Chapter book for (almost) 3.5 yr old boy

[myboy]

DS has (had read to him) all the Pooh chapter stories (original) and will tell them back to you by heart. He loves them and has been reading them (read by parents) by chapters since very young.

I am looking for a new chapter book for him but we have some special circumstances, plus a picky mom.

Picky mom: we don't do tv, movies, or anything commercial or marketed. we don't do any thing with any violence, guns, swords, pirates, krights, etc. I don't like good and evil, morals taught via someone doing the wrong thing, introducing ideas and then saying not to do them, etc.

Special circumstance: DS has a rare immune disorder and can not eat any food. After years of being exclusively BF he is now fed a medical formula via a feeding tube. Additionally to being able to eat NO foods, he can not go inside places other than home - no stores, friends houses, preschool, family homes, etc... So while he is aware these other things exist I prefer stories that do not revolve around, for example, ice cream/candy/toy stores.... etc etc... things he can't do.

Classic Winnie the Pooh is perfect... is there something else to go to??

Thanks in advance!

[amcal]

How about the Frog and Toad series? Or the Little Bear series?

[myboy]

This may sound silly but the first time I looked at Frog and Toad I read a story where one 'lies' to the other about what month it is so they will stop hibernating, and I didn't like the message. Little bear might work, but there seems to be alot of food....

[Double E]

Books by EB White? Or maybe a "Chose Your Own Adventure"? They have a series for a little younger kids (like 6ish....but if you're reading to him, it might work. Although some of the topics might be inappropriate).

[LuckyMommaToo]

Check out the Mouse and the Motorcycle, by Beverly CLeary. It's set in a hotel in the mountains. It was the first chapter book we read to DS (although he was a little older), and he was captivated.

My Father's Dragon and Mr. Popper's Penguins are my other recommendations. They need a tiny bit of editing (Mr. Popper "spanks" a penguin once), but I think they fit your needs otherwise. Maybe you could get them out of the library and do a quick scan first?

Good luck,
-e

[BunnySlippers]

Try the Bunnicula series!

[boatbaby]

The book BUOY by Bruce Balan is positively beautiful! Each chapter a different take on the daily life of a sea buoy and his pals Seal & Gull. Writing is poetic. Themes are classic and sweet.

My Father's Dragon trilogy is great, but DOES require MINOR editing in parts. Overall great, classic adventure tale.


Jenny Goes to Sea is a sweet story about three cats who get to travel around the world on a ship. And if you like it there is a whole series of Jenny books. (we have only read Jenny Goes To Sea, can't vouch for the others)

The Lighthouse Family series is also about as sweet as they come. A cat, dog, and two mice children living in a lighthouse, learning from nature. Five short books in the series.
Anything by Cynthis Rylant is a winner!

[LynnS6]

Do you mean that there can be no food or that food can't feature prominently?

Mercy Watson - I love these books.

The Littles. There's very little moralizing and no focus on toys, foods, etc. The Littles build a lot of their own things.

Some of the Beverly Clearly books - Ramona, The Mouse and Motor Cycle. The ones about Henry Huggins are good, but are a bit dense for a 3.5 year old.

Paddington Bear (Paddington's favorite food is marmalade, but that's not the focus of the stories.)

Little House in the Big Woods (there is a description of slaughtering and smoking a pig for meat for the winter, and of Pa hunting).

The Magic Tree House books - they're a bit formulaic, and while knights, ninjas, etc. make an appearance in some books, they're just characters, not taking part in battles, and there isn't the good-evil dichotomy that you say bothers you. The kids have puzzles to figure out.

[milehighmonkeys]

DD loves Magic Tree House. I don't have many other recommendations though, because she reads a lot of pirate and adventure stories. I was going to suggest Charlotte's Web, but they go to the fair and I think they talk about eating things there. I don't exactly remember, though.

[runes]

Beatrix Potter?

[Daffodil]

I second the suggestions of My Father's Dragon (and the two sequels) and The Lighthouse Family. Another Cynthia Rylant one that might be good is Gooseberry Park.

The Moomintroll books by Tove Jansson are wonderful. The first one is Comet in Moominland. The characters go off on quite a few adventures, but mostly outdoors. They don't go to school, visit stores, or anything like that. (Well, they do stop into a little store in the first book, but most of the time they're at home in their little house or wandering through the wilderness.)

[myboy]

Thank you all for the ideas!!

To the question, no it doesn't have to never mention food by any means (Pooh is quite taken with honey, and really whatever else anyone else is eating or offering) but it is in a very silly non attention grabbing pretend animal way... as opposed to Dick and Jane are really excited to get {ice cream, candy, etc.} or speaking of food as if it is a universal language of enjoyment as so many books do about desserts particularly, but also picnics, peanut butter, or even preaching about fruits and vegetables.... there can be food I just prefer it not to be the main character, or the main character's motivation....

[limabean]

DS loves Magic Tree House, and food is only mentioned in passing in the ones I can recall. We're reading The Secret Garden right now, and he's really into it.

[hipumpkins]

The mouse and the motorcycle. Charlotte's web..although Templton is quite smitten with food at the fair and they do talk about eating things in nature ..like kids sucking on dandelion stems and soda. My kids don't drink soda and they never asked about it as it is mere passing in chapter. The food talk is mostly about what animals eat.
My DD found Paddington very confusing at that age but we are going to try again soon.

The Cricket in Time's square isabout a cricket who gets lost and ends up in NY. He has great talent for making classical music with his wings. DD really loved that. I don't recall any food but I know they live in newspaper stand.

[alexsam]

Quite honestly, there is nothing like Pooh. I just had this very same conversation with a childrens librarian (my 4 yr old DS is obsessed with the original Pooh). The innocence, the rich, amusing and lively language, the delightful characters, the fact that each chapter is a stand-alone story the perfect length for pre-schoolers with playful and funny themes... Pooh stands alone. "Winne the Pooh" and "The House at Pooh Corner" are, IMHO, childrens literary perfection . Thankfully, they are interesting and humerous at so many levels that we have enjoyed reading them for over a year and a half pretty much every day and have found new and fun things about the stories all the time so DS is not showing any signs of leaving the 100 acre woods anytime soon!

That said, I'd also give Frog and Toad another go. It may not be "perfect", but it is fun too.

Also, the George and Martha books! Again, maybe not every story meets every one of your criteria, but George and Martha are funny and silly, never mean, the language is humerous and layered, and the illustrations are delightful. We really enjoy George and Martha.

We also have 2 anthologies of Dr. Seuss and those are fun as well (from an adult perspective, they may seem a bit preachy, but kids don't always see it, as the concepts are pretty complex... Like the Lorax is about environmental conservation, Yertle the Turtle has a king that piles turtles to make his throne bigger and one on the bottom revolts and Yertle falls into the mud... So, there may be a "good vs bad" idea in there, but it is much more reflective of life in that the characters are not always purely one or the other and the underlying situations are real and there is lots of "gray" in there as to why things are "right and wrong"... but like I said, to a child, these "lessons" are not always seen beyond the story Seuss tells). But Dr. Seuss has a magic of his own and the books are energetic and have a very engaging fantasy aspect and the stories themselves are pretty innocent and without violence or things like that.

Also, AA Milne wrote some other books... poetry. "When we were very young" and "Now we are six" are fun too, but not really stories. But childrens poetry can be very engaging, a good length for pre-schoolers, and has very sweet and fun energy. I would look into some good childrens poetry!

At 3.5, I'd also not toss out the richness of picturebooks just yet. There are MANY picturebooks that my DS (4 yrs old and gifted) still loves and a practically infinite number of themes and stories and illustrations.

[myboy]

Quite honestly, there is nothing like Pooh. I just had this very same conversation with a childrens librarian (my 4 yr old DS is obsessed with the original Pooh). The innocence, the rich, amusing and lively language, the delightful characters, the fact that each chapter is a stand-alone story the perfect length for pre-schoolers with playful and funny themes... Pooh stands alone. "Winne the Pooh" and "The House at Pooh Corner" are, IMHO, childrens literary perfection .

So true!!

Thank you for all the ideas.