Minniemarx - thank you so much for all of the suggestions. I will be very busy searching out some of these - hopefully the library will have some of them. We go through a lot of books and this really gives me some great ideas.

Mia, GD5 and I read "Scaredy Squirell" tonight for a bedtime story and she absolutely loved it. Thanks for the suggestion.

One of her recent favorites was Groundhog Weather School - really cute!

My children, DD6 and DD8, just finished

Aquamarine by Alice Hoffman.

I read it too to make sure it was appropriate for my sensitive DD and it was not scary at all. The writing was very good (no surprise given the author), especially for a J book. I found the book a little on the girly side, but my DS said "Mom, are there any more books like this?"

This is not an animal or picture book, but good if you need safe well written novels for your precocious 6 year old.

Coelacanth - thanks for the recommendation - I'll check it out.

Has anyone read through the whole series? DD9 just read the first book, loved it, and I know she's going to want to read more. Is there anything inappropriate for a pre-teen that I need to be aware of as we work our way through the books?

I read them all (and am the OP about my D reading them). Eventually Holmes falls for her and marries her. But if I remember correctly, there is really no s** (sorry, posting at work ), I think a kiss is about it. Although I believe the book that happens in has Russell (the girl) becoming a heroin addict in the hands of evil captors, and Holmes rescues her. There are definitely scary moments in the books. My D was probably 12 when she read them. She is not a particularly sensitive kid in that respect, so it was okay for her. So it depends on your daughter. The newest one just came out yesterday, my D is begging for a trip to the bookstore!

Val,

Has she read the Rainbow Fairy books?

My dd6 loved those when she was 4. They are pretty fluffy! No real need to understand complex social situation but enough pages to feel like a chapter book. There about a million of them, and you may tire of the plot, but she probably won't if she enjoys fantasy.

Now my daughter is into some heavier reading, although still very much into fantasy still.

Optical illusions : the science of visual perception / Al Seckel.

We just borrowed this from the library. I had a fun time looking at this with DS9. try it.

Just got this in the mail, looks pretty good for my 9 year old, but we'll see.
"Theodore Boone, Kid Lawyer" by John Grisham. I don't usually get too into his novels, but I thought it would be a good read for a kid who likes to argue (a lot).

Let me know if you've checked this out and like or don't like it. I have read a few pages and so far seems ok.

I just read a book review by Michael Dirda in the Washington Post for, "A Little Book of Language" by David Crystal. Might be interesting for those of your DC (and adults too) who are logophiles.



Here's a link to the full review:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/02/AR2010060204513.html