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My daughter had a huge problem with "scary" books. Quite a few of her peers were reading Harry Potter in elementary school and this was all too dark for her. When she was around 11, this all changed for her and not only can she read scary books, she is obsessed by then.

She really loved non-fiction when she was younger. She had wonderful teachers who found books of interest for students. One series that she really loved was the Catwings series by Ursula LeGuin.

Anything by Cynthia Rylant was great for that younger reading stage. And Louis Sachar (mentioned earlier) is really funny. Don't for get Roald Dahl and his amazing books whose humor really agrees with gifties.

Her interest in fiction really took off once she could read scarier or darker books. Since she read so much non-fiction, I never worried about her choices in below-level reading.

She is currently into the Chaim Potok books.

I brought home the Catwings books last year and read the first two to ds. He enjoyed them, but I loved her use of language. I will have to get the Roald Dahl books. I was holding off because he has been a bit intimidated by larger books.

DS6 loves scary books though he doesn't always understand why they are supposed to be scary.

My DS6 is also reading Harry Potter #1.

His very favorite books to read are Calvin and Hobbes comic books. They are actually at a high reading level and his reading has improved lots from all the comic reading believe it or not.

Calvin and Hobbes is on of my favorites. It's not your average comic.