hi - my DH is looking for a series to be read with DS5, who loves the narnia books and wants another series like them. DH asked DS what he liked about them, and he said the characters, the magic, the battles, some scary stuff, and adventures. DH recently brought home The Graveyard Book, which DS said he liked all right because it had lots of scary stuff, but not enough battles. For some reason, DS wasn't so into Harry Potter last year, but they would seem to fit the bill, so we'll try those again. Any other ideas?

(By the way, if you're going to read The Graveyard Book to your little one, good idea to skip most of the 1st chapter re: the murders of most of the main character's family.)

Start with The Hobbit by Tolkien, then go with the trilogy by him.

I was thinking he was too young for LOTR? We read the Hobbit last year, and he loved it. Hmmmmm. I guess I might have to rethink that one. (LOTR is one of my favorite all time series, but gee, I think I was 12 or 13 when I first read them.)

Thanks Oma - they do indeed fit the requirements, don't they?

I recommend the Percy Jackson series!

Those look cool! Thanks.

Try the Unicorn Chronicles by ....Coville (Can't remember the first name) It's a trilogy, each book is about 50-60 pages.

Chronicles of Prydain!

Starts w/Book of Three, then most people are familiar with 'The Black Cauldron', 5 books in all. About the same reading level as Narnia, I think.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chronicles_of_Prydain

Thanks everyone - these are all great ideas!

My son loves the Warrior series. Lots of battles and adventures.

Wow DD will be ecstatic to hear of another kid who likes Narnia. DH and I love LOTR series too. DD likes the hobbit, but I didn't read the other books yet because I am concerned they would be too scary? She also really wants to watch the movies.

We liked the Magic Tree House Books. We are reading Hugo Cabret, but I think it is a little creepy. There are some sad parts that could be disturbing to young kids. It also brings up a lot of value type discussions. I really should have pre-read it first, I just skimmed through it and the drawings are cool, so I got it and now I can't take it back.

We're huge Narnia/fantasy fans here. My kids have all been into CS Lewis and Tolkien. I generally wouldn't recommend LOTR for a very young child- it is quite dark and the lengthy prose and detailed descriptions are not as good read aloud as you might think. Unless your child is very thick skinned, I'd wait a few years. The Hobbit is far less challenging in every sense of the word than the LOTR trilogy. It has creepy bad guys, but not the intense evil you get in LOTR. I read that with my kids when they were preschool/kindergarten age, but waited until they were 8 or so to introduce them to LOTR.

I'd recommend the Edward Eager books, Percy Jackson, and ED Baker's series that begins with The Frog Princess.

Have fun!

Inkheart is now up to 3 books. Probably at a 5th grade level? The size can be intimidating but I don't think it is more challenging than Potter.

Hi, Pauli!

(Another book thread...oh goody!)

My guys like magic, too, lots of adventures, and some suspense, but not really, really scary, so these might not be quite right (it's battles I'm having a hard time thinking of right now for you).

I second the Prydain Chronicles (good battles in these ones) and the Edward Eager books--all very good.

A couple other ideas:
-The LM Boston Green Knowe series (my lads love these)

-The Wrinkle in Time series (my kids have only read the first one; I read all the rest recently and liked them a lot)

-the Philippa Pearce books (not a series, but several really nice books, especially for boys, I think--Tom's Midnight Garden, Minnow on the Say, The Little Gentleman, The Way to Sattin Shore, etc.--oh, also some volumes of ghost stories)

-John Masefield's children's books (The Box of Delights and The Midnight Folk)--these should fill the bill, I think.

-E. Nesbit (not a series, either) (Five Children and It, The Seven Dragons, The House of Arden, etc.)

-lots of people like the Joan Aiken books (I've only read one, The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, when I was a girl, way too many years ago, sigh...but remember liking it a lot).

-my favourite bookseller recommended the Susan Cooper Dark is Rising series to me (for Harpo-7)--the cover freaked me out a little, so I preread them--too scary for Harpo, and likely for most five year-olds--but maybe on a shelf for later?

-we've also liked a lot of the books from Jane Nissen Books (publisher of reprinted classics in the UK)--several of hers seem to feature time-travel, dragons, kids saving the day, and so on--we've had about a dozen of these, all told, and have enjoyed them all.

-This is not a series either, but is too good to miss--it's 5 yo Groucho's favourite, favourite book--Mistress Masham's Repose, by the lovely TH White (whom I wish I had known! so, so wonderful)--there's a jolly good battle in this one! If he likes this one, then try The Sword in the Stone, also by TH White--a really terrific book (the rest of the Once and Future King quartet is much too sad--and with too-adult themes--for youngsters, but the S-in-the-S is not to be missed by the young!)

Oh, have fun!

peace
minnie

I second the recommendations for Eager and Nesbit. Good books!

I had one more thought--have you read George Macdonald? (The Princess and Curdie, The Princess and the Goblin, At the Back of the North Wind) Those might be just about right.

Oh, and I recommend these all the time, but we love them so--James Thurber's kids' books (The Thirteen Clocks, The White Deer, The Wonderful O)--and Thackeray's Xmas Pantomimes (especially The Rose and the Ring--terrific battling in that one!) The really lovely thing about all of these (in this paragraph, I mean) is that they were meant to be read aloud in the first place--you will so enjoy the music of the language.

peace
mm

Well, I'm queen of the afterthought tonight--

How 'bout William Mayne? (Hob and the Goblins, Hob and the Peddler)--those are very good--the first one particularly I think would answer your requirements nicely.

We also have on the shelf, not yet read, EA Wyke-Smith's "Marvellous Land of Snergs," which Tolkien acknowledged as a source for "The Hobbit." It looks quite fun, and as soon as the on-deck pile gets a little lower, we'll let you know what it's like!

peace
minnie

Garth Nix's Keys to the Kingdom series, starting with Mister Monday.

Oh, and anything by Diana Wynne Jones, though you might want to Start with either Howl's Moving Castle or The Chrestomanci Chronicles.

I didn't see an Roald Dahl mentioned. The Witches should meet all of the criteria. Also I just got my daughter the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness which get rave reviews. The MistMantle Chronicles also look great. He could also read the Spiderwick series but they aren't very long. How about - Mrs. Frisby and The Rats of Nimh. My kids and DH loved it and were but a small warning there is no sequel and everyone was sad that it had to end.

LOL! I got a kick out of this.

Fabulous! All these wonderful ideas will keep us busy for awhile. Many are new to me, yay! (and I was thinking about the rats of nihm the other day too.) I'm adding this to my watch list.

I knew that if I put the specifics that DS wants in a book, you'd all have ideas. This is such a great forum.

I'm glad you like the look of Jane Nissen, kcab--she's been a real find for us. Some of hers I wasn't able to get through amazon, but most of them were in stock at www.bookdepository.co.uk . I find that as I run out of things I remember from childhood, I increasingly search by publisher, and have had good luck with books from Jane Nissen, NYRB Children's Collection, David Godine, Purple Horse, and Puffin Classics (ie all reprints--somehow my boys [or their mother??] are more comfortable, generally speaking, with older stories).

Happy to give you a smile, Kriston! (Returning the favour--you've made me chuckle many a time here!) I do find that my ideas have to wait to get to the front of the queue, or something...my poor old scrambled brain!

St Pauli Girl, I had another thought--the magic in this one is a bit different (and of course it's not a series--that's the hardest bit of this request, I think--I do wish some of these people had kept on going!), but it's a wonderful book, with an amazing battle at the end--Ted Hughes's "Iron Giant". That's one the lads have come back to several times over the last few years (thank goodness they're keen rereaders, or I'd be in bigger trouble than I already am!)

Happy reading!

minnie

PS I wonder about fairy tales? I'm thinking in particular of the Joseph Jacobs ones--English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales, Celtic Fairy Tales, etc.--some of those (Childe Rowland, Binnorie, etc.) are very different from the Andersen ones,for instance. I remember liking these a lot when I was small.

Had another thought.... A little more towards science fiction rather than fantasy. Have you considered Piers Anthony? He has many series that aren't overly scary.

This thread has given me lots of good ideas as well!

Piers Anthony - I really enjoyed these when I was a kid. Very fun, not too scary. I am thinking of the Xanth books.
Very very punny!

This must be why the message board works so well for me! IRL, by the time it all comes together in my brain, the conversation is over.

DD6's teacher (aka "the gem") has been giving her books she read as a child by Ruth Chew. These have been a hit, but may be hard to find:

Baked Beans for Breakfast (The Secret Summer)
Wednesday Witch
Witch's Cat

Thanks for all the what's next ideas!