Reading for 5th Grade boys, redux
When I wrote about Link’s struggles with reading, I did not expect the flood of suggestions and ideas that poured it. The next day I wrote about how Kiki dared Link to tackle an 800 page book (Eye of the World by Robert Jordan.) Since so many of you expressed interest, I feel that I should give an update. Jordan’s work proved to be too complex and slow-paced for Link. He’s abandoned the attempt. Instead I’ve switched him over to Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings. This is the first in a series that was recommended by several of you. I agree that it is a much simpler and more cheerful read than Jordan’s works. It is a better place for an 11 year old to start. We’re taking it slow and steady. I’m insisting that he read 10 pages per day. Hopefully within a week we’ll reach a point where Link is caught by the story and doesn’t want to stop after 10 pages. If not, well I have all those other lovely suggestions to try.
This made me realize that I want to have all those suggestions in one list rather than scattered across 40 comments on two blog entries. It also occurs to me that Link is probably not the only 11 year old boy in need of interesting books. I’m grouping the books according to rough categories to better target potential interests. The categories are very rough. Many of these books have elements of several categories. The list is heavy on Science Fiction and Fantasy, which is good for Link since that’s where his interests lie. First I’m going to get him to love reading. Then I’ll try to get him to broaden his interests. I’m providing links to amazon.com so that people can look up more information about the books. If you find a broken link let me know.
Outdoors/historical adventure
My Side of the Mountain
The Swiss Family Robinson
The Great Brain
The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Rascal
Mystery
Hardy Boys books
Action adventure
Geronimo Stilton
Fantasy/Science Fiction
The Time Warp Trio
Freddy Pig
Warriors: Into the Wild
The Time Spies series
Star Wars
The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet
The Indian in the Cupboard
The Castle in the Attic
Redwall
The Hobbitt
The Chronicles of Narnia
Catseye
Space Family Stone
The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents
The Belgariad
Dragonriders of Pern
Humorous
Supernatural Rubber Chicken
Danny Dunn books
Other Resources
Book It
Favorite Books for Fifth Graders
Guys Read
Teacher Book Wizard
Wow. It took a lot longer to put that together than I expected. I’m going to bed now. If you made a suggestion and I missed putting it in the list, feel free to leave it in a comment below. Perhaps I’ll update the list again.