General discussion - Mom and Dad Esq.

[Paisley]

Originally Posted by bold_n_brazen

Do kids still read stuff like the Hardy Boys? I loved the Bobsey Twins, Nancy Drew, Little House on the Prairie, etc. when I was a kid, because there was always another book.

I also remember loving Encyclopedia Brown and the Ramona the Pest series for the same reason.

Note: I am old.

We read the same books as kids. Save me a rocker at the old folks' home.

[Paisley]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

The Droon series engaged all of our kids at that age and would fit this bill.

Those look great.

Thanks to all for the recommendations!

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by Paisley

I would like to get my son some books for the Generic Winter Gift Giving Celebration. Preferably chapter books out of a series, so that we could build a collection over time. He is in 2nd grade, but reads very well (according to his teacher, about 1 1/2 yrs ahead). The Magic Treehouse books he has taken home from the school library are too easy. He can plow through one in an evening. We have the Harry Potter books, and he loves them, but an 800 pg book is probably too much for him to tackle on his own. Anyone have ideas for something somewhere in the middle?

Penthouse forum?

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by Gattigap

Yes. Gaplet the 9yo is going through the Hardy Boys stuff now and seems to like it.

ETA: I have not checked, but presume that he's not reading the actual ancient Hardy Boys manuscripts that you and I read back in the day, but instead more modern editions generated by an algorithm housed in a Google data center somewhere in Oregon.

that guy had more characters "exclaiming" than the entire other body of published works in the English language.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by Not Bob

I was a fan of The Great Brain series. And, as others have noted, Encyclopedia Brown is a fun series to read. Never read the Hardy Boys, believe it or not.

i knew you hadn't. if you had you'd know how to rein your wife in better, no offense. Frank was a dog, and Franklin W. Dixon went out of his way to pass on the lessons.

[baltassoc]

Originally Posted by Oliver_Wendell_Ramone

Second the question/request from the girl perspective; also 2nd grade and advanced reader.

The baltspawn really like the Clementine books:

http://www.amazon.com/Clementine-Sar.../dp/0786838825

I still have to read them to my girls (not for long, though), but they are probably right in your 2nd grader's level -- about even with younger Judy Blume. Maybe not a challenge, but worth her time.

[tmdiva]

Originally Posted by Paisley

Those look great.

Thanks to all for the recommendations!

My third-grader recently read and really enjoyed the Hank Zipzer series by Henry Winkler. It has 14 volumes! Which means it's better than most other series. We recently finished Deathly Hallows (we read the whole thing aloud, starting a couple of years ago, and taking a sizable break after PoA).

Our current bedtime reading is A Series of Unfortunate Events, which not only has 13 volumes (yay!), is pretty clever to boot, with references and asides and clues to keep everyone on their toes. I just bought the two small Lemony Snicket Christmas books, one (about the coal) for Magnus and one (about the latke) for Thor's preschool teacher (we're not MOT, but he attends preschool at an orthodox synagogue).

I also am interested in recs for girls that age. My niece who's now 10 has a much greater appetite for fantasy (Artemis Fowl, etc.) than the one who's going on 8.

tm

[Replaced_Texan]

Originally Posted by tmdiva

My third-grader recently read and really enjoyed the Hank Zipzer series by Henry Winkler. It has 14 volumes! Which means it's better than most other series. We recently finished Deathly Hallows (we read the whole thing aloud, starting a couple of years ago, and taking a sizable break after PoA).

Our current bedtime reading is A Series of Unfortunate Events, which not only has 13 volumes (yay!), is pretty clever to boot, with references and asides and clues to keep everyone on their toes. I just bought the two small Lemony Snicket Christmas books, one (about the coal) for Magnus and one (about the latke) for Thor's preschool teacher (we're not MOT, but he attends preschool at an orthodox synagogue).

I also am interested in recs for girls that age. My niece who's now 10 has a much greater appetite for fantasy (Artemis Fowl, etc.) than the one who's going on 8.

tm

Someone gave me an illustrated Canterbury Tales when I was a kid. The stories were dumbed down a little to an 8 to 10 reading level, but they were generally the same plots as whatever is in the Penguin translation. I LOVED that book. It wasn't, in my opinion as a kid, a boring classic to be studied in school, but a collection of really funny, really good stories.

It was this version.

The adapter also has done A Thousand and One Arabian Nights, The Odyssey, and Gilgamesh. The illustrator has done Don Quixote, The Iliad, and Favorite Tales of Shakespeare (which, based on the picture, I also had, but it's out of print.)

I also had D'Aulaires Book of Greek Myths, which I loved, loved, loved as a child.

[Cletus Miller]

Originally Posted by Replaced_Texan

I also had D'Aulaires Book of Greek Myths, which I loved, loved, loved as a child.

Given who you are responding to, I think D'Aulaires Book of Norse Myths might be the better first choice.

[Paisley]

Originally Posted by tmdiva

My third-grader recently read and really enjoyed the Hank Zipzer series by Henry Winkler. It has 14 volumes! Which means it's better than most other series. We recently finished Deathly Hallows (we read the whole thing aloud, starting a couple of years ago, and taking a sizable break after PoA).

Our current bedtime reading is A Series of Unfortunate Events, which not only has 13 volumes (yay!), is pretty clever to boot, with references and asides and clues to keep everyone on their toes. I just bought the two small Lemony Snicket Christmas books, one (about the coal) for Magnus and one (about the latke) for Thor's preschool teacher (we're not MOT, but he attends preschool at an orthodox synagogue).

I also am interested in recs for girls that age. My niece who's now 10 has a much greater appetite for fantasy (Artemis Fowl, etc.) than the one who's going on 8.

tm

Those Hank Zipzer books look great! And, speaking of Lemony Snicket, we (who happen to celebrate both Xmas and Hanukkah) have (and enjoy!), this really odd book - http://www.amazon.com/Latke-Who-Coul...9480778&sr=1-1

[Paisley]

Originally Posted by Paisley

We read the same books as kids. Save me a rocker at the old folks' home.

eta: Or I'll save you one. I may well be older. confused: But we'll look fabUless there, I am sure.

[Happy Worker Bee]

My sister gave me Camus' the Stranger when I was about 10 years old and after I read it I told her I didn't get the point.

Does anyone remember that kids western book "Chauncy and the Man" or something like that?

[Penske_Account]

Originally Posted by Happy Worker Bee

My sister gave me Camus' the Stranger when I was about 10 years old and after I read it I told her I didn't get the point.

Does anyone remember that kids western book "Chauncy and the Man" or something like that?

I remember the TV adaption, Chico and the Man. I mis Freddie Prinz, sr. [sniff]

[Tyrone Slothrop]

[Penske_Account]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

If Elf, one of the funniest Christmas movies out there, is to be believed, its the attitude behind snotty little missives like that that is killing the Christmas spirite. Not cool. Is Ariel your sock? I hope Ty@50 has the decency to apologise if it is......