Best realistic(ish) fiction for upper elementary that isn’t too “modern?”
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Anonymous
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I’m looking for books to purchase for a bookish 3rd grader. He likes the Beezus/Ramona and Henry series, EB White books.
He also likes more modern series like Diary of a Wimpy Kid. DOaWK is NOT my favorite because the character is sarcastic and rude and DS copies some of that language. I haven’t banned them, but what are some other books to help him build some real world knowledge (like he learned more about divorce and economic hardship through Judy Blume and Beverly Cleary books) and reasonable children’s behavior through good stories? |
Anonymous
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I know there are non-pc elements in it, but I think Laura Ingalls Wilder books are very educational about history and about how things get made/were made in historical times.
Farmer Boy is surprisingly interesting. I visited Almanzo Wilder's childhood home and farm in Malone, NY. Farmer Boy is the one male-focused book in the series. It has violence and crime in it, but none of the 19th century racism issues of the Laura on the frontier books. |
Anonymous
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Actually written in the past:
Gone-Away Lake and basically any other Elizabeth Enright Encyclopedia Brown books The Little Riders The Cricket in Times Square The Bears on Hemlock Mountain Mr. Popper's Penguins Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle (the kids are badly behaved, but Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle "cures" them, that's the entire point of the books) Freddy the Detective and other Freddy books Modern, but with a vintage feel: The Penderwicks series The Vanderbeekers series Heartwood Hotel series Tumtum and Nutmeg books The Prarie Thief The Tiny Hero of Ferny Creek Library Adventures with Waffles Ways to Make Sunshine and the rest of the Ryan Hart series (the main character has been described as a modern day Ramona) |
Anonymous
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Box car children
Wild robot Magic tree house Prydain chronicles |
Anonymous
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PP. It's a bit hard to fulfill your request for learning about "modern" "real life" things.
However, a lot of boys really like the Warrior Cats series. It contains tribal power struggles and archetypal plots. "It's like MacBeth, only with cats!" Plenty of what would be interpersonal philosophy and relationship drama. But none of the corny fart humor and disrespectful behavior of DoaWK type books. Elementary schools often cover "Sign of the Beaver" as a historical novel. My older son liked the Geronimo Stilton (mouse) series but these are not realistic. I think they are funny and not rude. Our family loved Wayside School but it is very sarcastic and irreverent. I drew the line at dumb stuff like butt humor (Captain Underpants, etc.) |
Anonymous
| Wings of fire |
Anonymous
DP who recommended the Vanderbeekers, Ryan Hart series, and Penderwicks. I'd argue you can get "modern" "real life" things in those series. Vanderbeekers is especially good at that, while representing a loving family where the kids (generally) behave the way most parents want their kids to behave. |
Anonymous
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PP again. I need to correct myself for confounding modern and real life. OP wants real world but not too modern.
I honestly got confused because divorce in children's lit was an example of what was desired and addressing divorce seems modern to me. |
Anonymous
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The ___ of Adventure by Enid Blyton. Not that four kids constantly battling bad guys and winning is really that realistic, but....
Also they're always eating canned beef tongue and loving it. Postwar Britain was a different place! |
Anonymous
Do not start with those cat books. A plague of greencough upon their clan. Hardy Boys, Encyclopedia Brown, I Survived series, Lyddie, Jean Craighead George books. |
Anonymous
Babysitters' Club was addressing divorce in JFIC in the 80s.... I took OP's use of "modern" to mean kids who behave like brats, that behavior is condoned by the world of the story, and the reader is supposed to think it's funny. |
Anonymous
I think real life doesn’t have to mean modern: divorce, death, economic hardship, racism, prejudice, crime, school life, farm life, historical figures and happenings. All of these issues were around and talked about with children and young adults 50 years ago. |
Anonymous
That is part of it. Laura and Ramona act in silly and unkind ways, but they know and acknowledge they “shouldn’t” be doing and saying those things. In today’s books, bratty characters and their behaviors are celebrated as individual and creative. I guess I am looking for books that help in 1) building up a reality and childhood that I had that many seem to think is old fashioned (outside dirty play, no screens or video games, making mistakes, finding your own way to deal with bullies and idiots and 2) negating an emerging reality in which the individual is always right, and an 8 year old (with 8 years experience) is just as much an expert as her 40 year old parent. I’m sorry, but sometimes you just have to listen to an adult, no matter what you want or prefer. But I’m also that parent who cooks one meal and everybody has to eat it. Clean Plate club. No screens. I don’t tolerate rudeness from children, and adults should be respected. I know a lot of people don’t agree. |
Anonymous
PP. I got confused. Yes, you are interpreting "modern" correctly for OP's wishes. In the '80s and '70s, I was reading books that were usually 10-20 years older at a minimum. Except Judy Blumes...and I didn't like those...or stuff like Bridge to Terabithia...also a yuk. I never read a Babysitter's Club book. But I understand those topics were covered at that time. Just not in kid lit "classics". This is reminding me that a somewhat modernized, abridged old-school Swiss Family Robinson was a pretty interesting book. I read a short (possibly Disney) version with illustrations and then eventually read the archaic, long original. I loved reading about the details of how they salvaged goods from the boat and built houses and grew crops. |
Anonymous
| Harriet the Spy |