Best Books for 10(ish) year olds

[Barbara Rockwell]

What were you favorites from 4th/5th grade? I gave an almost 10-year-old The Phantom Tollbooth, The Secret Garden, and The Little Princess and she absolutely loved them. Now I'm trying to remember what other great books I read at that age...

[Book Calendar]

Stuart Little, A Cricket In Times Square, The Black Cauldron, Chronicles of Narnia, The Eye The Ear and The Arm, The Orphan Train series, The Black Pearl, The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Julie of the Wolves, The Littles, Goosebumps (not mine but kids like it).

[Amber]

The Secret Garden is a great book! So was The Giver. Good Luck!

[Karen Brown]

Wat about Lorna Doone? I used to love that book!

[MadnessAbides]

My favorites from when I was young... James and the Giant Peach, A Wrinkle in Time, and The Hobbit.

[Rebecca]

I also loved The Secret Garden and A Little Princess. I also read Little House in the Big Woods and Little House on the Prarie. And I adored The Babysitter's Club books for years. It was hooked. I also liked Sideways Stories from Wayside School, Charlotte's Web, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (although I admit they were abridged). And I just saw Angie's comment about The American Girls books. I had forgotten all about those! And the dolls!

[Barbara Rockwell]

Rebecca, I loved the Babysitter's Club too. Do you remember Claudia's hollowed out book that she used for hiding candy? Just a week ago I found one! I posted pictures here -- http://curledupwithabook.wordpress.com/2009/02/07/dictionary-book-box/ So fun!

[Win Wire]

My Father's Dragon series was my favorite- maybe for younger, but I reread it in my twenties and still loved it.
Black Stallion
Old Yeller
anything by marguerite henry
Moby Dick
Animal Farm (although I didn't understand the political statement at the time)
Huck Finn

[Sue Jackson]

My younger son is in 5th grade right now (and my older son was that age a few years ago). I also review books for middle-grade kids. Some of their/our more recent favorites (in addition to all the classics previously mentioned here!):
- Lionboy trilogy (written by a 12-year old girl and her mother)
- Charlie Bone series (my 5th grader has been tearing through these recently)
- Anything by Andrew Clements (another favorite of my son)
- Rules by Cynthia Lord - awesome new book
- The Mysterious Benedict Society and its sequel - loved the audios last summer!
- White Giraffe and Dolphin Song by Lauren St. John - also great as audio
- Any of Carl Haissen's books for kids (Hoot, Flush, Scat) - all very funny environmental mysteries

Those are some of the best that come to mind. I have reviews of some of these plus more at my blog. Isn't it fun introducing great books to kids??

Sue

www.greatbooksforkidsandteens.com

www.bookbybook.blogspot.com

[:)]

Fablehaven
almost anything by Eva Ibotson
The Candyshop war
My side of the mountain
Molly Moon
Once upon a curse
Redwall
and any books by Roal Dahl.

[Rebecca]

Barbara,

I do vaguely remember that...I love hollowed out books. Very cool idea. You could fill one just with bookmarks so that you would always have them handy (as oppose to my method which is leaving them wherever and then searching for one the next time I need one).

[Rachel Hare]

Wind in the Willows, Are You There God, It's Me Margaret, and of course I loved pretty much every book already suggested! :)

[rebyj]

My son and his friends have been raving about a book for a couple of years now. He's 12 . The book is "Treasure in an Oatmeal Box"by Ken Gire
It's the kind of book that sparks a lot of conversation.

When I was 10 I was reading the Little House books and I also recommend the original Pinnochio by Carlo Collodi.