(no subject)

[the_rck]

Last week, Delia had no school. It was a long week from the point of view of her being bored and wanting to be entertained but a short week in other ways. I got used to sleeping in until nine or even nine-thirty.

The sleeping in came because Delia has discovered the joys of reading first thing in the morning. Scott started reading the first Harry Potter book to her, and she started reading ahead in the time before lights out and first thing in the morning. She's finished the book now and has started the second book. Scott's still reading the first book to her a chapter at a time. She seems not to mind going back over stuff she's already read.

I have told her that she can only read the first three books in the series. I don't think she's reading for anything after that yet. She's accepted that limitation so far without complaint. We'll see what she thinks when she's done with book three.

I'm trying to come up with other books that she might like as much as she's liking Harry Potter. I want to encourage her to read. Unfortunately, I'm drawing a blank. I have a couple of boxes of kids' books in the basement that I need to go through to see what might work. Off the top of my head, I'm thinking of the Bagthorpe books and Edward Eager's works. I know I've got those.

Comments

[sorcycat.livejournal.com]

I started the Xanth series (Piers Anthony) when I was 11ish - it got me into reading finally. There may be innuendo in it - I really can't remember. There might be some Gaiman books she could handle.

[the_rck]

Delia is seven, so I'd label Xanth as still too old for her.

I'm not sure about Gaiman. The kids' books of his that I know seem likely to be too scary. Delia gets very upset when bad things happen to parents in books (We had to stop reading The Secret Garden because of the parents dying in the first chapter. I'm not sure why Harry Potter didn't hit that, possibly because the deaths were entirely off stage).

[ceara.livejournal.com]

Or maybe because the reader is pretty thoroughly invested in Harry before he ever shows any sign of being sad about his parents' deaths.

As for the original question, I have a hard time with age-appropriate-ness exactly (plus it varies so wildly from one child to another), but my initial thoughts based on a rough comparison with Harry Potter's first half: Young Wizards series from Duane (though her mother does die a few books in), the Wrede dragon books, Susan Cooper (though that might be 2-3 years off?) Inkheart, maybe, though probably not the sequels yet. I seriously loved The Gammage Cup when I was about that age. Pamela Dean has a YA trilogy starting with, um, The Secret Country, I think. Redwall et al, maybe, though I've not read them. Pippi? Little House on the Prairie, I suppose. I loved everything I read from E.L. Konigsburg when I was a kid, too.

I hope something in there helps?

[ceara.livejournal.com]

...I forgot some. Narnia, if the allegory isn't bothersome; at that age it's likely to go entirely unnoticed. Lynne Reid Banks. Bedknobs and Broomsticks. And Paula Danziger's stuff. Arthur Ransome, if excessive and outdated Britishness isn't an impediment.

Apparently I have lots to say on this topic.

[the_rck]

Delia's been resistant to Narnia just because I suggested it. I have to be careful how I suggest titles. She'll take against things simply because she can.

Thanks for the suggestions!

[fjm.livejournal.com]

Try Nesbit, (but edit for racism, there are one or two chapters in The Phoenix and the Carpet which are pretty awful).

Anne Fine: She might like Charm School, or Bill's New Frock.
Rhiannon Lassiter: Super Zeros
J. R. R. Tolkien: The Hobbit, which I have re read today and which is magical--all the nasty bits happen off stage/

That age group is tricky: often their reading comprehension is better than their reading ability which is still better than their maturity.

[the_rck]

That age group is tricky: often their reading comprehension is better than their reading ability which is still better than their maturity.

That's Delia. She can read aloud very fluently, but she can't always answer questions about what she's read. I'm hoping for stories that will catch her imagination and make her want to follow along. I haven't been able to interest her in the simple chapter books aimed at her age group, but she's not quite ready for most of the more complicated stuff.

Thanks for the recommendations!

[fjm.livejournal.com]

Possibly Truckers, Terry Pratchett.

[evalerie.livejournal.com]

I agree that Xanth is still too old.

I was going to suggest the Percy Jackson series, because kids seem to like that it's modern. But very bad things do happen to Percy's mom just a few chapters in to the story. (The reader thinks she's dead, but in the end she turns out to be fine.) So I guess that wouldn't be a good choice.

Susan Cooper is fabulous but scared the socks off one of my kids who had happily made it through the entire Harry Potter series, so I recommend holding off with that.

Narnia has good potential.

I thought the Pamela Dean series for youngsters didn't have anything particularly special going for it -- though I do love some of Dean's other books.

I'd wait a few years before trying Paula Danziger. I read a lot of those as a kid, and remember a lot of, um, more mature stuff in there.

We read some E. Nesbit, Edward Eager, and Ruth Chew with the kids at about that age. If Cordelia likes older books, these are good choices.

Jan read The Hobbit to our kids and they enjoyed it, which surprised me. I think it was a good read-aloud book; I don't think a kid that age could get through it on their own.

Someone on Arborparents recommended this website:
http://www.sonlight.com/readers.html
-- click in the left-hand column on your child's grade-level, then click on the tab that says, "Individual Recommendations," and you can see a list of books there. Sonlight is a Christian homeschooling company, but their book recommendations seem to be of books that aren't religious.

(Hm -- I spotted a recommendation there for the Betsy Tacy books. Warning: There are scenes where Betsy's baby sibling suddenly dies, and other seriously alarming parts like that.)

What about The Borrowers (if she's comfortable with books from long ago)?

My kids have really enjoyed the Warriors series, a nearly endless series of books about wild cats that live in the forest. Also Fablehaven, Larklight, -- oh! And Ordinary Boy. Ordinary Boy is a bit easier than the others mentioned here, and it is really fun. Ordinary Boy lives in a world where everybody has a superpower, though some of the superpowers are not so super, like for example Puddle Boy, who can create a puddle anyplace, anytime. Or a character who can make hair grow from whatever he touches. Ordinary Boy is the only character in their world who doesn't have a superpower. In the books he solves crimes and mysteries about his world and saves the day. They are very absorbing and entertaining.

[the_rck]

Thanks for the suggestions!

[heavenscalyx.livejournal.com]

Diana Wynne Jones? Zilpha Keatley Snyder? I will ask my wife -- she has a wide knowledge of children's books.

[the_rck]

Thanks!