justme824 Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 My 4th grader is looking for some new reading material. What have your 4th graders read and enjoyed recently? I am hoping to help him stretch a bit beyond fantasy if possibly since I don't assign reading, but really anything goes. I just like to keep him reading :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alice Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 Well, my 4th grader loves fantasy so this might not help with stretching yours. :) These are some recent favorites... The False Prince by Jennifer Neilsen (sp?) The Ranger’s Apprentice series Joshua Dread (about a boy who discovers that his parents are supervillans) Phantom Tollbooth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ali in OR Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 Mine is reading Mark of Athena--one of the Riordan books. She is also just discovering the Betsy-Tacy books, but I have a feeling that is more of a girl thing! Also just finished the Sisters Grimm series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PachiSusan Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 Goddess girls and horse diaries are the most recent two series, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucyStoner Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 He is presently engrossed in The Time Machine. He also recently read and enjoyed Wind in the Willows, Diary of a Wimpy Kid- The Third Wheel, Swiss Family Robinson and Treasure Island. He was totally captivated by the Swiss Family Robinson which was a Christmas present. As soon as he finished that one, he started it again. It lives with him in his bunk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kfamily Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 Here are some she just recently finished.... Midnight Magic (Avi) Chalice (McKinley) Pegasus: The Flame of Olympus (O'Hearn) (She's reading the sequel to this right now.) The Faerie Door (Maxwell) The Unicorn Treasury (Coville) Roverandom (Tolkien) The Hero and the Crown (McKinley) The Black Stallion (Farley) The Hunting of the Last Dragon (Jordan) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justme824 Posted February 17, 2013 Author Share Posted February 17, 2013 Thank you! Lots to explore :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 Trying to give you some titles outside of fantasy, as our DSs enjoyed that genre, too... A few our boys really enjoyed at a 4th grade reading level: - Ben and Me; Mr. Revere and I (Lawson) -- humorous spin on history - Trumpet of the Swan (White) -- talking animal; humorous - By the Great Horn Spoon (Fleischman) -- humorous - The Whipping Boy (Fleischman) -- humorous - Sign of the Beaver (George) -- Native American - Om-Kas-Toe (Thomasa) -- Native American At a 4th/5th grade reading level: - Rescuers series (Sharpe) -- The Rescuers, The Turret, Miss Bianca, Miss Bianca in the Salt Mines, Miss Bianca in the Orient -- talking animal; humorous At about a 5th grade reading level: - My Side of the Mountain (George) -- nature/survival - In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson (Lord) -- real life; humorous - The Best Christmas Pageant Ever -- real life; humorous - From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (Konigsburg) -- mystery - Samurai mystery series (Hoobler) -- mystery/detective - The Wolves of Willoughby Chase (Aiken) -- adventure, Victorian setting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Element Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 My fourth grader has loved reading Horrible Histories, the Hardy Boys series, the colored fairy books by Andrew Lang, and the Underland Chronicles ("Gregor the Overlander" is the first book.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twoxcell Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 My ds has recently enjoyed: Sign of the Beaver Prince Caspian D'aulaire's book of Greek myths He just started reading The Little Pilgrims Progress and he really likes it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 We just listened to Young Fredle in the car. It was a great book. My son loved it. Probably not the most challenging reads but enjoyable. He is reading Swiss Family Robinson for school and really likes it. He has read abridged versions before. He keeps saying "I forgot how good this book is" and on our trip to Disney last week his first stop was the Treehouse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SFM Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 Horrible Histories and the Slimy Science ones as well, Hardy Boys, Jean Fritz books, and several of the things others have already mentioned and if I let him he would literally read encyclopedias for fun all the time. He loves encyclopedias. He likes the Warrior Series as well but that is fantasy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hana Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 My third and sixth graders both LOVE Gary Paulsen's Brian books: Hatchet, Brian's Winter, The River. They're not fantasy--they are adventure/survival--stories of a boy's ability to survive on his own in adverse conditions outside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SFM Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 My third and sixth graders both LOVE Gary Paulsen's Brian books: Hatchet, Brian's Winter, The River. They're not fantasy--they are adventure/survival--stories of a boy's ability to survive on his own in adverse conditions outside. Thank you for reminding me about these, I LOVED Hatchet when I was growing up but couldn't remember for what age it is best suited. I know our library has these, I will have to pick them up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Element Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 Horrible Histories and the Slimy Science ones as well, Hardy Boys, Jean Fritz books, and several of the things others have already mentioned and if I let him he would literally read encyclopedias for fun all the time. He loves encyclopedias. He likes the Warrior Series as well but that is fantasy. That's so funny. My son is the same way! :D He's had the flu for the past couple of days and once he felt well enough to sit up and read, he asked for his history and health books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 On about a 4th grade level, my DS is reading George and the Big Bang by Stephen Hawking and his daughter Lucy. It is the third book in that series, which starts with George's Secret Key to the Universe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildiris Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 39 Clues Series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunriseiz Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 DD would highly recommend The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilaclady Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 My very favorite book for kids 4th grade and up is a view from Saturday http://www.amazon.com/View-Saturday-L-Konigsburg/dp/0689817215 a really nice book. My dd1 has read - and of green gables, Tom Sawyer, where the mountain meets the moon, a single shard, Toothpaste millionaire etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saddlemomma Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 Well, thankfully, dd has really enjoyed all (except one) of the historical fiction I picked out this year. We are studying Ancients. So far she's read: Secret of the Scribe; Jennifer Garrity The Golden Goblet; Eloise Megraw Tirzah; Lucille Travis Life as a Gladiator; Michael Burgan The Last Quest of Gilgamesh; Ludmila Zeman More Stories To Solve; George Shannon Eo of the Caves; Rowland Walck A Grain of Rice; Helena Pittman What's Your Angle, Pythagorus? by Julie Ellis She hated the Rosetta Stone. Reading just for fun, she likes the James Patterson books about Max from the Maximum Ride series; The Land of Elyon series by Patrick Carmen and she's bought the first book for the Brotherband Chronicles by John Flanagan. Right now I'm reading God King as our read aloud and she loves it. She is really discovering that she enjoys historical fiction. While in the grocery store just last week, she used some of her money to purchase, The Damascus Way by Davis Bunn & Janette Oke. I was quite surprised, but she's excited to start it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texasmama Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 My 4th grader is 20 something books into The Hardy Boys series and loving it. He reads 2-3 of them a week. I will hand him my Nancy Drew books from childhood next. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 Last year, The Sixty-Eight Rooms (and its sequel, Stealing Magic), by Marianne Malone, was a big hit with my first and fourth graders (and it looks like another sequel, The Pirate's Coin, is coming out soon). It's got mystery, adventure, realistic modern fiction, and history all together. The audio book is very good. My current second grader is reading this book, which he loves, although it's more on a fourth grade level: Will at the Battle of Gettysburg, part of the Boys of Wartime series, by Laurie Calkhoven. He is really enjoying it, and it's realistic historical fiction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandylubug Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 My 9 and 10 year old boys loved this year: The Hobbit Harry Potter The Lightening Thief Classic Starts The Odyssey Swiss Family Robinson A Series of Unfortunate Events And love encyclopedias. We have a set from the 60s that they adore to browse through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kwg Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 For those that liked Swiss Family Robinson, what edition did you like? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucyStoner Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 For those that liked Swiss Family Robinson, what edition did you like? Thanks! This 1993 edition was the one we bought him at a local used bookstore. It has the 1909 Introduction by William Howells and color illustrations by Thomas Heath Robinson and Milo Winter. It is hard bound and unabridged. And it is cheap. We paid $5, and online as you can see it is dirt cheap. It's a good size and font for read alouds and for kids to read on their own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Twain Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 Treasure Island is our 4th grader boy favorite. Also, he has been enjoying E. Nesbit's books, namely: The Railway Children The Story of the Treasure Seekers The Five Children and It, plus we will read the next two in the series soon: The Phoenix and the Carpet The Story of the Amulet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kwg Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 This 1993 edition was the one we bought him at a local used bookstore. It has the 1909 Introduction by William Howells and color illustrations by Thomas Heath Robinson and Milo Winter. It is hard bound and unabridged. And it is cheap. We paid $5, and online as you can see it is dirt cheap. It's a good size and font for read alouds and for kids to read on their own. hmm... We have this one (except mine is red) and it has more pages plus the chapter titles are different than the one you linked. I like yours better. We read mine when ds was 6; he loved it! But I will confess that I skipped whole sections because I just.wanted.it.to.end. LOL. It has 602 pages. Wonder when they switched it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffeemama Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 My 4th grade son also prefers fantasy. He is loving the Percy Jackson series. He also read right through the Warriors series (talking cats) for fun. It is amazing how much faster he reads fantasy compared with the historical fiction I assign. I can't wait to introduce him to some of the great titles in this thread. Thanks! One thing I can suggest that works well for my son...if I am trying to get him into a non-fantasy book, it helps if I read the first few chapters to get him hooked...sometimes it ends up being a good third of the book, but he'll end up finishing it, to see what happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justme824 Posted February 18, 2013 Author Share Posted February 18, 2013 Thanks! So many great titles here that we have never heard of. We loaded up the holds on our library card and can't wait to pick them up later this week :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucyStoner Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 hmm... We have this one (except mine is red) and it has more pages plus the chapter titles are different than the one you linked. I like yours better. We read mine when ds was 6; he loved it! But I will confess that I skipped whole sections because I just.wanted.it.to.end. LOL. It has 602 pages. Wonder when they switched it? There are a zillion different editions of classics like these because the copyrights have run out. All with different numbers of pages, font sizes etc. The one we have is storybook sized so quite a bit more real estate on each page for words. Also, this particular book has been edited and translated from the original manuscript an absurd number of times by Wyss' son and many others and then long continuing stories in French were tacked into the original story after Wyss was dead and later translated and sold as one, much longer, book. So it is likely that while our edition is not a modernized abridged or language updated edition (the vocabulary remains at times obscure and old-fashioned), it is not the longest version of this book ever translated and printed. Which means it is edited in some form, as are all of the translations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kwg Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 There are a zillion different editions of classics like these because the copyrights have run out. All with different numbers of pages, font sizes etc. The one we have is storybook sized so quite a bit more real estate on each page for words. Also, this particular book has been edited and translated from the original manuscript an absurd number of times by Wyss' son and many others and then long continuing stories in French were tacked into the original story after Wyss was dead and later translated and sold as one, much longer, book. So it is likely that while our edition is not a modernized abridged or language updated edition (the vocabulary remains at times obscure and old-fashioned), it is not the longest version of this book ever translated and printed. Which means it is edited in some form, as are all of the translations. That makes sense! Thank you for explaining it. I have the one you suggested in my cart. There is no way I would make him slog through the one we own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayne J Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 My Harry Potter loving ds is currently enjoying the Fablehaven series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunriseiz Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 Thanks! So many great titles here that we have never heard of. We loaded up the holds on our library card and can't wait to pick them up later this week :) Let us know what he likes!!!! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sueh16 Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 I second the recommendation of In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson. We love this book. It's very well-written and entertaining. We're big baseball fans, so we loved the Jackie Robinson theme, too. Another suggestion is Farmer Boy, which is about Almanzo Wilder at age 9. HTH, Sue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Element Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 I second the recommendation of In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson. We love this book. It's very well-written and entertaining. We're big baseball fans, so we loved the Jackie Robinson theme, too. We're doing this as a read aloud right now and both kids are really enjoying it. Dd thought it looked like a "boy book" and wasn't interested. Ds thought it looked like a "girl book." I made them both listen to the first chapter and they both asked me to keep reading after that. (And we're not even baseball fans. It's that good. :) ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockey Mom Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 We just finished Where the Red Fern Grows, and my boys really got into it. So we're kind of on a boy-meets-dog-coming-of-age trend right now. We just started Shiloh today, and they're both halfway through it...they only had to read 4 chapters. They can't put it down. Anyway, here is what they say their favorite books are: DS10: Where the Red Fern Grows DS8: The Lightning Thief Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tammyw Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 Let me think - The Lightning Thief series, Shooting Kabul, Wonder. Many more, but I"ll have to check with her to see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy22alyns Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 Rebecca is independently reading The Phantom Tollbooth (thank you, WWE4!). She's made great progress already, which is huge for her as she's become a slow reader. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katie Jean Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 Well, my 4th grader loves fantasy so this might not help with stretching yours. :) These are some recent favorites... The False Prince by Jennifer Neilsen (sp?) The Ranger’s Apprentice series Joshua Dread (about a boy who discovers that his parents are supervillans) Phantom Tollbooth My 4th grader is chomping at the bit for the first book of The Ranger's Apprentice to be available at the library. He's number 9 on the waiting list so we might just have to order our own copy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tammyw Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 On about a 4th grade level, my DS is reading George and the Big Bang by Stephen Hawking and his daughter Lucy. It is the third book in that series, which starts with George's Secret Key to the Universe. Mine has loved and read the entire series several times. Have you read The Mysterious Benedict series? There are four including the prequel. Even I love those! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katie Jean Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 I am having a really hard time convincing my 4th grader to step out of his fantasy box.... He recently completed the Christopher Paolini Series, as well as The Lord of the Rings series. I have so many wonderful books to provide him but he's a stinker! He has read some adventure books such as My Side of the Mountain The Other Side of the Mountain Island of the Blue Dolphins Julie and the Wolves Misty of Chincoteague He has also read all of the Great Illustrated Classics-for awhile was in a rut where he wouldn't look at anything else. He read The Mouse and the Motorcycle recently as well. I try to pick my battles with him-I'm so glad he enjoys reading that I don't fight him too much but I would like him to get into historical fiction. Especially since we are going to be doing AH next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katie Jean Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 Oh and I forgot to add my 4th grader just started the Redwall Series by Brian Jacques. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elizabeth rose Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 The Candymakers by Wendy Mass, lots of fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyforlatin Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 Guardians of Ga'hoole series by Lasky, if there is an interest in owls due to the author's extensive research Perhaps Warriors and all the spinoff series by Erin Hunter, if your son is interested in cats or the other set of books by the same author focusing on bears And maybe Herbert's Wormhole series by Nelson/Rao as a prequel to Hawking's series recommended by Crimson Wife Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenL Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 My 4th grade ds just flew through The Chronicles of Prydain series by Lloyd Alexander. Today, he finished the last book of the Peter and the Starcatchers series that he started on Monday. He raved about both of them. Like your son, I am trying to pull mine from the Fantasy realm, so I gave him some options by Avi today (City of Orphans and Hard Gold) as well as a couple of other books. He's decided to read The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg by Rodman Philbrick next - it's historical fiction about the Civil War. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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