Book Recommendations for Kids [Archive]

JRD

12-10-2007, 05:20 PM

I figure you guys here will be able to help me. I saw the book recommendation thread from the other day and see that there are plenty of readers among us.

I read to my two boys (6 and 3 years old) every night before bed. We're just about done with "Where the Red Fern Grows". Both kids won't go to sleep without me reading a few pages to them. (The older one wants his own coon hound now.)

I just ordered a copy of Fred Gipson's "Old Yeller" as a Christmas gift for the boys. I was also thinking that maybe Robert Rourke's "Old Man and the Boy" may be good for them.

My wife was an elementary school teacher before becoming a stay at home mom, so she has plenty of standard "read in school" book ideas, but I am looking for some additional advice from the cast here.

Can you guys think of a few good kids books that fit the bill? They don't have to be about dogs or hunting specifically, but good clean books that instill the same values as those mentioned.

I'd appreciate any suggestions.

Jason

AnthonyB

12-10-2007, 05:32 PM

Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn should be on your list. How about Call of the Wild by Jack London, the Big Red series by Jim Kjelgard, and The Dangerous Book for Boys by Conn and Hal Igguldon. Those should last a few months! Tony

felix

12-10-2007, 06:38 PM

Include "lost river by allen chaffee" and "the good bad boy by Gerald Thomas Brennan". ... felix

MT Gianni

12-10-2007, 08:01 PM

The same author that wrote "Where the Red Fern grows" also wrote one called "The Summer of the Monkeys" IIRC. It is a great read. I think 8-10 is a good age for Hemmingway's "The Old Man and the Sea". There was a great book written by a settler in the Yukon, Olive or Olivia something on living in the wilderness. It has North in the title. Swiss Family Robinson, Biographies of Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, and others of their like were available when I was a youth. Orange backed, cloth bound. My SIL likes "the dangerous book for boys", gives kids experments to do. Do what ever you can to make them think. Gianni

KYCaster

12-10-2007, 08:10 PM

Anything by Patrick F. McManus. Mainly collections of short stories with outdoor/hunting themes. 5th/6th grade reading level. Guaranteed to entertain...hilarious.

Jerry

floodgate

12-10-2007, 08:12 PM

JRD:

As a kid in the 1930's, I was teethed on the books written by Ernest Thompson Seton, "Wild Animals I Have Known" and several others. You can probably pick these up on AbeBooks for a couple of dollars each; they give a great idea of life and activities in the outdoors as of 1900 or so.

floodgate

rugerdude

12-10-2007, 08:19 PM

Bless you for getting your boys interested in reading!! Too many of our youngsters today have absolutely no imagination because they have no interest in reading. Keep up the good work! I recommend Jack O'Briens "Silver Chief" series. I found them in grade school and truly enjoyed them. Good stories about the "Great White North" and very easy to understand writing style. Also, how about some of Louis L'Amours books? Good clean stories with great lessons rolled in. I don't think I've ever met a boy who wasn't interested in cowboys and stories of the "Old West." :Fire:

monadnock#5

12-10-2007, 08:37 PM

You make no comment on your religious beliefs in your intro. If you have none, or they run contrary to mine, please disregard the following recommendation. Ben Hur by Lew Wallace. The introductory chapter focuses on the the Three Wise Men, and how they came to find themselves on a quest to welcome The King of Kings into the world. Very powerful, and very moving.

A non secular recommendation would be The Yearling, by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. It will make you laugh, and bring you to tears. The part about Pa trading a useless bear dog to one of the Forrester's for a rifle is absolutely hilarious, while at the same time sowing the seeds of a feud to last a lifetime. It will give you hours of discussion as to how adults and children perceive their world.

woody1

12-10-2007, 09:13 PM

Ralph Moody. If not familiar with his work here's a site with a pretty good summary of the Little Britches series by Moody.
http://www.readaloud.com/britches.html
Regards, Woody

waksupi

12-10-2007, 09:20 PM

Try to find the Danny Orlis series. I remember reading those as a kid, and they were pretty good, I seem to remember.
Also, Edgar Rice Borroughs (sp), Russel Annabel, Farley Mowat.

DeanoBeanCounter

12-10-2007, 09:40 PM

If their into that sort of thing the Goosebumps series are a delight to some kids. But be careful, they scare some kids.
Deano

shotstring

12-11-2007, 01:52 AM

I grew up having my parents read Uncle Arthur stories to me every night, and they are some of the best at being both interesting to kids and instilling a sense of good values based on everyday events. Wonderful stories, and the old ones can be found on ebay from the 1940's with pictures of kids from that time frame. These stories are indeed classics. But they are a bit churchy at times, which I had forgotten about. But the stories make it worthwhile to put up with a bit of that if you don't mind.

GSM

12-11-2007, 12:51 PM

Good: Treasure Island, Poe, other classics.

Not too bad: The Hardy Boys Series.

JRD

12-11-2007, 05:57 PM

Thank you. You guys are great. This list could keep the me and the boys occupied until they learn to read for themselves!

I'm putting a list together from the recommendations here. Reading with my boys I think is great for them. My wife and I can see in their vocabularies and understanding of things that they are ahead of other kids their ages. I know most of it is due to my wife, but I like to think the time I spend with them is part of it.

I tell my boys if they are going to grow big, they have to do three things. 1. Get enough sleep. 2. Eat good food. 3. Get excercise. I tell them all the running and playing they do in the yard is excersise for their muscles and that reading is exercise for their brains. Any young boy wants to be "big", so we've been getting a lot of mileage out of these rules.

After reading, we say a prayer as well, so I certainly don't mind the Ben Hur recommendation.

Thanks again,
Jason

creekwalker

12-11-2007, 06:08 PM

Treasure Island by R.L. Stevenson. I'm also posting some links to free e-books for you too, might come in handy.
http://www.bygosh.com/index.html
http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page
http://www.ipl.org/kidspace/browse/rzn3000

Enjoy your storytelling time with your children.

Creekwalker

rhead

12-11-2007, 06:09 PM

The Duck Footed hound, Haunt Fox, Big Red, Fire Hunter.
In a few years, The Long Rifle, Call of the Wild, Zane Grey's Wetzel trilogy :Betty Zane, Sprit of the Border and The Last Trail.

crabo

12-11-2007, 08:42 PM

I really enjoyed the Sugar Creek Gang series when I was a kid.

http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=69949&event=CF

Lots of outdoor adventure, plus you are teaching them some great values.

Crabo

Bad Water Bill

12-11-2007, 09:41 PM

I do not recall a profane word in any of Zane Grey s books but the boys may still be a bit young for him. My son was reading at the age of 4 but still liked to have books read to him for many years after that. No he does not devour as many books a month as his dad but we still enjoy talking about the books we have shared and he is in his 20 s. I think that any time spent with your children should be cherished more than dollars as the little ones grow up to fast. Just my .02 BWB :castmine:

Bent Ramrod

12-11-2007, 11:03 PM

I think I was around 9 or 10 when I started reading Russell Annabel's stories. My Dad subscribed to Sports Afield back then and his stories appeared almost every month. It was a disappointing month when an issue did not contain an Annabel story.

A few years ago, Safari Press reprinted all his stories and I splurged and bought the entire 5 volume set (at retail, yet!) I remain as enthralled with them as an adult of rather excessive age as I was when I was a kid.

You'd have to gauge how old your boys would need to be to appreciate Russell Annabel, (6 might be a little too young) but somewhere in boyhood they should be introduced to his stories. You could enjoy reading them yourself, while waiting for the kids to grow into them.

As one of the hunting clients in one of his stories said, "I want this hunt to be something special. Not just 'There he is.' Bang! 'You got him.'" None of Annabel's hunting stories were ever "There he is." Bang! "You got him."

Ken O

12-11-2007, 11:13 PM

I was read "Tom Swift" books when I was young in the 50s, they were great! I don't know if they are still around, but they made my imagination go wild.

Bullshop

12-11-2007, 11:27 PM

Hank the cowdog is what got Jr. to want to read. Now he walks into walls for the book on his nose.
BIC/BS

JRD

01-10-2008, 02:34 PM

I thought you guys might like seeing a picture of my two boys getting ready for me to read a few pages of "Old Yeller" to them before bed..

They are wearing their "trapdoor" P.J.'s and insisted on wearing their coonskin caps to bed as well. Of course both are armed with cap guns in case of "injuns".

They're up to something like this almost every night and I enjoy every minute with them. I think the odds are pretty good they'll grow up liking to shoot and hunt with me.

Thanks for all the advice on good books for them last month. We've got our reading list planned out for a while.
Jason

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c79/jkdubois724/pictures01-09-2008016.jpg

MT Gianni

01-10-2008, 03:16 PM

Great looking PJ's. Have fun with those boys. Gianni

Blammer

01-10-2008, 03:19 PM

One Fish Two Fish
Red Fish Blue Fish

have em read it to you!

AZ-Stew

01-10-2008, 05:05 PM

The Bears of Blue River by Charles Major. 49 years ago my 3rd grade teacher read this story to the class. Parts of it have stuck with me and are as clear in my mind as the day she read it. It's the story of a pioneer family, mainly the boy, growing up in Indiana when it was frontier territory (early 1800s).

Also, anything by Gene Hill. His outdoor writing verged on poetry.

Regards,

Stew
(300th post! [smilie=w:)

KCSO

01-10-2008, 05:21 PM

If you can ever find one get a copy of the old reading book "Rolling Wheels". It is about a pioneeer boy growing up and hunting to feed his family in 1800. This was a school reading book till about 1950!

fourarmed

01-10-2008, 05:51 PM

I just Googled "Gunsmith's Boy" and "Tornado Jones" and got lots of hits. These are excellent, as is anything by Helen Fuller Orton (children's mysteries). All probably long out of print, but available.

As a kid, I devoured the Bar-20 books by Clarence E. Mulford, too. They are in print again. The REAL Hopalong Cassidy, not the squeaky-clean William Boyd version.