When talking to other moms it seems we never fail to mention what our kids are reading. Some of us have voracious readers and some reluctant, but we all want our kids to read. So, we share titles and authors that our offspring latch onto.I firmly believe that every child can be a reader, after any learning issues are cared for and they've found a book/subject/author that makes their heart sing. As parents it's our job to facilitate this process. We cannot give up on this with our children or expect the school system to do this for us. I have a child who has been at both ends of the learning curve with reading. In 2nd grade we found out the princess has Irlen Syndrome. Before treatment she could barely read and was in the lowest reading group at school. Four years later she tests at college level and flies through books. Her disability was treated AND she found The Littles series which opened the door to a love of literature for her.
In an effort to help kids and parents ferret out great books, the princess and I went through her stacks to come up with titles and authors that may make your child's heart sing too. Most of these are great for boys or girls in grades 4-7. Please remember that what's fine in our house may not be OK in your's and vice versa. Sci fi, mystery and fantasy involving fairies, witches, magic, & mythology are our faves. We don't go beyond a simple kiss or crush in literature or watch PG-13 movies. TV stars, Hannah Montana etc., are not seen as role models around here either, in fact the television is seldom on.
Please feel free to add your child's or your own childhood favorites in the comments. Without further yammering- some books and/or authors...
- Anne Ursu The Shadow Thieves and The Siren Song
- Laura Ruby The Wall And The Wing and The Chaos King
- Cornelia Funke The Dragon Rider and (older kids) Inkspell trilogy
- Jeanne Birdsall (girls) The Penderwick series
- Susan Runholt (girls) The Third Lucretia
- Thomas L. Blair The Sabatini Prophecy
- Yann Martel Life Of Pi
- E. D. Baker (girls) The Frog Princess series and Wings
- Rick Riordan Percy Jackson series and 39 clues 1st in a new series of various authors
- Kristen Miller (girls) Kiki Strike series
- Nancy Farmer Sea Of Trolls and Land Of The Silver Apples
- Jeanne DuPrau The City Of Ember series
- Elizabeth Kay The Divide series
- Chris D'Lacey Fire Star series
- All DK Eyewitness books are awesome
- Janet Lee Carey (girls) Dragon's Keep
- Edith Pattou (girls) East
- Meg Cabot (older girls) Princess Diaries
- Patricia C. Wrede (girls) Enchanted Forest Chronicles series of 4 books
- Paul Stewart & Chris Riddell Muddle Earth
- All Zilpha Keatly Snyder books
- All Bruce Coville books
- All Judy Blume books written for kids (girls)
- Ann Hodgman The House Of A Million Pets
- All Gail Carson Levine books (some for older, some for younger girls)
- Gillian Summers (girls) The Tree Shepard's Daughter and Into the Wildewood
- All Eva Ibbotson books
- John Vornholt The Troll series of 3 books
- Caroline B. Cooney The Face On The Milk Carton (older kids)
- Norton Juster The Phantom Tollbooth
- Joseph Helgerson Horns And Wrinkles
- Mette Ivie Harrison Mirs, Mirror (girls)
- Clare B. Dunkle The Hollow Kingdom (girls)
- All Blue Balliett books
- Jenny Nimmo Charlie Bone series
14 comments:
I love this topic! I have had a similar experience to yours and your daughter's with my daughter and reading. In first grade she was placed in a group for kids who needed extra help in reading. It was only a year before that that we found out she had a hearing loss that she probably had since she was born. So, armed with her new hearing aids, she went through kindergarten but didn't catch on with reading. In first grade she was placed in the special reading group. She worked so hard in that group that she "graduated" out of it, something the reading specialist said doesn't normally happen. Needless to say, she cried because she loved that group. Now she's 9 and an avid reader and I couldn't be happier with how it turned out. My 12-year-old son also loves to read and is very much into the fantasy-type books (many of them on your list). I just asked him his faves, and he said anything by Anthony Horowitz, the Maximum Ride series, the Eragon series by Christopher Paolini and he really liked the Outsiders and other S.E. Hinton books I checked out for him because I loved them as a kid. Thanks for the great list!
Thank you! Santa brought the Maximum Ride series & the kid has been reluctant to read it. I'm going to show her your post. :)
What a great post! This is a wonderful list. Thanks for sharing it!
Great list! I will have to show this to my readers. One might be a tad young for most of these, but soon she will be ready.
Reading is such a wonderful thing! I really encourage my kids to do it. It was one of my fav things to do as a child.
My parents took me on the only family vacation we ever had (my Dad died when I was 13) and we went to the Channel Islands. They rented a car and drove around the island, and I spent the whole time in the back of the car `reading Enid Blyton's Mallory Towers series. Its a great memory.
Reading really is key to learning.
I remeber loving the Wrinkle in Time series when I was younger....lovedlovedloved it so much! And The Littles! Makes me want to revisit those books myself.
The Littles was a series that I could not get enough of a child. When my daughter had no interest in reading in second grade I poked The Littles at her and forced her to try it. My voracious reader was born! The Littles has been important to so many of us as children. :)
All 3 of my children have a love of reading. They love a lot of the Sci Fi type books.
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Sharon
I loved Trixie Belden and Alfred Hitchcock's 3 Investigators! Not exactly things you'd find on the reading list, but I enjoyed them!
And by the way, tag! You're it!
Check out my post for details:
http://uberartshop.blogspot.com/2009/01/tag-im-it.html
A great list! Be sure to check out my book contest on my blog!
Oh, how I yearn that boys like to read. I have to admit I did not like to read as a child (now knowing it was probably undiagnosed dyslexia), but I love to read now and my husband is a HUGE reader. I am going to print out this list for my boys 6 and 9 and see if we can find ones they will want to devour!
Thanks for the list!!
•Cathy
I got tagged. Now, I'm tagging you! Check my blog for the details.
I'm not familiar with a lot of the books on that list, except for The Penderwicks. That was a good book.
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