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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.