Have you tried other Roald Dahl books? Matilda and the BFG are great!

04/29/2024 14:43 again

I just remembered Frindle by Andrew Clements.

Non-fiction:
Horrible History series and Horrible Science series
Doris Kinderling (DK) books that have lots of interesting pictures to go with the explanations


Fiction: Captain Underpants series, Baby Mouse series, DC Comics Secret Hero Society, Magic Treehouse series

My weird school books are funny. We like better than Wayside school.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
Diary of an awesome kid
Dory Fantasmagory

I posted my suggestions above, but I think you might get more replies in the elementary forum than here in the book club forum. You might consider asking Jeff to move the thread.

McBroom books by Sid Fleischman
Flat Stanley
Kate Klise
Danny Dunn
Choose Your Own Adventure
Secrets of Droon
Time Warp Trio
Liza, Bill, and Jed Mysteries
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle
The Phantom Tollbooth
Cam Jansen
Pippi Longstocking
Series of Unfortunate Events

Picture books are still great for this age. He might like:
Magic School Bus
Amelia Bedelia
Dear Mrs. LaRue
whatever franchise he’s currently into

Also, don’t forget non-fiction:
joke books (if you have the patience for knock-knock jokes)
reference type books (Guinness Book of World Records, Ripley’s Believe It or Not, a child’s encyclopedia, a child’s almanac, a child’s atlas)
Where the Sidewalk Ends (quirky poetry)
magazines
coffee-table type books with gorgeous pictures
cookbooks (if you’re willing to help cook)
how-to books (if you’re willing to support activities)

You might even try puzzle/activity books and books that are more visual (I Spy, crosswords, seek and finds, Where’s Waldo, 10 minutes till bedtime, CDB! (See the Bee!)

oh I see he's seven and a slow reader- then the worst children in the world and other novels by David Walliams would be perfect, they use large fonts and colors to break up the text and make it much easier for the reader to get drawn into a rather complex story. the demon dentist is a really good one as well.

the chocolate touch, freckle juice, misses piggle wiggle, the Great Brain books, the whizz pop chocolate shop,

The author who wrote the best Christmas pageant ever wrote 2 or 3 other books as well about teh same town. There is also teh great Hoboken turkey disaster or some such name that was hilarious.

the loud family, al Capone does my shirts, ben Yokohama and the cookie of doom- the whole series is fun and its written today and not in the eighties. Its so hard to find funny books written about everyday kid struggles set now- its all fantasy or huge issues like refugee camps or something.

if you can get ahold of them and your kid likes Roald Dahl , the David Walliams books are super fun. he is prolific but the millionaire gang and gangsta granny and grandpas great escape will appeal to a kid who liked 'the witches' . the Pages and Co. series is good but slightly more complex b/c it is geared towards kids who love books and have read a lot of them.

I personally love the Sinclair mysteries but then I do love Edwardian England and it's rare to find a fun book written for kids set in that time period.

The 13 story treehouse series
Ramona Quimby series
Bad Guys
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
Fudge series

Maybe the Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander. The characters are funny. It's a multi-book fantasy series. If not now, maybe around 3rd grade.

Also a funny fantasy series but for an older elementary age - Artemis Fowl.

I learned about Wayside School as a grownup and read the books to my kids. It's hilarious!

Oldies but goodies:

Encylopedia Brown (one chapter mysteries with the answer at the back of the book)

The Henry Reed series about an entrepreneurial young boy who starts a lot of businesses, written in an epistolary format with illustrations. There is a slightly quirky angle to the stories where things often go wrong in funny ways before he and his friend Midge find a solution.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Reed_(character)

The witches by Roald Dahl- we have everything by Roald Dahl already
And same for Louis Sachar. Looking for new authors. Gordon Korman is too wordy for him.

My 7yo ds loves these books. He's a very reluctant and slow reader. What else would he like?