<p>I am having trouble (good problem) keeping my twins in books. The boys will be going into 4th grade and read at a late middle school/early high school level. Many books at that level are not appropriate for 9 yr olds so I am looking for ideas.</p>
<p>In the past year they have read all the Harry Potters (2 or 3 times each), every Rick Riordan books (some twice), complete Wizard of Oz, Series of Unfortunate Events, Rangers Apprentice, Hobbit, Lord of the Rings (only on twin read this, slowed him down, it took wks for each book instead of days), The Mysterious Benedict Society (series), Big Nate, I Survived Series, Fablehaven, Beyonders and Artemis Fowl and So You Want to be a Wizard series. I may be forgetting some. </p>
<p>My son loved the Redwall series at that age. The author’s name is Brian Jacques. The stories are completely age-appropriate and very engaging–my son even reread some of them for fun in high school!</p>
<p>I second the Redwall series, Into the Wild series (some violence between cat clans, though, and classics such as Treasure Island. I remember she liked many Penguin Classics’ publications. If your children will permit it, please continue to read aloud to them, or to let them listen to audio books. When they hear a book that is read well, it improves their fluency, expression, and vocabulary (not to mention it helps young readers learn how to pronounce these big, new words). This last year I taught some extraordinarily bright students and I bought them every Stephen Hawking/Lucy Hawking book I could find. They LOVED them. Please don’t forget nonfiction books. These books take different skills to read well (to understand they need to read maps, graphs, charts, etc.) I’d recommend all books by Robert E. Wells. Have fun!</p>
<p>When I was young eons ago, and in a world without TV, there was a British author, Enid Blyton, who ruled the market for my age group (at least the English language segment of it) with the Famous Five and Secret Seven series. I don’t know if she was never big in the US, or if her writings became too outdated in today’s world, or if the shift in what was deemed verboten in the subsequent decades killed off her writings, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen any of her works in the US, or even heard any parent of young children ever mentioning her name.</p>
<p>*Both daughters were avid, early, advanced readers. I wanted them to enjoy reading but keep it age appropriate. Good books are out there, if you look for them. Both still hang on to full shelves of favorite books read in elementary school - many of which you mention in your post - and they are both well past that age. (Well-past, as one’s currently an Assistant District Attorney and the other is currently working on a Master Degree in Library Science.)</p>
<p>Redwall consists of 22 books. That should keep them busy for a while!
My oldest loved the series ( when she was 8- she was at an adult reading level, which made things very difficult, but it was easier than when I was a kid, not alot of interesting and appropriate books) she read several of these suggestions) and we went to several author signings, but she aged out probably only a third of the way through.
She also enjoyed several authors on the hoagies gifted list.
Especially Patricia Wrede, Monica Furlong ( start with Wise Child although Juniper is the prequel)and Madeline L’Engle.( Wrinkle in time quartet extends to cover the rest of the family, including their twin brothers)</p>
<p>I would start with Wrinkle in Time, unless you are uncomfortable with Christian allegory. ( In which case, you probably should leave out C.S. lewis as well)
Just reading those along with Redwall kept her busy for a long time, and she took books every where, including to the grocery store and to Seattle Mariner baseball games at a time when we were in the post season with Griffey and Randy Johnson!</p>
<p>My youngest did not start reading as early, but she began reading Harry Potter in third grade ( when it was published), but then quickly moved into Wrens War triology, by Sherwood Smith, and LOTR including the Silmillarion,
She also enjoyed several series by Tamora Pierce and Jane Yolen.
In some ways LOTR or other books that can be taken as strict adventure were better than some of the other series, which could be very well written, but if any of them even * hinted* at a romance between two of the characters, she squirmed. :">
It’s good that they don’t insist on reading the same books at the same time, that could get expensive.
My kids read Harry Potter at the same time, even though they are 8 years apart, and even went to the midnight release parties. </p>
<p>Roland Smith writes for the upper elementary level, start with Thunder Cave.
Also Island of the Blue Dolphins, by Scott O’Dell, is a great classic adventure book, although they may have already read it.
Many, many books are written aiming for middle school age/ reading level, you don’t necessarily need more complex language, but as his sophistication grows,the stories can become more complex. </p>
<p>Another thing…save some of those books. Our kids were also early readers, but both rereads the Harry Potter books and Redwall series books again several years later…and BOTH read them with a different perspective the second time…and understood and noticed nuances they did not notice on the first reading.</p>
<p>I agree with the Redwall suggestion. My youngest read The Lord of the Rings in 3rd grade, so don’t discount old fashioned adult fantasy if they like that stuff. Watership Down is another nice fat book. We were always looking for longer books! For non-fantasy consider Arthur Ransome’s Swallow and Amazon books. Rosemary Sutcliffe has lots of engaging historical novels with appealling boy heroes. Rifles for Watie, is a long Civil War historical which won the Newbery in 1957. Johnny Tremaine is another great Newbery winner (1944).</p>
<p>Non-fiction books - they have read a lot of kid biographies and some space books. They want to learn about economics because they hear their older brothers talking about it.</p>
<p>Even with librarians help it is hard to find non fiction bks that are not either very childish or too advanced. This may improve with the common core (the only positive I see, but that’s another thread).</p>
<p>^^ So many great suggestions!<br>
FallGirl - I love Jean Craighead George books - Julie of the Wolves, Julie, and Julie’s Wolfpack.
In addition to many of the suggestions above, S loved authors Andrew Clements, Matt Christopher, and Lynne Reid Banks. One book S read several times over the years was The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster.</p>