We loved "The Twits" and "The BFG" by Roald Dahl but I have to say to use caution with "James and the Giant Peach" for the sensitive kids out there. My son didn't make it thru the first chapter. Diary of a Wimpy kid was EXCELLENT for any one who has dealt with being the underdog! I just called hubby to pick up the "Glass Factory" book. I forgot about that one. Thanks StPauliGirl.

We also love the "Captain Underpants" and "Flat Stanley" and "Roscoe Riley Rules" series about boys who seem to find themselves in trouble a lot.

yes i should have mentioned James and giant peach starts out with the shock of the boys parents being eaten by a rhino loose from the zoo. My son read it AFTER "The enormous crocodile" and other Dahl books so he was accustomed to the comedy/tragedy elements. He still can not watch most Disney movies so he is also sensistive. This should be discussed prior to reading any Dahl.
irene

My kids are both huge fans of Roald Dahl--I think the BFG has been the hands down favorite.

For a read aloud, the Narnia series was good for our DS. It's not my style, so DH read it to DS7 (who was 6 at the time). I got a good deal on the entire set on CD (yay for clearance sales!) and we have been listening in the car (generally when we have longer drives to make). So far we've made it through the first 3 books. It's been a good way for me and my DD to get on board with the series so that we can have it in common with DS.

Speaking of DD....My voracious reader, who was always reading (and finishing) seveal books as once, is suddenly having a hard time connecting to books. She has read a couple of short books this summer and has been working her way through Grimm's Fairy Tales, but has mostly been picking books up, reading a chapter or two, and then abandoning them with a sigh. I'm not sure if it's just that nothing is measuring up to the last book we read, or what's up. Has anyone else had a similar experience? DD is just shy of 10.

My DD (7 years old in Sept) just started reading HP Book #3. She just loves them. In fact she called down, very excited, (when I thought she was asleep at 10:30 last night) to let us know that "Guess what??? Hagrid is now an instructor at Hogwarts!"

I haven't read any of them, but I am enjoying the movies with her! It is my understanding that the series gets darker as the books progress. This was all fine and good when the 1st book came out 10 years ago aimed at 10 year olds, which meant, of course, these same kids finished the series as young adults. However, my DD has access to all of the books now at age 6.

My question is at what point should she slow-down the pace of the HP series due to its content? As a reference point to her readiness: she hid under the blanket during the last 20 minutes of the 2nd movie. But it wasn't because she didn't want to see what happened - she just didn't want to see the snake.

It might happen naturally.

My DS7 just kept reading until they got a bit dark for him (somewhere around the middle of book 5).

My DS has read a lot of Roahld Dahl's books; especially loved BFG, Matilda (about a gifted little girl) and Witches. He is just about to read one of his collections of short stories.

I have mentioned before somewhere about the Emily Rodda books; Deltora Quest, Rowan of Rin, The Wizard of Rondo - my DS loved them.

He also loved the Narnia series.

He's currently giggling his way through the 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' series and has just finished giggling his way through 'Just Macbeth' by Andy Griffiths.

I'm writing this fresh from the theater--just saw HP 6 with DD and a couple of friends

When DD began reading the books she was about a year older then your DS. She picked up the first book over spring break and finished book 6 by the end of the school year (so I guess maybe 8-9 weeks?). I had already read the series, and I began rapidly re-reading them trying to stay one step ahead of her so that I could decide when she should "take a break". Silly me. I think her head would have exploded if I had interrupted the series!

What I realized as she went through the series was that some of the disturbing/dark aspects of the later books are disturbing because of the parallels we can make to the "real world". For her, with her limited understanding of the social-political world, there were parts that were sad and parts that were scary, but only in the same way that the Wizard of Oz is scary, if you know what I mean. Events were less "disturbing" to her than they were to me, because it was a completely fictionalized world in her reading of it. She has now re-read every book about a million times, and I can tell that there are parts that resonate differently with her now that she is older and has had more experiences.

That said, I recommend that you read them too (or listen on audio). The books were DD's favorite topic of conversation, to the exclusion of almost everything else. She was fascinated by the characters, by the direction of the story, by the choices characters made, etc.

Since few kids her age were reading them, and since many of the kids that were reading them were reading with a relatively superficial comprehension, she needed me to be her conversational partner. If your DS falls for them as hard as my DD, he'll be looking for someone to talk to, and may also find few good conversational partners in his peer group.

Really, some of my favorite memories with my DD will probably always be around her love of HP. When book seven came out later that summer, we dressed up, went to the midnight party, and came home with two copies so that we wouldn't have to fight over the book. We lucked out with her discovery of HP coming when the fervor was so high--it was great fun for her to swap predictions and opinions with her camp counselors at the ripe old age of 7 !

The Faraway tree series by Enid Blyton has wonderful characters (some laugh-out-loud ones! and beautuiful little stories for kids from, I would say 4 through 8:
http://www.amazon.com/Folk-Faraway-Tree-...4311&sr=8-1

Another Enid Blyton series is "the Find Outers". ANy of these 'detective stories' are really good, funny, and captivating with good characterisation, for boys (and girls -why not) from age 6 through 10 and older (heck, I love them myself. just beware - the main character, the brains of the outfit, is called Frederick Algernon Trottville - "Fatty" - which some may find offensive ?

http://www.amazon.com/Mystery-Banshee-To...4607&sr=1-1

Our ds fell off interest in having them read to him at the same point, I thought it was more about the fact that Harry wasn't a kid anymore, and was getting interested in kissing girls, but maybe it was too scary as well. Now that he's reading them himself I wonder if the same will occur. He had a friend who finished book 7 this year, age 8, and gave a report on it. One of the questions someone asked him was 'Did this book give you joy?' to which he responded, 'No', at least that's the story.
I could definitely see a kid that age loving the first several books but having the last few be set aside for later.

(Diary of a Wimpy Kid was a huge hit for ds,too.)

George's Secret Key to the Universe
George's Cosmic Treasure Hunt
both by Stephen Hawking and Lucy Hawking.

http://www.amazon.com/Georges-Secret-Uni...5812&sr=8-2

My DS8 who loves math and science really enjoyed them. They are full of science concepts with interesting stories.

Hank the Cowdog series by John R. Erickson
Very funny series.

Hank Zippzer series by Henry Winkler andLin Oliver.

http://www.amazon.com/Niagara-Falls-Does...7142&sr=1-1

My 2E son loves Hank, who has learning disabilities.

Pick Me Up
http://www.amazon.com/Pick-Me-Up-Jeremy-Leslie/dp/0756621593/ref=ed_oe_h

Very interesting non-fiction with full of information about many subjects.

We have a few favorite series for DD6. She plows through these books like there is no tomorrow, only to reread them again and again and again...


The Pony Crazed Princess: Princess Ellie Adventures about a princess who would rather be with her horses than be a princess by Diana Kimpton

The Disney Fairy Stories, about Tinkerbell and all of the other fairies that live in Pixie Hollow.

Ivy and Bean Series by Annie Barrows and Sophie Blackall about 2 7 yr olds (I think they're about that age) who are neighbors and get into all sorts of mischief together.

And she recently started the series by E.D. Baker With the books Frog Princess and Dragons Breath in it. These are about a princess who kisses a frog to turn him into a human and she ends up turning into a frog instead. DD was laughing out loud when she read these two books, so I'm sure we'll be getting the rest from the library soon.

When she needs a break from these she reads the Berenstain Bears chapter books, which are fun to read.