Meg asked a question about book recommendations. She has 3rd grade girls who read at a 6th grade level. I've been in this predicament myself: kids who read "above" their age level. The trick is to find books that are challenging, but content appropriate. Tricky. Here are my suggestions for books that are about 6th grade reading level (or higher) but still innocent enough for kids in younger grades.
There are in no particular order:
1. Mysteries like Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Encyclopedia Brown, and the Bobsey Twin books.
2. The Choose Your Own Adventure Series.
3. Anything by Beverly Cleary.
4. The Superfudge series by Judy Blume, but nothing else by her just yet. The Superfudges are light, but Blume gets into other stuff you don't want your 3rd grader exposed to.
5. Astrid Lindgren: Pippi Longstockings of course, but I like her Emil books even better. Funny stuff.
6. The Little House books.
7. The Shoe Books by Noel Stretfield.
8. The All of a Kind Family series by Sydney Taylor.
9. The unabridged Anne of Green Gables by Montgomery. You can even watch the movies with Megan Follows with your kids. I just started watching these with my kids and my boys tease me because I cried (for the hundredth time) when Matthew died in the movie. They walk around the house wailing "Matthew is DEAD!!!!" just to mock me. Sniff. I love those movies, I adore the books. (Higher than 6th grade reading level, but advanced readers will be there soon.)
10. Frances Hodgson Burnett: A Little Princess and Secret Garden.
11. The Mary Poppins series by P.L.Travers. Not really like the Disney movies, so charming though.
12. Tom's Midnight Garden by Phillippa Pierce.
13. The Great Brain series by Fitzgerald.
14. Behind the Attic Wall by Sylvia Cassidy.
15. The Roald Dahl novels.
16. Daddy Long Legs by Webster.
17. The Wizard of Oz novels by Baum. (Those are higher than 6th grade)
18. E. B. White's books if they haven't read them already: Stuart Little, Charlotte's Web, etc.
19. Comics are fun to have them read at this age, and a great introduction to irony. My two favorites for kids are Peanuts and Calvin and Hobbes.
20. Anything they want to read that's non-fiction. Usually, if my kids are interested in a topic, we just go to the library and check out anything related.
21. My favorite non-fiction series for kids is the DK Eyewitness books. The Brainwaves books are particularly good for this age: How the Incredible Human Body Works and The Most Explosive Science Book in the Universe.
22. Poetry. There are lots of poetry compilations for kids and some authors like Shel Silverstein that are especially for kids.
22. At this age, I like to make sure my kids know all the fairy tales and their spoofs. Fairy tales are good for teaching pre-analysis skills (hero, villain, plot), but 3rd graders can start to see the ironies in fairy tale spin-offs: like Bigfoot Cinderella and Fannie's Dream with Cinderella. There are lots of spoofs and spin-offs and they are fun at this age. Also, at 3rd grade, kids can appreciate the artwork in some of the well-illustrated children's books that they may not have appreciated younger.
23. Catherine Called Birdy and Midwife's Apprentice by Cushman.
Two more notes:
1. For really voracious readers, I love stores like DI, Goodwill, and Savers. When my kids are bored of all the library books, we go to these stores and buy 20 books for $10, especially with series like Choose Your Own Adventure books and Encyclopedia Brown. When the kids are bored with the books, I just donate them back.
2. I don't recommend all the Newbury award winners. The books are well written, no doubt, but sometimes the topics are more serious than I want my 3rd graders to read: world wars, divorce, racial oppression. Important topics, just not quite light enough for fun reading. A few years, a little more maturity, and kids would be more ready.
When you have exhausted this list, let me know.
Happy reading!
