Exciting classic adventure/explorer books for 3rd grade boy?

[Halcyon 5,927]

Hi-I am looking for more books for my 8 yo who loves adventure stories, explorer biographies etc. On our list so far I have:

 

 

 

• The Incredible Journey
  
• My Side of the Mountain
  
• The Black Stallion
  
• From the Mixed Up Files....
  
• Phoebe The Spy
  

 

 

He's really enjoyed Shiloh, Stone Fox, White Fang, Call of the Wild....I think I need more explorer stories..Leif Erickson...Columbus...He's enjoying a book about Cortez right now, but it's a bit above his reading level...

 

Suggestions?

[cjbeach 13]

Last year my 3rd grader loved 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

[Halcyon 5,927]

Thanks! good one!

[Farrar 46,552]

Sign of the Beaver

Julie of the Wolves

Island of the Blue Dolphins

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch

 

Also, a totally different sort of book, but the survivalist element you seem to be looking at is totally there - Holes by Louis Sachar

[ladydusk 1,597]

The Jungle Book!

[redsquirrel 17,850]

swallows and amazons. That is the first in the series. There are so darn many that we may never run out. Umm...great! It's lots of camping and boating and making tea and having a jolly time. My boys love them.

 

The Hobbit has lots of adventure

Mrs Frisby and the rats from NIMH has adventure

 

 

As you can see, my boys mostly like fantasy. So I have TONS of suggestions but they are mostly fantasy with lots of adventure.

[Plink 4,920]

The 21 Balloons

[Lori D. 16,149]

READERS - ADVENTURE

 

2nd/3rd grade level

- The Sword in the Tree (Bulla)

- Viking Adventure (Bulla)

- Riding the Pony Express (Bulla)

- The Little Riders (Shemin)

 

3rd grade level

- Charlie & the Chocolate Factory; Great Glass Elevator (Dahl)

- The Bears on Hemlock Mountain (Dalgliesh)

- The Whipping Boy (Fleischman)

- The Robinson Crusoe Reader (Cowles)

- Henry Huggins (series) (McCleary)

- Trumpet of the Swan (White)

- Skippack School (de Angeli)

- The Matchlock Gun (Edmonds)

- Great Illustrated Classics series

 

4th grade level

- Om-Kas-Toe (Thomasa)

- By the Great Horn Spoon (Fleischman)

- The Sign of the Beaver (Speare)

- Call it Courage (Sperry)

- Caddie Woodlawn (Brink)

- The Kite Fighters (Park)

- Detectives in Togas (Winterfeld)

 

 

 

READERS - BIOGRAPHIES

 

2nd/3rd grade level

- The Story of Thomas Alva Edison (Davidson)

- Helen Keller (Davidson)

- Helen Keller's Teacher (Davidson)

- Louis Braille (Davidson)

- Phoebe the Spy (Griffin)

- Meet the Men Who Sailed the Seas (Dyment) -- explorers

- The Adventures of Lewis and Clarke (de Kay) -- explorers

 

3rd grade level

- Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims (Bulla)

- Pocahontas and the Strangers (Bulla)

- Robert Fulton, Boy Craftsman (Henry)

- The Wright Brothers (Reynold)

- Eric the Red and Leif the Lucky (Schiller) -- explorers

- Marco Polo (Graves) -- explorer

- Antarctic Adventure: Exploring the Frozen Continent (Martin) -- explorers

- Great Black Heroes: Five Brave Explorers (Hudson/Garnet) -- explorers

 

3rd/4th grade level

- Pedro's Journal (Conrad) -- historical fiction of Columbus -- explorer

- Brendan the Navigator (Fritz) -- explorer

- The Daring Escape of Ellen Craft -- (Moore)

- Alec Majors: Trail Boss (Anderson) -- blazed the Sante Fe trail

 

4th grade level

- biographies by Jean Fritz

- Naya Nuki: The Shoshone Girl Who Ran (Thomasa)

- Behind Rebel Lines (Reit)

- Marie Curie's Search for Radium (Birch)

- Pasteur's Fight Against Microbes (Birch)

 

4th grade level - humorous biography of a famous person from an animal's point of view

- Ben and I (Lawson)

- Mr. Revere and I (Lawson)

 

 

READ ALOUDS

 

Real Life Adventure

- The Black Stallion (Farley)

- My Side of the Mountain (George)

- The Great Wheel (Lawson)

 

Fantasy Adventure

- Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Fleming)

- Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (O'Brien)

- The Rescuers, Miss Bianca, Miss Bianca in the Orient (Sharpe)

- The Never Ending Story (Ende)

 

Humor/Misadventure

- The Great Brain (Fitzgerald)

 

Historical Adventure

- Johnny Tremain (Forbes)

- The Wolves of Willoughby Chase (Aiken)

- The Twenty-One Balloons (DuBois)

- Little Britches (Moody)

- Snow Treasure (McSwigan)

- The House of Sixty Fathers (de Jong)

 

Biography

- Carry On, Mr. Bowditch (Latham) -- early US man who improved naval navigation

- Lincoln: A Photobiography -- beautiful photos / text telling Lincoln's life

- Born in the Year of Courage (Crofford) -- Japanese teen fisherboy survives shipwreck

[Guest TheBugsMom]

The Cooper Kid Series by Frank Peretti is a great series with extreme adventure, a review is here http://www.thesuspensezone.com/ReviewTheCooperKids.html

[Homemama2 64]

My 3rd grader is reading The Chronicles of Narnia right now and loving them.

I need to write some of these down for him! :001_smile:

[Sebastian (a lady) 8,433]

Swiss Family Robinson

Treasure Island

[Farrar 46,552]

The 21 Balloons

:iagree: Love this book. Can't believe I didn't suggest it too!

[Crimson Wife 18,753]

You didn't say what reading level so I'm going to assume he's reading at a late elementary level. Bethlehem Books publishes a whole bunch of excellent titles in their "Living History" series. Some good ones include:

 

Rolf and the Viking Bow by Allen French

Beorn the Proud by Madeleine Polland

Red Falcons of Tremoine by Hendry Peart

The Lost Baron by Allen French

The Red Keep by Allen French

Red Hugh, Prince of Donegal by Robert Reilly

[Halcyon 5,927]

Sign of the Beaver

Julie of the Wolves

Island of the Blue Dolphins

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch

 

Also, a totally different sort of book, but the survivalist element you seem to be looking at is totally there - Holes by Louis Sachar

 

 

Thanks-we've looked at Holes, and I totally forgot about that one...thanks!

[Halcyon 5,927]

My 3rd grader is reading The Chronicles of Narnia right now and loving them.

I need to write some of these down for him! :001_smile:

 

I think Lion and the Witch and The Wardrobe is up next for my son. There are so many good books, so little time (even reading an hour or two a day ;))

[Halcyon 5,927]

You didn't say what reading level so I'm going to assume he's reading at a late elementary level. Bethlehem Books publishes a whole bunch of excellent titles in their "Living History" series. Some good ones include:

 

Rolf and the Viking Bow by Allen French

Beorn the Proud by Madeleine Polland

Red Falcons of Tremoine by Hendry Peart

The Lost Baron by Allen French

The Red Keep by Allen French

Red Hugh, Prince of Donegal by Robert Reilly

 

 

Thanks! He's reading about a 4th grade level. He loves Harry Potter, White Fang, Shiloh....

[JadeOrchidSong 1,156]

What wonderful lists! I will have my 3rd grader read these. He is turning 8 in 10 days!

[kalanamak 860]

http://www.amazon.com/Shipwreck-Bottom-World-Extraordinary-Shackleton/dp/0375810498/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1288553719&sr=1-9

 

I read this to kiddo last year, and he liked it very much. Then you can watch the documentary.

[hopeistheword 245]

Someone might've already mentioned this one, but it's a good one--My Side of the Mountain. The protagonist is a teen, but it's entirely appropriate for younger readers. Here's a link to my review---> http://www.hopeisthewordblog.com/2009/08/11/childrens-classics-my-side-of-the-mountain-by-jean-craighead-george/

[Halcyon 5,927]

Someone might've already mentioned this one, but it's a good one--My Side of the Mountain. The protagonist is a teen, but it's entirely appropriate for younger readers. Here's a link to my review---> http://www.hopeisthewordblog.com/2009/08/11/childrens-classics-my-side-of-the-mountain-by-jean-craighead-george/

 

 

yep, that's on my list! All her (his?) books look great, in fact.

[kalanamak 860]

Sign of the Beaver

Julie of the Wolves

Island of the Blue Dolphins

 

 

Indian Paint by Glenn Balch. Like IoftheBD but a younger boy in the northern midwest, left behind by his tribe. Tames a horse, not a dog.

[love3es 10]

My 9 yo is enjoying some of the Clyde Bulla books... probably not quite the sense of adventure as some of the others mentioned, but still good.

[Rebecca 231]

No one mentioned the Redwall series by Brian Jacques.

 

These have utterly captivated my sons.

 

If your son can read unabridged Swiss Family Robinson, White Fang, Swallows and Amazons, etc.- he can read Redwall.

 

Beware- there is some violence. Evil is evil. Good is good. Heroes are the heroes- but Jacques can be ruthless with some of his characters.

I would exercise a little caution- if that is your family flow.

 

Rebecca

[Trish 2,066]

The Three Investigators.

[Dolphin 389]

I second Swallows and Amazons. My son started that one last week and he likes it so much he has made up a song about it. The other ones that he is really enjoying right now are The Famous Five by Enid Blyton, and the Guardians of Gahoole series. He is also in 3rd grade.