Self-read book recommendation for 4th graders:

[Shasta Mom]

My ds is somewhat of a reluctant reader - he's not remedial, but sometimes it's a battle to get him to read. Well, he just finished The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster and LOVED it. It has a lot of silliness which apparently is a must for ds......I'm always looking for these homeruns!

[Susie in CA]

Here is our list of 'silly' books for two dss in 3rd and 4th grade:

 

- Harry the Poisenous Centipede by Lynne Reid Banks (3 books)

- Hiccup Horrendous Handock III by Cressida Cowell (several books in the series)

- Geronimo Stilton

- Dragon Slayer's Academy

- Moongoble and Me by Bruce Coville

- Magic Shop Books by Bruce Coville (less funny and more adventurous)

- anything by Roal Dahl (i.e. Mr. Fantastic Fox, The Twits)

 

That's all I can think of right now. I hope this helps!

 

Susie

[Angela in TN]

My 4th grader has really enjoyed The Time Warp Trio Series by Jon Scieszka, you can check them out here.

[elegantlion]

If he hasn't already read the Alex Rider series I'd recommend those. We are loving them this year.

[Melora in NC]

My reluctant reader (ds, aged 10) just gobbled up Rascal, by Sterling North.

[smilesonly]

Does he like mysteries? My dc loved the BoxCar Children series! It fits the 6-11 crowd.

 

Now.....:lurk5:

 

 

Smiles:)

[Debbie in OR]

I have a friend with a semi-reluctant 4th grade ds who started reading the TinTin books and it was a "turning point" for him. It helped up his reading interest in other types of genres. Maybe alternate them with non-graphic novel-type books.

[JeannineW]

I second Boxcar Children and we just finished There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom by Louis Sachar as a read aloud. We loved it so much that I bought it for the "school" library. When it came, DD immediately started reading it herself. She is in 3rd grade and has been a very reluctant reader until just recently.

[AngieW in Texas]

Diary of a Wimpy Kid was a hit here. That is the only book that my youngest has ever read on her own outside of schooltime. She picked it up on a rainy Saturday and read it all the way through. There are two books in the series right now, but a 3rd is coming out soon.

 

Other books my reluctant reader has enjoyed reading are:

Warriors series (Erin Hunt)

Samurai Mystery series (Hoobler)

Five Ancestors series (Stone)

Edited October 18, 2008 by AngieW in Texas

[Guest Lorna]

All of the Professor Branestawm books by Norman Hunter. They have a similar level of silly cleverness.

 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

 

 

Professor Theophilus Branestawm is a character in a series of books by Norman Hunter.

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The Incredible Adventures of Professor Branestawm

 

 

Professor Branestawm is the archetypal absent-minded professor. He is always at work in his "Inventory" creating bizarre inventions, all of which either malfunction or work in unanticipated ways, and which lead him into incredible adventures, often accompanied by his friend Colonel Dedshott of the Catapult Cavaliers, and his housekeeper Mrs Flittersnoop. He lives in Great Pagwell, which is apparently surrounded by other Pagwells (Little Pagwell, Pagwell Heights, Pagwell Gardens etc). In "The Professor Borrows a Book", he manages to lose fourteen different copies of the same book from fourteen different public libraries, and has to cycle frantically between fourteen different Pagwells to renew his books to avoid being fined.

The Professor is described in the first book as having, like all great men, simple tastes: "His coat was simply fastened with safety pins because the buttons had simply fallen off. His head was simply bald and it simply shone like anything when the sun caught it." He has five pairs of spectacles – one for reading, one for writing, one for out of doors, one for looking at you over the top of and a fifth pair for looking for the others on the frequent occasions when they get lost. Other pairs of spectacles are often mentioned.

Many of the Professor's perils result from simple absent-mindedness. In "The Screaming Clocks", he invents a clock that doesn't need winding up, but the omission of an important component ("I forgot to put a little wiggly thing in") means the clock doesn't stop at twelve but continues striking thirteen, fourteen and so forth until it can't keep up with itself. In "Burglars!", the Professor invents an automatic burglar catcher, but forgets his house key, tries to get in the window and is grabbed and trussed up by his own machine so thoroughly that even Mrs Flittersnoop fails to recognise him, and bashes him over the head for good measure.

Mrs Flittersnoop, in fact, causes trouble a few times through her lack of understanding for the Professor's genius. In "The Wild Waste Paper", she throws what seems to be a bottle of cough medicine into the waste bin. The liquid turns out to be the Professor's elixir of life, which was in the bottle because cough medicine is the only thing that can stop the stuff dead without actually destroying it. Since the bottle was uncorked to allow air in (nothing can live without air), the waste paper in the bin comes to life. Even when stuck up a pear tree surrounded by giant, predatory bits of waste paper, the Professor retains his scientific detachment, wondering if a carpenter's bill would know a saw if it saw one, and if so, whether the gas bill might explode at any moment.

Many of the troubles that the professor causes are due to his inventions rebelling, showing anthropomorphic personalities. For instance, the phrase "No Branestawm invention was going to stand for that" occurs several times in the series. Branestawm inventions frequently object to anyone using them in ways that they were not designed for. For instance, in a story about the Professor making cuckoo clocks for all his friends, a fight broke out between the clocks, resulting in the destruction of all of them.

The first book featuring Professor Branestawm was The Incredible Adventures of Professor Branestawm, first published in 1933 and illustrated by W. Heath Robinson. Heath Robinson was famous for his rickety contraptions, and the illustrations were a perfect foil to the outlandish plots of these short stories, each picture typically featuring the professor's unfeasibly large forehead. The original book contained seventy-six illustrations by W. Heath Robinson, each with evocative titles such as A telescope of his own invention or With nothing on at all but a big smile (referring to a picture of an extra specially young professor).

The sequel was Professor Branestawm's Treasure Hunt, published 1937. The first edition was illustrated by James Arnold with George Worsley Adamson[1] substituted for the 1966 editions.

Other books, still authored by Hunter, followed many decades later:

 

• The Peculiar Triumph of Professor Branestawm (1970)
  
• Professor Branestawm Up the Pole (1972)
  
• Professor Branestawm's Great Revolution (1974)
  
• Professor Branestawm Round the Bend (1977)
  
• Professor Branestawm's Perilous Pudding (1979)
  
• Professor Branestawm and the Wild Letters (1981)
  
• Professor Branestawm's Pocket Motor Car (1981)
  
• Professor Branestawm's Mouse War (1982)
  
• Professor Branestawm's Building Bust-Up (1982)
  
• Professor Branestawm's Crunchy Crockery (1983)
  
• Professor Branestawm's Hair-Raising Idea (1983)
  

 

[dcjlkplus3]

My 4th grader has really enjoyed The Time Warp Trio Series by Jon Scieszka, you can check them out here.

:iagree:The one we read was very silly and more for boys than girls although my dd7 did like it okay.