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My son just read The Plant That Ate Dirty Socks. He said, "Mom, it's a whole series. I've only read one and it was good."
What has captured his 8 yr old attention recently is the Judy Blume Fudge Series: Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing Also Known as Shiela the Great Double Fudge Super Fudge Fudge-A-Mania
He also enjoys the A-Z Mysteries and Magic Tree House series.
During first grade he read one of my childhood staples: The Billy and Blaze series by C.W. Anderson
Many of my favorites have already been mentioned. The ones that weren't mentioned include:
Kavik the Wolf Dog by Walt Morey
No Flying in the House by Betty Brock
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
White Fang by Jack London
San Domingo : The Medicine Hat Stallion by Marguerite Henry and Robert Lougbeed
E. Nesbit's The Five Children and It The Phoenix and the Carpet The Story of the Amulet
And Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie series
My beginning reader is enjoying the reprinted collection of Dick and Jane stories, The World of Dick and Jane and Friends
Thanks so much for making me think of this list. It brings back such a wealth of wonder and joy of reading.
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Some of my childhood favorites: Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh by Robert C. O’Brien Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books Bridge to Terabithia The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald Bridge to Terabithia and The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Patterson Chasing Redbird by Sharon Creech Dancing Shoes by Noel Streatfield Granny the Pag by Nina Gordon A Little Princess and The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli Mick Harte was Here by Barbara Park Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard Atwater The Giver by Lois Lowry The Westing Game by Ellen Ruskin Caddie Woodlong by Carol Rynie Brink The Cay by Theodore Taylor The Hatchet by Gary Paulsen Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare Anything by Louis Sachar-- not just Holes, but also the Wayside School books, and Dogs Don't Tell JokesPosts: 274 | Registered: Apr 2002
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I recommend the ORIGINAL Lassie book, Lassie-Come-Home by Eric Knight. It takes place in the UK in the 1930s--when the dad is laid off from his job as a coal miner and needs money to feed his family, the dog is sold to a new owner. She runs away from the new owner in the highlands of Scotland and must travel by herself back home to Yorkshire. The book has one of my favorite endings in all of literature.
(And there's no Timmy -- the boy is Joe Carraclough, who does NOT fall down a well or anything like that.)
Good picture books:
Patricia Polacco, Rechenka's Eggs Dav Pilkey, Complete Adventures of Big Dog and Little Dog Graeme Base, The Eleventh Hour David Wiesner, Tuesday Alexis Deacon, Beegu (about an adorable little alien) Chris Van Allsburg, The Wretched Stone (read it and see if you can figure out what the stone symbolizes)
[ February 01, 2004, 06:54 PM: Message edited by: Yozhik ]
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A book I just refound at the library: the return of the TWELVES. It's about toy soldiers and the Bronte chidlren and I loved it when I was little.
Also, The Castle in the Attic? or something to do with castles and attics, I really enjoyed in when I was in 5th grade.
The Thief and it's sequel by (I think) Megan Turner.
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I just finished Inkheart by Cornelia Funke. It’s a fantasy story about a girl whose father works as a bookbinder and what happens to them when they get involved with a mysterious book that the father brings home. Throughout the book there is an element of magic, with strange creatures and strange people popping up, and strange things happening.
The book is full of strong characters, but the author tends to gush about books, the magic of books, the joys of reading aloud, and the art of crafting a good story. It all seemed a bit self-serving. My impression of this book is that it is too long, and it runs in circles, with the characters escaping and then getting recaptured a number of times.
I read Inkheart on the heels of reading another Cornelia Funke book called The Thief Lord . It is about runaway children, living together in Venice, making a living from stealing, and about a private detective who is trying to track them down.
As in Inkheart , there is an element of magic in The Thief Lord , but Funke doesn’t introduce magic until late in the story when she uses it to resolve the main conflicts. It seems like cheating to use magic after having painted such a realistic view of Venice. She should have hinted that there was magic in her world early in the story.
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Did nobody else have a problem with the fact that Dahl solves all the problems in his book by killing off (or inflicting some sort of violence) on whoever the evil doer was? Boy and Going Solo were brilliant, the rest of his stuff is pretty meh.
Also, dkw is my hero for mentioning Daniel Pinkwater. Anybody who hasn't read The Snarkhouse Boys and the Avocado of Death and its sequel The Snarkhouse Boys and the Baconburg Horror is required to read them now. But I should warn you that the sequel doesn't hold a candle to the first one.
A favorite book of mine when I was growing up was The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles but nobody else seems to have read it. Maybe that's why I remember it so fondly?
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I second most things already said. Margurite Henry wrote about Misty of Chincoteague plus about 30 other horse books for kids.
One I haven't seen Listed is Elizabeth Enright. They might be out of print, but our library has most of them. She wrote Gone Away Lake, Thimble Summer, and several books about the Melendy Family. Does anyone else remember these?
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Alright, I'm supprised this hasn't been mentioned yet: "The best Christmas pagent ever" and "The best schoolyear ever".
When I was little, I also enjoyed: Courderoy(sp?) Paddington Bear Follow Me ...I'll go check the bookshleves and list more later. Posts: 4174 | Registered: Sep 2003
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I'm glad to see Chris Van Ellsburg and Graeme Base on the list. Any book by either author is a hit!
Others personal favorites that come to mind are: A Wrinkle in Time The Westing Game Phantom Tollbooth Chronicles of Narnia Throught the Looking Glass The Man Who was Poe Julie of the Wolves Words by Heart The House at Pooh Corner
Oh, yeah. Ender's Game. I've added it to my students' reading list for next year. I am so looking forward to it!
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I've added it to my students' reading list for next year. I am so looking forward to it!
