# 5th Grade-level books for sensitive Kindergartner?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5th-grade-level-books-for-sensitive-kindergartner/660043
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [June 3, 2013, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5th-grade-level-books-for-sensitive-kindergartner/660043 "2013-06-03T15:46:30Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2013, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5th-grade-level-books-for-sensitive-kindergartner/660043/1 "2013-06-03T15:46:30Z")
\*\* . . . or, _The Semi-Annual ‘Books for Celtling’ Thread._\*\*
I’m having trouble finding books which are both challenging for my child and emotionally appropriate. She is a 6-year-old who reads on the 5th-grade level. She is also a fairly sensitive child, and not ready for books where pets die, or anyone is in serious danger. She also really dislikes books where there is a lot of interpersonal conflict. (Still won’t read “Green Eggs and Ham” because “They are just fighting the whole time!”).
So, anyone who has been through a similar age-\>ability gap, or who has an older child with a similarly senstive nature: Suggestions for books/series she might like?
Other misc. info:
Loves animals and Princesses
Really enjoyed the “How to Tame Your Dragon” series.
Couldn’t bear to begin on Lemony Snicket. It was right out after only a few pages.
She still really likes pictures
Short stories are especially nice, although chapter books are OK.
Thank you for any ideas you can share!
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### Author:  [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2013, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5th-grade-level-books-for-sensitive-kindergartner/660043/2 "2013-06-03T15:51:23Z")
Definitely [Mr. Popper’s Penguins](http://www.amazon.com/Mr-Poppers-Penguins-Richard-Atwater/dp/0316058432).
Maybe [The Secret Garden](http://www.amazon.com/The-Secret-Garden-ebook/dp/B0083Z614S/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1370274633&sr=1-1&keywords=the+secret+garden)?
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### Author:  [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2013, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5th-grade-level-books-for-sensitive-kindergartner/660043/3 "2013-06-03T16:04:08Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#):
>
> Definitely [Mr. Popper’s Penguins](http://www.amazon.com/Mr-Poppers-Penguins-Richard-Atwater/dp/0316058432).
>
> Maybe [The Secret Garden](http://www.amazon.com/The-Secret-Garden-ebook/dp/B0083Z614S/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1370274633&sr=1-1&keywords=the+secret+garden)?
The Secret Garden has death from the first chapter and also discusses maltreatment of people with disabilities.
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### Author:  [@BetsQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BetsQ)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2013, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5th-grade-level-books-for-sensitive-kindergartner/660043/4 "2013-06-03T16:15:55Z")
How about [The Ordinary Princess](http://www.amazon.com/The-Ordinary-Princess-M-Kaye/dp/0142300853/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1370276053&sr=8-1&keywords=ordinary+princess)?
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### Author:  [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2013, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5th-grade-level-books-for-sensitive-kindergartner/660043/5 "2013-06-03T16:22:32Z")
I used this site to filter by age and reading level. I wouldn’t recommend all the books on the list but Madeline might be a good fit. They didn’t list Eloise but I think that would be a good series too.
> **[Kids Book Series](https://www.kidsbookseries.com/search.php?age=6&rl=5)**
>
> Find a list of kids book series for the reading level and age group you specify, including information on the series and where to buy them.
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### Author:  [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2013, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5th-grade-level-books-for-sensitive-kindergartner/660043/6 "2013-06-03T16:26:16Z")
Pippi Longstocking? Dr. Doolittle?
Moomins? Tintin?
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### Author:  [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2013, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5th-grade-level-books-for-sensitive-kindergartner/660043/7 "2013-06-03T16:28:43Z")
Would Bruce Coville be too much? I loved those books as a kid.
> **[Bruce Coville: books, biography, latest update](https://www.amazon.com/stores/Bruce%20Coville/author/B000AP93D0)**
>
> Follow Bruce Coville and explore their bibliography from Amazon.com's Bruce Coville Author Page.
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### Author:  [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2013, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5th-grade-level-books-for-sensitive-kindergartner/660043/8 "2013-06-03T16:40:27Z")
I’d try _Story Girl_ and _The Golden Road_ by Lucy Maude Montgomery. Very innocent, and as far as I remember even less upsetting than the Anne books.
_Maudie in the Middle_ by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
_Bunnicula, Howliday Inn, The Celery Stalks At Midnight_ by James Howe
_Sarah, Plain And Tall_ by Patricia MacLachlan
_The Kid In The Red Jacket_ by Barbara Park
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### Author:  [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2013, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5th-grade-level-books-for-sensitive-kindergartner/660043/9 "2013-06-03T16:48:03Z")
How about Encyclopedia Brown books?
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### Author:  [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2013, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5th-grade-level-books-for-sensitive-kindergartner/660043/10 "2013-06-03T17:00:15Z")
Bunnicula! Yes 🙂
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2013, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5th-grade-level-books-for-sensitive-kindergartner/660043/11 "2013-06-03T17:15:39Z")
Have you tried introducing her to poetry? Any decent library should have some good anthologies, and you can skim through them to make sure there’s nothing sad.
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### Author:  [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2013, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5th-grade-level-books-for-sensitive-kindergartner/660043/12 "2013-06-03T17:52:29Z")
This is an older book, but if you can find [King of the Dollhouse](http://www.amazon.com/KING-DOLLHOUSE-PATRICIA-CLAPP~1975-3151/dp/B0036KX5OO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1370281767&sr=8-2&keywords=king+of+the+dollhouse) at the library, she might like it.
It’s a cute story of a girl who finds a tiny king and his collection of “royal babies” who’ve taken up residence in her dollhouse, while the Queen is out mouseback riding (the King is a homebody and loves staying home and taking care of the babies, while the Queen is quite the adventuress).
There’s very little conflict, the illustrations are really cute, and aside from a little brief sadness at the end when the family moves on, I doubt there’d be anything to disturb her.
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2013, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5th-grade-level-books-for-sensitive-kindergartner/660043/13 "2013-06-03T17:57:23Z")
I remember _King of the Dollhouse!_ It is a fun book.
More about poetry: Ogden Nash wrote a couple of long poems called “The Tale of Custard the Dragon” and “Adventures of Isabel” which are great.
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### Author:  [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2013, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5th-grade-level-books-for-sensitive-kindergartner/660043/14 "2013-06-03T18:12:28Z")
Daulaire’s always a good standby regardless of age.
I want to suggest the Redwall series but I’m slightly out of touch as to what a 5th grade reading level is. I remember reading it in 4-5th grade but I definitely couldn’t have pulled it off in Kindergarten regardless of how literate I was. It’s doubly confusing because it appears that Harry Potter is on middle school reading lists now and to me it’s more of a 3rd-5th grade book as well.
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### Author:  [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2013, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5th-grade-level-books-for-sensitive-kindergartner/660043/15 "2013-06-03T18:22:51Z")
_Little House on the Prairie_? If she likes it, then there’s a bazillion sequels.
What about the Walter Farley horse books - _The Black Stallion_ and so forth?
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### Author:  [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2013, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5th-grade-level-books-for-sensitive-kindergartner/660043/16 "2013-06-03T18:26:07Z")
The Redwall books have a lot of violence. She might like the _Black Lagoon_ series. Lots of silly pictures in the same vein as _How to Tame Your Dragon_.
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### Author:  [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2013, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5th-grade-level-books-for-sensitive-kindergartner/660043/17 "2013-06-03T18:30:41Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#):
>
> _Little House on the Prairie_? If she likes it, then there’s a bazillion sequels.
Wasn’t there a lot of hardship and sadness in those, though? Like people dying? It’s been a long time since I read them, but I do remember them being fairly miserable (though I did enjoy them).
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### Author:  [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2013, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5th-grade-level-books-for-sensitive-kindergartner/660043/18 "2013-06-03T18:30:41Z")
The Black Stallion has the scary shipwreck, they almost die in the desert in “Return of the…” and, in the third, “Son of…” a main, normally sympathetic character restrains and beats a horse until it collapses.
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### Author:  [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2013, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5th-grade-level-books-for-sensitive-kindergartner/660043/19 "2013-06-03T18:39:06Z")
OK, I will be the skunk at the party: If she finds the level of conflict in Green Eggs and Ham disturbing, I’d suggest working with her to dial back the sensitivity a bit. Otherwise, she will not be ill-equipped to deal with real conflict when she encounters it, either in books or in real life.
(If, on the other hand, she is concerned about Sam-I-Am’s ill manners, I am right there with her!)
If, after all that, I am still permitted a recommendation, let me suggest John Ciardi’s [You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You](http://www.amazon.com/You-Read-Me-Ill/dp/0064460606). Delightful poems about being a kid, with wonderful Edward Gorey illustrations.
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### Author:  [@AngelSoft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelSoft)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2013, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5th-grade-level-books-for-sensitive-kindergartner/660043/20 "2013-06-03T18:55:23Z")
I love the books by E.B. White. _Charlotte’s Web_ is a high recommendation and yes, I know the death but it’s such an integral part of the story it’s just…I don’t know. I’m going to be reading it to my 5 year old after we’re done with the Wizard of Oz. That might also be a good one. But back to White’s books. _Trumpet of the Swan_ and _Stuart Little_ are both good and I believe no death?
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