Hazelt"nut" Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 DDis 6 and we just started first grade. I haven't done any real tests but I guesstimate her reading level to be somewhere between 3rd and 4th ...word recognition and comprehension too. She has a very scary memory...wish i had it. Anyways, she reads MTH, My Fathers Dragon series, Boxcar children mysteries and a couple of Junie B. Jones. I have some historical fiction for the year such as A Lion to Guard Us which she is reading now. I need more suggestions on what she can read that is at her level but not too mature for her. I don't want anything that deals with too much death etc because she is easily frightened by that type of thing. She still reads storybooks that we check out at the library but they don't last long. She really loves to read and for that I am thankful but now her reading is going at a pace I can't keep up with (I like to read stuff before she does to check it out). So when I go to the library I'm afraid just to pull books off the shelf. We don't want filthy language or teenage type scenarios. The librarian is no help and just says that there aren't alot of books for that level that she could suggest. Any avid readers have a title or two you could suggest? Thanks SHeryl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christall Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 DDis 6 and we just started first grade. I haven't done any real tests but I guesstimate her reading level to be somewhere between 3rd and 4th ...word recognition and comprehension too. She has a very scary memory...wish i had it. Anyways, she reads MTH, My Fathers Dragon series, Boxcar children mysteries and a couple of Junie B. Jones. I have some historical fiction for the year such as A Lion to Guard Us which she is reading now. I need more suggestions on what she can read that is at her level but not too mature for her. I don't want anything that deals with too much death etc because she is easily frightened by that type of thing. She still reads storybooks that we check out at the library but they don't last long. She really loves to read and for that I am thankful but now her reading is going at a pace I can't keep up with (I like to read stuff before she does to check it out). So when I go to the library I'm afraid just to pull books off the shelf. We don't want filthy language or teenage type scenarios. The librarian is no help and just says that there aren't alot of books for that level that she could suggest. Any avid readers have a title or two you could suggest? Thanks SHeryl Sheryl, My daughter is a year older than yours - but reading much ahead of her age and we've run into the same problem :( Our librarian basically told us it is a double edged sword - you want young children to read well but when they do, we have nothing appropriate to offer them. My daughter likes the Ralph S. Mouse books - a little easy for her, but the content is good. Boxcar children, Nancy Drew (I read these first), the American girl books - she enjoys the mini-mysteries (or 2-minute mysteries - not sure of the exact title), we have found many abridged versions of the classics that she's enjoyed - Moby Dick, Robinson Crusoe, Swiss Family. I am looking forward to seeing the other responses you get since our situation is similiar - and if I think of anything else I'll let you know. Christall Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnowWhite Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 If she likes A Lion to Guard Us, there are lots more Bulla books that are great, such as Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims, Viking Adventure, Pony Express... Childhood of Famous Americans books are in that range too, I believe. My little boy (7) has recently been chuckling over Judy Blume's Fudge books. (Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing is the first in the series). I cringed when I realized there were some references to the facts of life talk, so maybe you want to wait on those. (nothing too descriptive, I think it went over my ds's head). Look at the curriculum lists for companies that use "real books" for readers. Heart of Dakota, Sonlight and WinterPromise come to mind. Squanto Friend of the Pilgrims was my ds's first reader in second grade this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 REAL LIFE - Understood Betsy (Fisher) - B is for Betsy (Haywood) - Betsy and Tacy series (Lovelace) - The Moffats series (Estes) - Follow My Leader (Garfield) - Billy and Blaze series (Anderson) - Light at Tern Rock (Sauer) - Grandma's Attic series (Richardson) - Henry Huggins series (Cleary) DETECTIVE - Jigsaw Jones series (Prellar) - Cam Jansen series (Adler) - Third Grade Detective series (Stanley) - Boxcar Children series (Warner) - The Roman Mystery series (Lawrence) MYTH / FAIRYTALE - A Grain of Rice (Pittman) - Mermaid Tales from Around the World (Osborne) - Beauty and the Beast (Osborne) - Tenggren's Golden Tales from the Arabian Nights (Tenggren) - Tales from the Ballet (Barber) - Tales from the Ballet (Untermeyer) - The Tall Book of Christmas (Smith) - Jan Brett's Christmas Treasury (Brett) - The Golden Fairytale Book (Sequr) - The World's Best Fairy Tales (Sideman) -- a Reader's Digest Anthology FANTASY - Catwings series (LeGuin) - Magic Tree House series (Osborne) - Toots and the Upside Down House (Hughes) - Moongobble and Me series (Coville) - Dragonslayer Academy series (McMullan) - The Littles series (Peterson) - The Borrowers (series) (Norton) - Land of Oz; Ozma of Oz (sequels to Wizard of Oz; more accessible than the original) - Mrs. Piggle Wiggle series (MacDonald) ANIMALS (talking) - The Cricket in Times Square (Selden) - Chester Cricket series (Selden) - Charlotte's Web (White) - Trumpet of the Swan (White) - The Mouse and the Motorcycle (McCleary) FUN TALL TALE - The Bears on Hemlock Mountain (Dalgliesh) - The Whipping Boy (Fleischman) - McBroom's Wonderful One-Acre Far (Fleischman) - Pippi Longstockings; Pippi in the South Seas (Astrid) - By the Great Horn Spoon (Fleischman) HISTORY ADVENTURE - Brendan the Navigator (Fritz) -- 500AD monk who may have been the first European to visit the New World - The Kite Fighters (Park) -- 1400s Korea -- more of a 4th grade level - Viking Adventure (Bulla) - The Sword in the Tree (Bulla) -- Medieval England - The Minstrel in the Tower (Skurzynski) -- Medieval England - Robinson Crusoe Reader (Cowles) -- adaptation of the classic story - A Lion to Guard Us (Bulla) -- early Colonial US - The Courage of Sarah Noble (Dalgliesh) -- Colonial US - Phoebe the Spy (Griffin) --American Revolution - true story - The Secret Valley (Bulla) -- Gold Rush/pioneers - Cowslip (Haynes) -- a young Southern slave girl is determined to escape - Sarah Plain and Tall; Skylark; Caleb's Story (MacLachlan) -- US - pioneer times - Hannah (Whelan) -- blind pioneer girl - Silver (Whelan) -- daughter of an Alaskan "musher" gets a sled dog puppy - Pioneer Cat (Hooks) -- pioneer girl and her cat travel west in a wagon train - The Cabin Faced West (Fritz) -- pioneer times US - Twenty and Ten (Bishop) -- WWII French children hide Jewish children -- more of a 3rd/4th gr. level - The Little Riders (Shemin) -- WWII occupied Europe BIOGRAPHY - The Daring Escape of Ellen Craft (Moore) - Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie (Roop) - Little Sure Shot: Annie Oakley (Spinner) - The Story of Thomas Alva Edison (Davidson) - Helen Keller (Davidson) - Helen Keller's Teacher (Davidson) - Helen Keller: Courage in the Dark (Hurwitz) - Louis Braille (Davidson) - The Wright Brothers (Reynolds) BIOGRAPHY / REAL ANIMALS - Balto and the Great Race (Kimmel) - The Bravest Dog Ever: The True Story of Balto (Standiford) - Barry: The Bravest St. Bernard (Hall) -- Swiss Alps rescue dog - Buddy: The First Seeing Eye Dog (Moore) - Man O'War (Mckerly) -- undefeated racehorse of the 1920s - A Horse Named Seabiscuit (Duvowski) -- famous racehorse of the 1930s - Five True Dog Stories (Davidson) - Five True Horse Stories (Davidson) - Nine True Dolphin Stories (Davidson - Dolphin Adventure; Dolphin Treasure; Dolphins and Me (Grover) -- more of a 3rd/4th gr. level Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gratefulmother Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 Some books my dd7, who loves to read, read last year- Magic Tree House Series My America Series American Girl series Sarah, Plain and Tall The Courage of Sarah Noble The Sword in the Tree (also by Clyde Robert Bulla) main character is a boy, but she still enjoyed it Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie Eloise Tornado (about a dog) The Hundred Dresses Prairie School by Avi Wagon Wheels I Can Read readers Levels 3, 4 and 5 Amelia Bedelia Curious George series Flat Stanley Daniel's Duck Clara and the Bookwagon Socks THe Bravest Dog Ever The Magic Fish Not all of these are at the top of her difficulty level, but she enjoyed them last year. HTH! I love making booklists. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcjlkplus3 Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 my dd7 (next week) also really likes the Disney Fairies books. We read a lot of the books listed in SOTW ancients last year. We will read a lot of history and science books this year. I do a lot of skimming through library books that she checks out. She has a younger brother and sister - she reads picture books to them - I skim through or read these also. Great Illustrated Classics are pretty good too. As a general rule I don't like abridged books, but its a good way to get classics at a younger level. She loved the Anne of Green Gables one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angel Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 Mercy Watson by Kate DiCamillo!! There are currently five in the series. They would be on the easier side, but my dd(almost 8) has been reading them for the past year and enjoys them so much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deana FL Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 AG was a hit w/my early reader. She's read through every series and even picks them up still to reread. Her first incentive to read through an entire series was the promise of a doll (compliments of Grandpa). Since you mentioned you don't want anything about death, I will warn you that Felicity's grandfather dies in one of the books. But, I didn't find it too intense. In fact, it was helpful, when my dd's own grandfather passed away a couple of years after reading the story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alana in Canada Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 That is a tough age--and I think we all go through it! How about Encyclopedia Brown? Hank the Cow Dog? For "go to" reading lists I rely on these: Highlands Summer Reading List: http://www.thelatinschool.org/summer-reading.html Great Books Academy: http://www.greatbooksacademy.org/html/the_good_books_list.html and more, from the School ofAbraham: http://www.schoolofabraham.com/readinglists.htm The Sonlight catalogue is also worth checking out. http://www.sonlight.com/readers.html hth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zelda Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 The early Betsy-Tacy books would probably be a good pick. You've gotten a lot of great suggestions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alana in Canada Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 Lori D.--You always have the most wonderful bookliss! Did you compile these yourself? It's scary--my daughter is already reading some of these on her own--Betsy-Tacy and Catwings are in progress at the moment--so this list is wonderful! What "grade level" do you put it at? And if I may ask, my son is currently reading The Twenty-One Baloons by William Pene du Bois. What "list" would you have for him? If this is a hijack, then I apologise--I'm used to the old WTM board which was more tolerant of tangents than this format! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovemyboys Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 DDis 6 and we just started first grade. I haven't done any real tests but I guesstimate her reading level to be somewhere between 3rd and 4th ...word recognition and comprehension too. She has a very scary memory...wish i had it. I need more suggestions on what she can read that is at her level but not too mature for her. Thanks SHeryl bookadventure.com? That's been a fun site for ds here. It's set up as a reading comprehension site but it has a pretty good list of books that you can do a search with by choosing a reading level and several topics of interest (1st grade - horses, adventure, mystery, nature, cats). It will pull up a list and behind each book is a reading level -- Nate the Great 2.1 (I'm totally guessing here, but the number means 1 month into 2nd grade). That might give you some place to start with more authors and books you haven't seen and an estimated level. We've found a decent variety of older classics and newer series books here. We've never cashed in for the prizes earned, but ds here enjoy taking the tests too, to see what they remember of books read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hazelt"nut" Posted August 25, 2008 Author Share Posted August 25, 2008 Ya'll are wonderful. Thanks for taking the time to respond and it is nice to know that this is a stage and we will work our way out of it eventually. I am going to print out the list and then get on the library website to see what is available. I gotta fill that book basket and the table by her bed and the coffee table ...NEED MORE BOOKS! Sheryl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alana in Canada Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 Lori D.--nvermind, I just found it on my computer already! You know, I now have a file called "LoriD Booklists" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 Based on you mentioning "21 Balloons", here's a list of books at a 5th/6th grade reading level. None are graphic or violent or have mature content, due to that 10-year-age. Hope there's something new here that works for you! Warmest regards, Lori D. CLASSICS - Paddle-to-the-Sea, Tree in the Trail, Seabird, Minn of the Mississippi (Holling) - Rikki Tikki Tavi; The Jungle Book (Kipling) - Wind in the Willows (Grahame) - Black Ships Before Troy (Sutcliffe) - Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Twain) - Merry Adventures of Robin Hood (and others by Howard Pyle) - Call of the Wild (London) - Treasure Island (Stevenson) - Ivanhoe (Scott) - Around the World in 80 Days (Verne) - Mysterious Island (Verne) REAL LIFE - The Toothpaste Millionaire (Merrill) - The Pushcart War (Merrill) - From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (Konigsburg) - In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson (Lord) - The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (Robinson) - Five on a Treasure Island (Blyton) - Call it Courage (Sperry) - Island of the Blue Dolphins (O'Dell) - The Wolves of Willoughby Chase (Aiken) FANTASY - Chronicles of Narnia (Lewis) - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Carroll) - Half Magic; Magic by the Lake, Knight's Castle; Time Garden; Seven Day Magic (Eager) - The Secret of Platform 13 (Ibbotson) - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Fleming) - The Phantom Tollbooth (Juster) - The Never Ending Story (Ende) - The Hobbit (Tolkien) FUN TALL TALE - The Whipping Boy (Fleischman) - Just So Stories (Kipling) - Adventures of TinTin (Herge) - By the Great Horn Spoon (Fleischman) - Holes (Sachar) HISTORICAL ADVENTURE - God King (Williamson)-- Ancient Egypt - Hittite Warrior (Williamson) -- ancient Israel/Hittite/Egypt - Detectives in Togas; Mystery of the Roman Ransom (Winterfeld) -- Ancient Rome - A Single Shard (Park) -- 1100s Korea - The Kite Fighters (Park) -- 1400s Korea- Adam of the Road (Gray) -- Medieval England - Adam of the Road (Gray) -- Medieval England - The Door in the Wall (de Angeli) -- Medieval England - The Master Puppeteer (Paterson) - 1700s Japan - The Sign of the Beaver (Speare) -- Colonial US/Native American - Johnny Tremain (Forbes) - Sounder (Armstrong) -- post Civil War South - The Great Wheel (Lawson) -- building of the first Ferris Wheel in 1893 - Number the Stars (Lenski)-- WWII Dutch girl helps her Jewish friend - Snow Treasure (McSwigan))-- WWII Norweigan children hide the country's gold - The House of Sixty Fathers (de Jong) -- WWII occupied China DETECTIVE - Encyclopedia Brown series (Sobol) - Hardy Boys series (Dixon) - Detectives in Togas; Mystery of the Roman Ransom (Winterfeld) -- Ancient Rome - Roman Mystery series (Lawrence) -- ancient Roman girl detecive and friends - Samurai Mystery series (Hoobler) -- 1700s Japan, boy detective - Case of the Baker Street Irregular (Newman) -- 1890s boy helps Sherlock Holmes - Case of the Disappearing Corpse (Newman) -- sequel - Case of the Vanishing King (Newman) - sequel BIOGRAPHY - Robert Fulton, Boy Craftsman (Henry) -- inventor of steam engine as a boy - Land I Lost; Water Buffalo Days (Nhuong) -- memories of pre-war rural Vietnam - Carry On, Mr. Bowditch (Latham) -- early US colonist who improved naval navigation - Naya Nuki: The Shoshone Girl Who Ran -- friend of Sacajewea - Behind Rebel Lines (Reit) -- teen girl who disguised self as a boy / Union spy in Civil War - Lincoln: A Photobiography -- beautiful photos / text telling Lincoln's life - Commodore Perry in the Land of the Shogun (Blumberg) - Born in the Year of Courage (Crofford) -- shipwrecked 1850s Japanese fisher boy - Bully for You, Teddy Roosevelt (Fritz) ANIMALS (real) - My Side of the Mountain (George) - Rascal (North) - Shiloh (Naylor) - Summer of the Monkeys (Rawls) - The Black Stallion, The Black Stallion Returns, Island Stallion (Farley) ANIMALS (talking) - Trumpet of the Swan (White) - The Mouse and the Motorcycle (McCleary) - Ben and I (Lawson) - The Rescuers, Miss Bianca, Miss Bianca in the Orient (Sharpe) - Basil of Baker Street (Titus) - Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (O'Brien) - The Reluctant Dragon (Grahame) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alana in Canada Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 ooh--there are some new ones on here! Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ali in OR Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 My dd turned 8 in July and is probably at about the same reading level. She just finished her summer challenge of reading 25 books of 125 pages or more. Here are some of her favorites for reading on her own: B is for Betsy series--Carolyn Haywood Baby Island--has read this at least 10 times--Brink All of a Kind family series--Taylor Little House books--Wilder Ramona books--Cleary Milly Molly Mandy--sweet stories Just getting into: Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle (have it from library and dd has read it several times) Edward Eager books--Half Magic, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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