Thinking

[desirerofhesed]

The hardest question I get asked at work is what do I recommend for the 8-10 yr old reading on a 6th-8th grade level. I love it because it means the kid is actually reading, but with the current trends in Teen reading it's scary to make recommendations unless I've personally read the book. I try to steer them toward Brian Jacques, C.S. Lewis, and

Comments

[toithaka]

Ooh what an exciting question! I loved Brian Jacques when I was in middle school. I devoured all of his books and still kinda wish I could get away with reading stories about medieval mice and badgers and foxes. I also read anything by Avi; Something Upstairs was my favorite because it was a ghost story (but not the traumatic or stupid Goosebumps kind; it would be more accurate to call it supernatural historical fiction, lol). The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle featured an upper crusty ladylike girl gone salty sea pirate wench stuck in an onboard mystery. Nothing But the Truth was popular also, but I can't remember what it was about, only what the cover looked like (helpful, I know). It's totally written at a level kids can get, while having some other fun things to get the gears turnin'. Avi's Wikipedia article is rather long, so it would seem he's established himself quite well as a kids' author.

I really loved horses when I was a kid, so I read the Saddle Club series (it was an even more wholesome alternate to Babysitters' Club). Moral dilemmas abound while middle school aged girls shovel horse manure and hone their dressage skills.

For particularly bright kids, I would absolutely suggest The Giver by Lois Lowry and Ayn Rand's Anthem. I never read The Giver in elementary or middle school when everyone else seemed to, and only picked it up a couple of years ago. I believe it made me cry, though that isn't really that unusual, lol. Both those books are written in a manner for suitable for younger readers, but have Big Important Themes that Melissa Approves Of. I will predictably add the His Dark Materials trilogy to these particular suggestions, for reasons that you and I have already discussed at length. :)

I kinda think this may be a little outside the age range you mentioned, but I love the Lemony Snicket Series of Unfortunate Events books. Monika read them first and told me about them (like many of these recs; she's always read "above" her age). They're a bit dark and very, very ironic, but I think a really clever kid could appreciate it. They would also learn a crapton of awesome new words (i.e. ersatz).

When all else fails I would suggest the Harry Potter and Eragon series because kids don't have favorite genres really, and there are Big Important Lessons in each that every kid can benefit from. Eragon is a bit more simple and basically lifts shamelessly from LOTR, but is still fun to read and good for kids.

I can't remember anymore right now, but I'll get back to you if I do. Oh, and also you should be able to find plum sauce at any Asian grocery. You could probably find it at any non-Asian grocery sold as "duck sauce," but it'll cost you like $3 more for a bottle half the size as in an Asian grocery.

Hope this helps, and that your dad is doing well. Call me when you get a chance, k? Love you. :)

[desirerofhesed]

I want to write a long response to this comment, but I think I'm just going to call you tonight.

((hugs))