PhotoGal Posted April 1, 2012 Share Posted April 1, 2012 Here are the books I have in mind for ds to read next year for 3rd grade: Babe James and the Giant Peach The Family Under the Bridge The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler Half Magic The Phantom Tollbooth Abel's Island The BFG The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Dear Mr. Henshaw Shiloh Where the Mountain Meets the Moon My Side of the Mountain Please Write in this Book The Lemonade War Yang the Youngest and His Terrible Ear Detectives in Togas I'd like to narrow it down to 9 books. I'd like to have a balance of serious and light-hearted stories. Of this list, I've probably read just one or two a long time ago. :blush: I did a lot of searching and review reading to come up with the list. (I also have an even longer list of read-aloud ideas!) Anyway, does anyone have any advice on narrowing the list down? Any books not to be missed? Or any that your kids didn't like? Ds is a strong reader, but prefers comics and stories with modern characters (such as "Frindle"). He is currently reading Mr. Popper's Penguins during schooltime and seems to be enjoying it. He says he doesn't like books with talking animals, but that really cuts out a lot of great books so I am not weighing that too heavily in my choices. Let me know what you think! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurelia Posted April 1, 2012 Share Posted April 1, 2012 I'm not familiar with some of the books on the list, but based on the Amazon descriptions and what I remember of the others, this is what I'd choose: Babe The Family Under the Bridge The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler The BFG The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Dear Mr. Henshaw Shiloh Yang the Youngest and His Terrible Ear Detectives in Togas Some of the books you had listed I thought might be a better fit for fourth grade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jujsky Posted April 1, 2012 Share Posted April 1, 2012 Why don't you make 1 serious category and one not-serious category, and let your child choose X amount of book from each category? K12 has a huge 3rd grade list that the kids picked from. It was great! On the few occasions they couldn't get into the book, I could always say, "Hey, you chose it." It was nice that they had some control over what they read. What was also nice (I have 2 3rd graders) was even though they both picked 4 different books, they ended up reading more. Inevitably one child would say to the other, "You HAVE to read this book! You'll love it!" and the other child would read it for fun on recommendation from their sibling. Letting them choose worked out really well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Embassy Posted April 1, 2012 Share Posted April 1, 2012 Maybe you can get your child's input? Is your child interested in some stories more than others? I like to check out all the books from the library and have my child look through them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lulubelle Posted April 1, 2012 Share Posted April 1, 2012 My picks: Babe Mixed up Files Half Magic Phantom Tollbooth The BFG The Lion, Witch.. My Side of the Mountain The Lemonade Wars Some I think are a bit for older and a few I don't know of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momto2Cs Posted April 1, 2012 Share Posted April 1, 2012 I'd go with: Babe James and the Giant Peach The Family Under the Bridge The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler Half Magic The Phantom Tollbooth Abel's Island The BFG The Lemonade War Yang the Youngest and His Terrible Ear Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ohmomjacquie Posted April 1, 2012 Share Posted April 1, 2012 Why don't you make 1 serious category and one not-serious category, and let your child choose X amount of book from each category? K12 has a huge 3rd grade list that the kids picked from. It was great! On the few occasions they couldn't get into the book, I could always say, "Hey, you chose it." It was nice that they had some control over what they read. What was also nice (I have 2 3rd graders) was even though they both picked 4 different books, they ended up reading more. Inevitably one child would say to the other, "You HAVE to read this book! You'll love it!" and the other child would read it for fun on recommendation from their sibling. Letting them choose worked out really well. This is what I was thinking too. Let him pick what interest shim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhotoGal Posted April 1, 2012 Author Share Posted April 1, 2012 Thank you for all of the great ideas so far! I would love to let him pick, but I wonder if he would just pick the shortest books. :tongue_smilie: Or possibly by the cover art. Also, he has that thing against talking animals but there are some books that I still want to include. (We are reading Charlotte's Web this year despite all the talking animals! :D Just because I think it is an important book.) Maybe I could write a sentence or two about each story and let him pick that way. Or I could pick half and he could pick half. I have a feeling that he wouldn't pick "The Family Under the Bridge" for example, but it sounds like an excellent book. I should probably get started reading some of them as well to get a better idea of what they are like. I can definitely save some of these for fourth grade (though fourth grade has its own list going too... :lol:). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThreeBlessings Posted April 1, 2012 Share Posted April 1, 2012 Babe James and the Giant Peach The Family Under the Bridge The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler Abel's Island The BFG The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe The Phantom Tollbooth (it may be better to wait a year or two though) Detectives in Togas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terabith Posted April 1, 2012 Share Posted April 1, 2012 K12 has a huge 3rd grade list that the kids picked from. It was great! Could you post K12's 3rd grade list? Please? :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
threedogfarm Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 Are these going to be read alouds or will these books be read silently? Do you have to purchase them ahead of time or will you be getting them from the library? The reason why I ask is because your son's tastes may change over the next few months so if you don't absolutely have to purchase them ahead of time you will have the greatest flexibility. Keep the whole list and go from there. Also, your son may really like a particular book and some of the books have sequels such as My Side of the Mountain and Shiloh. If he is reading silently then you might want to take advantage of his enthusiasm to let him continue in the series. He may tear through those books and really surprise you. You may also find that while there isn't a series, there may be several books by that particular author and he may want to read a bunch of them. If you're reading them aloud then you may have a different type of agenda than sparking his interest. But then you will be giving him an incentive to read some of the books on his own. . . Also, for my children I choose the read aloud based on what else we're learning at the time and this particular read aloud is part of our school day. I let my children choose their own silent reading books and that seems to be working out well. It is interesting because their tastes in subject matter can change rapidly and their book choices are often affected by the medium in which the book is presented (read aloud, silent reading, book-on-tape). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plain jane Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 James and the Giant Peach The Family Under the Bridge The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler Half Magic The Phantom Tollbooth The BFG The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Shiloh My Side of the Mountain Detectives in Togas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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