What are some good chapter books for boys?

[ChefBeckyD]

I'm looking for titles of good chapter books for boys.
DS is 5, but he LOVES when we read chapter books to him.

So far, we've read the following series:
Magic Treehouse,
Magic Schoolbus,
Freddie Fernortner, Fearless First Grader

Also - we've read Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, and some others of those classic children's books (most E.B. White). We just recently finished Hi Fella!

So - I'm looking for some new books, or series of books that would be good - what have you read to your kids?

 

[cwinter474]

Goosebumps, is a good series, and my son loves the Encyclopedia Brown Mysteries

 

[esavvymom]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0807508543/?tag=pfamazon01-20Love them. We read them for part of our school "Read-alouds" and my boys are 5 and 8.

 

[cwinter474]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0807508543/?tag=pfamazon01-20

Love them.

OOH, these are good!!!

 

[janetupnorth]

Well, we have WAY too many girl books for you, but my kids like Magic Treehouse and Magic Schoolbus too.My friend's boys love the Hank the Cowdog books. They are about 3rd grade level or so, but Magic Treehouse is 1st/2nd so you might not be too far off reading them...

 

[janetupnorth]

Sammie just read an Encyclopedia Brown book yesterday and liked it...I remember liking those as a child. For people other than Becky looking for girl books a little older, I highly recommend the Mandie series. Sammie loves those and once she gets through the first 5 of the Little House on the Prairie books, she's jumping over to the Sugar Creek Gang.

 

[chefsteph07]

What about the Judy Blume Fudge series? Tales of a 4th grade nothing, etc?

 

[loreo]

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor ( author of Shiloh ) has a series of "Boys vs. Girls"

They are hilarious! I started reading them outloud but my son would get frustrated because I kept stopping to laugh! He went on to read the whole series by himself.

The Shiloh books are good also. Journey to the Center of the Earth, Huckleberry Finn, Jungle Book, Treasure Island, Bridge to Terabithiaand you can never go wrong with the Chronicles of Narnia

Many of the classics are done in the Young Illustrated Series and make the read easier.

HTH's

 

[ChefBeckyD]

Wow! Lots to choose from...

The titles are coming back to me as I read your suggestions!

I'm pretty sure he'd like the Encyclopedia Brown books...

I've never read the Boxcar Children books, but I've heard good things about them. Sugar Creek Gang is a series I liked as a child!

I've never heard of the Shiloh books, I'll have to look those up, along with the Boys vs. Girls...anything that we would enjoy reading to him!

 

[AnnieBee]

For a five year old, he might like the Cam Jansen books. Abbie has one and liked it a lot.

I've heard great things about the Box Car and Sugar Creek books.

Also, although they are considered "girly" I would recommend all of the Little House on the Prairie (etc!) books. They are all so fun, wholesome and just fascinating as a picture of life back then. You could even start with "Farmer Boy", the story of Alonzo Wilder (Laura's future husband) as a boy, or "The Long Winter" which also feautures Alonzo more. I haven't read these to Abbie yet, they might be a touch too old. If I start them, I'll let you know how she likes them!

Right now we have been reading TONS of Enid Blyton, classic English childrens author, whose earlier books were written in the 40's. My Dad read them, I read them, and now Abbie is! Unfortunately they are hard to find over here.

We have also been reading the EB White books. Make sure you don't miss out The Trumpet of the Swan, I think it is much better than Stewart Little which I recently re-read and surprised myself, as I didn't actually care for it that much... I just didn't think that it was that interesting, some of the parts were just a bit "random" and wierd, esp. for a kid, (like Stuart meeting the tiny girl, and then the whole meeting going wrong and him sulking and basically going off in a huff!), and the conclusion was disappointing IMO (again, especially for a kid).

Personally I think 5 is a little young for the Narnia books (I'd be curious to know what you think about that, Becky). I can't wait to get to those when my kiddos are a little older though!

Got to run, lunch is calling!

 

[julia.poe]

We love Junie B Jones and Judy Moody.

 

[ChefBeckyD]

For a five year old, he might like the Cam Jansen books. Abbie has one and liked it a lot.

I've heard great things about the Box Car and Sugar Creek books.

Also, although they are considered "girly" I would recommend all of the Little House on the Prairie (etc!) books. They are all so fun, wholesome and just fascinating as a picture of life back then. You could even start with "Farmer Boy", the story of Alonzo Wilder (Laura's future husband) as a boy, or "The Long Winter" which also feautures Alonzo more. I haven't read these to Abbie yet, they might be a touch too old. If I start them, I'll let you know how she likes them!

Right now we have been reading TONS of Enid Blyton, classic English childrens author, whose earlier books were written in the 40's. My Dad read them, I read them, and now Abbie is! Unfortunately they are hard to find over here.

We have also been reading the EB White books. Make sure you don't miss out The Trumpet of the Swan, I think it is much better than Stewart Little which I recently re-read and surprised myself, as I didn't actually care for it that much... I just didn't think that it was that interesting, some of the parts were just a bit "random" and wierd, esp. for a kid, (like Stuart meeting the tiny girl, and then the whole meeting going wrong and him sulking and basically going off in a huff!), and the conclusion was disappointing IMO (again, especially for a kid).

Personally I think 5 is a little young for the Narnia books (I'd be curious to know what you think about that, Becky). I can't wait to get to those when my kiddos are a little older though!

Got to run, lunch is calling!

Annabel - I was really considering the Little House books - and it's funny, I even thought I could start with Farmer Boy! Those were the first chapter books I read on my own (2nd grade reading on my own, so I don't think they'd be too much for Abbie if you were reading them to her!), and they started my lifelong passion for books!

Trumpet of the Swan is one we haven't read yet, but we will...for some reason, I remember crying over that as a kid, but I can't remember why???

And yes - I want to wait until he's a little older before we read the Narnia series....it's allegorical, and I want to be able to talk about the meaning behind all of the characters, and their adventures. I think that may get lost on him now, but I think it will make for some great learning/teaching moments when he's a bit older.

 

[janetupnorth]

I was thinking of the Little House books too but forgot to type them except that Sammie is reading them.My friend reads them to her boys during family time. Sammie loves them so far.

 

[esavvymom]

We haven't read Narnia yet- but my boys did listen to the Narnia book series on CD (Focus on the Family has a set that is really great) when we were traveling. They loved it (5 and 8). Sometimes I'd explain bits to them, and sure- they didn't get the meanings, but they loved the adventure of the story. But sounds like you've gotten several great suggestions to keep your son busy for many months to come. ANother thought- I've strolled through the kids book section in Barnes and Noble and there are so many books there. Sometimes just hanging out there for a bit to get title/series ideas, or the library.Enjoy! My boys and I are starting bookworms to put on the doors in our schoolroom so they can see their book list grow this summer. They are excited.

 

[Molly Jo]

My son loves My Weird School books. They have at least 13 in the series and each one is titled after a teacher in the school ex. Miss Todd is Odd. Have fun reading to him!!

 

[janetupnorth]

We haven't read Narnia yet- but my boys did listen to the Narnia book series on CD (Focus on the Family has a set that is really great) when we were traveling. They loved it (5 and 8). Sometimes I'd explain bits to them, and sure- they didn't get the meanings, but they loved the adventure of the story.

But sounds like you've gotten several great suggestions to keep your son busy for many months to come. ANother thought- I've strolled through the kids book section in Barnes and Noble and there are so many books there. Sometimes just hanging out there for a bit to get title/series ideas, or the library.

Enjoy! My boys and I are starting bookworms to put on the doors in our schoolroom so they can see their book list grow this summer. They are excited.

What do you do with this...what does it look like?

(Unfortunately I'm afraid I don't have a door big enough...)

 

[AnnieBee]

Annabel - I was really considering the Little House books - and it's funny, I even thought I could start with Farmer Boy! Those were the first chapter books I read on my own (2nd grade reading on my own, so I don't think they'd be too much for Abbie if you were reading them to her!), and they started my lifelong passion for books!

Trumpet of the Swan is one we haven't read yet, but we will...for some reason, I remember crying over that as a kid, but I can't remember why???

And yes - I want to wait until he's a little older before we read the Narnia series....it's allegorical, and I want to be able to talk about the meaning behind all of the characters, and their adventures. I think that may get lost on him now, but I think it will make for some great learning/teaching moments when he's a bit older.

I'm also a bit protective of Abbie when it comes to violence. And as much as I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Narnia books, there are alot of battles, and evil characters, that I just don't think she is ready for (or that I want her to start thinking too much about!). She just about gets the idea of "bad guys", but I don't think she needs exposure to such mean characters, or people being killed or hurt yet! I don't mean to sound over protective, and obviously the great part of the Narnia series (and many other great books) is that while good and evil battle, good wins out! And of course, as you said there is so much that would just be lost on her at this age.

It is definately interesting looking for books for kids! Abbie is a phenominal reader. She just finished K (aged 5 1/2), and has been reading (on her own) some of the EB White books (although I'm sure some is lost on her, knowing the vocabulary, and the fact that they are a little dated in the language used) and the chapter books that we have been reading to her at bed-time. One night I caught her reading in bed at 9.45pm!! I hadn't realised that she had turned her light on and started reading. She reads EVERYTHING, literally, whatever is lying around, whether it is a book, a sales flyer or magazine!! I'm going to have to start being careful what is out, not that I have anything "bad", but even my Parents magazine has occasionally adult content .

Happy reading everyone!!

 

[Jennie4PC]

my son seems to really like Geronimo Stilton books. These are really the only books that have seem to catch his attention.

 

[chefann]

If Micah were 3-4 years older, I'd recommend the Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer. I've been collecting that series myself It's about a 10 year old mastermind who out-thinks the fairy version of a Special Ops force to get their gold. Well, the first one is. After that, he works WITH the fairies to protect them from other nefarious humans. The author is Irish, and has a lot of fairy lore built into the stories. And some fun James Bond-like technology that the fairies use. (They're more advanced than humans are.)

 

[janetupnorth]

I'm also a bit protective of Abbie when it comes to violence. And as much as I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Narnia books, there are alot of battles, and evil characters, that I just don't think she is ready for (or that I want her to start thinking too much about!). She just about gets the idea of "bad guys", but I don't think she needs exposure to such mean characters, or people being killed or hurt yet! I don't mean to sound over protective, and obviously the great part of the Narnia series (and many other great books) is that while good and evil battle, good wins out! And of course, as you said there is so much that would just be lost on her at this age.

It is definately interesting looking for books for kids! Abbie is a phenominal reader. She just finished K (aged 5 1/2), and has been reading (on her own) some of the EB White books (although I'm sure some is lost on her, knowing the vocabulary, and the fact that they are a little dated in the language used) and the chapter books that we have been reading to her at bed-time. One night I caught her reading in bed at 9.45pm!! I hadn't realised that she had turned her light on and started reading. She reads EVERYTHING, literally, whatever is lying around, whether it is a book, a sales flyer or magazine!! I'm going to have to start being careful what is out, not that I have anything "bad", but even my Parents magazine has occasionally adult content .

Happy reading everyone!!

Annie - you can start her soon on some Nancy Drew - Clue Crew books. They are simple mysteries, not scary like the Nancy Drew ones we read. They are geared toward elementary school students and are about simple things like missing tickets a crow flew off with, etc. I read the first two before I let Sammie read them because I didn't want her to be scared or worry about things too young. Sammie loved them!

Here are some other "lower" books Sammie read...
Diary of a Worm
Nessa's Fish
Arthur's Teacher Trouble
Arthur's New Puppy
Arthur's Teacher Moves In
Curious George and the Dinosaur
Curious George plays Baseball
Curious George
The Bionic Bunny Show
Please Try to Remember the First of Octember
Just Me
The Biggest Fish
Benny's New Friend
Tara and Tiree, Fearless Friends
Election Day
Two Crazy Pigs
The Cat in The Hat
Snowden
Marvin K. Mooney will you please go now!
There's a Wocket in my Pocket
I can Read with my Eyes Shut!
Baseball Ballerina
Knots on a Counting Rope
Baby Alligator
Jesse Bear, What will you Wear?
Franklin wants a pet
If you Take a Mouse to School (...and other ones like this)
How Kittens Grow
Squanto: A friend to the Pilgrims
Down by the Station
Take a Walk, Johnny
Yoko
Just Me and My Dad
Want a Ride?
The Purple Pussycat
The Three Little Pigs
Sheep in a Shop
It could Still be Water
Froggy Plays Soccer
The Pumpkin Patch
My New Boy
Red Fox and His Canoe
Skyfire/Moonbear's Skyfire
A Kiss for Little Bear
Curious George Takes a Train
Whistle for Willie
Peter's Chair
The Snowy Day
Old Black Fly
I Love You, Dear Dragon
Danny and the Dinosaur
A Friend for Dear Dragon

(Those are all 1st-2nd grade books approximately).

 

[esavvymom]

What do you do with this...what does it look like?

(Unfortunately I'm afraid I don't have a door big enough...)

You make or print a head for a worm/caterpillar....either something simple- like a circle that they decorate with a face/antenna, etc...whatever they want, or I found a template on DLTK-kids.com.

# Hang the worm's head on the wall somewhere the child(ren) will see it fairly often. The doors I'm hanging them on are just a narrow closet door, and a door to the bathroom off of our schoolroom. The circles aren't very big.

# Each time a child reads a new book (either on their own or with adult assistance, depending on the age of the child), fill out the name of the book on one of the circles and attach it to the worm. (We'll cut circles out of different colored paper for his body.) The worm will grow as they read books because they'll be adding circles to his body.

# You can also add the date and name of the child to the circle, if desired.


I tried to find a photo of one, but couldn't and we haven't started ours yet. If we get some 'body parts' on him in the next few days, I'll post a photo.

 

[janetupnorth]

Thanks Bobbi - sounds fun. My kids share a room so maybe 1 can have the front of the door and one the back. Sammie read 160+ books just during the school year so either I keep her in longer books to slow her down or the bookworm will be a python instead!

 

[esavvymom]

Thanks Bobbi - sounds fun. My kids share a room so maybe 1 can have the front of the door and one the back. Sammie read 160+ books just during the school year so either I keep her in longer books to slow her down or the bookworm will be a python instead!

How about smaller circles for the worm so it can go longer without taking up more room?

 

[janetupnorth]

How about smaller circles for the worm so it can go longer without taking up more room?

After clicking on the link and seeing them, they'd have to be a little smaller.

That'd be easy to do though.

 

[pamperedpals]

my son seems to really like Geronimo Stilton books. These are really the only books that have seem to catch his attention.

My son read all of those books a couple of school years ago and loved them.

My son is currently reading Warriors a children's fantasy series about cats. The series follows the adventures of four clans (ThunderClan, ShadowClan, WindClan and RiverClan) of wild cats trying to survive in their forest homes.

Last week I got up in the middle of the night and noticed his bedroom light on. I went and checked on him and he was awake reading. He told me "I couldn't sleep Mom, because I just had to know how the book ends." Thank goodness it was weekend.

 

[jross93]

What about the "Ready Freddy" books? They are a series similar to Junie B Jones, but with a male main character.
Jen

 

[AnnieBee]

Annie - you can start her soon on some Nancy Drew - Clue Crew books. They are simple mysteries, not scary like the Nancy Drew ones we read. They are geared toward elementary school students and are about simple things like missing tickets a crow flew off with, etc. I read the first two before I let Sammie read them because I didn't want her to be scared or worry about things too young. Sammie loved them!


(Those are all 1st-2nd grade books approximately).

Thanks for the ideas Janet. I'd not heard of the newer Nancy Drew books. They sound similar (possibly) to the Cam Jansen books, in that they are fairly mild and fun mysteries.

We have a few on the list, or at least ones in the series (Franklin, Give a Mouse..., Curious George). She can breeze through those with no problems... She reads (I would guess) at around a 2nd grade level.

I'll have to head to the library soon. I have to admit it's not my favourite place to go with all 3 kids...

Got to run

Annabel

 

[esavvymom]

Thanks for the ideas Janet. I'd not heard of the newer Nancy Drew books. They sound similar (possibly) to the Cam Jansen books, in that they are fairly mild and fun mysteries.

We have a few on the list, or at least ones in the series (Franklin, Give a Mouse..., Curious George). She can breeze through those with no problems... She reads (I would guess) at around a 2nd grade level.

I'll have to head to the library soon. I have to admit it's not my favourite place to go with all 3 kids...

Got to run

Annabel

When you go to the library, find out if they have online catalogs. Our library here has an online catalog/website. I can log in with my Library Card Number/account and search for books, even request them be pulled for me at my library (even request from other branches to be brought to my branch). They'll notify me when the books are ready, and then I can just go in and they have them all pulled on a designated shelf. I grab 'em, check them out, and leave! So convenient! Just something to ask about. If not, well, sorry.

 

[janetupnorth]

Hey Becky - just remembered (as I returned some books this a.m. to the library) that there are Little House on the Prairie Chapter Books. They are parts of the full book but shorter so he may like you to read those.

 

[ChefBeckyD]

Annie - you can start her soon on some Nancy Drew - Clue Crew books. They are simple mysteries, not scary like the Nancy Drew ones we read. They are geared toward elementary school students and are about simple things like missing tickets a crow flew off with, etc. I read the first two before I let Sammie read them because I didn't want her to be scared or worry about things too young. Sammie loved them!

Here are some other "lower" books Sammie read...
Diary of a Worm
Nessa's Fish
Arthur's Teacher Trouble
Arthur's New Puppy
Arthur's Teacher Moves In
Curious George and the Dinosaur
Curious George plays Baseball
Curious George
The Bionic Bunny Show
Please Try to Remember the First of Octember
Just Me
The Biggest Fish
Benny's New Friend
Tara and Tiree, Fearless Friends
Election Day
Two Crazy Pigs
The Cat in The Hat
Snowden
Marvin K. Mooney will you please go now!
There's a Wocket in my Pocket
I can Read with my Eyes Shut!
Baseball Ballerina
Knots on a Counting Rope
Baby Alligator
Jesse Bear, What will you Wear?
Franklin wants a pet
If you Take a Mouse to School (...and other ones like this)
How Kittens Grow
Squanto: A friend to the Pilgrims
Down by the Station
Take a Walk, Johnny
Yoko
Just Me and My Dad
Want a Ride?
The Purple Pussycat
The Three Little Pigs
Sheep in a Shop
It could Still be Water
Froggy Plays Soccer
The Pumpkin Patch
My New Boy
Red Fox and His Canoe
Skyfire/Moonbear's Skyfire
A Kiss for Little Bear
Curious George Takes a Train
Whistle for Willie
Peter's Chair
The Snowy Day
Old Black Fly
I Love You, Dear Dragon
Danny and the Dinosaur
A Friend for Dear Dragon

(Those are all 1st-2nd grade books approximately).

We have a lot of these books.




For easier first chapter books - Micah isn't reading yet, but he loves to be read to from the Freddie Fernortner books. They are written by Johnathan
Rand - who also wrote the American Chiller and Michigan Chiller series for older kids. They are fun, mildly scary (age appropriate) books for younger kids. I don't know if they are widely available though, as they are written by a local Michigan author....

http://www.freddiefernortner.com/

 

[Teresa Lynn]

our children's favorite books are by a local author (& about things near our home ) but they are well known and awesome for children. the author is David L Cannon (check Appleseed books or your bookstore)
he has written The Legend of Motley Mansion
Motley Mansion part 2
Purloined Epistles
Secret Prize in Every boxwe also enjoyed the boxcar children
Captain underpants
How to eat fried worms
the mixed up files of basil finkle(something sorry can't remember the last name)

 

[beckyjsmith]

I second Hank the Cowdog. My oldest son also loved Junie B and Nate the Great when he was that age. I was personally a fan of Captain Underpants. Whoops! Did I say that out loud? Now my four year old daughter is all about Junie B. The 3 year olds.. not so much. phew!
Teresa- I believe the book is From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiller by E.L. Konigsburg.

 

[Teresa Lynn]

yep thanks