, Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle
A ten-year-old in 1960s Dublin attempts to make sense of his ever-changing world of family, friends and dreams.

November 11, 2016