[HeatherB]

I was at Costco the other day and saw 4-packs of the Hardy Boys, hardback with the classic covers (not the original burlap-y brown ones, but the color pictures). I was SO tempted to buy them for my just-turned-8-yo book fiend, as I *LOVED* the Hardy Boys as kid (I only turned to Nancy Drew when I couldn't find more Hardy Boys!).

I haven't read one in ages, and probably should... But my feeling was that it might be a bit much for my sensitive DS. At least, I know I started reading them in 3rd grade (when my teacher had one in our class library). I also became rather obsessed with them, and for some combination of obsession and fear/bad dreams/whatever, my mom put a halt to it for a while. (I eventually was allowed to read them again and read every one of the original 120+ - not the newer junk that came out in the '80s and '90s.)

Anyhow, I'm both surprised and somewhat pleased to hear others think it would be appropriate. I'll definitely need to pick one up and see what DS might think of it! Of course, this boy has read the Narnia series (minus a couple of books we restricted), so he's probably fine.

Other series he loves include the Boxcar Children (I do try to keep it to the older ones), Encyclopedia Brown, Magic Tree House, and an Usborne series called Jack Russell Dog Detective. Most of those are VERY quick reads for him (I get frustrated when he finishes it before we get home from the library!), but he tends to re-read a lot.