Anonymous wrote:We're just starting Harry Potter but I can tell it's a little scary for my 7y/o (she switched back to Roald Dahl after finishing the first one). Lots of Roald Dahl, Unicorn Academy, Zoey & Sassafrass. Have Charlotte's Web and Percy Jackson on deck for our next forays.
When she picks out her own books at the school library it's almost always Dork Diaries, which I don't love personally, but I'm glad to see her excited about reading so I let it ride.
I hated (and vetoed) Junie B Jones after one book due to the main character's bad attitude/language, and I think it's a bit young for your kid anyway.
I think she’d like:
Rainbow Magic by Daisy Meadows
Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown
Princess Tales by Gail Carson Levine
Secrets of Droon by Tony Abbott (I think the main series is probably ojay, but the special editions might be a little intense)
McBroom by Sid Fleischman
Frindle by Andrew Clements
Wayside School by Louis Sachar
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald
Cam Jansen by David A. Adler
Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew/Nancy Drew Notebooks by Carolyn Keene
Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner
Beverly Cleary
Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren
Encyclopedia Brown by Donald J. Sobol
Danny Dunn by Jay Williams and Raymond Abrashkin
Bunnicula by Deborah Howe
All of a Kind Family by Sydney Taylor
I’ve heard great things about the Scholastic Branches books. My kids are older and these weren’t available when they were young, but I think these series are supposed to be good for kids who are about that level.
https://www.scholastic.com/site/branches.html#promo
C D B! (See the Bee) by William Steig (novelty book)
Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein (quirky poetry)
Picture books:
The Quiltmaker’s Gift by Jeff Brumbeau
Magic School Bus picture books
Read-Aloud: Just-So Stories by Rudyard Kipling (The prose is beautiful, but very dense. There are some beautifully illustrated versions for kids. I’ve been told by DCUM that there are racist passages in a few of the stories, but don’t remember them, so I suspect that at least some of the children’s editions have edited them out.)