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Book Recommendations for a 1st grader reading at a 6th grade level


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She has gone through a lot of Boxcar Children, American Girl, Beverly Clearly, Roald Dahl and the Famous Five. I read classics to her to help build her vocabulary. She has just started the Hardy Boys and I got her a Nancy Drew book to try. Any other suggestions for good authors or fiction book series that might appeal to a 6 year old advanced reader?

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The Bobbsey Twins were popular at that age. I had one who got into the Redwall books at 5-6, too (there was a cartoon on PBS, now on Netflix). Beverly Cleary books -- the Ralph the Mouse and Ramona Series, especially, though Henry was popular as well. One liked the Narnia books when pretty young. My current 6 year old loves the Little House on the Prairie books, though they're not as interesting to her now that she's about halfway through, as Laura is too old to be as relevant to her right now, but the first 3 when Laura is still pretty young have been a hit.

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My guy liked the great illustrated classics series. Dr. Dolittle, Treasure Island and Peter Pan were some of his favorites. The reading level is below 6(not really sure of levels) but it has helped my son understand the stories now that he is reading the original versions.

Edited by Stuart
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Thanks for the responses. I'll look into the The Bobbsey Twins. She has already read all of the earlier Little House books. I've just started building a collection of illustrated classics to lay the foundation for reading the originals by herself. I wish I had done that a couple of years ago because she goes through them in a day or two now. Things like Narnia and Harry Potter would be too scary for her, so they will probably have to wait a year or two.

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Have you done E.B. White yet? I think his work is slightly below 6th grade level. I have found his books to be very popular in my house.

 

One of my own all-time favorite books is called the Wainscott Weasel. It's listed as 5.9. Some of the themes might be over the head of a younger child, since a lot of it is a love story. http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/book/wainscott-weasel

 

I also really enjoyed the Lad stories by Albert Payson Terhune. It looks like they are 6.5. I don't remember much scary or dangerous in them. Most are like Lassie episodes. It has been quite a while since I've read them, so you might want to skim ahead.

 

Babe the Gallant Pig by Dick King Smith is about at that level. It's no more scary than the movie. Dodie Smith's the 101 Dalmatians is around there. Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories are slightly higher, and you might need to look over them ahead of time. Phantom Tollbooth is around that level but you may want to wait if she wouldn't get the puns.

 

I've also had an amazing amount of luck grabbing books at book sales or the used book store. Some have been duds, but for the most part they have been devoured.

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I've tried to stick to series here. I remember how overjoyed I was when DD the Elder was that age to find a 10 book series to keep her going for a few days.

 

Beverley Cleary

Dick King Smith (anything and everything)

Freddy the Pig series by Brooks

Childhood of Famous Americans series (there are dozens of these)

Joan Aiken - Arabel and Mortimer books

Oz books

Paddington series by Bond

How to Train Your Dragon series

Spiderwick Chronicles series

Hank the Cowdog series

Eleanor Estes

Jean Craighead George's books for younger readers

Bunnicula series by Howe

George's Secret Key to the Universe and sequels by Hawking

Lang's coloured Fairy Books (Blue Fairy Book, etc).

Astrid Lindgren (not just Pippi...)

Uncle books by J.P Martin

Worst Witch books by Murphy (these are available as both single volumes and compilations and it can be a bit confusing)

E. Nesbit

Edward Eager

Mary Norton

Swallows and Amazons series (marvellous books, but you may have to start these as a read aloud to build interest)

 

And some comics/graphic novels:

Calvin & Hobbes

Tintin

Asterix

Bone by Jeff Smith

Yotsuba&!

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This is the first.

 

Laura

 

Just to let you know -- this is a great list -- the NY Review of Books has reprinted The 13 Clocks (ISBN 1590172752) and The Wonderful O (ISBN 1590173090), among others.

 

Alcott seems an obvious choice. Prolific, safe, vocab and cultural references.

Plus teen drunkenness! ;)

Edited by stripe
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You have some great suggestions already, but if mysteries are an option, I'd add

 

Jigsaw Jones

Cam Jansen

A to Z Mysteries

Happy Hollisters

Real Kids/Real Places (Carol Marsh)

 

 

Also, books by James Thurber are great. David Adler picture book biographies were a great intro to biographies for DD.

 

Have fun! :)

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Ann of Green Gables

Nesbit--or any of those thick Edwardian novels

The Moffats

Ginger Pie

the Warrior series (24 books and counting, plus several books that tell side stories)

Caddie Woodlawn

Mandy

anything by Burnett

CS Lewis

The Poppy and Rye series by Avi

Williams Steig novels such as Abel's Island and Dominic

The Search for Delicious

Edited by yellowperch
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You might see if your library has the book Some of My Best Friends Are Books: Guiding Gifted Readers by Judith Wynn Halsted. It's a valuable resource.

 

This book was helpful, but not *exactly* what I thought (our library didn't have it, so I ordered it). Honey for a Child's Heart was a little more useful for me; I took their read aloud suggestions as reading material since dd could (and wanted to!) read for herself. This site has also been helpful: http://www.classical-homeschooling.org/celoop/1000.html

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