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LOL Dottie! Bridge to Teribithia was my 2nd book to have a really big cry over (the first being Charlotte's Web) and I LOVED it! I can remember crying over Anne of Green Gables when a favorite character died and then finishing the book saying "that was the best book I've ever read". I guess you're right, so much depends on the child.

I would love to be in a reading group with your son, CFK. You listed some of my favorite "fun" reading!

Sherlock Holmes is good and in that same sort of line, too.

Grinity wrote

Same here. I actually do not mind him reading the book over, since it has been three years - a lifetime of experience when you are 12 years old, LOL.
But unfortuantely, the required reading for current LA class is little and far too between.
Ghost has also enjoyed tremendously The City of Ember books (there are three if I am correct). Like Lorel said about her DD, Ghost has been a mature, college level reader since a while ago, but that does not mean that he is ready for all the adult subjects. Funny, that you put The Giver and The Lord of The Flies in the same boat, Lorel. I would have thought that The Lord of the Flies is much more disturbing, but I have read it when I was about 15, and the Giver as an adult. It probably makes a huge difference:-)
Ghost still enjoyes all the books that are written for his age, enjoyes simpler books that he can read in one afternoon (Water Horse), and at the same time appreciates all the humor in the New Yorker :-) I am not in the hurry to push him towards much more complex books, all for that matter adult books, complex or not.
There are so many wonderful books around. I brought up The Lord of the Flies because I still remember the impact that book had on me. Disgusted, I loved it - it was something I have never experienced in literature before. So this book carries a lot of expectations in my case, but I will probably be in for a surprise, LOL.

One more mention - Robin Hood. Isn't it the story that we all know but a few of us have read?

Robin Hood! And if you're going there, then "Ivanhoe" is great fun, too.

I was also a big fan of the Victorian writer H. Rider Haggard, who wrote boys' adventure fiction. If you've seen one of the movie/TV adaptations of "King Solomon' Mines," then you know Haggard (even if you don't know you know him!). The other story of his I LOVE is "She," as in "She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed," which was lifted from Haggard, too. There are some marvelous female characters in it, though it's definitely appealing to boys. It was going to be the centerpiece of my dissertation that never was.

Haggard can be a bit slow to get into, but he's a rollicking good time once he gets going! High adventure!

OK, for the eclectic gatherers of knowlege, "The Dangerous Book for Boys". Probably most appealing for the typical 8-12 year old, your mileage may vary. There is a companion book, "The Daring Book for Girls", but I haven't looked through that one.

Oh Boy lol, My son't reading is definately NOT as thoughtful. He loves anything to do with dragons and magic so we have lots of Dragonolgy, Wizardology, Harry Potter, D'Lacey, Rangers Apprentice and Garth Nix series. Goosebumps are favorites but 20 minute reads.

He just started some of the dragonlance series, and I plan on providing the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings to him soon.

His free reading is almost all fantasy related with a few sports books thrown in here and there.

He loves podcasts on real science but generally isn't interested in reading straight science. Much more interested in hands on experiments.

DS 9 recently loved the Warriors series, Artemis Fowl series, Lemony Snicket, and Pendragon series.

DS 6 recently loved Haddix's Among the Hidden, Among the Imposters, etc. series as well as Roald Dahl, and some Greek myth novels by Kate somebody called "Have a Hot Time Hades" and "Phone Home, Persephone".

LOL! My DH actually sat down and read all FOUR (the Hobbit included!) from cover to cover once. By the end, he was about as elfed out as a person can possibly be!

Peter Jackson is a much better storyteller than Tolkein, IMHO. Tolkein cuts scenes in weird places and has some of the most exciting stuff happen "off camera." It's just not told in a way that maximizes the dramatic tension and all that. Still, for creating a complete world from scratch, there's just no one like Tolkein!

But CFK, I completely know where you're coming from. There are just some books that don't work for a person, no matter how "great" they are!

Kriston-

Yes, we have talked about the book thing before. They can always put it down if it is too "anything" for them. Not that I would leave trash around for my kids to find... I don't think anything in this house would qualify as trash, but if I liked bodice rippers, for instance, I would be careful not to have them left where dd could get them.

I definitely make an effort to expose my kids to the pre-Disney tales. DD7 has written a 50 page book about the daughters of Fairy Tale Princesses, and she purposely left out the Little Mermaid because she doesn't have the happy ending of the Disney version.

I did once read about glass slippers being a translation error; was it supposed to say some kind of fur? I can't remember.