DD loved Andrew Clement's novels like Frindle and Room One at that stage. She was vehemently opposed to any books with magic or fantasy elements, but she was drawn to those because they're funny, interesting stories about regular kids in regular school just like her.

Ya know, our schools used to put a lot of emphasis on "good fit" books, and making sure that kids are reading at their level and are challenged. Now they have decided it's better to let them read whatever they want and they are interested in. They should be reading at the appropriate level as part of their school work, but they are no longer pressured to read challenging material on their own time or check out library books that fit certain criteria.

DD is an excellent reader and really loves it. And she was reading those Rainbow Fairy books for a very long time - even when they were waaaaay below her level. It didn't hinder her progress though, and she still excels at reading.

Great suggestions - he LOVED Tom Angleberger AND William Steig. Although the "origami yoda" series looks a LOT like "Wimpy kid" series (to me, anyway). Hoping for Hiassen and Alex Rider, on the horizon. Thanks again for all the great book selections. we go through them so fast, it's hard to keep up!

It's important to rehearse reading in order to get faster. I've seen lots of cases where parents require "serious" books, and it backfires: it just convinces the kid that reading is a chore. The learn-to-read literature supports the idea that it is fine to read at a simpler level: what he is doing is building reading speed. If you read slowly, things do not happen fast enough to keep you interested in the plot. I would agree that reading to him is also good - it builds the vocabulary and sentence comprehension for later.

Non-fiction is good, especially the kinds of books you can dip into (Guinness Book of World Records is popular for that stage, for example).

Another vote here for Carl Hiaason's kid books. My 11-year-old devours them. He's also enjoyed a series that starts with "The Strange Case of the Origami Yoda" and goes on with a Darth Vader and a Wookie book. The Black Stallion was a huge hit here as well.

My 9-year-old is also not interested in Percy Jackson, but he loves Carl Hiaason's kids books. He especially liked "Hoot." My husband loves Hiaason, so they took turns reading them to each other. They've got the same slightly warped sense of humor as his adult books. He also loved "Fart Powder."

My mom read with me up until middle school. She actually read the first two Harry Potters to me and then I read 3 -7 as they came out to myself because I was so into them. I'm not sure about the other series people have suggested but Harry Potter does start out a little slow so reading at least the first book with him will help him get into it. Good luck!

Anonymous wrote:I think Harry Potter is too advanced as the "next step" from Wimpy Kid. My son's next step from Wimpy Kid was 39 Clues. He loves the books-eats them up!-possibly more than Wimpy Kids. And series books are great because it isn't as challenging for them to get into each book as the characters and context are similar for each one.

Agree on 39 clues . Also try the "framed / swindle" series by Gorman. Btw - It took us a while to really get past wimpy kid as a "favorite", but believe we finally got to the point where other books are becoming a bit more interesting and worth the effort.

My 8 yr old also doesn't like fantasy that much, certainly nothing scary

The Great Brain series
Books by Andrew Clement, start with Frindle
Ramona the Pest, Henry Huggins, Ribsy, and other Beverly Cleary books
Encyclopedia Brown
The Lonely Planet's Not-For-Parents Travel Book (my 8 yr old received this for Christmas and says it's the "most awesome book ever")
The Mad Scientist Club series

Also, for books on tape during our car rides to/from school, we have done all of the Magic Treehouse books (which I find much more palatable as audio books), the Bunnicula Series (1st is best by far), and now the A to Z Mysteries.

We absolutely read to our son every night.

I have had this issue with my daughter, so I don't think it's strictly a boy issue. She really only likes realistic fiction. I agree with prior posters who said the school assignments finally got it going. In private school they talked about reading but did not require it. We switched her to public school and then she was required to read nightly, keep a log, write a summary of what she read, etc. She had no choice but to step up to keep up with her peers.

I have DDs, not DS's, but they were (well one still is) reluctant readers. Reading in bed at night together is our special time. We spend a lot of time at the library or bookstore choosing books. Each one gets her own alone time reading with mom. Maybe it's more special because I work FT, but this has made both of them really enjoy reading.

I wouldn't push it. My parents despaired for years because my brother would only read sports bios throughout elementary and high school. He ended up majoring in English Literature in college.