What would you do with this 9yo boy? Book suggestions, please!

[Handmaiden]

My rising 4th grader is finally reading, but he just wants to keep reading his sister's American Girl books (despite his older brother's teasing). Whenever I encourage him to check out other books from the library, he will choose books like A to Z Mysteries. (sigh) I don't mind the Beverly Clearly books that he sometimes chooses.

 

My other two are voracious readers, as was I when I was their age, so motivating this guy to read better quality books has been challenging.

 

Any recommendations for books for him that 1) are not girly, and 2) are higher quality (engaging storyline, higher level vocabulary, classics).

 

TIA!

[Guest CarolineUK]

I wouldn't worry about the girly reading, if it's interesting him I think any reading is good, and he will move on eventually - my DS9 enjoys most of all reading his younger brother's early readers at the moment! I do insist he spends half an hour to an hour daily reading something more age appropriate though. His older brother, who was a very late reader and struggled terribly, got hooked on reading at 9 yo when his school teacher gave him H.I.V.E. by Mark Walden - he's now a voracious reader. The same book hasn't grabbed DS9, however. We've also tried Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy and STORM by E L Young, with varying degrees of success. I feel that we just need to keep to the discipline of daily reading sessions and eventually it'll 'click' like it did for my eldest.

 

Best of luck

[NanceXToo]

Would you tell your daughter she shouldn't read books about boys and their adventures?

 

If not, who cares if your son wants to read books that are about girls and theirs? If he's interested in it, let him read it!

 

If you have specific "quality" books you'd like him to read, why not pick one up and offer to read it aloud with him? Or get it on an audiobook?

 

The books he reads for fun on his time should be books he picks himself- if he's reading at all, that's great and definitely to be celebrated!

 

With my daughter, the Oak Meadow curriculum "assigns" a particular book every three weeks. We read those aloud together. I will also sometimes select books that I think she will enjoy and we read those aloud together, as long as she's interested (she usually is).

 

But I don't ever tell her what she can or should read on her own reading time, I just appreciate the fact that she likes to read and will do so for fun. What she reads is up to her!

 

So far, at ages 8 and 9, they have been things like:

 

Choose your own mystery books

Diary of a Wimpy Kid books

A-Z mystery books

Encyclopedia Brown books

Pippi Longstocking books

Books of fairy tales, myths, or fables

Joke books

Magic Treehouse books

American Girl books

Wayside School books

 

etc.

 

When I was a kid I loved to read. Nobody influenced my reading choices, I read what I wanted to, and continued doing so into adulthood, and I've enjoyed it every step of the way. And somewhere along the way I've read most of the "classics" in addition to all the "fluff" I selected. I'm sure my kids will, too. And yours! :)

[Guest CarolineUK]

An afterthought: the above are typically boy/adventure type books that I felt would appeal; however, he has quite voluntarily read what would probably be considered 'better quality' books himself and really enjoyed them, including D'Aulaire's Greek Myths and books by Michael Morpurgo, such as Aesop's Fables and Beowulf, books I'd actually bought to read as part of our history studies. The Greek Myths went down very well after I'd been reading Percy Jackson to him and DS11 as bedtime reading, but I realise that Percy isn't everyone's taste.

[Mom-ninja.]

Let him read the American Girl books if he likes them. He'll learn to appreciate girls/women in history.

 

Why does it bother you? Are you concerned he will not read about male role models? Are you concerned he will become too feminine? Are you afraid of teasing?

 

There are a few books in the American Diary series that are from boys' point of view. What's his reading level? My ds is 9 and rising 4th grader but due to slow fluency he reading 2nd/3rd grade books. He is reading The My Father's Dragon series and loves it.

 

B&N has(had?) a sale on boy book sets. You can choose between abridged or unabridged classics. If I had extra funds in my budget I'd buy a set or two.

Edited July 29, 2010 by Kleine Hexe

[Handmaiden]

Judging by the responses, I must have been clear as mud. I don't mind him reading the AG books, I'd just like him to branch out to other series as well. He's read them over and over again, and when we're at the library, he'll default to those books instead of venturing out and trying other titles.

 

I'm certainly not trying to "control" his reading. All I was hoping for was some suggestions on titles for him to try that would bridge the gap between the easy "fast food" type of books to ones with better writing. Something that would appeal to boys (adventure).

 

Nance, you mentioned Pippi Longstocking--that's an excellent choice as he's seen the movies and would probably go for that. The main character is a girl (I'm not a sexist ;)) and that's not important; it's the quality of book I'm looking to upgrade. Astrid Lingren is a fantastic storyteller and excellent writer.

Edited July 29, 2010 by Handmaiden

[mom2boys030507]

One of the things I have done to get my son to branch out from the Magic Schoolbus Chapter books is to only allow one or two from a series. At this point it goes for all series in our house. Each boy is only allowed to checkout one Henry and Mudge, one Magic Treehouse ect. I use the logic that we have to share with all the other kids that come to the library. My boys are so concerned about being able to check out the allowed number of books that although the complain a little they really just want books to read. I have also at times told my oldest that he has to pick at least one chapter book that is of school quality. This has helped to raise his level of reading on his own too.

[Catwoman]

Since he's still relatively new to reading, I would continue to let him choose to read anything that is of interest to him, and not be concerned about the quality. There's plenty of time for "good" books, and right now, I think "any" books are good enough!

 

One suggestion -- how about The Boxcar Children books? He might like a series that features one family having fun adventures, as he would get to know the characters and want to know what they're doing next. My ds started reading the first book of the series and proclaimed it to be BORING, but after a few more chapters, he was hooked, and ended up reading at least 50 books from the series. (They're mysteries, but aren't at all scary, and the children have excellent morals and characters, yet aren't sickeningly sweet.)

 

Cat

[NanceXToo]

Hm. Well. You could try maybe picking out one book at a time from the library yourself and leaving it around for him to either read with you or hopefully pick up and start reading on his own and see how it goes!

 

Some suggestions:

 

The Hardy Boys

The Boxcar Children

Harry Potter

Encyclopedia Brown

Chronicles of Narnia

Peter Pan

The Sign of the Beaver

Shiloh

James and the Giant Peach

The Apprenticeship of Lucas Whitaker

The Indian In The Cupboard

Tales Of A Fourth Grade Nothing (if you consider Judy Blume appropriate; I've always loved her lol)

 

I'd have to think on it some more. My only son is only four years old lol. My 9 year old is a girl. But those were some that either came to mind or are sitting on our bookcase.

[yvonne]

How about Dr. Dolittle, Swiss Family Robinson, Peter Pan, Sign of the Beaver?

 

My 9 year old boys listened to three or four of the Redwall books on audio cd. Then they devoured the books from the whole series. I hate to admit, I did not preread them, :blush: though I did listen to parts of them in the car. They would not have read them if they hadn't first listened to them as audio books. The dialect would have been too hard to get past.

 

(There's another similar series called Mistmantle, that the boys went on to read and enjoy.)

[rafiki]

.

[JudoMom]

How about the How to Train Your Dragon series?

[tinkgumby]

My 8-year-old son is just about to finish "The Name of This Book is Secret." It's the longest/hardest book he's ever read, but when I checked it out from the library I read him the jacket and first page or two, and he was hooked! Here's a link to the book on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Name-this-Book-Secret/dp/0316113697/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1280438922&sr=8-1

 

My almost 10-year-old is on chapter 7 of Harry Potter - also probably the most difficult book he's stuck with (he started, but didn't finish, The Lightning Thief). We were playing the new Harry Potter Lego game and then watched through all the movies, and that was enough to pique his interest.

 

Astrid Lindgren was mentioned earlier. Pippi is great, but my absolute FAVORITE by that author remains the Emil books - Emil in the Soup Tureen, Emil and Piggy Beast, and Emil's Pranks. HILARIOUS books about a naughty little boy who usually has good intentions. (It looks like they were re-released in the US with different names - but most likely the same books.)

 

I think the real key is hooking their interest - usually for me that entails searching out books that I think they would like, and then telling them enough about it or reading a bit to them so their attention is captured. And I keep lots and LOTS of options on hand!

 

I did also put away some books (like Junie B. Jones or the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series) that were too simple for them, but that they kept re-reading instead of branching out to other things.

[Handmaiden]

Thank you, thank you, thank you for the great suggestions! He will be armed with a long list the next time we go to the library.

 

I like the idea of listening to Redwall on CD. His older brother is going through the series, but I think the sheer thickness of the book intimidates him. He enjoys audiobooks, so I think he'd really get into the story (and perhaps want to tackle the books themselves.)

 

And I've never heard of Lindgren's Emil series. I will definitely check them out!

 

A victory of sorts today--I handed him Mr. Popper's Penguins (from our shelves) and he is not only reading it, he's laughing out loud! He came over to me and said, "Mom, you have to read this book. It is SO funny!" :001_smile:

[abreakfromlife]

My ds loves The Hardy Boys, Redwall series, Mouse and the Motorcycle, Bobbsey Twins, and even Nancy Drew.

[Mom-ninja.]

I already mentioned My Father's Dragon and the sequels. I also thought of Sindbad stories. My boys love them.

 

I wish my boys would reread a few books over and over. It helps with fluency, an area they both need to work on. Once they read something they have no desire to read it again.

 

I printed out the book list from IEW website. It's a great list. You can find it on the free downloads section.

[Handmaiden]

I printed out the book list from IEW website. It's a great list. You can find it on the free downloads section.

 

I've never seen this...off to check it out now. Thanks!

[Jocelyne]

Thanks for the great suggestions. I have a strong reader who is hard to keep in books. Some of these I have never head of, but look forward to checking out!