Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Need more book suggestions for DS6

I had an old thread on this, but I can't find it.

DS6 is a very good reader who reads fast and keeps me on my toes. I am looking for some suggestions that I might not know about--pretty familiar with the everyday stuff. Here's the deal:

1) Nothing sad (scary is okay, sad is not)
2) No school/social nuance/boy-girl themes
3) Fast pace is important (he will lose interest if there is a lot of slow scene-setting) but high-level vocab is okay
4) Fiction preferred over nonfiction
5) Will read about girls as well as boys
6) Prefers either fantasy or funny real-life stories
7) ETA: doesn't like mysteries

We have done all of Dahl, Cleary, and Blume, most of Magic Treehouse (ugh), all of Droon, E. Nesbit, Indian in the Cupboard, Moomintroll, Narnia, Edward Eager, Pippi Longstocking, Alice in Wonderland, EB White, and he's about to start the third Harry Potter, after which I plan to cut him off. Unfortunate Events is above him. I would say anywhere from 3rd-6th grade level is okay, but he has definitely lost interest in books that were too internal.

Is Percy Jackson too much? (I guess it has some boy-girl themes.) How about The Mysterious Benedict Society?

Beverly Cleary's Ralph S. Mouse series and her Henry Huggins books. Love the Mysterious Benedict Society. Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew mysteries. The Black Stallion books. Misty of Chincoteague books. Albert Payson Terhune's books about his collies, e.g. Lad of Sunnybank. James Herriot books. (I obviously got on an animal theme.) How about Encyclopedia Brown? Time Warp Trio. Mrs. Piggle Wiggle. The Great Brain. Last of the Great Whangdoodles. DD read some of these when she was 5-7.

Have you looked at either the Warriors or Guardian of the Gahoole series? My ds loved both of those series.

polarbear

I'll look at Percy Jackson and see. DD rejected Benedict Society a couple years back so I guess I think of it as uninteresting, but other kids like it, yes? Though he is not so into mysteries--is it one?

He has read some Time Warp Trio but I felt like some of it was over his head. He read the first Gahoole book before getting sidetracked by Harry Potter, so may go back to that. I feel like Warriors may be too wordy, but that's probably silly since he's reading Harry Potter? It just seems a little more blah dee blah and less high interest/action.

Um, yes! Lol!

pb

K or 1st grade?

Or young 6 or old?

K, just turned 6

Half Magic series by Edward Eadgar.
Dealing with Dragons by Patrica Wrede

What about books by Jules Verne? Also PG Wodehouse?

We did Half Magic. Will try Wrede. I think he is too young for Verne or Wodehouse. Thanks!

I like a lot of the books already mentioned; they were hits with similar DD6.

How about...
The dragon in the sock drawer series
Sid Fleischman--the whipping boy, great horned spoon etc

The Penderwicks.

My ds liked (in addition to what has been said) My Father's Dragon, The Iron Giant, magic School bus chapter books, and choose your own adventure books. He read and re- read lots of graphic novels (to kids on the bus) esp. Secret Science Alliance, Tin Tin, etc.

This year (1st), his interest has gone from science (which he still likes) but currently obsessed with history.

Good luck. I'll be interested to hear what he moves on to.

How about some of the books by Andrew Clements like Frindle, Lunch Money, The Report Card, etc.

Maybe even some Madeleine L'Engle - Wrinkle in Time series.

Sisters Grimm series.

We liked some of the Boxcar Children books and they cover multiple reading levels.

Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Encyclopedia Brown.

Susan Cooper, When the Dark Comes Rising series. Protagonist is 12ish, nothing inappropriate. Great stories with ties to British folklore, Arthurian legend, ect.

Maybe Secret series. Name of this Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch is the first one.

Grace Lin has got some fantastic books. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is set to become a classic and is an excellent fantasy adventure story.

There's the Horrible Histories, Horrible Science, Horrible Geography series too.

You might try if you haven't done so already - Wind in the Willows, Pooh books (they're lovely, innocent, well written, and classics!), Doctor Doolittle, The Little Prince, Alice in Wonderland, Carry On Mr. Bowditch - though an unabridged Wind in the Willows and Alice in Wonderland might be too advanced at the moment.

DS quite enjoyed all ~13 Oz books at that age. Books of Wonder has nice reproductions of the originals that have large type and light illustrations. Some of them are OOP but still easily available at most libraries.

In a similar vein, Michael Hague did nice illustrated versions of both volumes of Carl Sandburg's "Rootabaga Tales".

More on the adventure side... DS also enjoyed all of Ransome's "Swallows and Amazons" books. We did them as read alouds and he has read all of them himself once or twice and will probably read all of them again this summer.

Never heard of these! Great.

He did not like The Penderwicks--a bit of a surprise, as it was DD's fave series in 1st. But it was too sophisticated in terms of stuff about romance, etc. He has read all of My Father Dragon and all the Magic Schoolbus chapter books at our library.


Don't know these, so good!

I think Cooper is too hard and he wouldn't be into Hardy Boys or Drew. He LOVED Alice in Wonderland and we have read Pooh many times. As I recall, Wind in the Willows is really hard. I keep meaning to try him on Oz.

Name of the Book is Secret--not too clever/sophisticated?

I just shelved wizard of oz at the school and it was labeled with the sticker for a 7th grade reading level. Great for a read aloud unless he is reading that high. My 9 year old son just read it this summer.

I highly recommend the Lucy and Stephen Hawking books starting with George's Secret Key To The Universe. My DS6 has read all three twice and can't wait for the fourth to come out in June! It inspired a great interest in physics!
Also, I second Grace Lin. We loved Starry River of the Sky and he is currently reading Where the Mountain Meets the Moon.
I am reading Inkheart aloud to him right now, but I'm a little worried it might get too intense!
Oh, and Brian Selznick. The Invention of Hugo Cabret! A family favorite!

Completely agree on the Hawking series. Someone recommended those recently and DS7 is almost through the third one. I'm glad to hear there is a fourth one coming out. DS also enjoyed the Dragon in the Sock Drawer series.

I really wish I had kept a list, because we have been through this with our son. Basically, I wander through the library trying to find books that look appropriate and in the best case, are part of a series. We are fortunate to have an excellent children's section.

I will try to remember to ask DS his favorites and post here.

Using guided reading levels, Scholastic ranks "The Wizard of Oz" at level V which they rank at 6th grade. Harry Potter is also ranked by Scholastic as a level V book. So by current scales the reading levels look comparable but in my experience "The Wizard of Oz" is more approachable due to print size and illustrations. If the OP's kid is reading HP... Oz is certainly feasible. The last book DS read before devouring all of the Oz books was "My Side of the Mountain" or maybe one of the "Swallows and Amazon" books.

Well before reading the Harry Pottter books DS read all of the CS Lewis Narnia books. I'm not sure of reading levels but those are probably in range.

Around that age we also did a large mythology kick... with the Geraldine McCaughrean's books, and the D'Aulieres, and Mary Pope Osborne's Odyssey, etc.

The Animorphs series was a big hit with my son at that age (actually he's just re reading them now at 8). They have violence but my sensitive son is fine with them. Not sure that they're read in the US so much but Enid Blyton's Famous Five and Secret Island books were also a hit at six. Simply written but my son loved the premise that 4 kids, only slightly older than himself, just go off for days and have adventures. Captain Underpants and Andy Griffith's 13 Story Treehouse for laughs along with Asterix. He also did The Hobbit and the first of the LOTR as an older 6 along with Jules Verne. It's a pretty eclectic mix. Never quite sure what will capture him.

Dark is rising (which I love) has sad, scary parts IMO. Cooper has one about Shakespeare, the king of shadows?

I just read Frindle because dd is reading it in guided reading and it's great.

Dd just started The girl, the dragon and the wild magic and likes it.

If he read Narnia he could probably handle Wrede, whom we love!

What about The Sherwood Ring or Perilous Gard? Though they can be a bit mature...

How to train your dragon? We just requested these.

Lloyd Alexander? Some of his are intense but Vesper Holly is hilarious.

((Pardon my left handed phone typing and probably missing things said up thread as I near the third hour of bedtime here with my 3yo))

I may have to reread them myself to review the details I may have misremembered.

The Melendy Quartet series (starts with The Saturdays)
Nick and Tesla's High Voltage Danger Lab
Tuesdays at the Castle
Nim's Island
Franny K Stein series (starts with Lunch Walks Among Us)
The Time Warp Trio series (starts with Knights of the Kitchen Table)
Boxcar Children series
The Incredible Adventures of Professor Branestawm
Peter Pan
Inkheart
Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

DD7 *loves* mysteries, but these are some suggestions of the books she's enjoyed that aren't (oops, some of these already suggested I see - I'm seconding them in that case!)

btw, She read Series of Unfortunate Events around the same time as Narnia and Harry Potter, so mightn't be too hard?

He enjoyed Franny K. Stein. I think Mrs. Frisby is too sad (it has deaths, doesn't it?) and isn't Inkheart pretty intense as well? He loved Dragonrider by Funke, but that one is geared younger.

I was thinking about Alexander but don't recall if it has deaths. Oh yes, Warriors has sad deaths too, doesn't it? I remember DD crying over some of those books. Will try Lin and Hawking (DD didn't get into the Hawking book but we'll see if DS does--they looked so cool). He has read Narnia. I was a little surprised that he could take on Potter, but he is powering through it, though I'm sure he's missing stuff.

I will try some of these others that I don't know.

Maybe the "Mad Scientists Club" series? I liked them when I was little.

Yes, but only mentioned, not dwelt on - probably even less so than the mentions of Harry Potter's parents being killed etc. DD is pretty sensitive and had no probs

Max Axiom Science comic books? Might be a little difficult but could be good read-alouds if you're looking for those as well. Topics include volcanoes, electricity, light, food chains, adaptation, cells, magnetism, and lots of science topics.

It may be tricky to figure out what books are too sad or what will bother your child. My son was very sensitive to certain topics, and certain things scared and freaked him out. But I had a hard time figuring out what bothered him and what didn't. The main thing that bugged him was "Charlie & the Chocolate Factory", he wanted nothing to do with either of the movies or any of the books. He negotiated a deal with the 2nd grade teacher that he could be out of the room when the teacher read it out loud to the other kids.

Yet the kids loved Harry Potter and even was so fascinated by a picture ET that we showed him the movie around the same age. I really couldn't predict witch things would set him off.

I agree--it can be hard. DS seems to be upset by evocatively written sad scenes. If it refers to death but is not written to evoke sadness, it's okay. But it doesn't even have to be death to be bothersome--it can just be sort of sentimentally gloomy and sorrowful. I would say it wasn't such a big deal except that he has a tendency to dwell on/obsess over sad topics at bedtime anyway (we call it his existential bedtime depression).

-Gone-Away Lake and Return to Gone-Away
-The Green Knowe books (starts with The Children of Green Knowe; they might be a teensy bit scary)
-Maybe some of John Bellairs books (like The House with the Clock in its Walls, although they may be too scary)
-The Borrowers (and sequels)
-Little House on the Prairie series
-The Cricket in Times Square
-The Westing Game (and other books by Ellen Raskin, but I guess they are really mysteries)


Last year DS8 read George's Secret Key to the Universe (by Steven Hawking) and its sequels, and really enjoyed them.

Norton Juster's "The Phantom Tollbooth" - if that hasn't already been suggested? I read to/with DS when he was 5. He thought it was hilarious, and read it on his own at 6.

How about biographies for kids? DS enjoyed ones on Ben Franklin, Lincoln, and Washington.

And this is hardly literature, but the Beast Academy math books. They're written comic-book style, very engaging. DS began with the 3rd grade series at 6, now onto 4th grade (second book in 4th was just released). DS has read each one several times, and apparently it never gets old!

http://www.beastacademy.com

DS 6 is on the last of the Mysterious Benedict Society and he loves them. I have read 2 1/2 of the 4 and enjoyed them. He also loved Harry Potter and Geronimo Stilton books. Mr. and Mrs. Bunny Detectives Extraordinaire is also a great book, as is The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of her Own Making. A 6 YO will miss out on some of the linguistic nuances, but the stories are compelling on their own.

Ah, but not the sequel, Racso and the Rats of NIMH, I've just discovered! Quite a sad death and related angst at the end of the book. Luckily I happened to be reading that chapter aloud and (badly) edited it on the fly to take some sting out.

Thought of this thread and just had to update

Good to know. I'm happy to see this bumped because I am at my wits' end over here! DS6 recently flew through the first three Harry Potters (I stopped him there due to the sensitivity concerns). Seeing how easily he went through those, I got him some significantly harder library books next, such as this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Amulet-Samark...03123&sr=8-2&keywords=bartimaeus+trilogy

Well, apparently he found them too slow/hard/boring. So what was his bizarre reaction? He decided that because that was too hard, he had to go back to reading picture books. He told me he felt like he must not be ready for hard books and so he needed to read "little kid" books again. I found him dutifully paging through The Snowy Day, etc. When I kindly said that we all enjoy reading old favorites sometimes and maybe that made him feel good, he freaked out and indicated that no, it was some kind of self-flagellation maneuver. Ai yi yi yi yi!!! But then when I suggested that maybe if he found the ones I had chosen boring/hard, it would be good to switch back to the Beast Quest/Droon type books he had been eating like candy, he said "No, I read those too fast."

He has now retreated to Garfield and comic books.

What in the hell just happened? Never have run into anything like this with DD10, but DS is much more sensitive to expectations and has more fear of failure.

This was the other book that he deemed too hard:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Cabinet-W...03823&sr=8-1&keywords=cabinet+of+wonders

I guess, looking at the reviews and age ranges (which I did not--just plucked them off the shelves), these really are too hard, most likely. It's so difficult finding him books! Urgh.

I have seen my DD occasionally regress by over regularising verbs in written text. It freaked me out a bit until DW, a high school teacher pointed out that this is common before a growth spurt or developmental milestone is attained.

I stopped worrying and things did self correct. My DD occasionally reverts back to reading How To Tame Your Dragon and Gerenimo Stilton books so I wouldn't pay undue attention to this. He will be over it soon enough I expect.

He can read whatever--that's okay...I'm just concerned about what is going on in his head, YK? He was weeping about this--completely worked up about it. This kid! He seems so easy most of the time and then something like this will pop up.

I also wonder if someone told him he is too young to read what he reads, or something? Perhaps he is feeling the asynchronicity all of a sudden? Library trips have gotten weird because he and DD10 sometimes are reading the same things now. She is not emotionally ready for YA yet, so at times they're both reading the same types of higher-grade fantasy, though she certainly reads thing he would not due to topics and plot subtleties.

Maybe buy him a "Big Nate" book, or if you can deal with it, Captain Underpants? It is light reading, definitely, but longer, and typically loved by 6 year old boys. It might be a good segue to get him back to the other books he likes to read.

Aw, my ds was such a sweet tender heart at that age too! Here are a few series we enjoyed after the ones you listed:

A few sweet series to try: Humphrey books! He is a class hamster. Geronimo Stilton, head of a mouse newspaper/adventure books
Mysteries: Cam Jansen, Bones, The Mysterious Benedict Society (we LOVE those!), Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys, the 39 series, A to Z Mysteries, Magic Tree House
General: The Chocolate Touch, Chocolate Fever, Lemonade War series
Classics: Narnia, Matilda, Shiloh, Old Yeller, The Yearling, Where the Red Fern Grows, Pippi Longstocking, Sounder, White Fang, Hatchet, etc.

Enjoy!