Beyond Harry Potter for younger children?

[janeybwild]

My DD is 7. She loves to read and we have been reading the Harry Potter series at bed time for the past year. We just finished book 4. Things get a little (lot!) darker beyond book 4, and I've said we'll take a break for a while and try something else. But what?

She reads the A-Z mysteries, Boxcar children, Little House series, Magic tree house books etc. herself. I'm looking to find a book or series that is gripping like Harry Potter but not beyond the 2-4th grade content level that we can read together. Comprehension and word understanding are not a problem but finding something that holds her interest is. TIA for any ideas!

[egoldber]

Are these for her to read or for you to read aloud?

A lot of kids who like HP also like the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan. It's a little less dark overall, but also a fair bit heavier in light violence (sword play, etc.). They are all the rage in the 2-4 grades here, although I'd call the reading level about 4-5.

[fivi2]

My girls aren't that old yet and it's been a while for me, so I may be off in terms of content, but some ideas you can preview:

The Wizard of Oz books
My Father's Dragon books
Spiderwick Chronicles
Narnia

I'll add more later...

[zoestargrove]

what about
Pippi Longstocking
The Betsy Tacy series

I searched around for HP like books just this last week and somewhere I found that J.K. Rowling mentioned Edith Nesbitt as a favorite author. I haven't read the stories myself yet, but was going to look into them.

The series that starts with this book - five children and It

http://www.amazon.com/Five-Children-E-Nesbit/dp/1438535392/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I2I98FVXXI0PZ3&colid=OJWE0UOA7Z0T

and The enchanted castle seemed like good places to start

[fivi2]

I have heard good things about these Theodosia Throckmorton books, but never read them:
http://www.amazon.com/Theodosia-Serpents-Chaos-R-LaFevers/dp/0618756388

The True Meaning of Smekday was cute, but a stand alone.

eta: The Dark is Rising Series (susan cooper)

etaa: the Redwall series?

Gregor the Overlander series
Septimus Heap series

Alcatraz vs the Evil Librarians (and sequels) is cute. My 4th grade nephew likes them also (starting last year in 3rd grade).

Artemis Fowl

Ranger's Apprentice Series

Wrinkle in Time series

Cornelia Funke - Dragon rider or inkheart (might get too mature?)

Gail Carson Levine (Ella Enchanted and others)

As I said, check content because I may be way off!

[zoestargrove]

My girls aren't that old yet and it's been a while for me, so I may be off in terms of content, but some ideas you can preview:

The Wizard of Oz books
My Father's Dragon books
Spiderwick Chronicles
Narnia

I'll add more later...

OH YES! these above are all great suggestions!!

also - my boys are really enjoying this series of books. (they're much easier/quicker reading than Harry Potter, and have loads of illustrations but they are enjoying the adventures none the less)
http://www.amazon.com/Big-Book-Tashi/dp/1865085634

[sariana]

She might enjoy The Seventh Tower series by Garth Nix. It is a six-book series (I wrongly assumed a series with that title would contain seven books!) about an alternate world in need of a hero. It is kind of bizarre, but it is interesting. The main character is a boy, but he quickly meets a girl who serves as his foil and his ally.

For something entirely different, you could try the Heartland series by Lauren Brooke. WARNING: The first book is really sad (spoiler: mother dies), but it sets up the whole premise of the series, which is that a teenage girl takes over her mother's business of rehabilitating emotionally damaged horses. It does deal a lot with the treatments and such, but it also deals with the main character's family and friendship issues. The main series has 20 volumes, and there are several special editions as well.

What about Tolkien? The Hobbit certainly is accessible now. The trilogy might wait a few years, but maybe not.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Percy Jackson and Artemis Fowl.

Beth

[Corie]

Janey,

You might find this thread helpful. I asked a similar question a few
months back. :)

http://www.windsorpeak.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=344736

[StantonHyde]

Leminy Snicketts (sp?)
Dragon Slayers Academy (they are funny, not scary)
Ron Sciezska (sp?) writes a series of "back in time" stories--See You Later Gladiator and your Mother Was a Neanderthal
If she likes horses--the Black Stallion series of books
Nancy Drew!!
Nate the Great mysteries

Not sure how many of these she could read by herself--but they are great to read to her.

[MelissaTC]

One that hasn't been mentioned is The Secrets of Droon. If your DC is reading HP (mine is too and has taken a break due to the dark nature of the later books), she will like these. They are fantasy and M finds them a fun read.

[creativelightbulb]

at that age I was into...

the Ramona Beasley series and Pipi Longstocking

some of the newer series I've picked up in the store include

Amy HodgePodge
Ruby and the Booker Boys

[fivi2]

The Phantom Tollbooth

I have heard good things about the Land of Elyon books, but I haven't read them.

I loved the Dr. Doolittle books when I was about that age, but I do not know if they are still good!

[lil_acorn]

You can introduce greek mythology in kid form with the "pandora" series by carolyn hennessey

[sail731]

Nancy Drew!!! Mysteries are always fun read togethers.

[janeybwild]

Janey,

You might find this thread helpful. I asked a similar question a few
months back. :)

http://www.windsorpeak.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=344736


Thanks Corie. I failed to search for Harry Potterish :)

[rlu]

Seconding Pippi and thirding Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys. My sister and I collected all the Trixie Belden books and also read the few Dana Girls (Carolyn Keene) and Bobbsey Twins books we could find at the time.

Bookmarking this thread - thanks!

eta: from the link from Corie - I just read the Molly Moon books and thought they were ok. I prefer them to the Lemony Snicket books.

[Percycat]

My son enjoyed reading "How to Train Your Dragon". He is looking forward to reading the rest of the series and seeing the movie this weekend in 3D.

The Narnia seiries is also very good.

A great way to find at a particular reading level is to use the Scholastic Book Wizard. You could type in the Harry Potter book that was most appropriate for your DD in the box for similar book search and several books will be identified that are similar in interest, topic, and reading level.

Good luck.
Angela

[ellies mom]

The Sisters Grimm is a great series. There are seven books out, with an eighth coming out in May.

We really enjoyed the Frog Princess series also. We are reading How to Train Your Dragon and The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson). How to Train Your Dragon is a lot of fun. And I absolutely love the Percy Jackson series. It really encourages reading or rereading the greek myths. While I was reading the series the first time (to myself, not DD), I started reading some of the Greek myths to DD.

The Phantom Tollbooth is a lot of fun to read outloud. We just finished that one.

[wendmatt]

DD is 7 and loves any books by Enid Blyton. She's an english author I grew up reading and my mum brings her out a ton of books each time she visits. I don't know if you can get them here, but she did a fun series called the Magic Faraway Tree, where children visit different lands at the top of a tree (I'm sure JK Rowling read these books, I see a little influence in Harry POtter). They are a little old fashioned but great reading. We are just finishing book 8 of The Adventure of... series by her.
How did your DD do with Harry Potter? I haven't thought of reading them with DD yet, I thought I'd wait till she was a little older, but maybe we could start.

[fauve01]

One that hasn't been mentioned is The Secrets of Droon..

I was going to recommend the Droon series too. I think these books are an easier level than Harry Potter.

another fantasy series DD likes is Dragonslayers Academy. It's about a young (medieval) boy leaving home to go to a special school to train to kill dragons! not my fav, but dd likes it.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_sc_5_10?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=dragon+slayers+academy&sprefix=dragonslay

Also, not harry potterish at all, but dinosaurs, is the Dinosaur Cove series:
http://www.amazon.com/Flight-Quetzalcoatlus-Dinosaur-Cove-Stone/dp/0545053803/ref=pd_sim_b_2

HTH
Anne

[hellokitty]

Not the same genre as HP, but we're reading the, "Super Fudge" series to my 4 and 6 yr old boys right now and they LOOOOOVE it! We have also read several of the Ramona books and they loved it too. I'm hesitant to start reading HP to them until they are a bit older. The first few books are ok, but the content becomes so dark, plus all of the teen hormone stuff after a few books and I think it would be over my kids heads until they are older.