Books for a 5-year-old boy

[ilfaith]

My 5-year-old son loves to read. His kindergarten teacher said he's reading at at lest a third grade level. He's just started with the Magic Treehouse books and loves the Captain Underpants series, and we recently read Stuart Little together. But of course I am always searching for new ideas.

Any suggestions?

[brittone2]

DS is 5.5 and we've read most of these together, so you probably want to check the actual reading level if that's important to you. DS has just moved into reading the Magic Treehouse books by himself so most of these are ones we've done together in the past.

Mouse and the Motorcycle series
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Henry Huggins
Charlotte's Web
Misty of Chincoteague series
Little House on the Prairie series
Black Stallion (tested this out and was surprised he liked it already)
Frog and Toad
Mr. Popper's Penguins

eta: DS liked James and the Giant Peach but some kiddos find that scary. DS is sensitive and it didn't bother him, but some kids might find it too scary (and it mentions some dark issues like parental death, etc in the beginning)

[new_mommy25]

The Wizard of Oz is DS's all time favorite.

[Mamma2004]

DS is five and has been reading independently for a couple of years. He has enjoyed the Magic Treehouse and Ramona series, as well as Nate the Great and Cam Jansen (sp?). He still loves to read all of the Disney compilations, too. Since late spring he has been obsessed with the Boxcar Children.

He has started to really enjoy non-fiction on dinosaurs, bugs, space, etc.

Good luck - this is an exciting time but it can be tricky to find age apprpriate content that will challenge them!

[desertmama]

I'm not sure of the exact reading level (my dd is too freaked out by the sheer number of words on a page to read chapter books at this point), but there are some books about Judy Moody's little brother Stink (same author) that are pretty cute. It sounds like it won't matter for your ds, but one good thing about these is that the text is larger than many chapter books.

[KrisM]

DS isn't reading, but we've read aloud the A to Z Mysteries and he loves them. Also, his favorites are the 3 My Father's Dragon books.

[mama2g03]

I recommend the Lighthouse Series by Cynthia Rylant. Love those books.

[fauve01]

some that my DD enjoyed when she finished the Magic Treehouse that i think a boy would also like are:

Secrets of Droon Series by Abbott
Dragon Slayers Academy series by McMullan
Stink by MacDonald
Pixie Tricks Series by West
Half Magic series by Eager
Dinosaur Cove series by Stone
Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Kinney
Magic School Bus chapter books
Mercy Watson books by DiCamillo
Geronimo Stilton series
Time Warp Trio series by Scienszka
Jigsaw Jones series by Preller
Bailey School Kids series by dadey
Cam Jansen series by Adler
Nate the Great series by Sharmat
Horrible Harry series by Kline
Flat Stanley's Worldwide Adventure series by Brown
Taylor-MAde Tales by Ellen Miles
Winne the Pooh
biographical books by Jean Fritz (we've liked G. Washington, B. Franklin, etc)

anything by Roald Dahl

that's all i can think of that's not all about fairies (DD's true love).

ETA: a friend just told me about "The Extraordinary Adventures of Ordinary Boy"series. she said it's similiar to Captain Underpants but not so much potty humor. we haven't read it yet but will look at the library. :)

Anne + DD 10-03

[hobie]

The Littles.

[KpbS]

My 5-year-old son loves to read. His kindergarten teacher said he's reading at at lest a third grade level. He's just started with the Magic Treehouse books and loves the Captain Underpants series, and we recently read Stuart Little together. But of course I am always searching for new ideas.

Any suggestions?

Glad you asked this question. I was thinking along similar lines the other day--DS1 is at a similar reading level and I was wondering how you ensure that the books your child selects are still age-appropriate even though they are intended for an older audience?

[TonFirst]

I love this thread. My son (will turn 5 in December) is working his way through the Magic Treehouse series and this afternoon, my husband and I were trying to figure out where to go from here. The MT series isn't an issue for him in terms of vocabulary or context, but the kid is 4, and he gets a little anxious about some of the situations that befall Jack and Annie. For that reason, I haven't even thought about delving into Roald Dahl. So maybe we'll hit Ramona next.

[Gena]

My DS is 5 and loves to read non-fiction. He likes books about space exploration, trains, sharks, etc. He loves his encyclopedia set.

[Percycat]

I was wondering how you ensure that the books your child selects are still age-appropriate even though they are intended for an older audience?

I'm not sure if this answers your question, but the Scholastic Wizard is a great tool. You can enter a book title and it will tell you the reading level and the ineterst level for the book. The website also allows you to customize searches based on reading level or interest.

http://bookwizard.scholastic.com/tbw/homePage.do

The tool helps me identify books my children might like. I pre-read/skim them to make sure they are appropriate.

Good luck.
angela