All Stars List: Midgrades

My son's in fifth grade. This is what he's reading at the moment:

The Hobbit ( Again. He's obbsessed with it lol)
The Odyssey
Beowulf
The Arthurian Legends
The Carpet People ( Terry Pratchett kids book)
Anything about Dr Who of course.
Attack of the Vampirates

I'm sensing a theme here.

He's also into the Horrible History series. There's a USA one which includes such gems as why cowboys declared war on sheep.

Is the Travels of Jamie McPheeters by Robert Lewis Taylor still taught? I always liked that, but I don't know what age level. It's a Pulitzer winner.

Sigh. I am shameless.

My book "Alex and the Ironic Gentleman" is for just that age range, about a girl rescuing her grade six teacher from pirates. And I do happen to know that many teachers have read it to their classes. The paperback is out in a few weeks. Both it and the hardcover though should be available at B&N, but here's the amazon link in case: http://www.amazon.com/dp/160286005X/?tag=absolutewritedm-20

And self promotion over now!

Beat me to it Toothpaste!

Aw thanks hon! Probably would have been better not coming from me . . . lol!

It goes very against the grain for me to self promote, my whole family are the kind of people who think "Let's just leave people to make up their minds for themselves." But I am learning, if I don't talk up my book . . . who will?

Still . . . it's difficult.

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

To be a Slave by Julius Lester

The Epic of Gilgamesh

The Aeneid by Virgil

Life of Pi

Johnny Tremain

The Day the World Came to Town


If I had a kid those are the books I would want him/her to read. I might think of more.

Two books I really enjoyed at that age (I can't believe that was six grades ago), was
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle
and
Quarter Pie Window by Marianne Brandis.
I was also starting to get into classic literature like Shakespear and Jane Austen and Falkner, and stuff like that.

I really like Megan Whelan Turner's "The Thief" and Sarah Prineas's new book "The Magic Thief."

A few off the top of my head:

Ella Enchanted and The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine (they sound like girl books, but when we listened to them on tape my son liked them too)

I Was a Sixth Grade Alien (and its many sequels) by Bruce Coville (my third grader just checked this out of the library, and my 17yo son picked it up and started re-reading it. He loved it when he was in 5th grade or so!)

The Indian in the Cupboard and its many sequels

Catherine, Called Birdy
The Bronze Bow
Running Out of Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix
The Shadow Children books by Margaret Peterson Haddix (I think my daughter read the first one in public school middle school)

Someone else already mentioned Madeleine L'Engle's Wrinkle in Time, but she has a lot more kids'/YA books, including a series about Meg and Calvin's daughter Polly.