Book reccomendation for five year old?

[KaliShanti]

My five year old son can read quite well, not sure of the level, but if I had to guess it might be abouta third or fourth grade. I am having a hard time thinking of books that:

- will hold his attention. He doesn't quite have the stamina for a thicker novel yet... I think.

- wont introduce concepts that are too mature, such as sex, too much war or violence, or deep family conflict like divorce, abuse, etc.

- are not all about silly social situations or portray the main characters as disrespectful, rude, etc to parents, teachers, siblings. Nothing that is all about school, since he isn't t in school.


Right now he is into magic tree house, some of Roald Dahl's smaller books like The Magic Finger and The Enourmoys Crocodile, a d is working his wy through the large volume of co plete stories of Winnie the pooh. He loves audiobooks like mr poppers PE guins, Peter pan, the boxcar children, just not sure he has the stamina to read a novel like that..


Sorry about typos... My iPad is weird.

[Tigerle]

Check out Astrid Lindgren's "Noisy Village" and "Troublemaker Street" novels. Very gentle old-fashioned stories of childhood adventures, in self-contained chapters, so sort of inbetween a story book and chapter book. My sensitive 5yo loves them. He can work his way through a chapter, but prefers having them read to him (I'd say his reading level is 2nd grade).

[KCMichigan]

How about the Serendipity ccollection by Steven Cosgrove?

My DDs enjoy them and there are 20-30 of them. They are not chapter books, but are short chapter book sized each an individual story that can be read independently of each other. Each is usually a gently story and they are animal based (or on a few occasions dragon or pegasus or made up creatures). We liked some more than others.

The vocabulary is very rich, which makes them great for younger readers- but they are not 'early' readers by any means. As an adult, I enjoy them and there are various levels for everyone to enjoy. They also are great conversation starters for me and my kids.

Other subjects:

Mercy Watson : lower reading level, but funny and a good length for starter chapters

My Fathers Dragon (trilogy): my kids loved these fun books!

The Littles series

The Weeping Werewolf/Naughty Nork series (the formal title eludes me at the moment) there are 6 of them and they are short, with black/white illustrations written at a higher level (3rd?). Also they are awesome audiobooks!

The Toys go Out (another trilogy) that is a lot of fun to read alone or as a read a loud

[moominmamma]

Great suggestions above. How about Ursula LeGuin's "Catwings" series? 

Miranda

[KaliShanti]

Going to the library this morning, will write these down! By the way, he doesn't get bothered by violence at all, he loves reading all the violent stories in the bible, lol, but I just don't want him into really heavy stuff like world world two books, etc..

[KaliShanti]

He has read and enjoyed The Littles!

[whatsnextmom]

My DS was like that for awhile... read at a very high level but really didn't have the stamina for larger chapter books. He loved the Secrets of Droon... they are thin little chapter books and there are a TON of them. He also loved the Bunnicula series. 

I know at that age, DS loved The Invention of Hugo Cabret (what the movie HUGO was based on.) It's a 500 page book but it's a mix of story and graphic novel. It was perfect for him at that point because it only had a page or two of text at a time and then like, 20 pages of pictures that continued the story. Some pages were full of text, some just a couple lines. Same author has another book out the same format called Wonder Struck though I haven't personally read it yet.

[moominmamma]

Originally Posted by whatsnextmom 

Same author has another book out the same format called Wonder Struck though I haven't personally read it yet.

I've read Wonder Struck! and loved it. In some ways it's even cleverer than Hugo Cabret. There's a deaf girl and her story is told in silence (i.e. with pictures, not words) while the boy's story, which is interwoven, is told in words. Gradually the stories come together, with a wonderful and somewhat unexpected conclusion. It's a beautiful story.

Miranda

[whatsnextmom]

Originally Posted by moominmamma 

I've read Wonder Struck! and loved it. In some ways it's even cleverer than Hugo Cabret. There's a deaf girl and her story is told in silence (i.e. with pictures, not words) while the boy's story, which is interwoven, is told in words. Gradually the stories come together, with a wonderful and somewhat unexpected conclusion. It's a beautiful story.

Miranda

Oh good! It's sitting on my desk. I'll have to take it with me for my "wait around for the kids" reading this afternoon. I just love the concept of the books.

[staceychev]

My daughter loved the Classic Starts adaptation of The Odyssey. My mother-in-law reminded me of The Mouse and the Motorcycle the other day. You also may find that his stamina improves if you start a story for him (read the first few chapters as a read-aloud) and then hand it off. 

[LuckyMommaToo]

My daughter loves the James Herriot collection:

http://www.amazon.com/James-Herriots-Treasury-Children-Creatures/dp/0312085125

The language is really rich and for an animal-loving kid, the stories are fantastic.

-e

[KaliShanti]

I love James harriot! Will try those.

He read one of the noisy village books in the car last night and liked it.

I looked at the serandipity and the mercy Watson... They are a bit below his level and he'd get bored easily I think.

I checked out Henry Huggins, more Roald Dahl books, The mouse and the motorcycle and a few others for the 6 hour trip we are taking this weekend. Some of these title I could t find. I think a few of these, like Henry Huggins, will give me a better idea of his stamina. Thanks again and keep the list going!

[KCMichigan]

Originally Posted by KaliShanti 



I looked at the serandipity and the mercy Watson... They are a bit below his level and he'd get bored easily I think.
I checked out Henry Huggins, more Roald Dahl books, The mouse and the motorcycle and a few others for the 6 hour trip we are taking this weekend. Some of these title I could t find. I think a few of these, like Henry Huggins, will give me a better idea of his stamina. Thanks again and keep the list going!

Serendipity is written  late 2nd to early fourth, with most being solid 3rd. The reason is not the length, but the language he uses and the higher level thinking he puts in the text. I only know that is is higher than it looks because I (and other teachers I have worked with) have leveled them for the classrooms. At first glance they do look like easy readers- they are not. Some of the books are more likely to appeal to different readers, but a few classics are Muffin Muncher, Persnickety, and Dragolin, 

Yes, Mercy Watson is solid 2nd grade. But it is delightful read with fun language and is a great stamina builder. It is a great starter early chapter book.

Another series at 3rd grade level that has short chapters and is very engaging is Geronimo Stilton (series), it is a mouse detective that is fun. It, too, has engaging text that really keeps readers wanting to keep going to solve the 'crime'. They are gentle with no 'real' violence.

Flat Stanley is a fun series as well- 3rd grade level, but shorter than some other 3rd level books.

Some else posted Catwing series and that is good too!

Magic School Bus is a great collection (Cole is the author) that has picture books (2-3rd level  but less text and color pics), easy readers (1-2nd level), and Chapter books (mid 3rd level)

Some old classics that are 3rd ish reading level , but gentle story lines are also Bobbsey Twins.

How about magazines like Ranger Rick, Cricket, National Geo Kids, Ladybug? Those are great for short reading articles with higher reading levels.

Keep in mine that some picture books also have great reading levels (often 3rd and up) and are enjoyable for advanced readers since they still have pictures, but are shorter with involved storylines.

Pegasus by Mayer

Thunder Cake / When Lighting Comes in a Jar by Patricia Polllacco

How about Poems?

Shel Silverstein and Jake Prelutsky are a lot of fun, they both have collections of childrens poems that would appeal to kids

Or

The True Story of the Three Little Pigs  John Sczieska (sp?) ( 3/4th reading level)