Okay, I'm taking a shot at starting a new Ultimate thread here. This thread is about book recommendations --- I'm thinking, one or so at a time, with a nice review rather than a list of titles.

I thought this thread could be a resource for books for kids who read way beyond age level and for whom it's hard to find suitable books. For example, my DD4 hasn't been to school but reads quite well. Many books for ages 6/7+ include themes about school or camp, etc, and she can't relate to them. So I'm always looking for books that meet her reading level and also have themes that she can relate to.

If people like this idea, we could also make a few of these threads by age group (e.g., pre-school aged, elementary aged, middle school aged, high school aged). If people like this approach, I'll set up a bunch of threads labeled The Ultimate Book Thread: Pre-schoolers, and TUBT: Elementary, etc. etc.

I'm going to start with a recommendation for pre-schoolers.


I bought Fire Cat by Pippa Goodhart. It's a story about a boy living in London in 1666, during the great fire. He mistakenly believes that his chubby male cat has become lost and tries to find him when he goes out with family friend Samuel Pepys. Turns out that his male kitty was a female who was, ahem, with kitten. She was hiding at home giving birth the entire time.

The AR Bookfinder rates it as a grade level 3.5, yet the boy has a very pre-schooler kind of face. I really liked that. DD4 learned vocabulary words and a little bit of history and geography from it.


DS9 grabbed it as soon as saw it and was fascinated by it, too.

The story might be a bit scary for very sensitive kids; DD4 didn't seem bothered by it, though.

Fire Cat at amazon.com


Again, it you like this idea, let me know and I'll set up some Ultimate Book Threads by age group.


Val