Cackling out of control...
For the life of me I cannot recall a series of books I read when I was 7 about a group of kids in a small town who use science to get into some wild, hilarious adventures - a sort of johnny quest meets Huck Finn.
One story has them building a flying saucer out of balsa and fabric that goes out of control and terrorizes the town. It was so funny I laughed so hard that I threw up.
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But I do recall reading this series when I was 9 and liked it. In the 5th grade our teacher started reading it to us - and I had already read it - so she let me read it aloud. I remember waking up one night during a storm and looking outside and seeing a water tower in the rain shafts and lightening and thought it was a Tripod!!!!
If they can handle Harry Potter, then they will like and be able to deal with this. There are a few scenes where major characters sacrifice themselves for their friends and I do remember crying over this.
I have not read the book put out in 1988, but the others are good.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tripods
