Coping with all the different personalities at an elementary school is a big task for a kid, sometimes. Here Andy Shane deals with/copes with/makes progress with a difficult classmate. My son liked the story (and I hope the message worked some subtle magic!)
Insider: Books for Seven Year Olds
Published 6-8 times a year. Meet Liz, a Central Librarian, and her son, who share their favorite books each month.
This is the blog view, where suggested books appear, newest recommendations first. You can also view the complete newsletter with Liz's narrative about their reading, including series and author suggestions, via the archived newsletters page. Or, go to the main Insider page.
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Imagine the delightful control a 7 yearold can have over their adult listener when THEY read YOU a book of animal true-or-false questions. Unless you've been reading a very heavy dose of animals books these last few years, at least a few of these 'True or False' questions will leave you guessing for real. And that is much of the fun here... your reader knowing more than you! This is another title discovered at school and requested for repeat reading at home.
We ALWAYS love the Bonny Becker books with Bear and Mouse. The illustrations are terrific and the dry wit gets us both guffawing.
Goofy hi-jinks at school when the school librarian pretends to be other famous people. This is part of the My Weird School series, but this one is our favorite.
Some animals walk on their first day, while some can't even open their eyes. Some drop from a great height, some emerge from eggs. Jenkins is a master animal book maker: both the paper-collage illustrations, the text and the selection of animals are terrific!
Fact-based reading for a 1st or 2nd grader. Many excellent color photos and new information for the animal lover.
I first heard about this book from my son, as his teacher is reading the follow-up book to this one, Toys Go Out, as a read-aloud in his class. In this first book we are introduced to the toys and learn that while The Girl and her family are asleep or away, the toys live their lives much like pets would (except they talk!) The action is somewhat understated, and I find it refreshing. A ripped ear, a desire to sleep on the bed and not on the shelf, a incident of vomit... it all happens, but without the hyper-pitch a different author would deploy. Recommended!
The cartoon style blends well with the subject. First and second will be able to read some of this book themselves. And there's humor!
So this really big bee can't seem to make any friends because everyone is afraid of getting stung by a giant bee. Then he finds a wig..... and that's all this review can say and not spoil the fun surprise. Here's another case of an author with such a wacky sense of humor both mom and son were laughing.
We are now on book 4 of the Harry Potter series, (though I am listing the first book in the series here.) This series has been a gripping many-months-long reading adventure for the whole family. For the first time my son is truly rapt despite no pictures! (Ok, there are tiny pictures about the size of a half-dollar at the start of each chapter... but still!) Some readers may have to give the first book about 70 pages... the plot before Harry gets to Hogwarts can be a big bummer and a turn-off for some younger kids. But once the magic starts... oh man!
This is one of the first 'chapter books' my son brought home from school so happy to be reading on-his-own. At MPL we call this sort of book a 'reader' in that the stories are linked, short, and are for a 1st/2nd grade reading level. A classic children's book we both loved.
Another series that has easily withstood the test of time. Readable by a 1st or 2nd grader or good as a quick read-aloud, the sleuthing is of the everyday-life variety, and sometimes the solution can be guessed by the reader.
Author Cece Bell strikes again with another excellent tale. This one is a long reader-type book a 1st or 2nd grader could read alone or happily hear as a read-aloud. The plot centers around negotiations between two friends about what to play, what to eat (and more.) Sound familiar?
This series remains a super-fave of my son. Action, action, action plus silliness plus a mystery equals a hit in his book. With a picture every couple of pages and a cast of recurring characters, this series has been a favorite for a couple of years.
One of many sock monkey books. Cute and sweet, readable by some 1st graders, certainly, though we do it as a read-aloud. If you have an actual sock monkey at home its fun to think of all the alternate lives he or she might have had via this series.
Timmy himself would be so pleased with the subject headings for this book: Private Investigators - Juvenile Fiction and Polar Bears - Fiction! This is one of those absurdist-style kids books, as the kid, Timmy, has a polar bear for a pet and nothing much is said about that being odd/a problem/ridiculous. Timmy is a boy detective - doing a misguided job of it - who gets wrapped up in a mystery of his own making when the Segway he's borrowed (without permission) from his mom goes missing. A Segway she won in a contest, and probably the nicest thing they own! He's a mini misguided curmudgeon of sorts, but lovable. The chapters are short and there's an illustration every few pages. A great read aloud with a surprise ending!
The size of a picture book, but the word count of an easy reader, this book has terrific full page photos and is readable for a 1st or 2nd grader. Part of the 'Eye on the Wild' series that includes Gorilla, Lion and Brown Bear.
A Caldecott Honor-winning picture book. We love veggies that come to life, don't you? (See the Lima Bean Monster below.)
Any librarian who's worked with kids will tell you: Garfield is perpetually (and probably permanently) of interest to grade school kids (and sometimes beyond!) It seems to take many pages of strips to 'get' the appeal of Garfield, so if you've only read him occasionally in the newspaper, give him another try!
You may not know this unless you closely follow giant squid news, but there was not video of a live giant squid until 2012! And photos of live giant squid only date to 2002! Here's the real-deal on this mysterious deep sea creature.
If you bury your lima beans in a hole (after you've snuck them away from the dinner table in your sock)... what will happen?
