Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Recommended Resources Book recommendations: age 6-8

Oooh, that sounds terrific, aeh! I could see DS hibernating and devouring those!

DS8 just devoured the Mr. Lemoncillo's Library series by Chris Grabenstein,along with a few other books by the author. He said "this might be the best book I have ever read" midway through the first one.

Also really enjoyed "The Adventurer's Guide to Successful Escapes" and "The adventurer's guide to dragons (and why they keep biting me)" by Wade Albert White.

Somehow, DS11 missed these on his reading journey. Which is incredible, given how much time he spends reading!

Could anyone recommend books or series that are sort of 'realistic' fiction but don't feature snarky little kids? My son (age 7) is reading at about a 3rd grade level and has decided that 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' is just the best thing ever. I do think the series is funny but he's not emotionally sophisticated enough to understand why the main character isn't always very nice. He's also been reading the 'Weird School' series and it has similar issues with name-calling, etc. I don't want to be prudish but would love to find something that has 'real life' story lines but is a bit more wholesome. Any suggestions?

We got a lot of mileage out several mystery series. As I recall, Jigsaw Jones were pretty decent, ABC Mysteries were OK (and lots of 'em!). Magic School Bus novels were fun. I think we went to all of these after plowing through way too many Magic Tree Houses.

Have you looked at historical fiction?
Oscar's Gift is similar to "American Girl" books, but featuring a boy as the main character.
The author is a former director of SENG.

Thank you everyone! I'm trying to pay attention and figure out what he finds so appealing about these books. I think it's a combination of the humor and feeling like he can 'relate' to the issues. I just wish we could find something funny where the kids chooses a better way to handle his problems.

Historical fiction is a whole genre we've never tried so I'll look into that for sure. Platypus, not sure how old your kids are now but my son is kind of enjoying a series called the Field Trip Mysteries.

Suggestions sound good above.

A couple of years ago I posted some suggestions to this thread. From that post (#220358), for your DS, considering his apparent taste for humor+science, I'd call out:

Phineas L. MacGuire series, Frances O'Roark Dowell -- by Lexile level, it's supposedly about typical 5th grade level, but I don't think it's really that hard -- it may be the occasional scientific vocabulary word pushing the Lexile level up -- incorporates some science into some funny but good-hearted stories.

Dragonbreath series, Ursula Vernon -- this isn't literally "realistic" (as it's about an anthropomorphic dragon and his anthropomorphic other creature friends) and the stories are fantasy type, but it's quite funny in a not-nasty way (my husband kept reading these to our kids for years as he enjoyed them) and it's a hybrid of "normal" text with occasional breakouts into comic panels which may give it extra appeal to a Wimpy Kid fan.

I'd also take a look at:

Time Warp Trio series, Jon Scieszka -- the author is interested in getting kids reading, and in particular interested in getting boys reading. Seems to work well for many boys: get exposed to some history in a fun way.

Thanks Peony! Awesome suggestions.

I have a collection of recommended reading lists designed specifically for students ages 6 and up that are reading at a 4th to 5th grade level. All of the books are pre-screened for content and maturity. The lists are based on age, reading ability, and interest. https://resources.njgifted.org/elementary-books.html

That's lovely- thanks for sharing that!

Books DS6 has been enjoying this summer:

- Grandpa's Great Escape (David Walliams)
- Gangsta Granny (David Walliams)
- Demon Dentist (David Walliams)
- The One and Only Ivan (Katherine Applegate)
- Science Comics (coral reefs, flying machines, dinosaurs, robots and drones, plagues)
- The Series of Unfortunate Events books
- Captain Underpants books
- Charlotte's Web (E.B. White)
- Horrible History books
- Horrible Geography books
- The Narnia books
- Re-reading pretty much the whole works of Roald Dahl
- Harry Potter (books 1 and 2- we'll wait to continue the series)
- Tin Tin comics (translated into English)
- The "Who Was"/"What Was" series
- Beast Academy comic textbooks (not kidding- he seriously loves these)

I've also reserved an English translation of "The Little Prince" by Antoine de St Exupery at the library, as DS' French isn't yet strong enough to read the original. Once he's up to speed, I could see him loving the "Petit Nicolas" series by Gosciny, as well as Asterix et Obelix.

DS is also urging me to let him read some of these, which I'm debating due to concerns about maturity/horror themes:

- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
- Treasure Island
- The Goosebumps series
- The Hobbit
- Rick Riordan's "Magnus Chase" series

I also found a neat book with 40 philosophy questions that he'd love, and a few books by Stephen and Lucy Hawking that play with physics in a fun way for kids. Will see if DS is interested.