she wants to read a couple of books by Bosch - I need to go see if they are OK for her - The Name of this Book is a Secret and This Book is Not Good For You (any thoughts?)
Thanks!!!
DD11 read those a couple of years ago and liked them a lot. There is a third book in the series now as well, but I can't remember the name.
In third grade, she read the Series of Unfortunate Events (all thirteen books), finished up the Harry Potter series, read Peter and the Starcatchers (second and third grades - there are four books in the series now), read a lot of Roald Dahl and E.B. White. She also liked Because of Winn Dixie and loved Tale of Despereaux. She loved the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (they did a novel study on the book in fifth grade, but she read it on her own in third). She liked the Phantom Tollbooth. She loves Margaret Peterson Haddix and read Running Out of Time in third grade. She read the shadow children series by Haddix last year and Found in fourth grade (sequel is Sent - she read it when it came out last fall). She read Percy Jackson in fourth or fifth grade.
She also loved the Kingdom Keepers books. She still likes to read 39 Clues (so does her 14 year old cousin) - easy reads, but very fun to read.
She read the Inkheart series (Inkheart, Inkspell and Inkdeath) in fourth grade, I think - maybe it was the end of third.
She has been reading Dandelion Fire this summer - it is the sequel to 100 Cupboards, which she liked. She just finished reading a series by Phyllis Naylor - Boys against Girls, Girls Rule, The Boys Start the War, etc. They were easy fun reads for her in fifth grade, so they might be just right for a third grader.
The struggle, as you've already discovered, is to find challenging books that are still age appropriate. DD11 wants to read Twilight now - I have told her she can read the first book and maybe the second, but we will have to see about the others.
I just looked up the Battle of the Books list for 4th-6th grade to see if it reminded me of any other books. DD has read that whole list (it was the same list when she was in third grade, I think), and it helped her to discover new authors like Haddix. She didn't love all the books on that list (Regarding the Fountain comes to mind immediately
), but she liked a lot of them. Besides Running Out of Time, she particularly liked Dealing with Dragons, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Jeremy Thatcher Dragon Hatcher, Summer of the Monkeys, and the Best School Year Ever. Here is a link to the list if you are interested:
http://www.battleofthebooks.org/4-62011.html
) It is a really good site and I have used it many, many times with no problems. Good luck finding reading material for your DD. Don't forget that Barnes and Noble runs a summer reading group that you can have your DD become part of and earn free books! Here is my signature/nickname;
), so I loved Peck's Blossom Culp series. Starts with "Ghost Belonged to Me" (which was a Newbery winner) which introduces Blossom, goes onto three more featuring her, "Ghosts I Have Been", "The Dreadful Future of Blossom Culp", and "Blossom Culp and the Sleep of Death". I've actually read them again as an adult and have been struck by how funny and engaging they are. They aren't any worse/scary than the Goosebumps series (and some of those are even scarier).
