Alice Posted December 9, 2015 Share Posted December 9, 2015 I'm sure this has been asked and answered before but a couple of quick searches didn't give me anything useful. I'm looking for books for my 9 year old. He is a good reader but somewhat of a picky reader. He will go through phases where he finds a book he really loves and then won't get interested in anything for awhile. He starts a lot of books but doesn't finish them. I'm not very good at grade levels and reading but he can read things like Harry Potter or Narnia with no trouble. It's more of an interest issue than ability issue. He really loves books with animals. (His favorite character in HP is Hagrid because Hagrid loves magical creatures if that gives you an idea of what he is like.) However, he is fairly sensitive and doesn't like it when the animals die or are hurt. Even if the story is about someone helping animals, he will have trouble reading about the part where whatever happened to cause them to need help. He mostly likes stories where the main characters are realistic animals but the story isn't totally realistic. So not something like Paddington or Stuart Little but also not Call of the Wild or The Black Stallion. He recently read two newish books, Malcolm at Midnight and Malcolm Under the Stars and really loved them. They are about a classroom pet rat who joins a secret society of other classroom pets and solves mysteries at a school. I'm looking for more books like those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MercyA Posted December 9, 2015 Share Posted December 9, 2015 Has he read the Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH? Watership Down is brilliant, but some parts might be too sad or disturbing for him. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacia Posted December 9, 2015 Share Posted December 9, 2015 I think I, Houdini might work. I think there may be other books in the series, but I'm not sure. It would be easy reading (compared to HP), but it's fun & nice. Haffertee books might be another possibility. But those may be too easy (reading-level-wise)? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacia Posted December 9, 2015 Share Posted December 9, 2015 (edited) Watership Down is brilliant, but some parts might be too sad or disturbing for him. I would think that's way too disturbing (in the same vein of The Call of the Wild). Alice, I'm like your ds. I generally don't read animal books of any kind for the same reasons. (My ds is also like this. Dd, otoh, is fine w/ books like that.) I couldn't get through Watership Down even as an adult. Edited December 9, 2015 by Stacia 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisoncooks Posted December 9, 2015 Share Posted December 9, 2015 (edited) Does he like non-fiction? My oldest animal lover reads a LOT of animal NF. Pocket guides and pet care guides and etc. Her current branch of interest is lizards and other reptiles; youngest animal lover tends to read about cats & dogs & other small domesticated mammals. ETA: oldest also enjoys the Vet Volunteers series by Laurie Halse Anderson, however there are some sad parts (a litter of kittens being rescued from drowning, an injured deer.) ETA: We also enjoyed the James Herriot books! Edited December 9, 2015 by alisoncooks 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clementine Posted December 9, 2015 Share Posted December 9, 2015 Has he seen the Warriors series by Erin Hunter? My dd couldn't get enough when she was about that age. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinder Posted December 9, 2015 Share Posted December 9, 2015 Has he seen the Warriors series by Erin Hunter? My dd couldn't get enough when she was about that age. I was going to suggest the same. My dd got into these at about 9yo. She also has separate series on dogs and bears. Another animal series is Guardians of Ga'hoole by Kathryn Lasky. She also has Wolves of the Beyond series. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanaqui Posted December 9, 2015 Share Posted December 9, 2015 The Sasquatch Escape has kids rescuing fantasy animals, but nobody is at serious risk of getting hurt, and it's the start of an entire series. The books are a bit easier than Harry Potter, but that shouldn't matter too much. Let me think more on it, see if I can think of something more to your request. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alice Posted December 9, 2015 Author Share Posted December 9, 2015 Has he read the Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH? Watership Down is brilliant, but some parts might be too sad or disturbing for him. We read Mrs. Frisby outloud and he liked it. He might be interested in trying it on his own now, it's been a couple of years. Thanks for the reminder! I think I, Houdini might work. I think there may be other books in the series, but I'm not sure. It would be easy reading (compared to HP), but it's fun & nice. Haffertee books might be another possibility. But those may be too easy (reading-level-wise)? I, Houdini sounds perfect, I"ll have to look for it. We've read the Humphrey the Hamster books together which sound a little similar. Does he like non-fiction? My oldest animal lover reads a LOT of animal NF. Pocket guides and pet care guides and etc. Her current branch of interest is lizards and other reptiles; youngest animal lover tends to read about cats & dogs & other small domesticated mammals. ETA: oldest also enjoys the Vet Volunteers series by Laurie Halse Anderson, however there are some sad parts (a litter of kittens being rescued from drowning, an injured deer.) ETA: We also enjoyed the James Herriot books! He likes some non-fiction. He will read a lot of animal encyclopedia type of stuff. He has lots of those and will read them. He has recently gotten into the Scientists in the Field series and liked those. Sometimes we run into the same problem when things are too realistic. He's more ok with things like one animal eating another in non-fiction. He knows it happens in nature, he just doesn't like to think about it. He's been a vegetarian himself for about 3 years. I think he wants to read fiction too, at least he says he does. Has he seen the Warriors series by Erin Hunter? My dd couldn't get enough when she was about that age. My older son read these but he hasn't gotten as into them. Not sure why. I think maybe they tend a little more towards fantasy and he likes things more on the realistic side except with talking animals, if that makes sense. I haven't read the Warrior books so maybe the fantasy characterization is not accurate. I was going to suggest the same. My dd got into these at about 9yo. She also has separate series on dogs and bears. Another animal series is Guardians of Ga'hoole by Kathryn Lasky. She also has Wolves of the Beyond series. I thought Guardians of Ga'hoole would be perfect because he especially likes birds but I think it was in the first chapter that there was a fairly graphic description of some small creature being eaten. He was younger when we tried it though so he might me more ok with it now. He tends to be ok now with things that are animals acting like they should in nature but doesn't like violence or depictions of humans being cruel to animals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mothersweets Posted December 9, 2015 Share Posted December 9, 2015 (edited) Has he seen the Warriors series by Erin Hunter? My dd couldn't get enough when she was about that age. I was going to suggest this series, too. My 9yo dd sounds very similar to the OP's son readingwise and she LOVES these! eta - After reading your last post, what about the Redwall series by Brian Jacques? Edited December 9, 2015 by Mothersweets Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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