Kanin Posted March 23, 2021 Posted March 23, 2021 I need an awesome book to read aloud to my remote 4th and 5th graders. Ideally something with excitement, adventure, and humor. So far we've read a couple books, most recently The Whipping Boy and From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. I love both these books, but they received a "meh!" rating from my 10 year olds. It's a bit of a tough crowd because they're remote and kinda over Zoom school. I'd like something to help them look forward to coming to class each day. Nothing sad or scary. Quote
madteaparty Posted March 23, 2021 Posted March 23, 2021 Mine just read Holes by herself and loved it. The Willoghbys (can’t spell) was a hit too. 2 Quote
Amethyst Posted March 23, 2021 Posted March 23, 2021 (edited) Holes was the first one that came to mind for me too. City of Ember, maybe? Edited March 23, 2021 by Amethyst Quote
happi duck Posted March 23, 2021 Posted March 23, 2021 It's been ages but I seem to remember "Whales on Stilts" being really funny! https://www.amazon.com/Whales-Stilts-Andersons-Thrilling-Tales/dp/1435233220 Quote
Mothersweets Posted March 23, 2021 Posted March 23, 2021 Frindle Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days! The Mysterious Benedict Society Danny the Champion of the World - or almost anything else by Roald Dahl. Bunnicula The World According to Humphrey 1 Quote
Monica_in_Switzerland Posted March 23, 2021 Posted March 23, 2021 1 hour ago, madteaparty said: Mine just read Holes by herself and loved it. The Willoghbys (can’t spell) was a hit too. These would be my two top picks as well. Holes has some sadness in it, but it is so, so, so good. I would rate it as one of the most satisfying books I've read in my life. And the Willoughbys is hilarious, especially for children who are slightly familiar with children's classics, though that's not truly necessary. 1 Quote
Tanaqui Posted March 23, 2021 Posted March 23, 2021 Just off the top of my head - and sticking only to books that have actually been published within spitting distance of your students' lifetimes: The Great Greene Heist Pickle: The (Formerly) Anonymous Prank Club of Fountain Point Middle School Sal and Gabi Break the Universe Pie in the Sky by Remi Lai (heavily illustrated) Save Me a Seat Misadventures of the Family Fletcher Stand Up, Yumi Chung The First Rule of Punk Step Up to the Plate, Maria Singh Mango Delight (this is on my tbr) Ghost Squad 1 Quote
kristin0713 Posted March 23, 2021 Posted March 23, 2021 A Long Way From Chicago By The Great Hornspoon Summer of the Monkeys 1 Quote
Hilltopmom Posted March 23, 2021 Posted March 23, 2021 (edited) Restart- my 4th graders always love it and it’s a modern book with great conversation starters but not heavy. I promise they will like it. anything else Gordon Korman, really. Rump is pretty funny too. those Humphrey books are painful to read aloud My lower group I read the Fudge series to this year. outdated but still funny. Edited March 23, 2021 by Hilltopmom 1 Quote
Storygirl Posted March 23, 2021 Posted March 23, 2021 (edited) The Phantom Tollbooth --- if they would like funny wordplay. Harris and Me -- if you want laugh out loud funny. Edited March 23, 2021 by Storygirl Quote
Mrs Tiggywinkle Posted March 23, 2021 Posted March 23, 2021 Adventures with Waffles The Nerviest Girl in the World Quote
MercyA Posted March 23, 2021 Posted March 23, 2021 Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH Pippi Longstocking 101 Dalmations (the original, of course) 1 Quote
saraha Posted March 23, 2021 Posted March 23, 2021 Anything M. T. Anderson, especially the clue in the linoleum liderhosen. You’ll giggle all the way through reading it!!! Quote
Spy Car Posted March 23, 2021 Posted March 23, 2021 3 hours ago, Mothersweets said: Frindle Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days! The Mysterious Benedict Society Danny the Champion of the World - or almost anything else by Roald Dahl. Bunnicula The World According to Humphrey Oh, I absolutely loved Frindle. I remember reading it when my son was in third grade. I think I liked it much more than he did. What's wrong with kids today? LOL. Bill 1 Quote
Spy Car Posted March 23, 2021 Posted March 23, 2021 When I saw the thread title the book By The Great Horned Spoon leaped into my head. I think I read it in 4th grade. But that was more than 50 years ago, so it is hard to know if my critical evaluation would hold up, but I liked it. Funny. Adventure. An ocean voyage on the way to the CA gold rush if I really correctly. Bill 1 Quote
Spy Car Posted March 23, 2021 Posted March 23, 2021 (edited) You don't want sad so this recommendation will do you no good, but I was a "reader" at this age. I plowed through book after book. Always won the annual library summer reading contest by a country mile. Mom would take us to the library at least every two weeks and I'd max out my card and hers. Mostly light fare, like Henry Huggins, Encyclopedia Brown, and that sort of stuff. Then one time I checked out a book called Tornado Jones. A boy and his dog, living on a farm getting up to adventures. Seemed up my alley. But then the idyllic pastoralism was suddenly threatened by a big electrification project (I'm not sure if it was the TVA, but like that). And a newly constructed dam was going to flood the family farm. Everything would be lost. I was gutted. Cried and cried. That book forever changed my future reading habits. I didn't really know that books could evoke such strong emotional responses. Up to that point I was a dumb boy who liked funny dumb boy books: Henry Reed, Inc. or Danny Dunn. That sort of thing. After reading Tornado Jones I forever left the children's section behind and started peppering librariarians for recommendations for "adult books." Ones that were moving and powerful and could rip your guts out. Never looked back. So cross Tornado Jones off your list. LOL. Bill Edited March 23, 2021 by Spy Car 2 3 Quote
Spryte Posted March 24, 2021 Posted March 24, 2021 Wait, there’s life outside of the Wings of Fire series? My 4th grader has been in a rut, re-reading them all endlessly. I don’t think those are the books you are looking for, though. 🤣 My avid reader has read a lot of the above (before being sucked into the Wings of Fire quagmire, which is like entering a maze from which your kid might never escape). I’m taking notes on the others. Love this thread. Thanks to OP for starting it! 4the grader here recently read The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles, and enjoyed that one. 3 Quote
Servant4Christ Posted March 24, 2021 Posted March 24, 2021 DS10 is a bookworm. He loved Holes, By the Great Horned Spoon, Summer of the Monkeys, and My Side of the Mountain (all mentioned above). Also The Captain's Dog, The Great Turkey Walk, Rascal, and Ginger Pye. 3 Quote
Terabith Posted March 24, 2021 Posted March 24, 2021 We read so much at that age: Chronicles of Narnia Wrinkle in Time series all the Andrew Clements books Phantom Tollbooth Warriors series Redwall series Wings of Fire series Jeremy Thatcher Dragon Hatcher Dragon in a Sock Drawer series Dragon of the Lost Sea series by Laurence Yep Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH Rules Touch Blue A Mango Shaped Space Out of My Mind Mockingbird Counting By 7's The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl Penderwicks series Ginger Pye/ Pinky Pye Moffatts series Saturdays series anything by Kate DiCamillo Holes My Side of the Mountain and all the sequels Al Capone Does My Shirts and sequels Number the Stars The Giver and sequels The War That Saved My Life/ The War I Finally Won The Green Glass Sea The Great Turkey Walk The Whipping Boy By the Great Horned Spoon Bunnicula series Not Just Anybody Family anything by Roald Dahl Little House on the Prairie books Dark Is Rising series by Susan Cooper Cricket in Times Square and sequels Sideways Stories from Wayside School series How to Eat Fried Worms Snow Treasure Mrs. Piggle Wiggle series Owls in the Family Top Secret Cockroach Cooties Yang the Youngest and His Horrible Ear A Tarantula in My Purse Gooney Bird Green series Half Magic all the Oz books Mr. Popper's Penguins Homer Price The Year of Miss Agnes all the Boxcar Children books Eragon series Breaking Stalin's Nose Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankenweiler anything by E. Nesbit Sisters 8 books Golden Compass series all the Gordon Korman books, but the old ones were our favorites (Bruno and Boots and the like) Fish in a Tree Because of Mr. Terupt Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library Mysterious Benedict Society Graveyard Book and Unfortunately the Milk and Coraline by Neil Gaimen Hatchet and sequels Cheaper By the Dozen My kids loved Series of Unfortunate Events, but I hated them. Ender's Game series and Ender's Shadow series Discworld novels Harbor Me The Watsons Go to Birmingham Wonder Walk Two Moons City of Ember books by Sara Weeks The Princess in Black 4 Quote
Chris in VA Posted March 24, 2021 Posted March 24, 2021 Whew! After Terebith I only have one suggestion, which was read by my teacher to us in 3rd grade but still holds up--No Flying in the House 1 Quote
Kanin Posted March 24, 2021 Author Posted March 24, 2021 Wow! You guys are amazing! I'm going to have to save this list for future classes, too. With all these books, I may have to insist on Zoom read-alouds until they graduate from middle school! Thanks a million!!! Quote
Vintage81 Posted March 24, 2021 Posted March 24, 2021 Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus Nevermoor (this is a series) Quote
vonfirmath Posted March 24, 2021 Posted March 24, 2021 11 hours ago, Spryte said: Wait, there’s life outside of the Wings of Fire series? My 4th grader has been in a rut, re-reading them all endlessly. I don’t think those are the books you are looking for, though. 🤣 My avid reader has read a lot of the above (before being sucked into the Wings of Fire quagmire, which is like entering a maze from which your kid might never escape). I’m taking notes on the others. Love this thread. Thanks to OP for starting it! 4the grader here recently read The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles, and enjoyed that one. I cannot totally dislike the Wings of Fire series. My daughter is a 4th grader that has been asking for those books for the last year or so. It started with the graphic novels -- but it also spurred her jump to the chapter books. (When she couldn't get the graphic novels fast enough) And she branched out from the chapter books to read OTHER chapter books. She's reading the Ranger's Apprentice series right now but she's also gone through the WIngfeather Saga this year and a bunch of others. Even as recently as last summer she was resisting reading books that did not have a lot of pictures (Like every page) but she's past that hurdle and enjoying books she can't read in a couple of sittings and I really appreciate that. 2 Quote
Spryte Posted March 24, 2021 Posted March 24, 2021 25 minutes ago, vonfirmath said: I cannot totally dislike the Wings of Fire series. My daughter is a 4th grader that has been asking for those books for the last year or so. It started with the graphic novels -- but it also spurred her jump to the chapter books. (When she couldn't get the graphic novels fast enough) And she branched out from the chapter books to read OTHER chapter books. She's reading the Ranger's Apprentice series right now but she's also gone through the WIngfeather Saga this year and a bunch of others. Even as recently as last summer she was resisting reading books that did not have a lot of pictures (Like every page) but she's past that hurdle and enjoying books she can't read in a couple of sittings and I really appreciate that. Oh, goodness, no, I don’t dislike them at all either. My 4th grader loves them all and is on her third read through the whole series. Or fourth? I don’t know. Those books are like her best friends. She reads them at night, before bed, for fun. During the day she reads new books, but Wings of Fire are something special. The newest will be in her Easter basket. Amazon has some cute throws, too, if you search for WOF merchandise. 😊 You reminded me, we were meaning to try Ranger’s Apprentice series! Fingers crossed that one is beloved, too. In 4th grade, I read and re-read and re-read the entire Silver Brumby series, but sadly, I think most are out of print. 1 Quote
vonfirmath Posted March 24, 2021 Posted March 24, 2021 (edited) 1 hour ago, Spryte said: Oh, goodness, no, I don’t dislike them at all either. My 4th grader loves them all and is on her third read through the whole series. Or fourth? I don’t know. Those books are like her best friends. She reads them at night, before bed, for fun. During the day she reads new books, but Wings of Fire are something special. The newest will be in her Easter basket. Amazon has some cute throws, too, if you search for WOF merchandise. 😊 You reminded me, we were meaning to try Ranger’s Apprentice series! Fingers crossed that one is beloved, too. In 4th grade, I read and re-read and re-read the entire Silver Brumby series, but sadly, I think most are out of print. I've never heard of SIlver Brumby But I do remember series I read growing up (Though sadly I mostly can't place them at a particular age.) We watched Wizard of Oz this weekend and I remember searching the library system for Wizard of Oz books, putting them on hold. etc. All-of-a-Kind Family series by Sydney Taylor Shoes books by Noel Streatfeild Encyclopedia Brown the Little Brain series by John Fitzgerald The Half Magic series Betsy-Tacy books (Was Black STallion a series? I remember a series about a horse) (may be middle school) Trixie Belden Cherry Ames Bobbsey Twins Edited March 24, 2021 by vonfirmath 1 Quote
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