<p>My suggestions have already been mentioned but here’s what I like
The sisters Grimm
Terry Pratchett
The Sword of Shannara series
Agatha Christie
Martha Grimes
Redwall series
At this age, I went on a biography kick. Read biographies of anyone on the shelf.
Jeanne Birdsall
The Westing Game</p>
<p>Martha Grimes for a fourth grader? You’ve got to be kidding.</p>
<p>Zilpha Keatley Snyder–Witches of Worm, Egypt Game, Great Stanley kidnapping Case, lots more. </p>
<p>I don’t think that anyone has mentioned the mysteries by Blue Balliett (The Wright 3, Chasing Vermeer, The Calder Game). S and I loved those.
Tomie DePaula has written some autobiographical books about growing up in the 1930’s and 1940’s which S also enjoyed at that age.</p>
<p>How about Toltoy or Dostoevsky or Chechov? </p>
<p>@MiamiDAP the OP’s kids are in 4th grade!</p>
<p>Yesm exactly!!! I believe that OP is looking for these, LOL!!!</p>
<p>I just looked at this thread, and my first thought was Redwall. Those books turned my kid from a fourth grader who didn’t like to read (thank you, Accelerated Reader* ) into a fourth grader who loved to read. S enjoyed them so much and I was so appreciative of the author that I bought the hardback whenever a new one came out. I don’t think anyone has mentioned the Castaways of the Flying Dutchmen series, also by Brian Jaques. Jaques had an interesting life–if your kids get into his books, they might be interested in reading a bit about him.</p>
<p>Someone mentioned the Eragon books. S read these in middle school and enjoyed them, but what he really enjoyed was critiquing them. He frequented a web site where this series, and others, were reviewed and their deficiencies discussed. A lot more fun than whatever they were doing in English class. (Of course, I pointed out to him that the kid who wrote the books, who was a home-schooled teenager at the time, did at least manage to get several books written and published. In contrast to aspiring writer S who has yet to finish his first novel.)</p>
<p>Check out Chinaberry–they sell children’s books with good reviews regarding both reading level and maturity level.</p>
<ul>
<li>If you haven’t heard of it, Accelerated Reader is a software program that tracks reading. Students read a book, then take a quiz about the book on the computer. The program tracks how many books they’ve read at what level etc. In 3rd grade, S’s school gave the kids a test to find out their reading level, then they were required to get a certain number of AR points reading books at “their” level. S scored at a high school reading level but they had very few choices at that level and none that he really wanted to read. The books were long, so could take several weeks to trudge through, and then if something happened to delay taking the quiz (like spring break or being sick) after he finished the book, he would flunk the quiz (multiple choice trivia questions) and have trouble getting enough points. Meanwhile, there were all sorts of age appropriate books he would have enjoyed that he wasn’t allowed to read. It took me a while to figure out what was going on and insist that he be allowed to read whatever he wanted for AR points, but a lot of damage had already been done. (Why can’t schools/teachers figure these things out themselves?)</li>
</ul>
<p>Has anyone mentioned The Adventures of Tintin? Well-done graphic novels. My son - and my two daughters - loved these.</p>
<p>Blue Balliett, all her novels. Avi, the Crispin books. The Al Capone Does My Shirts series about kids growing up on Alcatraz by Chodolenko. Other authors to check out: Jerry Spinnelli. Gordon Korman. Museum of Thieves fantasy series by Liane Tanner.</p>
<p>Brendan Mull. Al Capone does my shirts is a good call. </p>
<p>Also I second Wrinkle in Time. Summer of the Monkeys. Tuck Everlasting, which makes for great discussions.</p>
<p>David Lubar’s Hidden Talents, Louis Sachar’s Holes, Gordon Korman’s No more dead dogs, </p>