There is a lot of understanding these days about finding appropriate books for emerging readers. An entire new genre has even sprung up for struggling older readers who want something more mature than Amelia Bedelia. But there’s a problem on the other side of the spectrum for kids
Caddie Woodlawn is a favorite for readers who love the Little House series
who read early. It’s not uncommon for an early reader to reach five years old and hit a wall: a lack of books at a higher reading level that are still appropriate for a five-year-old. Even though these children may be able to read Harry Potter, they may not be ready for the Young Adult intensity of the later books in the series.
The following books have been vetted by moms with children in this age group who are voracious readers. Asterisks denote books that may have difficult content for very sensitive readers. If you have additions, please leave them in the comments below. But make sure that the additions follow these rules:
- No direct violence
- If deaths of parents, pets, siblings or others are mentioned, please add a note
- Complex enough reading for a five-year-old reading at a higher level
List:
- Atwater, Richard: Mr. Popper’s Penguins
- Averill, Esther: Jenny and the Cat Club
- Baum, L. Frank: Oz books – over 30 of them! See the list at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Oz_books
- Birdsall, Jeanne: The Penderwicks series
- Blyton, Enid: The Faraway Tree Stories, The Wishing Chair
- Bond, Michael: Paddington
- Brink, Carol Ryrie: Caddie Woodlawn
- Brock, Betty: No Flying in the House
- Brooks, Walter R.: Freddy Goes to Florida and other books
- Burgess, Thornton: The Bird Book for Children, Adventures of Chatterer the Red Squirrel
- Burnett, Frances Hodgson: Racketty Packetty House and Other Stories, The Secret Garden*,The Little Princess*
- Cameron, Eleanor: Mushroom Planet books
- Carroll, Lewis: Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass
- Cleary, Beverly: Mouse and the Motorcycle and other non-Ramona books*
- Cowell, Cressida: How to Train Your Dragon series
- Dahl, Roald: James and the Giant Peach*, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
- DiCamillo, Kate: The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
- Eager, Edward: Half Magic and other Magic books
- Edwards, Julie Andrews: Mandy and The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles
- Eliot, Ethel Cook: The House Above the Trees, The Wind Boy
- Estes, Eleanor: The Moffats series and Pinky Pye series
- Fitzgerald, John D.: The Great Brain series
- Fitzhugh, Louise: Harriet the Spy series*
- French, Jackie: The Dragonling series
- Funke, Cornelia: Dragon Rider
- Gannet, Ruth Stiles: My Father’s Dragon series
- Gurney, James: Dinotopia series
- Gruelle, Johnny: Raggedy Ann Stories
- Hale, Lucretia P.: The Peterkin Papers
- Haywood, Carolyn: B is for Betsy
- Henry, Marguerite: Misty of Chincoteague and sequels
- Jones, Elizabeth Orton: Big Susan
- Juster, Norton: The Phantom Tollbooth
- King-Smith, Dick: all books
- Kipling, Rudyard: Just So Stories
- Konigsburg, E.L.: From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
- Lagerlof, Selma: The Wonderful Adventures of Nils
- Lasky, Kathryn: Guardians of Ga’hoole series
- Lawson, Robert: Rabbit Hill
- Lindgren, Astrid: Pippi Longstocking series
- Lovelace, Maude Hart: Betsy-Tacy series
- Lopez, Barry: Crow and Weasel
- Lowell, Susan: I am Lavina Cumming
- MacDonald, Betty: Mrs. Piggle Wiggle series
- McCloskey, Robert: Homer Price
- McGraw, Eloise: The Moorchild
- Merrill, Jean: The Pushcart War
- Milne, AA: Winnie the Pooh, House at Pooh Corner
- Montgomery, Rutherford: Kildee House
- Norton , Mary: Bedknob and Broomstick, The Borrowers
- O’Brien, Richard: Mrs. Frisby & Rats of NIMH
- O’Hara, Mary: My Friend Flicka
- Pochoeki, Ethel: The Attic Mice (currently out of print)
- Ransome, Arthur: Swallows and Amazons and Swallowdale
- Rodda, Emily: Rowan of Rin series
- Rylant, Cynthia: The Lighthouse Family series
- Selden, George: The Cricket in Times Square
- Selznick, Brian: The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Wonderstruck
- Sidney, Margaret: The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew
- Speare, Elizabeth George: Sign of the Beaver
- Spyri, Joanna: Heidi
- Steig, William: Abel’s Island
- Streatfeild, Noel: Ballet Shoes
- Taylor, Sydney: All-of-a-kind Family series
- Travers , Dr. P. L. and Mary Shepard: Mary Poppins
- White, EB: The Trumpet of the Swan, Charlotte’s Web, Stuart Little [E.B.White boxed set]
- Wilder, Laura Ingalls: Little House series
- Williams, Jay: Danny Dunn series
- Winthrop, Elizabeth. The Castle in the Attic
- Woodruff, Elvira: Small Beauties: The Journey of Darcy Heart O’Hara
See also:
- Book list for pre-teen gifted readers
- The Search for the Girl Scientist in Literature
- Empty Shelves for Gifted Readers
Resources:
- Child Lit WIKI
- KidsReads
- Hoagies’ Gifted
- Ambleside Online
- CommonSense Media
- Some of My Best Friends Are Books: Guiding Gifted Readers from Pre-School to High School
- Wikipedia List of Classic Children’s Books
Thank you for this list! Our 6 year old has read through half of the list. Now, I will introduce the other half!
Oh, hooray!! I love you in advance for this!!
My oldest son hasn’t yet started reading, but he’s only three and heading for it fast! I’m sure he’ll gobble these up!!! Hooray!!
These also make good readalouds for young kids who want to listen to longer books. Enjoy!
Thank you! This is just what we need right now! I just found your blog through a fb link from Gifted Parenting Support – its so helpful! And we are in Monterey, so its great to see what’s going on in Santa Cruz in this community. Thanks again!
Hi Catherine – I’m sorry, somehow I missed your comment and never approved it! Nothing personal. I’m glad you’re finding my blog useful. – Suki
Here’s a book list vetted by Common Sense Media for a variety of ages and on a variety of topics: http://www.commonsensemedia.org/guide/essentialbooks?utm_source=042213_Essential_Books&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=weekly