book ideas for 3rd grader that aren't about bratty kids

[jgallagher66]

I have a 3rd grade boy that loves to read. He's a sensitive kid and gets very uneasy when the characters in the book are dishonest or bratty. He's enjoyed the little house on the prairie books and Sarah Plain and tall series. He also liked Beverly Cleary. He's okay if the kids in the book make a mistake and then seem to learn from the mistake that they shouldn't do that or if they have a bad day or are young and still learning like Ramona in the Beverly Cleary books. But some of the more recent books have kids as main characters that really act like brats and routinely act dishonest to get what they want. Most recently he started reading operation dump the chump and had to stop because he said the kid was just horrible to his brother and parents and lied to his elderly neighbor.

Does anyone have some suggestions that you or your kids enjoyed that he might enjoy as well? I know he loves to get suggestions.

[rainbringer]

Some books we've been enjoying  are Encyclopedia Brown, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, and Diary of a Wimpy Kid.  Hope that helps.
 

[KCMichigan]

Some good roughly 3rd gradeish series are:

Boxcar children, Hardy Boys, Bobbsey Twins, Time Warp Trio, Geronimo Stilton, Dog/Cat Diaries, Black Stallion series, James Harriot books (animal based), Half-Magic, Moongobble & Me Series, Indian in the Cupboard, Hank the Cowdog, Bunnicula series, A to Z mysteries, Choose your Own Aventures (a few variations differing by reading level), books by Marguirite Henry (mostly horse books), The Littles, Amber Brown, Wayside School, Secrets of Droon, any book by AVI, Magic School Bus Chapter books, books by Ronald Dahl, 

other ideas would be:

Biographies (some really good ones on Mark Twain, Helen Keller, Alexander Graham Bell, etc) really have some great authors at about the 3rd grade level.

Good Magazines : Ranger Rick, Ask, Time for Kids, National Geographic for Kids, Calliope, Cricket, are few

Also write a few titles down that he likes and do a ' book-a-like' at scholastic. They will refer you to similar style books!

A good chat with a childrens librarian also is a great place to find new titles that fit 'styles' and/or types of books.

[Daffodil]

Does he mainly like books about ordinary kids doing real-life things?  If so, maybe he would like the Noisy Village or Troublemaker Street books by Astrid Lindgren.

If he's open to other kinds of books, here are some good ones without bratty kids:

Nim's Island

No Flying in the House

Mr. Popper's Penguins

Bunnicula (and sequels)

Toys Go Out

the Silverwing series by Kenneth Oppel

the Bone graphic novels

[jgallagher66]

Thanks for all the great suggestions.He's open to different types of books. He just tends to be sensitive to really scary situations violence etc as well as the snottiness. Lots of excellent suggestions here that I think he'll enjoy some that I remember from when I was young or when my older son was his age. I'm going to put some of these on reserve right now.

[teasdone]

I can't recommend the Justin Case series by Racel Vail highly enough. They are fun, sweet, light, and about a truly endearing third grade boy. He will love them!