500by12

Chronicling the books we read to our children (and perhaps the books they read themselves). Can we read 500 before they turn 12? Only time will tell.

Thursday, August 18, 2005

Vacation, and books for boys

Well, we've been on the road all month, so we haven't been reading much to the kids. Allison from Don't Let's Start asked over at Kulturblog for some recommendations for books for boys ages 5-10. Here's my reply:

You're in luck -- three years ago, while visiting relatives in Alaska, I made a list of books for my 11-year old nephew. I'm in Alaska now, and wondered out loud whether that list still existed -- Kristen's sister said, "Yes, it's taped to the refrigerator," and went next door and retrieved it. The list was specifically fantasy/sci-fi for 11-year old boys. Here it is (many of these titles have already been recommended)

Susan Cooper -- The Dark is Rising series
CS Lewis -- The Chronicles of Narnia
Isaac Asimov -- Foundation Trilogy (which has more than three books now)
+ short stories
Anne McCaffrey: Harper Hall Trilogy (Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, Dragondrums)
Ray Bradbury: The Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated Man, Fahrenheit 451
Lloyd Alexander: The Prydain Chronicles (The Book of Three,The Black Cauldron,The Castle of Llyr,Taran Wanderer,The High King
also The Westmark Trilogy (Westmark, The Kestrel, The Beggar Queen
Madeline L'Engle: A Wrinkle in Time series
Ursula K. LeGuin: The Earthsea Trilogy (A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore)
John Christopher: The White Mountains, The City of Gold and Lead, The Pool of Fire, plus the prequel When the Tripods Came
JRR Tolkien: The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings trilogy
Richard Adams: Watership Down
Ellen Rankin: The Westing Game
Norton Juster: The Phantom Tollbooth

Since you asked for ages 5-10, here are some further recommendations for books starring boy detectives/inventors/scientists:

the Danny Dunn series
the Alvin Fernald books by Clifford Hicks
the McGurk Detective Agency series by E. W. Hildick
the Matthew Looney books by Jerome Beatty Jr.
the Mushroom Planet books by Eleanor Cameron
the Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators series
Emil and the Detectives, by Erich Kastner
The Furious Flycycle by Jan Wahl

4 Comments:

  • At 3:40 AM, August 18, 2005, Blogger Bryce said…

    Hmm, it seems that Allison is driving all of my posts lately. Don't know what that means. Probably that I haven't been reading as much to my kids as I should.

    Anyway, thanks, Allison!

     
  • At 9:01 AM, August 18, 2005, Blogger Allison said…

    No, thank you! I haven't read any of the books in the 5-10 y.o. list. I'll be checking them out forthwith. :)

     
  • At 10:43 PM, November 03, 2005, Blogger Running2Ks said…

    I'm so glad you posted this--my friend just called me up last night asking for suggestions for her 5 yo son. She wants to read chapter books to him.

     
  • At 10:44 PM, November 03, 2005, Blogger Running2Ks said…

    And let me add, Encycopedia Brown were some of my favorites, in addition to the EB White series.

     

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