Looking for children's book recommendations.

[rivka]

I know that there are some parents of early readers on my friends list (naomikritzer, wiredferret, kcobweb...) and also some librarians. And of course probably most of the people who read my LJ were early and omnivorous readers yourselves. I'm looking for some suggestions.

Alex's reading has taken off in a big way recently. (Most frequent phrase out of our mouths these days: "Put down the book and [wash your hands for dinner/brush your teeth/put your coat on/eat your lunch/etc. etc. etc.]")

She's got her own children's-easy-series books that she's tearing through independently and in a hurry: Magic Tree House, Disney Fairies, Secrets of Droon, et cetera. But she's also now capable of reading what I think of as "regular" chapter books: books which are just there to tell stories, instead of being explicitly constructed to have a limited vocabulary, simple sentence structures, and lots of repetition. For example, Toys Go Out and Toy Dance Party are current hits (and much recommended).

Here are the characteristics I'm looking for:

• Good books of reasonable literary quality, at roughly a middle-elementary reading level. Toys Go Out is rated at a fourth-grade reading level, and it seemed to be about right. Something she might need a bit of help with is fine.


• Either fiction or nonfiction is good. Alex particularly loves history.


• Content appropriate for a five- or six-year-old. This means, on the one hand, an absence of long elevated descriptive passages, and on the other hand, an absence of socially realistic depictions of child abuse, romance as a main theme, scary violence, etc.


• Not excessively focused on social conflicts between kids and the social milieu of school. Alex might read like an eight-year-old, but she is squarely five on a social level, and she just doesn't get books that focus on girls being catty to each other and school playground dynamics. Which a lot of contemporary books at this level seem to do.

Thanks for any suggestions you can give me! Books which aren't Important Children's Classics are particularly welcome, because I've already gotten a bunch of suggestions from lists that focus on that type of thing.

Edited to add an additional characteristic I'm looking for: Because Alex is a fairly new reader, I want to avoid heavy use of dialect ("Hit's an 'orse, guvnor!") and weird language use for now. We can deal with that sort of thing in read-alouds, though.

Also edited to compile a list of particularly likely suggestions:
Farley Mowatt: Owls in the Family, The Dog Who Wouldn't Be
Ransome: Swallows and Amazons
Grace Lin: Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
American Girls series
Joan Aiken: Arabel and Mortimer
Kate Di Camillo: The Tale of Despereaux
Michael Bond: Paddington Bear
Bunnicula
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle
Encyclopedia Brown
Clyde Robert Bulla historical fiction
Astrid Lindgren: Children of Noisy Village
Mordecai Richler: Jacob Two Two

Comments

[torontoteacher.livejournal.com]

One blog which you may find helpful is The Diamond in the Window. She has daughters and reviews a lot of books. I've taken a lot of notes there.

I also wouldn't discount the picture books yet. The so called "advanced" picture book section at our library has a lot of longer books that are still keeping my Bigger Dude interested.

As for series? Anything by Kate DiCamillio (starting with Desperaux), there's a fair amount by Jane Yolen that might suit, and my kid developed an unnatural love for "Sam, Dog Detective" and Bunnicula just a few months ago.

[wiredferret.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes! ALL the Bunnicula books.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I definitely don't discount picture books! You're right, there are plenty of "advanced" ones with complex language and themes, which are well worth reading into the middle elementary years.

Thanks for the blog recommendation! I hadn't thought of Jane Yolen - we've read tons of her picture books, of course, but the only book of hers for older readers I know is Briar Rose. Off to research.

[torontoteacher.livejournal.com]

Also, a plug for Jacob Two-Two and the Hooded Fang. I know it *sounds* scary, but it's really a great book about being six and feeling ignored.

[torontoteacher.livejournal.com]

And The LITTLES!

I forgot about the Littles, because my kid didn't like them.

[naomikritzer]

Oh YES to Jacob Two-Two. My family loved that story.