Book Lists for Advanced 4th grade reader -- newer books?

[Prancer]

I know she's already read most of the books for advanced readers I knew about -- which are largely those first published before 2005 -- and I'm having trouble finding good lists of more recent fiction for advanced readers in this age range. Any suggestions?

I would suggest ignoring about 90% of the suggestions made so far if you really mean that.

If she hasn't tried them already, I recommend books by Jerry Spinelli, Avi and Daniel Pinkwater, all very popular with the advanced readers I've tutored, although they all have books for a range of ages. My son loved the Redwall series that WylieFan mentioned and still reads some of them over again now, and also the books of David Clement-Davies, which have similar themes.

[Jenny]

So happy to find others recommending The Great Brain - I read them over and over as a kid, and wondered if they'd just faded away. There are perhaps 8 or so books, so if she likes one, there's more.

The other author I recommend very very highly is Zilpha Keatley Snyder. Completely suitable for a 4th grader, and books she may want to read again in the coming years. I loved her books so much back then, and they really stayed with me. A couple of years ago I bought a few of my favourites to read again, and enjoyed them almost as much as an adult. Start with The Velvet Room.

I was also about 10 when I started reading Enid Blyton's boarding school series - St Clare's and Mallory Towers - and read them again and again for years.

Also agree with those recommending Anne of Green Gables. One of the great things about that series is that it follows Anne as she grows up, and then follows her children. Thus, the themes become more grown up as she becomes a teen and young adult.

[Jenny]

I would suggest ignoring about 90% of the suggestions made so far if you really mean that.

Now, now, give us a break. For those of us without children, obviously we're going to recommend the books we enjoyed when we were young. Plus, they have the added bonus of usually not being too "mature" for a nine year old.

[milanessa]

Now, now, give us a break. For those of us without children, obviously we're going to recommend the books we enjoyed when we were young. Plus, they have the added bonus of usually not being too "mature" for a nine year old.

But barbk specifically asked for more recent fiction. Let's all just ignore that and tell her what we enjoyed, shall we?

[Jenny]

But barbk specifically asked for more recent fiction. Let's all just ignore that and tell her what we enjoyed, shall we?

When I asked FSUers about buying a dorm fridge for my college-bound niece, I got a lot of answers that were nothing to do with fridges, but opened up all kinds of great ideas that I hadn't thought of.

Besides, maybe some of us thought barbk needed to revisit the classics

Cheers to FSU thread drift!

[milanessa]

Cheers to FSU thread drift!

Ditto.

[Wyliefan]

But barbk specifically asked for more recent fiction. Let's all just ignore that and tell her what we enjoyed, shall we?

I think most of us tried to include both classics and modern books. But there are SO many classics out there, you never know -- she might have missed a few!

[Prancer]

Cheers to FSU thread drift!

Absolutely and always .

But I think it's funny to see someone ask for books published after 2005 and get recommendations for books that I read when I was a kid....because my mom had read them when she was a kid and thought I would like them. I usually didn't because I thought they were too old-fashioned, but that was clearly just me.

[Ziggy]

Buy every single Tove Jansson's "Moomin" book you can find.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moomin

They are beautifully written, very deep (I continue to reread them as an adult) and will help a lot with your nieces emotional and social development (they portray very healthy relationships and the characters are really warm and kind).

The world would be a much better place if everybody read those as a child.

"Chronicles of Narnia" - Even though I hate to say that as an atheist.
But those are very good books.

[jl22aries]

The Giver is a phenomenal book, it really pushed my world view at age 11.

[Jenny]

..because my mom had read them when she was a kid and thought I would like them. I usually didn't because I thought they were too old-fashioned, but that was clearly just me.

English is not my mother's first language, so no recommendations from her, although my parents did buy us a ton of books.

For me it was the school library and the Scholastic Books program (remember the flyers they'd distribute and you could order books for about 60 cents apiece), which in the 70s, seemed to feature mostly titles from the 1950s. I was a bit surprised to find when I got to high school that there were no sororities and dinner dances where I would wear a new dress, gloves and a corsage from my escort

An extended trip to Europe also had a big influence as I scoured the small English language sections of bookstores - thus ending up with the British boarding school stories, and reading Animal Farm at age 10.

Later it was my grandmother's love of books - never got into her immense collection of medical stories or the sci fi, but did read all her historical romance (Marianne anyone?) as a tween and then all her Agatha Christie, which I still read today. She got me into pencil puzzles too - still buy the Dell collections, and look forward to the New York Times magazine every Sunday.

Which, incidentally, has a great Book Review section. They do a lot of children's books at all levels - including *NEW* fiction, so maybe barbk can check those online, or pick up a copy on the weekend?

Thread drift full circle

[skateycat]

I think this would be a good question to take to a children's librarian - who would likely have lots of suggestions, and probably some prepared lists, especially since you know quite a bit about what your niece has enjoyed already.

I think that's a great idea, too. Librarians can be a great source of help.

One of my library and information sciences schoolmates keeps a blog called American Indians in Children's Literature. On her blog she has some lists for top books for various age ranges. Here's the link for the elementary school books:
http://americanindiansinchildrenslit...ended-for.html

[barbk]

Besides, maybe some of us thought barbk needed to revisit the classics

Cheers to FSU thread drift!

barbk loves most of the classics that have been mentioned. Although the jury is still out on Louisa May Alcott. Gonna try it, though.

I do appreciate all of the newer suggestions, few of which I've ever heard of...our chief children's librarian is on vacation, though that was a fine suggestion.

As a major contributor to thread drift, no complaints from me.

Unfortunately, my niece lives about twelve miles from the public library, and she seems to have pretty much devoured what's in her school library...so I hit the excellent used bookstore for her pretty heavily. (She's a kid who'd much rather get five used books than one new one, and given the speed with which she reads them, it is a wise choice.)

I was so lucky to grow up living just a few blocks from our town's library, because there is no way my family could (or would) have purchased books. It was a rare treat to get one of the $.75 ones from Scholastic. (I still remember one set in Norway(?) about kids who used their sleds to move gold and hide it from the Nazis.) At .35/hour for being a mother's helper, that was still an investment.

[Jenny]

(I still remember one set in Norway(?) about kids who used their sleds to move gold and hide it from the Nazis.)

Doesn't ring a bell, sorry. The one I've been on the hunt for was about a girl who gets a job in a fish cannery and falls for the owner's son. Can't remember the title of course, or the author, and searches usually turn up a lot of Steinbeck and nothing else

[Twizzler]

My oldest loved the "Fablehaven" series. She read them when she was 7:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fablehaven

Hugely popular with her classmates (all in gifted classes) are Harry Potter, the Goosebumps series, and the Poison Apple series. Goosebumps and Poison Apple are NOT breaking any literary ground, will never be classified with the likes of Anne of Green Gables, but they are fun and the kids that age love them.

Happy reading!!!

[Wyliefan]

(I still remember one set in Norway(?) about kids who used their sleds to move gold and hide it from the Nazis.)

That sounds familiar, but I can't quite place it . . .

[Lil Sarah]

First, I also recommend the Golden Compass series (while it has other ideas than our religion, I wouldn't think it is offensive), and The Giver, which also has two books after it.

Other books might be

Peak by Smith
Fourteen-year-old Peak Marcello’s goal is to become the youngest person to reach the top of Mt. Everest.

The Tale of Despereaux by Di Camillo
Tale of a tiny mouse with huge ears, a princess that he loves, a servant girl who wishes to be a princess and a rat named Roscuro who yearns for soup.

Music of the Dolphins by Hesse
The thoughts of a young girl, who was raised by dolphins from 4 years old after a plane crash, are recorded by a scientist as she is reintroduced to a civilized way of life

There is also a list here about favourite books for fourth graders, it does have some interesting looking books on it.

[Prancer]

For me it was the school library and the Scholastic Books program (remember the flyers they'd distribute and you could order books for about 60 cents apiece), which in the 70s, seemed to feature mostly titles from the 1950s. I was a bit surprised to find when I got to high school that there were no sororities and dinner dances where I would wear a new dress, gloves and a corsage from my escort

One of the biggest surprises for me when my kids started going to school is that they still put out those Scholastic flyers. I don't know why, but I expected them to be long gone. But nope, Scholastic still around and they have a Book Wizard that helps adults select books by reading level: http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/ You have to click on the link there to go to the wizard.

IME, the wizard is not to be entirely trusted, but it's not bad if you are looking for titles to check out. Don't take its word for reading level, though; it goes almost entirely by word size/sentence length, which isn't always the best way to determine reading level.

A very good librarian-type resource is the ALSC. There are a lot of good books listed in their awards categories.

The School Library Journal is another good source; they also have lists of award winners, including the ones for this year.

[sleepypanda]

(I still remember one set in Norway(?) about kids who used their sleds to move gold and hide it from the Nazis.)

Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0142402249

[barbk]

Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0142402249

YES! Thank you. Copy ordered!