Irisheyes... So glad your child liked The Familiars. I didn't see your post after I listed that book to try out but I just came across your posting now! DD still talks about how much she liked that book and she read it so long ago! I saw on their website that they plan to make a movie out of it! DD can't wait!

irisheyes... One more that DD loved (since your child liked The Familiars as much as mine) was The Outlandish Adventures of Liberty Aimes. I read it with her 2 years ago and it was SOOOO CUTE! It's about a girl who has wacky parents and her Dad has crazy potions and she takes one that makes her fly. She floated away to attend a boarding school she wanted to go to. It was really cute. I could see it being a kids movie someday! I enjoyed reading it with her!

A good book we came across recently is Eve Garnett's "The Family from One End Street" (Frederick Muller, 1937; repr. Puffin Modern Classics 2010; 308 pp). Lots of pages, but generous leading and margins and good big print--it was well within Chico's (age 5 pretty soon 6) reach--maybe grade 3ish, 4ish, reading level? A very nice choice for an early "big" chapter book, in any case, with lots of charming line drawings by the author.

Garnett tells the story of the Ruggles family, Jo and Rosie and their seven children; he's a dustman and she's a washerwoman--money is very tight, but love is abundant and adventures and fun are everywhere. The children are extremely resourceful and enjoy a lot of freedom to explore; each child is the star of one chapter, while the final chapter is an adventure for the whole family (a long-awaited trip into London to see Uncle Charlie enter his cart horse--named Bernard Shaw!!--in a parade).

It's not a word I use often, but this book really is heartwarming--lovely and innocent and gentle, and just the ticket if you have a young one who's ready for a satisfyingly big book to read.

peace
minnie

I just came across this list from a gifted school and thought it may be helpful

5th and 6th Grade Suggested Reading
•A Gathering of Days and others by Joan Blos
•The Dollhouse Murders by Betty Pen Wright
•Dragon’s Gate by Laurence Yep
•National Velvet by Enid Bagnoldi
•The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
•Saavy Ingrid Law
•The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot
•Rules of the Road and any other by Joan Bauer
•Skellig by David Almond
•Silverwing Trilogy and any other by Kenneth Oppel
•When Zachary Beaver Came to Town by Kimberly Willis Holt
•The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963 and others by Christopher Paul Curtis
•The Angel Factory by Terence Blacker
•Mama’s Bank Account by Kathryn Forbes
•Stargirl and Loser by Jerry Spinelli
•How about a Newberry book such as Holes by Louis Sachar, A View From Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg, Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech, or And Now Miguel or Onion John by Joseph Krumgold

For the 7th & 8th grade reading lists, see the back of this sheet.
7th Grade Required Reading
•Boys: No Promises in the Wind by Irene Hunt
•Girls: Up a Road Slowly by Irene Hunt
8th Grade Required Reading.
•The Education of Little Tree by Forrest Carter.

7th and 8th Grade Suggested Reading
•Crossbreed or Incident at Hawk’s Hill by Allan Eckert
•Angel on the Square or Listening for Lions by Gloria Whelan
•October Sky by Homer Hickman Jr.
•Stand Tall and others by Joan Bauer
•Eldest by Christopher Paolini
•Inkspell, Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
•Ithaka by Adele Geras
•The Giver, Gathering Blue, The Messenger by Lois Lowry
•Among the Enemy and others by Margaret Peterson Haddix (science fiction)
•The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
•Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt (great Civil War fiction)
•Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse
•Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen
•Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
•Kira-kira by Cynthia Kadohata, Criss Cross Lynne Rae Perkins, When You Reach Me and other recent Newberys
•Lunch Money by Andrew Clements
•The Gospel According to Larry by Janet Tashjian
•The Pretties, The Uglies by Scott Westerfield
•Try a classic such as The Secret Garden or The Little Princess by Frances Burnett or The Yearling by Marjorie Rawlings or Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
•Sink your teeth into an award winning adult-size biography such as Truman, John Adams, 1776 (by David McCullough) Helen Keller, the Story of My Life, Up From Slavery (Booker T. Washington)

[SPAM]. I think I read it in 4th or 5th grade. (The girl does dance around the fire nude, though, and I passed around the book during lunch and scandalized the whole table.)

I don't know if it is a challenging book or not, but as a girl who felt like she didn't belong and wasn't seen for who she actually was, I really related to the main character.

W i n t e r - o f - F i r e - b y - S h e r r y l -J o r d a n

WHY THE HECK is it marking the title of my fave book as SPAM? I can't figure it out.

Gunrunner Moon, available on Kindle for 99 cents, is a smart action-adventure, suitable for kids whose reading ability outstrips their emotion maturity. There's some violence and kids-in-peril; for younger kids, read the sample chapter available for free. I'd have no issue with my 8yo reading it.

Edited to remove the ability for someone who knows my IRL identity to trace me back here. I don't have particular concerns about people who know me here being able to figure out my real identity.

It's the J O R D A N. It does the same thing with Robert J O R D A N.

It's figuring that this is a sneaker spam post.

Any thoughts on books for my DS6 who is able to read 3rd - 5th grade books but currently only loves Arthur's chapter books. I would like to get him to read on the next level which he clearly can but resists. :*)

Any help is appreciated!

Thought I'd bring this thread up, seeing as the holidays are approaching and people are looking for gift ideas