Kate in Arabia Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 My dd 7 is in 2nd grade, but reads at a 4-5th grade level. I've been trying to find books for her, but am having a hard time because she's interested in little girl things like unicorns and pet shops, lol, but the books I'm finding at her reading level are getting into boy crushes, etc. Can anyone recommend series that would be at the higher reading level but a lower interest level (if that makes sense)? She likes mysteries, comedies, animals, pets, princesses, etc. etc. tia! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Smith Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 The Enchanted Forest series The first book is, "Dealing with Dragons". It has no unicorns, but it does have princesses, princes, dragons, witches, talking cats, and even later in the series a blue giant floating transparent donkey/rabbit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 The Little House books and the Ramona books are both great for being a little higher reading level but still little girl friendly. You might look at Lexile.com and try to determine her roughly her lexile level, then you can have them suggest books in the style she likes. Here is a chart of the lexile levels. We had this problem when dd was in first grade. We really couldn't keep her reading at her level without destroying her interest. She ended up reading all the babysitter club little sister books. They were about second grade level, really boring, but she loved them - sigh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 My 8 yr old suggests the "Tales of the Frog Princess" series. She's also enjoyed the Magic Shop books-which is the series that Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher is from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarkd Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 The Girl who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a ship of her own making Tuesdays at the Castle Once upon a Marigold The Doll People Celia and the Fairies The Secret Zoo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 Caddie Woodlawn Milly Molly Mandy Betsy-Tacy books (first 3 in particular) Some of the Roald Dahl books--particularly Fantastic Mr. Fox (has some gross humor) Igraine The Brave (Funke--same one who wrote Inkheart series) Sisters Grimm (maybe too old, but if she has a good fairytale backround, she'll like them) The Cabin Faced West Mary on Horseback Understood Betsy Pippi Longstocking (and the first sequel) Dr. Doolittle (find a revised version that doesn't have the racial stuff in it--Sonlight sells a good adaptation) Also old folk and fairy tales (East O' The Sun, West O' The Moon, for example), as well as D'Aulaire's Greek myths... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blondeviolin Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 My girl's at the same place. Ramona books Charlotte's Web Stuart Little Poppy Pippi Longstocking Jenny and the Cat Club Roald Dahl books Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texasmama Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 My littlest DD is currently enjoying reading Ivy and Bean and the first in the Boxcar Children series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LMD Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 My 7y/o loves the Unfortunate Events series (just got book the 5th) She also loved loved loved the Sophie and the shadow woods series - this one really hooked her, she's re-read it dozens of times. The Magic Faraway Tree - enid blyton series, also the Amelia Jane ones. She also enjoyed a book called, um, Madame Pampelmousse and the enchanted sweet shop... She also blew through a handful of the Beast Quest books. I'm getting some good ideas from these lists though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myfunnybunch Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 Hitty: her First Hundred Years E.B. White: Charlotte's Web, The Trumpet of the Swan Marguerite Henry's horse books, like Misty of Chincoteague A Cricket in Times Square The Children of Green Knowe series Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicianmom Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 My daughter sounds just like yours. She loves all the fairy books by Andrew Lang (most of them are free for Kindle), The Wizard of Oz (she hasn't tried the other Oz books yet, but I put a bunch of them on her Kindle), Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. For more recent books, the Fairy Realm series by Emily Rodda has been a hit, as well as the American Girl mysteries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MinivanMom Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 The Wizard of Oz books Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass Princess Academy Ella Enchanted & all the other Princess Tales books by Gail Carson Levine Princess Diaries series Harry Potter book American Girl books and American Girl mysteries Nancy Drew mysteries Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 Not Princess Diary if you're talking the Meg Cabot series-it's got quite a bit of TeA related discussion in it and is nowhere near as innocent as the Disney Movies based on the series. They're definitely on the YA side.l Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffeemama Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 My 7 yo has liked many on this thread as well. She's reading the Little House series now along with many of the American Girl books. And she LOVED Series of Unfortunate Events and the EB White books. I'll see if she has any suggestions to add in the morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hellen Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 Dick King-Smith has written a lot of animal books. His most well known is Babe The Gallant Pig but there are many more that my son has enjoyed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 The Borrowers, by Mary Norton (series) Mary Poppins, by P.L. Travers (series, NOT Disney; the first one has some stupid racial stuff) The Little White Horse Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 Dragon Rider, by Cornelia Funke, was a big hit at that age. We were especially proud to read a very big book on our own, and it was the right mix of suspenseful without being scary for a young child. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScoutTN Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 Great thread! My Dd is exactly the same age and situation! Thanks all for the ideas. Always in need of good books to feed my voracious reader! Favorites here lately that I don't think have been mentioned in this thread yet are: Black Beauty Chronicles of Narnia Bill Wallace's books - easy chapter books, all about dogs Five Little Peppers and How They Grew The Ordinary Princess by M. M. Kaye Miss Hickory by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey Angus and Sadie by Cynthia Voight (another dog story) DD has loved Little House, Caddie Woodlawn, Edward Eager and Marguerite Henry books too. She loves American Girl books, but they are almost like candy at this point. Fun, but not sustaining. She has also enjoyed several Shakepeare books (Usborne and McCaughren mostly), D'auliare, biographies and history books (Diane Stanley and Cheryl Harness are favorite authors.) and she got the Usborne Stories from Dickens for Christmas. Mary Pope Osborne's Medieval Tales has been a big hit here this year too. We have found good suggestions and reviews at livingbookslibrary.com and redeemedreader.com. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 Oh! ScoutTN's post reminds me-- The Mary Pope Osborne Odyssey series is wonderful fun--originally 6 lovely little hardbacks but now in two volumes. Our library has the originals, and dd still liked to check them out and have me read them in 5th grade. She is all set for the real thing now and loves the story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juliegmom Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 I have the same dilmena with my 2nd grader. I agree with the previous posters on the wonderful book choices. My dd has really enjoyed several of the "My America" titles. I found most of these in a used book bundle offered on Ebay. We are using them to go along with our study of American history with MFW. They have been a hit! The reading levels range from 3-5 grade. Here are just a few she's read and we have several more to go. My America ...The Pilgrim Adventure My America ...The King Philip's War Adventure My America Five Smooth Stones: Hope's Revolutionary War Diary My America: Our Strange New Land: Elizabeth's Jamestown Colony Diary, Book One My America: The Starving Time: Elizabeth's Jamestown Colony Diary, Book Two American Girl books would be another suggestion. We also plan to read the Chronicles of Narnia for literature next year. I let her read the first chapter of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe and she wanted to keep going. Something to look forward to for next year! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsH Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 My daughter really loved the Night Fairy which is sweet and innocent and a fairy story in the best sense. The Magic Cake Shop which I thought was just lovely. Both struck me as great books for younger readers who were reading at her level already. Sounds like you also got many other great suggestions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 The Unicorns Secret series by Kathleen Duey -- Moonsilver is the first I just looked and amazon carries them but I bought dd's from Chinaberry years ago. They are chapter books written at a similar level to The Boxcar Children (original) another favorite. I recommend looking at Chinaberry for ideas. They helped me many times find the right book for dd when she was a rather young advanced reader. They also seemed to be the first to really feature some of what became our favorites -- Sea of Trolls and Milly Molly Mandy both came from there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
celticmom Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 :lurk5: I just started a similiar thread except my dd is not particuliarly girly. I strongly suspect if any TeA content came up it would either go straight over her head or gross her out(she told me weddings are gross because the bride and the groom kiss). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kate in Arabia Posted January 1, 2013 Author Share Posted January 1, 2013 Thank you so much for the amazing response, I need to brew a pot of coffee and take some quiet time with Amazon to sift through all the great suggestions! At the moment her collection is all from lower level chapter books (she loved Magic Tree House, Magic Kitten, etc etc), and the books I already have for the higher levels are (or were) her brothers and don't seem to hold the same appeal (at least not at the moment). I took a look at the description of the next book in the series she's currently reading and it already mentions the boy the main character has a crush on. This type of thing just isn't even on dd's radar, and I don't really see a need to put it there. Not as a sheltering thing, but a why-even-go-there thing, kwim? Thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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