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The Vine: December 2, 2011

Submitted by on December 2, 2011 – 5:26 PM109 Comments

Hi Sars — I’ve enjoyed your site for years and hope to tap into the book knowledge that you and your readers have. I have a 7-year-old son who is a voracious reader. I love that he loves to read, and try to keep him supplied with books, and that is the question — I’m looking for recommendations. These are the books that he has read and enjoyed:

Cam Jansen series
Puppy Place series
Bailey School Mysteries
Box Car Children
A to Z Mysteries
Magic Tree House
Secrets of Droon
Dinosaur Cove
My Weird School Daze
Black Lagoon series

I’ve also bought him all of the Stepping Stones books that I could find — Knights of the Round Table, Swiss Family Robinson, The Time Machine, 10,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Three Musketeers, Oliver Twist, Last of the Mohicans, Swiss Family Robinson.

He’s also just started the Hardy Boys books, I think they are a little difficult for him but he is reading them and enjoying them.

He has read all of his books numerous times so I don’t begrudge buying him new ones when I can find something for him to read.

One problem is content. Although he reads at a higher level, his maturity level is still 2nd grade. For instance, he read one of the Henry and Ribsy books by Beverly Clearly about a year ago and it was mentioned in the book that “dad is the tooth fairy.” And I’m not opposed to Harry Potter but I’m not sure if might be too mature for him at this point.

If you or any of your readers have any suggestions, I would really appreciate it. They don’t have to be series, I like the series because it makes my life a little easier. I can buy in bulk and he’s occupied for a little while at least.

Going Broke Buying Books But Loving Every Minute Of It

Dear Broke,

First of all, hooray, a question involving kids that’s aggro-free! Hee.

Second of all, hooray, I can recommend a series Skyrockets’s son tore through in about two weeks. (He’d just turned seven at the time; mileage will vary between kids the same age, of course.) It’s by the inaptly named Andy Griffiths, and it starts with a classy tome called The Day My Butt Went Psycho. The titles get even more highbrow from there, obviously (Zombie Butts From Uranus).

You might also try Gnod’s literature map, although entering Griffiths’s name, in addition to popping up Wimpy Kid‘s Jeff Kinney right next to Griffiths, also put Donald Trump near him in the cloud? So those suggestions may need a little curating.

Readers? Stock that kid’s bookshelf. (Three per comment, please. Thanks.)

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109 Comments »

  • Sara says:

    I think I was a little older when I read the Wizard of Oz series, so it might not be that helpful yet, but they are so full of imagination and awesomeness, I can’t help but mention them. There are 15 books, and the themes aren’t overly grown up, just full of adventure, as I recall. By Frank L. Baum, of course.

  • Amanda says:

    The first two that popped into mind are Hank the Cowdog and Captain Underpants. Lots of books in both series. I’ve also seen a new (to me) series called Bad Kitty, but I haven’t read them to know how they are.

  • Anne-Cara says:

    Has he read the Frog and Toad books, by Arnold Lobel? (Frog and Toad Are Friends, Frog and Toad All Year…) Those were some of my favorites at that age, along with Little House in the Big Woods and Little House on the Prairie.

    The Cricket in Times Square might be a little old for him, but not by much.

  • Mary says:

    I’m biased because I just found three of them at the thrift store, but how about John Fitzgerald’s The Great Brain series? They are pretty excellent.

    As a bonus, each book is essentially plotless, as they are mostly a bunch of almost entirely self-contained stories. If he still likes for you to read to him, you and he could read one story together every day or something. (I don’t know, I don’t have kids.)

  • Elizabeth says:

    Oh, Cam Jansen! I haven’t thought of her in ages.
    I would recommend all the Great Brain books, and the Encyclopedia Brown series. Both oldies but goodies.

  • Mel says:

    Seems like Louis Sachar (Sideways School, Marvin Redpost) would suit him.

    Also Edgar Eager – SO good. Start with Half Magic, but all of his books are fun.

    My awesome analytical friend Kristy created this database after years of elementary & middle school library volunteering, and I always find it useful in these situations: http://kidalog.org/all/index.html – sounds like the ages 7-10 and 8-11 adventure section would be right up his alley.

  • Ashleigh says:

    No suggestions here, but this is the kind of question librarians were made for! Any good children’s librarian should be able to offer you plenty of recommendations based on this list of your son’s past favorites.

  • Valerie says:

    I always got great ideas for books and authors from the Newbery Award winners; age-appropriateness varies widely with the Newbery, so you will have to vet them – but I never found that a chore, because they’re so good!
    Also, your son might be a bit young for the Redwall series, but keep it in mind for the future – it will only be a year or two, probably. And I was 9 when I started reading the Chronicles of Narnia, so he might be ready for those soon, as well.

  • Duana says:

    How about the early Judy Blume stuff? I’m thinking along the lines of Fourth-grade-nothing, Superfudge, etc.

    Also a surefire hit with kids that age – “Sideways Stories from Wayside School”

  • Duana says:

    A surefire hit with kids that age – “Sideways Stories from Wayside School” – totally silly but also completely understandable for kids in terms of the injustices of being in third grade…

  • SarahBeth says:

    How about the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe series by CS Lewis?

    Or is he not old enough yet for The Phantom Tollbooth which is fun.

    Harry Potter might be ok – the first couple of books aren’t too bad, even the third one isn’t too dark, but once you get past there, then they might be a little too old for him just now.

  • M. Nightingale says:

    I would say most things by Roald Dahl would be good. His most famous is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but he also wrote The BFG and there’s a whole chapter about farting and why farting is better than burping. Most of his other books are similarly appealing.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roald_Dahl

    Encyclopedia Brown might also be worth trying. A child running a detective agency, righting wrongs, I remember liking that.

  • heidikins says:

    “The Great Brain” is a series by John D. Fitzgerald about a boy and his brothers who get in all sorts of adventures small town 1800’s. The Great Brain is the oldest brother and he is self-proclaimed brilliant and leads his brothers on all sorts of Awesome. Recommended.

    xox

  • Cathy says:

    The How to Train Your Dragon series (though be warned, if you’ve seen the movie, the plot is completely different).

    Captain Underpants is wildly popular.

    Geronimo Stilton books may be too easy for him, but I know they are beloved by that age group. And there are a ton of them!

  • Ellie says:

    They are, of course, suuuuuper dated (and I guess maybe hard to find depending on your local library), but I remember loving all the Bobbsey Twins books at the same time I was really into the Boxcar Children.

  • Kaijsa says:

    They’re old, but I loved the Great Brain books as a kid. They’re full of mischief-making, but nothing crazy.

  • Allison says:

    If he likes My Weird School Daze, Dan Gutman has written a bunch of other series — Million Dollar Shot/Kick/Punt/Whathaveyou, Famous Baseball Player & Me, etc.

    Jon Scieszka’s Time Warp Trio series might be good. The American Girl series are great for that age, if he’s willing to read a series that’s pretty exclusively marketed to girls. Dav Pilkey’s various series too, like Captain Underpants and Ook & Gluk.

    Also I encourage you to hit up your local library — they’ll have lots of recommendations for popular series (says the librarian). He likes the greatest hits of current children’s series, basically, so his tastes won’t be hard to match.

  • Leigh in CO says:

    I am way old-school, but since you brought up Hardy Boys…

    The Encyclopedia Brown (Sobel) books were among my favorites at around that age. They made me feel smart, and I think they made me smarter, too. There are a slew of them, to boot. They never got old for us as kids, either; we read them over and over again. Some of the mysteries were a real challenge, but that made it more interesting to go back and pick up what got missed the first time through.

    The Phantom Tollbooth (Juster) is all over the news these days, which makes me so thoroughly happy. That book is on my list of all-time favorite books ever (top 10!), and I find joy in it every time I pick it up again.

    I also keep my copies (plural) of The Little Prince (Saint-Exupery) close at hand, for frequent re-reading.

    I could keep going, but Encyclopedia Brown taught me to follow the rules, too.

  • Chris says:

    If he likes The Boxcar Children, try him on Arthur Ransome (Swallows and Amazons etc.). I devoured that series as a 7-year-old.

    Gordon Korman’s Bruno & Boots series may be a little old for him yet, but worth a try – if not, try again in a couple of years. Wikipedia calls them YA, but they’re more a middle-grade reading level, and I don’t think there’s any mature subject matter. He just might not be old enough to want to read about early high school. They’re very funny.

    I was also really into Emily Rodda – the Rowan of Rin series was where I started.

  • Sheila says:

    Louis Sachar’s Wayside School books are weird and excellent! Not a long series, but there are three of them. (Sideways Stories From Wayside School, Wayside School Is Falling Down, and Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger.)
    Anything by Roald Dahl, really, though I would especially recommend The Witches and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Dahl’s a bit spooky/morbid, but not too much for a seven-year-old, I don’t think. (I was reading him in second grade, and I turned out okay. ^__^)
    Lastly, Margaret Mahy’s The Blood-and-Thunder Adventure on Hurricane Peak. That is all.

  • Barbara says:

    Right now my 2nd grader is enjoying reading (with her dad and big sis) Mr. Popper’s Penguins, and the first Harry Potter. Here’s a website that our school uses though, with a whole bunch of categories. http://www.lexile.com/fab/#

  • A.L. says:

    How about T.H. White’s The Sword in the Stone?

  • Meredith says:

    I think I was 7 when I got ‘special access’ to the advanced sections at the school library. One series I remember getting into at that point and loving was the Happy Hollisters.

    They are extremely appropriate for a 7-year old; they were originally published between 1950 and 1973 or so. Until recently these were hard to find but it looks like they’ve been recently re-released in paperback (available on Amazon, and possibly at your local bookstore).

  • penguinlady says:

    If he’s reading “Hardy Boys”, see if you can find the old “Three Investigators” series – I remember it as more fun than the Hardy Boys (and also, slightly less “boy-centric”). The Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan might be a tiny bit old – a friend of mine had her 8 year old reading it and he loved them. I loved “From the Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler” (and the ’80s movie) and “Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH”, basically anything on the Newberry award list.

    Such a great question! I’ve been “collecting” book recommendations for my kids for a while and love to hear what other people think.

  • Kristen says:

    In second grade I made my way through all of the Little House on the Prairie books I could find. I don’t remember them being overly girlie. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and the Nate the Great series were also big favorites. Hurray for a new generation of bookworms!

  • Laura says:

    I’m a fourth grade teacher, and the boys in my class love the Beast Quest series. The series currently has 60 books with more set to release next year. I would be surprised if his school library doesn’t have many of the titles.

    I would also recommend any of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, Big Nate, and Stink.

  • Carolyn says:

    Magic School Bus chapter books by Eva Moore
    Ready Freddy series by Abby Klein
    Dragon Slayers’ Academy series by Kate McMullan

  • Carena says:

    I would recommend Wayside stories for Westside school. (or Westside stories for wayside school) It’s about a mixed up elementry school (the first story is how it was supposed to be 13 classrooms, but the builder messed up and put them all one on top of the other)

    It’s silly and fun.

  • Katherine says:

    I don’t have anything to do with this website other than I use it for my own kids and gifts. I think it’s pretty awesome. They are also great at answering any questions or offering more suggestions. http://tinyurl.com/childlit

  • Bev says:

    any of the “Olga da Polga” books (Olga is a guinea pig with many adventures) starting with The Tales of Olga da Polga
    by Michael Bond

    Bunnicula (a vampire bunny)
    and its sequels
    Debra Howe and James Howe

    These are both a tad easier, and for younger readers than the Hardy boys. I would describe them as great stories written for adults to read to children.

    The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster sounds about perfect to me for the child you describe.

  • Jackie says:

    The Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I read the first few–Little House in the Big Woods, Little House on the Prairie, On The Banks of Plum Creek–with my son when he was in second grade. And he loved them! Especially the technical bits about life in the olden days, like making bullets and butchering the pig. BIG HIT! (And, as a mom, you’ll marvel at Caroline Ingalls and everything she endured. Seriously, that woman was a saint.)

  • Hoolia says:

    I have a seven-year old nephew who reads at a junior high level but is very much a little kid, so same issues finding things for him. He’s read the entire Harry Potter series and loved it, but, knowing he would be bothered by death scenes, my sister went through the books first and blocked out the parts where Cedric, Dumbledore, etc. die with post-it notes with just a summary written on them, “Cedric dies,” for example. That way my nephew knew the plot without reading the disturbing details.

    I think my sister might have encouraged him to wait longer to read them, but he got his hands on the first one and loved it so much he was super-anxious to read the rest.

    The Westing Game and From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler were two of my favorites that might be suitable for him.

  • Katie L. says:

    Another vote for The Great Brain series here.

    Also, I will forever recommend the Moomintroll books, especially *Finn Family Moomintroll,* which includes a top hat that transforms whatever’s in it (my favorites: eggshells that become tiny cottony clouds that the characters ride on and steer, and a ball of plants that transforms the house into a jungle).

    And, finally, ditto to asking a librarian.

  • Amanda says:

    So many great recommendations here! Totally nthing the recommendations for Encyclopedia Brown and the Wayside books. I LOVED those books when I was a kid. Honestly, I’d love to get my hands on them again now!

    The Fudge books and Roald Dahl are also great suggestions. Oddly, a passage from Fantastic Mr. Fox — which I don’t think I’ve even seen a copy of in fifteen years, never mind read — popped into my head the other day. And I think of Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator frequently. Did anyone else love that book or is it just me?

    I agree with Valerie to keep the Redwall books in mind for when he’s older. They can be kind of violent for kids’ books, but they’re really, really good. I still have some of mine.

    How about E.B. White? I mean, there’s death in Charlotte’s Web, but I think it’s handled very sweetly. And of course there’s Stuart Little and The Trumpet of the Swan. Some of Beverly Cleary’s other books are good for boys, like the Ralph S. Mouse books. And I really loved the Ramona books, they’re truly universal.

    @Hoolia – THE WESTING GAME! What a great book!

  • laura says:

    I’m not sure if they’re still around, but a relative gave me a set of The Happy Hollisters books when I was about that age and I absolutely devoured them. They were about a family of adventurous kids (and Zip the dog!) who solved mysteries, though they were kind of dated in a Mayberry, Leave it to Beaver sort of way. I remember the author always using the word “hastened” and I couldn’t wait to introduce that into my grade-school vocabulary!

    And I second The Westing Game.

  • Whitney says:

    Many people have already hit on my favorites from age 7 (Encyclopedia Brown, Little House, and Bunnicula) I also used to love the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books – she’s sort of a Mary Poppinsish character — and the Wayside School books, which both focus on elementary school age kids but introduce some fantasy elements into otherwise “normal” situations.

    If he likes sports at all, my brothers were really into books by Matt Christopher at that age. They all revolve around a young boy on some kind of sports team, and there’s usually some kind of mild moral dilemma, but they aren’t preachy or anything.

  • Candace says:

    Along the lines of “The Secrets of Droon”, my 7-year-old son loves the Beast Quest books by Adam Blade.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beast_Quest

  • One of the Karens says:

    It’s a stand-alone book rather than a series, but Maniac McGee is a masterpiece. I loved it when I was little and then loved it again when it was assigned reading in a College course I took.

  • Rachel says:

    Stink! If he liked A toZ the author also has the calendar mysteries and the capital mysteries. the pain and the great one by blume, and even if you want to buy, call your local librarian and they can reccomend what is hot in your area. We love those calls.

  • Amy Newman says:

    I’m enthralled with the International Children’s Digital Library. Search by age, by language, by… whatever, the books often are translated into multiple languages, the website simply is amazing.

    http://en.childrenslibrary.org/

  • Kate says:

    Around that age, I really got into both the Pippi Longstocking books and the Mary Poppins books. He might need a bit of help with either series just from the fact that they’re set quite awhile ago, but both series spark a lot of imagination and are a lot of fun.

  • Elisa says:

    This may be a bit old school, but the books are still around and I remember having fun with them. The “Encyclopedia Brown” series by Donald J. Sobol. They don’t have to be read in order or anything. The main character is a boy detective and all the mysteries he solves are very innocent, and your son can have fun trying to figure it out himself before he turns to the back of the book to see the answer. :)

  • X says:

    They’re older, but I loved these when I was a kid: Enid Blyton’s “Adventure” series (Castle of Adventure, Island of Adventure, etc.) Also, anything by E.B. White or Farley Mowat.

  • Gina says:

    My very favorite childhood book was From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankenweiler.

  • Claire says:

    I read the question thinking “ooh, I have to suggest Andy Griffith!”. I’m amused by the Americanisation of the title. Clearly psycho bums has quite a different meaning.

  • Cyd says:

    Someone upthread mentioned Edward Eager, and I can’t second that recommendation enthusiastically enough. Because he couldn’t find the type of book he wanted to read to his own little boy, he wrote seven captivating, witty novels about children who have magical adventures (although “Magic or Not?” and “The Well-Wishers” are my least favorites, because it’s not certain in those that the magic is real). They were published in the ’50s and early ’60s, and I read them not long after they came out, when I was about your son’s age. I’ve read them subsequently, including to my own son, and they hold up beautifully.

    Also, I have to put in a plug for Madeleine L’Engle’s “A Wrinkle in Time.” To my mind it doesn’t really count as a series, because the two (much later) sequels pale in comparison, but I read it the summer I turned eight and it remains my favorite book of all time.

    Happy reading to your boy!!

  • Liz B. says:

    LOVE this question; I am totally bookmarking this page for when my 8-year-old tells me she’s bored with her current huge collection of books and needs something new.

    For my own recommendation, I second (or third, or something) the How to Train Your Dragon series. We started my daughter on them after she saw and loved the movie (she was 6 or 7 at the time, I think; she’s 8 now and — the books are NOTHING like the movie, aside from character names and a Viking/dragon theme, but she loved them anyway.

    I’ve started her on Harry Potter as well, but I’m reading them *to* her, not because they’re too difficult for her, but so I’ll be right there when the heavier themes start to hit in book 4.

    Also, check your local bookstore for kid-friendly collections of mythology stories. They’re wonderfully wicked and gruesome, and you’re sneaking in some education and cultural background at the same time!

  • One of the Karens says:

    Oops. *Magee

  • jennie says:

    I remember liking Five Little Peppers and How They Grew, but I’m not sure exactly where those stories were age-wise, or whether the series is still in print. I also quite liked Harriet the Spy.

    Since you know specific books your son likes, you might try LibraryThing, which will give computer- and reader-generated recommendations for most books, and, if you enter your own library, more personalized recommendations based on the books you own.

  • Jen S 1.0 says:

    Ahh, my favorite kind of question!

    Besides heartily endorsing all previous suggestions, I heartily recommend:

    1)Elizabeth Enright. Thimble Summer for a stand alone, and The Melendy Quartet as a series. The youngest character is seven and an intelligent, smart kid, so he can relate!

    2) How To Eat Fried Worms,Thomas Rockwell. Perfect gross-outing but no “creepy” nightmare causing stuff. A gaggle of boys basicallly come up with a grody bet to pass the summer hours, but they take it seriously enough to make the book fun.

    3)Lizard Music, Daniel Pinkwater. A combination of fantasy and adventure thoroughly grounded in a kid’s everyday suburban existence. Don’t be surprised if you find him in front of the TV at midnight, flipping channels for the lizard music.

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