Beyonder series

Gregor the Overlander. Great series.

How to Tame a Dragon series
Dragon in the Sock Drawer series

Horrible Histories by Terry Deary. It's a British series, but it's great for boys. Lot of humor and it's all real history. My son just turned nine and has read most of them. Here's a link (if it works) to them on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Curdling-Horrible-Histories-Terry-Deary/dp/1407108158

Recommended by some overseas friends and worth every penny.

My kid also enjoyed many of the classics, Peter Pan, Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book, Treasure Island

The Ranger's Apprentice series by Peter Flanagan.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Mouse and his Child
Time Cat
From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
The Westing Game
Wrinkle in Time Trilogy
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
The Phantom Tollbooth
Hoot
Holes
Indian in the Cupboard

Politics & Prose does a book club for kids and one for teens:

http://www.politics-prose.com/children-and-teens

OP: thanks for this list. he has actually read most of these books…although never heard of the time cat. will have to try that. good idea about politics and prose book club.

Time Cat is a Lloyd Alexander book.

He may also like the George MacDonald series, e.g., The Princess and the Goblin

What about the Borrowers? [THe books that Secret Life of Arriety was based on.] Golden Compass series? The Girl who Circumnavigated Fairyland series.

The Redwall series

And check out the Guys Read website. It's founded by the man who wrote The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales

http://www.guysread.com/

Hardy Boys original series

Little Britches

the Saturdays

Alex Rider poster here. Sorry I misread your original post. These books are fast reads, probably not what your son would be into!

Alex Rider series

Easy read, lots of action. "Young James Bond".

First in series is Stormbreaker

http://www.amazon.com/Alex-Rider-Series/lm/R1UB1WS39PEARH

Be careful with the Pern books. Some are YA and some are poorly disguised romance novels.

Anonymous wrote:My 8.5 year old voracious reader has been devouring the "Warriors" series by Erin Hunter.

+1
and now my 9.5 year old is loving Harry Potter.

Anonymous wrote:Big Red by Jim Kjelgaard.

I loved Jim Kjelgaard's books when I was your son's age. All about animals, mainly dogs. They aren't very long but there are tons of them. Some may be out of print but the library should have them.

Other books I loved at the 8-10 age range:

Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume
Redwall (and series) by Brian Jacques -- also about animals, and also a stark division between good/evil, like the Dark is Rising series. I would start with Redwall, then do Mossflower, then Matimeo. The others are all kind of derivative but these 3, the early ones, are the best.
Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery
Call of the Wild and White Fang by Jack London (often sold together as a set or two books in one)
The Hobbit by Tolkien
The Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffrey (didn't get into this until I was 10)
Otto of the Silver Hand (set in medieval times, as I recall)
The Gammage Cup (not terribly well known, I don't think, but a real gem)