Forum Settings
       
« Previous 1 2 3
Reply To Thread

Need Young Reader SuggestionsFollow

#1 Nov 10 2007 at 4:34 PM Rating: Good
My oldest son is in 5th grade this year, he's in advanced classes. He read the first three Harry Potter Books the summer before 2nd grade, he's a pretty good reader. I'm looking for books that will keep him interested and challenge him w/new words and make him think. Alot of the books I have in my home library are too old for him, he's 10 so no books w/sexual innuendo which makes most of my Sci-Fi/Fantasy collection off limits. Any suggestions? I just got him a copy of A Wrinkle In Time, I remembered that one from when I was a kid, loved it. Help please :D
#2 Nov 10 2007 at 7:00 PM Rating: Good
I would say the EDGE chronicles are *perfect* for him Cami, they really are, and I think you would get a big kick out of them too.
#3 Nov 10 2007 at 7:10 PM Rating: Excellent
Ever thought of that Mark Hockley book?

Edited, Nov 11th 2007 4:15am by GieG
#4 Nov 11 2007 at 5:57 AM Rating: Good
Uhh I wouldn't think of that book as appropriate for a 10 year old actually GieG, I think it's just a little bit too old for that age.
#5 Nov 11 2007 at 3:39 PM Rating: Excellent
Well, ok you read it. Can't seem to get out of my mind it's a childrens book. But Mark did say for 11 years or older and Cami's boy is in advance classes.
#6 Nov 11 2007 at 5:24 PM Rating: Good
GieG wrote:
Well, ok you read it. Can't seem to get out of my mind it's a childrens book. But Mark did say for 11 years or older and Cami's boy is in advance classes.


I'll give it a read first, I normally do anyways, then I'll pass it on to him to read if it gets the Smiley: thumbsup :)
#7 Nov 12 2007 at 7:55 AM Rating: Excellent
Liberal Conspiracy
*******
TILT
The Dennis McKiernan books (Iron Tower Trilogy & Silver Call Duology) are Tolkienesque fantasies with no scenes of torture, sexual innuendo or anything like that. Even when the princess is captured (not really a spoiler), she's never threatened in any carnal way.

I'm not a good judge of reading levels because I've always been an advanced reader but I don't recall them being too difficult. Some new vocabulary for him in there but it's probably nothing he can't handle.

When I was in sixth grade I started reading the Piers Anthony Xanth series which is lightly written with plotlines and humor only a young teen could love (in adult retrospect, they were pretty lousy but I devoured them as a youth). My only reservation is that Anthony seems incapable of writing without adding in juvenile sexual references such as glimpsing underwear or accidental boobie grabs while riding a female centaur. I'd say the first books of the series are the best and they get worse later on but that might have to do with me aging as I read the later books.

Edited, Nov 12th 2007 9:55am by Jophiel
____________________________
Belkira wrote:
Wow. Regular ol' Joph fan club in here.
#8 Nov 12 2007 at 8:07 AM Rating: Good
Started with Stephen King at that age myself, but to be honest, that's definitely not the most appropriate way to go.

The Pullman trilogy is pretty good, all things considered and for that age anyway.

I could give you a list of good manga too, but no sexual innuendo makes it a bit hard Smiley: grin

Star Wars books?

Discworld series by Pratchett definitely is suited, there isn't that much of sexual innuendo in it, or it's very obscure or vague.
#9 Nov 12 2007 at 8:22 AM Rating: Excellent
Liberal Conspiracy
*******
TILT
I've never personally read the Redwall series so can anyone say what age range they're oriented for?
____________________________
Belkira wrote:
Wow. Regular ol' Joph fan club in here.
#10 Nov 12 2007 at 1:08 PM Rating: Good
****
5,729 posts
Piers Anthony is interesting because he likes to think of himself as a mature author but most of his books, especially the newer ones, are very much oriented at teenagers. You have to go back to his earlier works (many of which suck) and his collaborations to find the better written books. His collaborations are really hit or miss though. The one he did with Mercedes Lackey was great but the one he did with Philip Jose Farmer sucked big time.

Quote:
My only reservation is that Anthony seems incapable of writing without adding in juvenile sexual references such as glimpsing underwear or accidental boobie grabs while riding a female centaur.

That's only really true of the Xanth and Mode books. I don't remember Adapt or Incarnations having much, if any of that.

Quote:
I'd say the first books of the series are the best and they get worse later on but that might have to do with me aging as I read the later books.

I stopped reading the Xanth books a number of years ago but personally I think the ones in the middle were the best. Like 7-15 when he was first starting to get punny but hadn't gone completely overboard yet.
____________________________
75 Rabbit/75 Sheep/75 Coeurl/75 Eft/75 Raptor/75 Hippogryph/75 Puk
75 Scorpion/75 Wamoura/75 Pixie/75 Peiste/64 Sabotender
51 Bird/41 Mandragora/40 Bee/37 Crawler/37 Bat

Items no one cares about: O
Missions no one cares about: O
Crafts no one cares about: O
#11 Nov 12 2007 at 1:23 PM Rating: Excellent
Liberal Conspiracy
*******
TILT
Lady Karlina wrote:
That's only really true of the Xanth and Mode books. I don't remember Adapt or Incarnations having much, if any of that.
I was speaking explictly of the Xanth novels where he always adds this stuff and I have no idea why. Little of it advances the plot or develops the characters, it's just as though he wants to say "Teehee! Panties!!". I've never read any of his series besides Xanth and the Incarnations but I hear one of his sci-fi series is pretty explicit. Even the Incarnation series gets into its bits about succubi boobies and all that crap.

Not that it was a kid's book but Firefly was simply poorly written soft ****.

But, back to Xanth, I wouldn't have a problem with my 10+ year old kid reading it but Cami's mileage may vary. I started with Castle Roogna when I was in 6th grade and loved it. then I had to go back and read the previous three or four and read the rest of them up to Vale of the Voles when I started thinking "Wow, this is getting pretty retarded." I understand he's still cranking them out though.

Edited, Nov 12th 2007 3:26pm by Jophiel
____________________________
Belkira wrote:
Wow. Regular ol' Joph fan club in here.
#12 Nov 12 2007 at 5:49 PM Rating: Good
Jophiel wrote:
The Dennis McKiernan books (Iron Tower Trilogy & Silver Call Duology) are Tolkienesque fantasies with no scenes of torture, sexual innuendo or anything like that. Even when the princess is captured (not really a spoiler), she's never threatened in any carnal way.

I'm not a good judge of reading levels because I've always been an advanced reader but I don't recall them being too difficult. Some new vocabulary for him in there but it's probably nothing he can't handle.

When I was in sixth grade I started reading the Piers Anthony Xanth series which is lightly written with plotlines and humor only a young teen could love (in adult retrospect, they were pretty lousy but I devoured them as a youth). My only reservation is that Anthony seems incapable of writing without adding in juvenile sexual references such as glimpsing underwear or accidental boobie grabs while riding a female centaur. I'd say the first books of the series are the best and they get worse later on but that might have to do with me aging as I read the later books.

Edited, Nov 12th 2007 9:55am by Jophiel


That's probably mild enough that I wouldn't have a problem, it's in everything, even so called age appropriate cartoons. I let him read certain Manga's as well that occasionally reference blush worthy panty/boob shots. I'm talking about scenes that are very obviously leading up to or descriptive about past/present/future sexual encounters.

I know he's about a year and a half away from how old I was when I started reading The Clan Of The Cave Bear (Earth's Children Series). Looking back I definitely wouldn't want my son reading those yet! I'm gonna re-read The Hobbit, I think it's probably fine for him, but I honestly can't remember all of it. I don't think any of the fight scenes were the type to leave awful images in his head either.

Thank you guys for the suggestions thus far, yet more that I can go check out. :)
#13 Nov 13 2007 at 4:35 AM Rating: Good
Shardick by Richard Adams is a very good book aswell.

Edited, Nov 13th 2007 7:35am by remorajunbao
#14 Nov 13 2007 at 1:02 PM Rating: Excellent
Avatar
******
29,919 posts
Grace Chetwin's Gom on windy mountian series (wayyy better than Harry potter) - similar premise.
Brian Jacques' Redwall series. Start with the actual book redwall though.
The Tripods series:
1.1 The White Mountains
1.2 The City of Gold and Lead
1.3 The Pool of Fire
1.4 When the Tripods Came (1988)
Michael Stackpoole's X wing Rogue squadron series.
____________________________
Arch Duke Kaolian Drachensborn, lvl 95 Ranger, Unrest Server
Tech support forum | FAQ (Support) | Mobile Zam: http://m.zam.com (Premium only)
Forum Rules
#15 Nov 13 2007 at 2:10 PM Rating: Excellent
Liberal Conspiracy
*******
TILT
remorajunbao, Immortal Lion wrote:
Shardick by Richard Adams is a very good book as well.
Yeah, I was going to say Watership Down before except that I didn't. But Adams specifically said he was trying to write a children's book that adults could enjoy. So I guess there's no reason for me to shy from recommending it.

Speaking of, he should read Kipling's Jungle Book, especially if he's only familiar with that Disney abomination.
____________________________
Belkira wrote:
Wow. Regular ol' Joph fan club in here.
#16 Nov 13 2007 at 2:59 PM Rating: Good
****
5,729 posts
Quote:
Brian Jacques' Redwall series. Start with the actual book redwall though.

Definitely start the series with Redwall itself. The Redwall books are best read in the order they were written, not chronological order within the series time line.
____________________________
75 Rabbit/75 Sheep/75 Coeurl/75 Eft/75 Raptor/75 Hippogryph/75 Puk
75 Scorpion/75 Wamoura/75 Pixie/75 Peiste/64 Sabotender
51 Bird/41 Mandragora/40 Bee/37 Crawler/37 Bat

Items no one cares about: O
Missions no one cares about: O
Crafts no one cares about: O
#17 Nov 15 2007 at 4:28 PM Rating: Good
The Saga of Darren Shan written by Darren Shan. The 12 book series is about this kids journey to become and live and save/fail the vampire race. I read it at age 13-14 and even then I thought I was a tad old to read them, but I honestly loved them.
#18 Nov 15 2007 at 4:40 PM Rating: Excellent
***
1,154 posts
Enders game? I read them around then. Definitely makes you think as someone growing up in that age group!

T
#19 Dec 09 2007 at 1:00 PM Rating: Good
Did I mention my son hates you all 'cause he now has a LARGE pile of books to make his way through :) He can't get away w/the excuse "There's nothing for me to read" I ordered most of the books in this thread from Half.com only spent like $30 :D
#20 Dec 10 2007 at 2:51 PM Rating: Excellent
****
6,760 posts
Yeah, Watership Down was one of the first books I read that ended up hooking me. I'd definitely recommend that. I just picked up the Wrinkle in Time series for my buddy's son, who's in 3rd grade. I guess it may be a little high level for him, but he likes reading books with his Grandmother which is how they did the Harry Potter ones, so that may work. I'm a little fuzzy on it, I remember reading the first one when I was a kid and I liked it a great deal, but never got to the following books. Hopefully he likes them.
____________________________
Some people are like slinkies, they aren't really good for anything, but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down the stairs.
#21 Dec 10 2007 at 6:33 PM Rating: Good
Quote:
Enders game? I read them around then. Definitely makes you think as someone growing up in that age group!

Ugh. I loathed this book. It was just painful for me to read.
#22 Dec 12 2007 at 5:52 PM Rating: Good
Kakar, Assassin Reject wrote:
Yeah, Watership Down was one of the first books I read that ended up hooking me. I'd definitely recommend that. I just picked up the Wrinkle in Time series for my buddy's son, who's in 3rd grade. I guess it may be a little high level for him, but he likes reading books with his Grandmother which is how they did the Harry Potter ones, so that may work. I'm a little fuzzy on it, I remember reading the first one when I was a kid and I liked it a great deal, but never got to the following books. Hopefully he likes them.


Yeah he liked a Wrinkle in Time, I've got the next two for him as well. What I did w/the Harry Potter books was I got the audio books for them to read along with, by the 3rd book neither one needed the audio books anymore. Both of my sons are excellent readers. It's actually quite a pain in the *** to keep them reading and interested since a lot of what they can relate to they finish too fast >.<
#23 Dec 12 2007 at 6:05 PM Rating: Excellent
I was an advanced reader but I gorged myself on stuff aimed for younger kids when I was in middle school as well. In between Heinlan and Asimov I absorbed anything with the sci-fi tag at the library.

I recommend, to start, Madelein L'Engle's books. A Wrinkle in Time won the Newbury award, but all of them are pretty good.

Diane Duane's Young Wizards series predates Harry Potter, and it's a fantastic alternative. One of the spinoffs, The Book of Night with Moon is still hands down one of my favorite fantasy novels. (It has wizard kitties. It doesn't get more awesome than that.)

Pamela Service's Under Alien Stars is nice. So is Pamela Sergeant's Alien Child. Crest of the Stars and Banner of the Stars are now available in English translations, although they're for more advanced readers than the others.

Bruce Coville's books are also good for that age range; start with My Teacher is an Alien and go from there.

And the best Disney movie that Disney never made: The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge. It's a bit older but it's back in print, thanks to J.K. Rowling saying how awesome it was XD

Some of these books made such a huge impression on me that, years later, I bought copies of them from Amazon. And I still sit down and read through them occasionally.
#24 Dec 12 2007 at 6:14 PM Rating: Good
Lady catwho wrote:
...Diane Duane's Young Wizards series predates Harry Potter, and it's a fantastic alternative. One of the spinoffs, The Book of Night with Moon is still hands down one of my favorite fantasy novels. (It has wizard kitties. It doesn't get more awesome than that.)...


This sounds wonderful, I must read it myself! :D
#25 Dec 13 2007 at 8:52 AM Rating: Good
****
5,729 posts
I loved the first three Young Wizards books but the series went down hill after that. I haven't bothered reading the most recent ones. I wasn't that impressed with the kitty books either. Book of Night With Moon was ok but I wasn't interested enough to read To Visit the Queen.
____________________________
75 Rabbit/75 Sheep/75 Coeurl/75 Eft/75 Raptor/75 Hippogryph/75 Puk
75 Scorpion/75 Wamoura/75 Pixie/75 Peiste/64 Sabotender
51 Bird/41 Mandragora/40 Bee/37 Crawler/37 Bat

Items no one cares about: O
Missions no one cares about: O
Crafts no one cares about: O
#26 Dec 20 2007 at 1:01 AM Rating: Good
*****
15,952 posts
Without question you have to try "The Dark is Rising" series, by Susan Cooper. Get the books seppearatly, and not the omnibus edition, which looks scarily large to a younger child! From Memory (hope I remember right >.<) they go:

Over Sea, Under Stone,
The Dark is Rising,
Greenwich,
The Grey King,
Silver On the Tree.


I read the first two Chrestomanci books by Diana Wynne Jones when I was about 10, and loved them. Apparently there's more of them out now, I'll have to find them myself! She's written heaps of others, and some of those also are fantastic children's books. The first two Chrestomanci books:

A Charmed Life
The Magicians of Caprona.


Alan Garner was another childhood favourite author. The name that sticks out is "The Weirdstone of Brisingamen"

"Which Witch" by Eva Ibbotson. The plot might sound really girly, but I remember it as being full of wonderfully gruesome things.

All of the above stick in my mind as utterly entrancing me as a child. I too was an advanced reader, having got through the Hobbit when I was 8, and TLOTR when I was nine. "The Worst Witch" cames to mind too, but I can't remember any of the story, so I can't tell you if it's any good.




Quote:

I know he's about a year and a half away from how old I was when I started reading The Clan Of The Cave Bear (Earth's Children Series). Looking back I definitely wouldn't want my son reading those yet! I'm gonna re-read The Hobbit, I think it's probably fine for him, but I honestly can't remember all of it. I don't think any of the fight scenes were the type to leave awful images in his head either.
Smiley: laugh
Hahahahaha omg! The Clan of the Cave Bear and it's sequels I read when I was 14 or 15, and above anything else they struck me as being full of sex, sex, and more sex. I was initially entranced with it all, but by the third book, I actually abandonded it because there didnt' seem to be anything more going on than fights and make-up sex.

I read a heap of adult books when I was a young teenager, and they all were WONDERFULLY educational. When I finally got round to losing my virginity at 18, I was very confident with it all, because of all my reading experience! Kids have to learn some time, but yeah, I think clan of The Cave Bear is better left around for a fourteen year old to find than a ten year old!

Edited, Dec 20th 2007 4:35am by Aripyanfar
« Previous 1 2 3
Reply To Thread

Colors Smileys Quote OriginalQuote Checked Help

 

Recent Visitors: 6 All times are in CST
Anonymous Guests (6)