Books for Boys ages 7-9

[lonegirl]

I have two questions for parents/ teachers out there.
My oldest is 9 and LOVES nonfiction--especially mystery-type stories like Titanic, Bermuda Triangle, big foot, etc. Any suggestions for great nonfiction? (also loves Harry Potter, Keys to Kingdom--so the adventury type)


Then my 7 year old son is a bit more traditional. He reads on a higher reading level, already passing his older brother. He loves Charlotte's Web, all the Junie B., etc. I need a new chapter series to start with him that is more realistic fiction or the older stories we grew up with.

Thank you in advance!

PS: Both are breezing through the Big Nates right now and love those, also both love Calvin and Hobbes and Garfield. Is Far Side too above their heads?

 

[DisneyNutMic]

My son is 9 and he loves the 39 clues books. He also likes the "I survived" series. He is getting a James Patterson book for Christmas. Something about Middle School.

 

[mom2t]

A-Z Mysteries are great and Magic Treehouse. My 9 year old is above grade level. He loves animals and is into the Beverly Cleary books - espcially Henry Huggins and Ramona lines. He thinks Ramona is CRAZY and loves to read those even though they are "girl" books to him.

 

[burnurcomputer]

Children of the Lamp P.B Kerr
Sisters Grimm Michael Buckley
Anything by Rick Riordan

My "big" kids are 11 and 13 and like these books.

 

[poohfriend77]

I'm interested in the responses here, as well. This is DD's teacher's first year (3rd grade), so she doesn't have many books in her classroom. I've been picking up books at Goodwill/consignment shops. The girl books are easy, but I wasn't really sure what boys would like. I'll keep my eye out for Big Nate and 39 Clues!

 

[amy-momofthree]

My son is almost 9. Last year he read all the Dinosaur Cove books. They are a fairly easy read. Now he likes the Jack Stalwart series. It's a detective/ mystery series.

 

[McKelly]

Geronimo Stilton is popular for that age. I have also see quite a few boys that age reading the Charlie Bones series. Also the Wayside School set (Louis Sacher) and Andrew Clement's books. How about the Warriors or Seekers series be Erin Hunter? My kids enjoyed those as well.

Two more series by Kathryn Lansky as well, the Guardians of the Ga'Hoole and she has a Wolves series too - Wolves of the Beyond, which is newer.

 

[Fyrefly]

Well for the Harry Potter lover I suggest Artemis Fowl. It's a bit more mature and stars an antihero, but a great series. I made the mistake of thinking they were just a crappy Harry Potter ripoff when I was younger so I didn't discover them until college - big mistake! I wish I'd read them sooner.

The Percy Jackson series seems good and not too hard, I'm not through the first yet. In case you can't tell I have a soft spot for mature youth/young adult fiction even though I'm too old for it. Bookstores can shove it, they aren't taking it from me!

Nonfiction is hard. Perhaps you can find some biographies at a kid's reading level? Maybe something like Lewis and Clark or Teddy Roosevelt or those kind of adventure/role model figures from the past. I've also seen Sherlock Holmes adaptations for kids, you might want to give those a try.

Some Far Side I got, but a lot of it not until I was about high school age or older, so you may want to hold off. What about Peanuts? I've loved Peanuts since I was little. I'm a dedicated enough collector I'm working on buying all 50 years of them as they're released, but you could start with say the 45 year anniversary collection or any of the other anthologies that are a good mix of his early and modern strips.

 

[MyDizneyBoyz]

DS is 7 and into Encyclopedia Brown (there's a blast from the past for us!).

 

[TnTWalter]

the "I survived" are historical fiction. My 8 yo boy and 10 yo girl love them.

My 8yo also enjoyed "Behind Enemy Lines: true stories of amazing courage"

these were very popular at the book fair.

 

[Ephany]

Suzanne Collins (The Hunger Games trilogy) has a set of books aimed at younger readers (9+) about a boy named Gregor. They're called the Underland Chronicles and have pretty good reviews.

 

[Aurora D]

For non fiction at that age my son loved to read the Guiness Book of World Records. Also, don't discount magazines. Sports Illustrated for Kids, there are gamer and Lego ones too depending on his interests.

 

[CAFarmerGirl]

My son just turned 11 and over the past couple of years has read and really enjoyed: Percy Jackson series (and the other Rick Riordin books), My Side of the Mountain, Indian in the Cupboard (the series), and...there are others, but I can't remember them! He also reread the Magic Treehouse series, reading about a book a night. They are written at a 2nd grade level, but still enjoyed by a fourth grader (at the time). His teacher read Sideways stories and the class enjoed that.

Ok, looked at some of my Amazon orders from when he was 9:

Fudge Series by Judy Blume

Two Miserable Presidents: The Amazing, Terrible, and Totally True Story of the Civil War by Steve Sheinkin, Tim Robinson (he also liked the Gold Rush book by the same author)

Which Way to the Wild West?: Everything Your Schoolbooks Didn't Tell You About Westward Expansion by Steve Sheinkin, Tim Robinson

Benjamin Franklin: Young Printer (Childhood of Famous Americans)

Albert Einstein: Young Thinker (The Childhood of Famous Americans Series)

Teddy Roosevelt: Young Rough Rider (Childhood of Famous Americans)

John Muir: America's First Environmentalist by Kathryn Lasky, Stan Fellows (a picture book, but really good!)

 

[semo233]

For the 9 year old:
Gregor the Overlander is wonderful! The Hunger Games are great too, but both contain a good amount of violence....depends upon your child. Suzanne Collins lives in my town and listening to how she came up with these books and wrote them all is fascinating!!
The Books of Ember series
My Side of the Mountain

For the 7 year old:
Hardy Boys
Nancy Drew
My Side of the Mountain
The Diary of Anne Frank



Here is a great database to search:
http://www.dawcl.com/search.asp

and here are the Children's Choice winners:
http://childrensbooks.about.com/gi/...org/Resources/Booklists/ChildrensChoices.aspx

Newbery Award winners:
http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/newberyhonors/newberymedal

 

[lisalis]

My MIL buys my boys - now 14 & 11 - the Kids Discover magazine subscription. It has really fun history, geography & science topics in each issue. I save them in a basket and they read and reread them.

Seymor Simon is a good non-fiction author who writes books about space and weather. I like to hit up our Scholastic Warehouse nearby when they have their sale. You can always find a nice variety of nonfiction books in exciting formats and with interesting pictures.

 

[Janepod]

The Jack Stalwart or Zac Power books. (Better for the 7-year-old.)

 

[ktlm]

Based on some advice I recently got, I would suggest talking to the school librarian at the boys' school. Even if the school doesn't have the books, the librarian probably has a really good idea of what is out there that they might like. DD is in kindergarten, but she is independently reading at well above a kindergarten level. As a result, instead of counting the books we read to her for her "Reading Olympics", she is reading 85 books on her own by the end of the school year. 25 of those have to be non-fiction and I was completely at a loss for finding those at her level. I asked her teacher and she sent me to the school librarian. Not only was he excited to be asked and to be able to help, but thought it was an easy question and had a ton of great non-fiction ideas. I never would have thought about going to him on my own.

 

[pantherlj]

Choose Your Own Adventure books! They are really fun

At the end of the chapter you decide what happens next. Example, if you want to continue in the cave, go to page 20, if you want to climb over the mountain, go to page 35. It results in multiple different stories and endings per book.

lots of genres - History, Mystery, Space, etc
lots of grade levels - 1st to 7th

http://www.cyoa.com/

 

[Swimalie]

As someone else said, Hardy Boys for both kids. There are the graphic novels for the younger one and the novels for the older one. My son is 6 and loves both of them (he reads like an 8 year old now).

He also likes Dinosaur Cove and the Star Wars graphics novels and novels.

 

[abcboys]

My 9 year old likes the Series of Unfortunate books. He liked the Magic Treehouses in 2nd grade. He also likes the Roald Dahl books-James and the Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He also says he likes the Carol Marsh Mysteries.

My 13 year old doesn't like anything except Diary of Wimpy Kid books and maybe Big Nate....