Book series the whole family will enjoy?

[*Lisa*]

DD just finished reading the Harry Potter series, and she LOVED that she, her dad, and I all had read it. It enabled lots of fun pretend play, and we could all talk about the books even though we read them on our own. She's now reading the Lemony Snicket series, but DH and I just can't get into it. Are there any other book series out there that will appeal to adults as well as elementary school-age kids? We read the Little House series together when DD was younger, and we all enjoyed that one.

[*Jessica*]

Marc is reading the Peter and the Starcatchers series to the kids and we all really enjoy it. As soon as they finish the last book in the series we plan to read the original Peter Pan, which these books are all a prequel to.

[onyxravnos]

sort of off topic but have you seen the harry potter summer 'school' yahoo group???? you should totally check it out to continue the harry potter fun... i have a link around here somewhere if you want it or google should pull it up.

tamora peirce has several great series of books. also has a lot of good solid female main characters which i dig, I LOVE the Song of the Lioness series but she has several others.

[zinemama]

Kevin Crossley-Holland's Arthur trilogy is terrific. Book One is The Seeing Stone.

http://www.amazon.com/Seeing-Stone-A.../dp/0439263263

Also, Lloyd Alexander's five-book Chronicles of Prydain. First is The Book of Three

http://www.amazon.com/Book-Three-Pry.../dp/0440407028

[Daffodil]

Cornelia Funke's Inkworld series (Inkheart, Inkspell, and Inkdeath) is good.

DP and I also really liked Tove Jansson's Moomin books when we read them to DD. The later ones, especially, seem likely to appeal to adults at least as much as to children. I liked Moominpappa at Sea better than any adult book I read that year.

[zjande]

The Little House on the Prairie series.

[AAK]

How about the Percy Jackson books.

[philomom]

All of us read the Tamora Pierce's Alanna-Kell series. Loved it.

[Daffodil]

Oh, and then there's Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. (The Golden Compass is the first book.) Depending on how old your DD is, she might enjoy those. (A second grader might be too young, but a sixth grader might really like them. Adults should definitely enjoy them.)

[moominmamma]

I have a special place in my heart for books that have been read amongst, and roundly enjoyed by, all members of our family from age 5 or 6 up to adult. Three in particular stand out: "The True Meaning of Smekday" by Adam Rex, the "His Dark Materials" series by Philip Pullman and "The Sea of Trolls" by Nancy Farmer. Both held our teen's and dad-guy's interests as much as the 6- and 10-year-old's.

We've also enjoyed many of those mentioned above (Inkheart, Harry Potter, the Seeing Stone trilogy, Percy Jackson, etc.) but most of these were enjoyed more by one age-group and and less by the others. The ones I mentioned above were enjoyed pretty equally across the board.

Oh, no one has yet mentioned the Narnia Chronicles. Those would be a good bet.

Miranda

[tammyw]

Could someone post which of these they think would be appropriate for a 7 year old?

[Daffodil]

Originally Posted by tammyw

Could someone post which of these they think would be appropriate for a 7 year old?

My DD listened to the Inkworld trilogy last year around the time she turned 6, and I found it appropriate for her, though it might not be for all kids her age. She really enjoyed the series.

My second suggestion, the Moomin books, should be totally fine for any 7 year old.

I think my DD (who is almost 7 now) might like the His Dark Materials trilogy, and I don't think anything in it would be inappropriate for her, but I think she'd appreciate it more if she was a little older. (For instance, a teen romance is an important part of the third book, and she's still totally uninterested in that stuff. She thought the kissing and romance parts of the Harry Potter books were boring.)

The Chronicles of Narnia were fine for DD when she was 5.

I'll be interested in hearing what people have to say about how the other books mentioned would be for a 7 year old.

[AAK]

Originally Posted by Daffodil

I'll be interested in hearing what people have to say about how the other books mentioned would be for a 7 year old.

OK, my thoughts on these in regards to a 7 yr old hearing the stories (I won't talk about them actually reading them--most of these books would be too advances for the 'typical' 7 yr old reading level.)

Peter and the Starcatchers--my dd loved this at 7. . . but she has always been a big fan of Peter Pan

Tamora Pierce's books: I've only read the circle of magic series and found it very interesting, I can't think of anything inappropriate in it. I think a 7 year old would enjoy it too.

Lloyd Alexander's five-book Chronicles of Prydain--I actually just finished "Book of Three". I thought it was great. Lots of adventure and such. My current 7 year old wouldn't be interested in it. I think my nearly 10 year old would enjoy it now and probably would have for a couple years now, but it seemed older than the other books mentioned.

Inkworld series--so cool, would be a great read aloud to a 7 year old I think

Little House: a personal favorite and of course it is appropriate for anyone who will sit for a story.

Percy Jackson: My kids would be fine at 7, but probably wouldn't have caught on to everything because they didn't know the greek myths at that age. If I were to read this to a seven year old, I would probably introduce a few of the more popular myths first.

His Dark Materials: I REALLY enjoyed these books, but I never thought of introducing them to a seven year old. I don't see why not though, especially if they aren't sensitive.

Ok, that's my viewpoint. If I didn't mention it, I haven't read it. Sounds like your dd (assuming you read all the harry potter books to her) wouldn't be too sensitive to anything in any of the books.

Amy

[*Lisa*]

Originally Posted by onyxravnos

sort of off topic but have you seen the harry potter summer 'school' yahoo group???? you should totally check it out to continue the harry potter fun... i have a link around here somewhere if you want it or google should pull it up.

Yes--thank you! We did a bit of that both last year (when DD read books 1 and part of 2) and again this year (when she read through the whole series). It was really fun!

Thanks for the feedback, everybody. I'm going to print the list out for my family--we all appreciate it

One more to add to the list for anybody else following the thread--my DD got the first book of the Sisters Grimm series for Christmas, and she and my DH have both really enjoyed it (I haven't had a chance to read it yet).

[ocelotmom]

Originally Posted by AAK

Tamora Pierce's books: I've only read the circle of magic series and found it very interesting, I can't think of anything inappropriate in it. I think a 7 year old would enjoy it too.

I'd suggest pre-reading anything Tamora Pierce first. There are parts of the later Alanna books that I'd consider inappropriate for a 7 year old, though they aren't integral to the story and could probably be skipped over, and some of her books get a bit gory.

Off the top of my head, I think the original Circle of Magic books are probably ok, though. The Circle Opens is a bit more young adult in nature.

[luv my 2 sweeties]

We are reading the second book in the Starcatchers series right now, so that came immediately to mind, and I see it was suggested right away. My 7 year old ds loves it. The writing is good and the characters are very colorful. We tried the original Peter Pan once and found it too dense and wordy. (i.e. boring -- perhaps this is one classic that truly benefited from a modern update.)

Other series we have enjoyed (including the 7 y.o.):

The Mysterious Benedict Society (3 books out so far; we've read the first 2)

The Spiderwick Chronicles (Books *much* better than the movie)

The Odyssey, retold by Mary Pope Osborne. (Can be gruesome -- preview for sensitive children.)

Speaking of Mary Pope Osborne, The Magic Tree House series are often enjoyed by younger children. The Merlin Mysteries (the latter part of the series) appeals to kids as they get a little older. My 9 y.o. still likes them, but I'm not sure she would if she hadn't "grown up" with them. For introducing them to kids, I'd say 7 and younger.

Girls, and probably some boys, sometimes like the American Girl series. We used the Kit books (1930's) to spark a discussion of the Depression with my Grandma, who was just about Kit's age at the time the books take place. Pretty cool.

One fabulous book that is not a series is Ugly by (first name?) DiNapoli. It is a delightful retelling of The Ugly Duckling, drawn out to chapter book length.

Also, we have enjoyed reading aloud many of Kate DiCamello's books. (I might be misspelling her name, but no time to check right now -- toddler needs me!)

(ETA: the only one of the suggestions above that appealed more to the kids than to the adult -- me -- would be the Magic Tree House series. All the others were just as fun for me to read as they were for them to listen to. I think I liked some of the Kate DiCamillo stories better than they did. Her writing is so lyrical and beautiful.)

[maybemom05]

How about the Ramona books (Beverly Cleary is the author) ? They are very public school oriented - at least the first few are - but we recently read Ramona the Pest and I enjoyed it at least as much as DS did.

[luv my 2 sweeties]

Originally Posted by maybemom05

How about the Ramona books (Beverly Cleary is the author) ? They are very public school oriented - at least the first few are - but we recently read Ramona the Pest and I enjoyed it at least as much as DS did.

My kids and I like them too! What I like about them is that they remind me of school when *I* was a kid. It's a tad before my time, but so much still resonates. There's a whole section about getting rubber boots to go over your school shoes. I remember those! (Why don't they make those anymore? They would be so convenient and cheaper than an entire separate pair of boots!) And getting to be a crossing guard in 5th grade...

[Bird Girl]

I'm seconding the recommendation for The Mysterious Benedict Society and sequels; they are also available as audio books.

[sophi4ka]

"Percy Jackson" and the Olympians.
Its a great read and also educational - I learned a lot about Greek mythology from those books.