Books:
1. A Wrinkle in Time and sequels
2. Percy Jackson series
3. Narnia
A PSP member shares her experience with Narnia: "For what it's worth, I was a 4th grade teacher and found that some years kids were into Narnia, and other years no one would touch them. It should be noted that those novels move at a much slower pace than Harry Potter, et al and some kids have a hard time with that; the vocal is also advanced and the heavy Christian theme may be off-putting to some (or a great teaching point to others). Read, read read!"
4. The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings
5. Fablehaven Series
6. Dragon Slayers Academy
7. Emerald Atlas Series
8. The Olympians
9. Septimus Heap
10. How to Train Your Dragon
11. Ranger's Apprentice series by John A. Flanagan
12. Wings of Fire series by Tui T. Sutherland
13. Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull
14. Half Magic series by Edward Eager
15. Warriors series by Erin Hunter (it's about cat warriors)
16. Spiderwick Chronicles
17. Artemis Fowl
18. Redwall
19. Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials Trilogy
20. Mysterious Benedict Society
what one parent raves: "there are at least 3 in the series. Truly great."
21. Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliet
A PSP Member shares that this is a great read for 4th graders who are advanced readers. They right that this book is "another great find about smarty-pants kids. You may have to start by reading them aloud, but if you're child read Harry Potter on his own, probably ready. Chasing Vermeer also has some built in math puzzles that kids can either try or skip."
22. The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde.
Here's what a PSP Member advises: "to my knowlegde is only available in the UK but can be purchased online [...] It is very good and fun and should be age appropriate for an 8 year old.
23. The Phantom Tollbooth
24. Gregor the Overlander series by Suzanne Collins
One membe raves it "is also excellent and was well-loved by my kids at around 8 - 10yrs. She's the author of The Hunger Games series, but these books are for a younger set.
25. His Dark Materials series by Phillip Pullman
A member shares that this is good "if your child is reading at a more mature level these are just great"
26. Lemony Snicket
one member's experience: my older son tossed it aside when he was 8 but I think he came back to it the next year. Probably the irony is lost on most 3rd graders and the slightly oily vocabulary would come off as just obscure. Not the first thing I'd tfry on an 8 year old, but you never know."
27. The BFG & Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
And maybe a little older:
1, The Last Apprentice
2. The Amulet of Smarkand
3. Nightfall Gardens
4. Lemony Snickett
5. Fortunately, the Milk
6. The "Eragon" series
Book Clubs
"Just wanted to share info about a neat (and free) resource for girl & grown-up book clubs. The organization, Girls Leadership, provides monthly book suggestions and discussion guides for grades 2-8. Books in 4th grade included quite a few that we really enjoyed – like Brown Girl Dreaming, The War That Saved My Life and My Life with the Chimpanzees. They suggest groups of four or five parent/daughter pairs for monthly meetings. You do have to sign up to have access to the discussion guides, but they really don’t send much email. We’ve had a good experience with the program."
