I am looking for book recommendations for free reading time at school for my 6 year old science oriented son. He gets 10-15 minute slots at school throughout the day when he finishes his work quickly and instead of wasting his time waiting for others, his teacher allows him to "free read" any book from home or do an art project. He prefers to read than do art. He has taken quite a number of fiction books (Droon series, Magic Tree House etc) and a number of non-fiction books (a whole series on electricity, plants, dinosaurs) to school so far. I am running out of book choices to send in and I would love to hear your recommendations for them. I want to send in mostly non-fiction, but a few fiction books are fine too (he loves adventure). He reads at 4th grade level, his current interests are in space/planets, robots, ocean life and geography, though he will read any book with something new in it for him.
Thanks for your help!

Hmmm...nonfiction is harder. Why mostly nonfiction?

Common Core?

There is no real restriction on fiction or non-fiction.
I prefer non-fiction mostly because, I found out that reading fiction was causing too much excitement in the classroom because kids tended to gather around the person reading and get into noisy discussions (which leads to time-outs)! The last fiasco was when DS took in some Bionicle books and all the boys started getting into excited discussions without finishing their work.

Hmm--maybe limit the fiction to more obscure stuff not linked to toys or movies, etc? Something more classic? Nonfiction could be exciting too, after all--think cool photos of sharks...

ashley, my kids are older and I can't think of any specific titles for you, but we used to find a lot of good non-fiction at our local used book store - my ds really liked the type of non-fiction books that he could read bits and pieces of and then go back to other parts. You could also look for a higher level science textbook to send in. Just for the heck of it, you could look into your district's upper elementary or middle school level science textbooks - you might find something he could enjoy and at the same time demonstrate he needs more challenge

And if he's 4th grade reading level and he's ready to move beyond Magic Tree House etc, has he read any of the Rick Riodan or Erin Hunter series yet? If he's not quite ready for that level, you could try Lemony Snicket series or Wayside School. I think if you get books advanced enough that the other kids wouldn't have read them yet you might get past the distracting-other-kids factor. Bones and Holes are two others that my ds liked when he was younger... but they are above the level of Magic Tree House so they might be ahead of where he's at - I'm sorry I'm not that great with levels!

Do you think the teacher would let him listen to audiobooks? Or would that be way too distracting for the other kids?

And... are there books in the school library that he's allowed to choose? Could you visit the school library with him either before or after school to help him choose a few books to check out for class?

polarbear

Anyway, how about Roald Dahl? Fudge/Superfudge? (pick carefully with Blume, though--some themes are more mature) Beverly Cleary? Stuart Little? Trumpet of the Swan? The Stink series, by Judy McDonald? The Invisible Inkling series (author is Jenkins) is new and very good. Oh, my DS has really enjoyed a science-oriented fiction series called Franny K. Stein. Kind of silly, bit on the lower end as far as reading level, but fun.

Wayside School is a good suggestion. Snicket is actually pretty hard, and more than that, sophisticated humor--my DD9 didn't really "get" those books till recently, though she could read them earlier.

LOL - yeah the bionicle books - my son loves them... Talk about a way to get boys excited about reading!

My son is reading Tales from the Odyssey (he LOVES any kind of mythology, folklore, etc) and Osborne's version is really very good while being age appropriate at the same time.

At that age and reading level my DS loved the Pippi Longstocking and Dr Dolittle books. He also really enjoyed all of the Oz books which are around that level. Books of Wonder has great reprints of the original illustrated Oz books. There are ~3 Pippi books, ~8-9 Dolittle books(of which DS read illustrated version of the first 3), and ~12 Oz books. Plenty to keep you occupied if any these catch your fancy.

What about George's secret key to the universe (and sequels) they are half fiction half nonfiction by Lucy and her dad Stephen Hawking

This might be too exciting, too -- DD7 just brought home this book from the school library and is enthralled by it:

100 Deadliest Things on the Planet

She says the librarian told her it wasn't a second grade book, it was a fifth grade book, but let her check it out anyway. Aren't we lucky?

I see that it is part of a series, including Dangerous things, Disgusting things, and so on. I'm sure she'll have to have all of those, too.

One of my sons, DS6, loves the Basher series of science books.

http://www.amazon.com/Simon-Basher/e/B0034Q44MM/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1

My DD was all over the map at that age here are some that I think a boy might like too:-

Geronimo Stilton
Harry Potter
The Hobbit
The Wind in the willows
Anything about dinosaurs
Anything about Ancient Egypt
Anything about Pirates
Anything about mythology
Narnia
Redwall
Rick Riordan
Anything about birds, reptiles or polar bears
Tomfoolery
Jokes especially puns and knock-knock
Anything teaching Conjuring tricks and number tricks

Not sure about non fiction. My kids tend to like national geographic books about space or animals. They have good pictures to go with the text. For fiction my son just read Matilda and is now reading The Invention of Hugo Cabret. He liked Romona too. Oh I know how about some of the "Who Was ...?" Books. They have those for all different people.

Forgot to add - both of my 6 year old twins love the "National Geographic for Kids fact books and their "Weird but True" books, as well as their children's almanacs. They are very good for reading in spurts, as well, due to the subject matter and the size of the books.

The Bargain sections in Barnes and Noble (in the adult section and the kids' section) actually had some good looking non-fiction books for kids last time I checked.

My ds 6 has enjoyed Dahl, the chocolate touch, and Mr. Poppers Penguins. He LOVES Wayside school books!
(I am reading The Series of Unfortuneate Events to ds. He enjoys that. It has some good vocabulary. I've also heard it is quite good as an audiobook.)

When my son was in K he was a very advanced reader but didn't really care for fiction. Fiction at his reading level wasn't really of "age" interest to him either.

I took him and another advanced reader to the library for the teacher, and what worked best was they read every single Magic School Bus book that existed. (They were in their reading program.) I also bought or took from the library non fiction science books, on all subjects.

Fiction that did work, was stuff in more short story format. Encyclopedia Brown books turned out the be a huge hit in 1st grade. He also really liked the Geronimo Stilton (we called them the cheese books) series, and Captain Underwear. Potty humor at it's best, but very age appropriate.

Another big hit for this age was Joke books.

Edited to add.. what about puzzle books like Kids Sudoku, mazes. (Just not word searches.. IMO word searches are a waste of time.)
National Geographic Kids magazine. (Maybe you can find past issues in the library)

Don't forgot picture books. There are quite a number that have quite a high reading level because they are designed to be read to children by adults. I helped my son's teachers with tagging their libraries when my son was in K-3rd.

"How Droofus the Dragon Lost His Head" by Bill Pete. Or really ANYTHING by Bill Pete. It's a K-3rd grade level, but a high lexile measure and 48 pages with lots of text per page. He wrote dozens of books, all silly fun.

While I LOVE The Harry Potter Books & The Hobbit. I personally suggest you wait till he is a bit older. They do make excellent read out loud books. Something I had to learn a bit myself through experience was that as adults we can be in such a rush to introduce literature when we realized we have such a gifted reader. We forget to sometimes slow down a bit and wait till a kid is more age appropriate to enjoy the nuances book.

The Harry Potter books were designed to "grow" with the young teens and after book 3 they really are TEEN books. I honestly think they are better appreciated by children 8+, no mater their reading level. My experience is bright kids can actually be more sensitive to the violence and dying but not mature enough to really handle it.

Were a book to be read once and never looked sat again I may agree with you but we believe that a good book is something to be treasured and savoured again and again seeing new interpretations and things previously unoticed with each pass through.

The Hobbit is a children's book - no controversy there whatsoever

The wind in the willows - a ripping yarn with humour and pathos the first time I read it and I appreciated the 'class warfare' aspects of it later which then morphed into an understanding that change/revolution isn't always a synonym for progress on subsequent reeads/recollections of it

Harry Potter surprised me as DD had a surpringly rich and elaborate understanding of these books - we did eke them out so she had time to process each. She has subsequently re-read them several times, her favourite right now being the 5th one and I fully expect her to continue to enjoy them and see new subtleties with revisit.

I think we are just going to have to agree to disagree on this one

HP, Hobbit, and Wind in the Willows are also not 4th grade reading level. HP book 1 is maybe 5th grade, but as the books go along they get harder, up to 6th-7th grade. Wind in the Willows is quite hard, and slow. Same with The Hobbit.

Some children will reread and some won't. My DD9 did not read HP till 8 and has since reread the whole series at least 8 times. This is great in the sense that she has surely wrung more meaning out of it than on first read--but still, there is much she cannot "get" yet by virtue of being 9. I hope she'll reread again when she is closer to the teen years.

I know some kids who read the series once, or had it read to them, or worse, just saw the movies, and considered it done and over.

We can agree to disagree. I love to re-read books and do encourage it. But unfortunately from my perspective too many kids get the attitude that they have "been there" done that and don't re-read the books the way I would. Plus Wind in the Willows and The Hobbit get really really boring and slow at times. While they were both written as children's books, but children in the 8-12 range. All of these are excellent read out loud books in my opinion, but not ideal books to send with a 6 year old to school.

Another great chapter book for advanced readers is "Dragon Rider" by Cornelia Funkle in early elementary.

The Hobbit Grades 6-12, GLE 6th, Lexile 1000L
HP & the Sorcerer's Stone Grades 4-8 GLE 6th, Lexile 880L
The Wind and The Willows Grades 3-5 GLE 8th, Lexile 1140L
Dragon Rider Grades 3-5, GLE 4.9, Lexile 710L
How Droofus The Dragon Lost His Head Grades Grades K-2, GLE 4.9, Lexile 830L
Midnight on the Moon (Magic Tree House Chapter Book) Grades 3-5, RLE 2.1, Lexile 320L
Captain Underpants Grades 3-5, RLE 4.3, Lexile 720L
The Bad Beginning (Series of Unfortunate Events) Grades 6-8, GLE 6.1, Lexile 1010

These are from the Scholastic web site. And while these Grade Levels are designed for "average" kids. It's data to consider and think about. It is possible with some work to find books like "How Droofus The Dragon Lost His Head" that are more challenging to read yet entirely age appropriate for an advanced reader.

Well, it definitely depends on the 6yo. One of the lessons of this board is never to assume! However, the OP mentioned her son was reading Droon, MTH, and Bionicles. Going from those books to The Hobbit/HP would be a pretty big jump, unless he is generally reading below his ability, which some children do.

Reading levels are an inexact science, to be sure.

Thanks to all for the wonderful list! I am putting it all into a spreadsheet. My DS is reading at 4th grade level (this is the school's assessment, and I don't know how they assessed him). He loves non-fiction and I provide books related to his current interest and he reads the Story of the World series by himself. His favorite books at home are the Usborne science encyclopedia and the "The way things work".

My opinion is that he is reading at a level below his ability where fiction is concerened because Ninjas and Bionicles and Droon are the stuff that gets talked about the most in his social circle. And his taste tends to fast moving action packed adventures right now. I don't think that he can read The Hobbit yet. But I have read it aloud to him - he finds it and the Dr Dolittle series very slow and boring. But, he comprehends them 100%. And months later, he remembers a lot of it, though it seemed like he was uninterested while he was sitting through the read alouds.

But, where non-fiction is concerned, his curiosity seems to drive him to read material at the middle school level sometimes. He just took a book on alternative energy sources to school to read at free reading time because his current topic of interest is electricity.

Thanks for all your recommendations. Now, I have quite a few books that I can plan on sending in to school from all your posts.