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We haven't tried the Magic Tree House series, because I heard it was "bad" writing. If that is true..(?) I'd rather skip on it and just wait till he is into reading Dahl completely independently. I got him Fantastic Mr Fox, and as soon as we finish the BFG (reading together) he said he would like to read Fox on his own, since it is a shorter book.

I really like to lean to better/classic writing..
I can't stand the cheap writing that was so common in early readers..ie level 0-5 DK reader type of things. Yeah, they were "leveled" progressive reads, but BLAH!

So having only second hand knowledge of Treehouse Series....am I off base?

I have never heard of Ready Freddy.

Other books he is reading now -- Magic School Bus Chapter Books, Encyclopedia Brown both of which are only OK writing in my book.

Looking at the Romana Series-is that for girls? I faintly remember reading it when I was young.

I also preferred better/classic writing... but my kids were exposed to less-than-my-ideal at school, and fwiw in the end, it all worked out ok (still does). My ds, for instance, didn't choose to read anything on his own that was "fiction" until he discovered Captain Underpants. His kindergarten teacher used to read Junie B. Jones to the class which drove me nuts! But we were able to expose ds to higher-level better qualify reading at home when *we* read to him - becuase we got to choose the books. He *heard* a lot of great books before he started choosing them on his own, and I think that, in the end, that was every bit as useful as if we'd been able to convince him to read something a little bit less Captain-Underpants.

polarbear

Meh-- My DD was avid about Magic Treehouse books for a while-- she gobbled them up like potato chips. Two or three an evening/afternoon.

I don't think that they harmed her any, since she just (for fun) polished off Jane Eyre at 13, and this is fairly typical for her. She's not a book snob, which is fine by us. She also still loves graphic novels and comics. Again-- fine. She loves to read, and it's good for her, so why not?

Beverly Cleary has a number of really delightful books at about that same level (Ramona)-- The Mouse and the Motorcycle is a great set of books. Shel Silverstein's poetry anthologies are also a lot of fun at this age, and I'd encourage you to look up Hank the Cowdog and other Roald Dahl books, too.

Once he finds what he likes in terms of genre or content, my advice is to let him decide what he wants to read and be fairly hands-off about it. Let him own it. That's the secret to making a kid a reader, IMO. Help them until they find what they can love, and then get out of the way.


PS. We LOVE the Captain. And Doctor Dog, which every member of my family can STILL recite from memory. LOL. Of course, this may tell you something about us. But maybe not, too. We also adore Whitman, Hugo, Dickens, and Shakespeare. We're just not judging print by "good" versus "bad," only by what we like and find interesting.

I don't think avoiding less stellar writing makes you a book snob;) I have this same argument with DH though. To him, reading is reading. But not to me. Not all TV watching is the same either...some is seriously brain draining while other shows are at least educational. Regardless, both need be done in moderation. Some books train you to write crap sentences. Some books elevate you. I think you need to moderate the amount of time you read crap. It may not hurt them, but it won't help them. Sure you need light reading mixed in...but it doesn't have to be terrible stuff.

Anyway, grateful for all the book recs on here. Without this awesome forum, we wouldn't have found many of the books we are reading now.

BTW, Ds started reading Mr Fox last night. My favorite thing is sitting there and watching his eyes speed back and forth lost in thought.

Love the Mouse and Motorcycle, EB White, ALL of Dahl, Silverstein poems (As well as Lafcadio, the Lion who Shot Back), the entire Oz series, Wayside School..I could go on....

Anyway, the main point is, that I was simply curious about reading level placement. I absolutely agree, that especially at this age, reading is just fun and that THE number one important thing is not to ruin that. We read aloud every night, he spends usually at least two hours daily reading by himself. We are so grateful he loves to read, because we are bookworms ourselves.
We are just happy to stand back and let it grow on its own accord.

Update:
He decided to finish Mr Fox last night and read the remaining 70 pages in 45 min. He stopped to ask me what a souvenir was (with perfect pronunciation). I was also impressed when he saw a semi-colon; he stopped and got really excited, showed it to me and read the sentence with it out loud (three times in that book--one on back cover). He then read 1/3 of a Giraffe the Pelly and Me. Then he came up with the idea to write a book report (really I think he just wanted to use the iPod in/at bedtime, which is a new rule against that). I have no idea where he learned about book reports--maybe a cartoon? It was super cute though-- typed on the iPod and emailed to me. It included what the moral of the story was.

So I'm going to go ahead and say he reads at a 3rd grade level, seeing how easy that was for him. I think he just needs confidence to tackle the longer books, as we only gave him his first fiction chapter book a little over a month ago. Before that I wasn't even aware that entry level chapter books existed--love this forum for that reason. Just ordered from Amazon Hank the Cowdog...but I think his confidence is already increased by last nights read, and that he may jump into a longer Dahl book very very soon. It certainly is his favorite author at the moment!

And now, last week, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach. Confidence is something that comes on its' own time regardless of ability. We knew he could, now he knows he can.