Every so often I get a request from someone for book recommendations. They have a first grader who's done with short chapter books and whose skill is on a 4th-5th grade level. Or their fourth grader has exhausted their classroom library, has the ability to read anything, but is too young to be interested in YA books that are big on romance or Teen Problems. They're still kids--but they are dying for a good story they can spend a long time in. So I've made this list for those kids. No, it doesn't include some of my favorite books, because they have themes more of interest to older readers. But hopefully it's a starting place. (And feel free to add suggestions in the comments--I'll try to remember to add to this as I run across books that fit this in the future.)
Books with magic:
The Mysterious Benedict Society, Trenton Stewart
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and also James and the Giant Peach, Roald Dahl
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, JK Rowling (this one is clearly middle grade, but be aware that they age up quite a bit, and later books may be too much for young kids)
Tuesdays at the Castle, and others by Jessica Day George
Princess Academy and others by Shannon Hale
Whales on Stilts! and others in the Pals in Peril series by MT Anderson (helpful to have read other kids’ series, as it’s sort of a parody)
Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians (series), Brandon Sanderson
Howl’s Moving Castle, Diana Wynne Jones
Faery Rebels: Spell Hunter (series), RJ Anderson
Sorcery and Cecelia, or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot, Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer (for girls who like Austen and magic)
The Magic Thief, Sarah Prineas
Half Magic and others by Edward Eager
The Enchanted Castle and others by E. Nesbit (old, but the inspiration for the Edward Eager books)
Fortune’s Folly and also Circus Galacticus, Deva Fagan
Princess for Hire (series), Lindsey Leavitt
A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L’Engle
The Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis
Small Persons with Wings, Ellen Booraem
Entwined, Heather Dixon
The Ghosts, Antonia Barber
Ella Enchanted, Gail Carson Levine
Beauty, Robin McKinley
Secrets of the Cheese Syndicate, Donna St. Cyr
The Diamond in the Window, Jane Langton
Geeks, Girls, and Secret Identities, Mike Jung
Princess for Hire, Lindsey Leavitt
Books without magic:
The Penderwicks series, Jeanne Birdsall. Four sisters, a dog, and a very interesting boy next door.
Flipped, Wendelin van Draanen
Millicent Min, Girl Genius, Lisa Yee
Journey to the River Sea and also The Star of Kazan, or The Dragonfly Pool, Eva Ibbotson
Rules, Cynthia Lord
Daddy Long-Legs, Jean Webster
Schooled, Gordon Korman
The London Eye Mystery, Siobhan Dowd
Winnie’s War, Jenny Moss
Palace Beautiful, Sarah DeFord Williams
The Little House series, Laura Ingalls Wilder
Suzanna Snow: The Midnight Tunnel, Angie Frazier
Al Capone Does My Shirts and sequel, Gennifer Choldenko
As Easy as Falling off the Face of the Earth, Lynne Rae Perkins
The Lion’s Paw, Robb White
Saffy’s Angel, Hilary McKay
Hoot, Carl Hiassen
The Westing Game, Ellen Raskin
The Star of Kazan and also Journey to the River Sea, Eva Ibbotson
Books with very slight magic (magical realism/mostly real except for one small thing—generally appeal to both the magic and non magic readers):
Savvy and also Scumble, Ingrid Law
Things Not Seen, Andrew Clements
The Magician’s Elephant, Kate DiCamillo
The Secret of Zoom, Lynne Jonell
Mudville or The Tanglewood Terror, Kurtis Scaletta
The Healing Spell, Kimberly Griffiths Little
Babe, the Gallant Pig, Dick King-Smith
Lionboy (series), Zizou Corder
Holes, Louis Sacher
SF (aliens, scientific time travel):
The True Meaning of Smekday, Adam Rex
The Doom Machine, Mark Teague
Dark Life, Kat Falls
Cosmic, Frank Cottrell Boyce
Circus Galacticus, Deva Fagan
Graphic novels:
The Arrival, and other books by Shaun Tan
Rapunzel’s Revenge and Calamity Jack, Shannon and Dean Hale and Nathan Hale
Ellie McDoodle, Have Pen, Will Travel, Ruth McNally Barshaw
Coraline, Neil Gaiman
The Storm in the Barn, Matt Phelan
Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword, Barry Deutsch
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2 comments:
What a great list! I'm going to have to read some of those that I've missed. Some more that we like are Fairest by Gail Carson Levine, Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale, Rules by Cynthia Lord, A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban. The Leviathon series by Scott Westerfield is great. My precocious readers lately have been enjoying reading down a level (or more), just for the entertainment of a really great voice like Clementine (series) by Sara Pennypacker or Alvin Ho (series) by Lenore Look.
Clementine is really good! There aren't so many books in that age--it's young MG, and not so mass market series.
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