Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Recommended Resources What is your 10/11 year old reading?

Great book ideas!

I got the first two Ranger's Apprentice books out of the library yesterday, and DS11 is half way through the second one already.

DS like to read Textbooks. Lately he has been reading "What If" it's a book on alternative history.

He does like the Horrible Science series and he liked
the Pseudonymous Bosch series. His school makes him read AR books and Bosch filled that requirement. Nothing else he has read or currently reading is an AR Book.
I'm going to check into that Odyssey mag it sound like he would love that.

'Science Fair' is a HUGE hit!! thank you so much for the suggestion.
I can't believe it has taken so long for me to 'get' that ds10 is drawn to humorous books over and above any other sort -- calvin, captain underpants, wimpy kid, dragon ball, etc. (oh and of course lots of pictures really helps too).
There are exceptions, but they are few and far between (Percy Jackson).

Still we have many more in this list to keep trying after science fair. thanks again!

If he likes "funny with pictures", I'd second the poster who recommended "Bone". It is a series of at least 10 high quality comics that are really inventive, well written and have great images. My DS11 loved them (and so did DH).

Hmm, funny, I like funny, too!

Well, we haven't read these yet (just ordered some of them for Groucho's birthday), but maybe these might work? The reviews SAY they're funny, so we'll see:

Tim Wynne-Jones, Rex Zero series
Alan Cumyn, Owen Skye series

A couple I've already mentioned on other threads are Polly Horvath's The Pepins and their Problems (Horvath's The Trolls and Everything on a Waffle are also funny in many spots, but are books of more serious intent than the Pepins) and Helen Cresswell's Bagthorpe books--good and funny.

Also, does your guy know the MT Anderson books? (Whales on Stilts, Case of the Linoleum Lederhosen, etc.--rather bizarre, kind of spoofs of Tom Swift-type adventures--maybe fun for him?)

I'll give it some more thought...(actually, I'll just pick the kids' brains!)

Hands down favorite so far this year is Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, followed by the Call of the Wild.

My 11 year old DD has recently been flying through the Fablehaven series, which was recommended by a male friend. Ranger's Apprentice books are very popular with some fifth graders I know. Also "Things Not Seen" by Andrew Clements, which my kids didn't pick up, but which has been a huge hit with some other readers I know (the main character wakes up to find that he's invisible).

I also highly recommend Jonathan Stroud's Baritmaeous trilogy (beginning with the Amulet of Samarkand). It takes a little bit of time to get into, but it's a great read, and the chapters narrated by Bartimaeous are filled with wry humor in the form of footnotes.

Age 10 is when I discovered Robin McKinley. We read The Blue Sword in class and I was totally head over heels hooked. (Note: Deerskin is not suitable for a sensitive 10 year old because it is about incest and rape.)

I also discovered Diana Wynne Jones on my own, with a book report on Dogsbody. I'm so sad that she's gone, but she left a wonderful legacy.

Also enjoyed the Hidden Treasure of Glaston... and I think age 11 is when I attacked the first Three Musketeers book. (In terms of classics that my mom was always pushing.) Also a bunch of Jules Verne, especially Around the World in 80 days. Oddly I was not crazy about Treasure Island.

I love all the new YA fantasy out there. It's like a renaissance.

this is one of my favorites (guilty pleasure, but I still really enjoyed it!)

This is reminding me of a set of authors that I read and reread starting somewhere about this age-Robin McKinley, Ursula Le Guin (first 3 earthsea, Susan Cooper (dark is rising), Diana Wynn Jones.
I don't feel too guilty! I was enchanted by them.