sunriseiz Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 DS is in 1st grade and will be 7 in March. His reading has suddenly picked up steam and he's now read all of the T. W. Burgess animal and bird books, Ralph Mouse books, and is working his way steadily through the Ramona books. I am trying to think of some other books he might enjoy so I'm ready when he is looking for something new, but I'm having trouble coming up with much. I would love to get some suggestions! Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Smith Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 My Eldest is reading through the Secrets of Droon series. After he reads a book then I read it out loud. Daddy then a few weeks behind us reads it out loud. I like the series because it's not your typical series. After the first 8 books the books get longer, 80 pages then after the first 4 books it slowly builds up to 120 pages per book. With the exception of the 8 special editions all the books have ten chapters. For some reason my son really likes that. They have many story lines that weave throughout the books. Some examples: In book 2 you find out princess Keeah's mother is dead In book 3? you find out that she is in prison in book 4? you find out that she is actually cursed to cycle through different animals before becoming her human self In books 5 to 10? you find out more about that, and meet her animal self sometimes In book 11 you find out that she has 12? animals to cycle through and she is on animal number 10? In book 12 you find out that the witch Demither cursed her and that she is not a totally evil witch and was really corrupted by Lord Sparr. You also find out Demither is Keeah's aunt. That is just one story line. These are in addition to the main story that ever book has. You also have other major ones about Lord Sparr, his history. Galen, his history (And meet three versions of himself Long beard, Short beard, No beard) You find out the back story of all the characters, you see them develop and change, you find out why Sparr is evil, you even meet his Mother and his siblings. .... You even find out why Lord Sparr's minions do his bidding and what they use to be like before Lord Sparr changed them... We are almost half way done the series. It is 44 books long, so lots of reading if you are into the series. It was recommended as one of the top ten books to read when waiting for the next Harry Potter. Each book does have a self contained story, the author tires to make it so you can enjoy each book as a stand alone (and often succeeds for the earlier ones). The books start at a easy reading level. AR level 2.9 and then go up to level 3.5 and the last two I think are at level 4.0. The series does have humor and it's not unusual to hear my Eldest laughing out loud when reading to himself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Smith Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 Also did he read ALL the books by Burgess? If you have a device to read them on you can find lots of his books here: http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Burgess%2C%20Thornton%20W.%20(Thornton%20Waldo)%2C%201874-1965 I know we have read many of his books many times. But we only have read 42 of them, sadly we can't get them all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KristenR Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 My daughters loved the TumTum and Nutmeg series. It's about a cute little mouse couple who get into all kinds of silly and crazy adventures. It literally had my daughters laughing out loud. I did a little review on it here. You can see more details on it there and see if you think it would be a good fit for your boy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunriseiz Posted January 31, 2013 Author Share Posted January 31, 2013 Thanks for all of the suggestions! We have read all of the books by Burgess that we can get our hands on, including ones from Gutenburg and LibriVox, though I never thought to count them. DS's first choice would be more of these! TumTum and Nutmeg as and Secrets of Droon both sound like good options. I think he really does enjoy the animal aspect and as Julie noted, length is still a small issue, so something that starts with shorter books and ends with longer ones in the series sounds perfect. We will give both of these a try. I also picked up the first Boxcar Children book at the library yesterday, so we'll see. I'm not so sure he will love it as much as DD did, but I may be wrong! Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Smith Posted February 2, 2013 Share Posted February 2, 2013 Thanks for all of the suggestions! We have read all of the books by Burgess that we can get our hands on, including ones from Gutenburg and LibriVox, though I never thought to count them. DS's first choice would be more of these! TumTum and Nutmeg as and Secrets of Droon both sound like good options. I think he really does enjoy the animal aspect and as Julie noted, length is still a small issue, so something that starts with shorter books and ends with longer ones in the series sounds perfect. We will give both of these a try. I also picked up the first Boxcar Children book at the library yesterday, so we'll see. I'm not so sure he will love it as much as DD did, but I may be wrong! Thanks! If he wants more Burgess books perhaps I can help. This is the most complete list I have ever found of his books that are available online. http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Burgess%2c%20Thornton%20W%2e%20%28Thornton%20Waldo%29%2c%201874-1965 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Smith Posted February 2, 2013 Share Posted February 2, 2013 I'm looking through my list of books right now. Ones I recommend that wouldn't scare him off length wise are: Moongobble series by Bruce Coville. (If he likes them he might be willing to try his other books. This author has lots.) My Father's Dragon series by Ruth Stiles Gannett. (This one he will likely find a quick easy read with lots of nice pictures. It's a classic, so if he hasn't been exposed to it I highly suggest it) If he likes Burgess a very similar author who also wrote books at the same time as Burgess was Arthur Scott Bailey. Some of his books are more similar to Burgess. I recommend starting with one of these since they are most similar to Burgess: The Tale of Master Meadow Mouse The Tale of Tommy Fox Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheryljill Posted February 2, 2013 Share Posted February 2, 2013 My just-turned-7 year old just read and enjoyed Mr. Popper's Penguins. I also second the recommendation for the My Father's Dragons series--they are lovely! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morningxmorning Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 My six year old really likes Geronimo Stilton books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyJoy Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 My husband's favorite books at that age were the Danny Dunn kid's sci-fi series. He strongly recommends them for boys this age. I think they are out of print but our library system has some. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChicoryChick Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 What about: The Littles series (fantasy) Encyclopeia Brown (mystery) The Boxcar Children (mystery) E.B White books A Cricket in Tme Square Key to the Treasure by Peggy Parish (all my kids loved that one) Cam Jansen (mystery) Dolphin Adventure Christian Liberty Nature readers The Matchlock Gun (historical fiction) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nscribe Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 Don't forget to revisit the picture books sections of the library. Many picture books offer vastly higher challenges in vocabulary, sentence structure and so forth than chapter books and wonderful artwork to boot. I cringe at times when I overhear a parent in the library tell their child they must select their book from the chapter book areas and shoo them away from some of the wonderfully rich books they dismiss simply because artwork might be part of the package. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SebastianCat Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 Nate the Great books are pretty short but very funny. Also check out other books by Beverly Cleary - there are multiple Ralph books, but my DS loved the Henry Huggins books. E.B. White - Stuart Little, Charlotte's Web, Trumpet of the Swan James Herriott's Treasury for Children is another favorite. At that age, my kids loved the Magic Treehouse books, but they weren't my favorite. :) Magic Schoolhouse, Boxcar Children, and Geronimo Stilton are also good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aggieamy Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 Check out the Dick King-Smith books. They are fantastic. I second the James Herriott suggestion. I just love him. Seriously, I think my DH sleeps better at night knowing that there's no way James Herriott and I could meet and run off together. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunriseiz Posted February 5, 2013 Author Share Posted February 5, 2013 Thanks to everyone for the many suggestions! I have just forgotten about so many good books at this level!!! I feel much better now! :) He's read some of the 1st Boxcar Children book and been enjoying it, so that was encouraging. At the library last night, he picked up a few Beverly Cleary books (He loves the Ralph and Ribsy characters) and about 8 Hank the Cowdog books, lol. He has listened to some of the Danny Dunn books, but hasn't read them. Also, he doesn't seem to be into mysteries to the same extent as his sister, so I am holding some of those in the wings knowing it could change. He seems to like animals. :) Thanks everyone!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunriseiz Posted February 5, 2013 Author Share Posted February 5, 2013 If he wants more Burgess books perhaps I can help. This is the most complete list I have ever found of his books that are available online. http://onlinebooks.l...ldo), 1874-1965 Thanks Julie. There are only a handful that we haven't read, but unfortunately, I don't seem to be able to log into get the HathiTrust books. If you know how to do this, that would be great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunriseiz Posted June 17, 2013 Author Share Posted June 17, 2013 Well, it happened. DS finished all of the Burgess books, Beverly Cleary books, and Hank the Cowdog. Yes, all of them. :) We've tried a few others along the way that he didn't care for (Encyclopedia Brown, Geronimo Stilton and Magic Treehouse), so we will be trying some of your other suggestions. If you have more, I'll gladly take them, but mostly I wanted to just say thanks for the help! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted June 17, 2013 Share Posted June 17, 2013 Jon Sciezka's (spelling?) Time Warp Trio. Carolyn Haywood's stories about Eddie, and she has a few others that are about boys; the Betsy books are great, but maybe he would appreciate boys as the main characters more. Matt Christopher's various sports books; DS1 really seems to enjoy the Soccer Cats series. Erin Hunter's books about the dogs (Seekers, I think, or maybe it's Survivors -- the other is about bears, so maybe good too). Laurie Calkhoven's Boys of Wartime books -- my son LOVES these. Hardy Boys, Bobbsey Twins, maybe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunriseiz Posted June 18, 2013 Author Share Posted June 18, 2013 Thanks happypamama! Last night, he checked out a Time Warp Trio book, a Happy Hollisters, an Animorphs, an Animal Rescuers and a few others that I can't remember (he maxed out his card at 20!). We'll see what he likes! I am definitely hanging onto this thread for suggestions! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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