Seemingly overnight, my oldest son has outgrown the “kiddie” books we usually read together (Dr. Seuss, etc.) I think his attention span is ready for something more involved, so I’m looking for recommendations for some books I can read a chapter or so with him at bedtime. Is he too young for “Treasure Island”? I think he’d enjoy the theme, but I honestly don’t recall it well-enough to remember if it’s overly scary/violent for that age. What else?
The “Wimpy Kid” books are funny.
I think “Treasure Island” could be good.
Other possibilities:
“Farmer Boy”, the “Little House” book about the childhood of Laura’s husband.
The Ralph Moody series which starts with “Little Britches” - may be hard to find, but excellent.
“The Rescuers” - the original novel, not the Disney crap.
Does he like baseball? Try [url=http://www.amazon.com/Mudville-Kurtis-Scaletta/dp/0375855793/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247584163&sr=1-1. The author is a Doper, which has nothing to do with the recommendation. I quite liked the book, and I’m not a baseball fan.
ETA: I have no clue why that link doesn’t work. The book is Mudville by Kurtis Scaletta.
My almost 7 year old nephew is obsessed with the Boxcar Children books. He’s usually reading three or five at a time, so they seem at the right comprehension level for that age. And there are about a million-jillion of the things.
Somewhat formulaic from when I’ve perused them (or listened to him recite the entire plot of each)… but, at that age, my mom was reading me Mark Twain so my viewpoint is a bit skewed.
The Hobbit was a bed time story that got repeated or me several times. My parents had a great copy that had cool illustrations.
Tthe Hardy Boys mysteries although they might be a little hard to find but I enjoyed reading them myself at that age.
A few favorites from my childhood:
Rascal by Sterling North. About a boy and his pet raccoon. Lots of life lessons, some adventure, led to an interest in camping out in the backyard.
Where the Red Fern Grows and Summer of the Monkeys, both by Wilson Rawls. Stories about boys in the Ozark mountains. I read these to shreds. Watch out on Red Fern, though, it’s a major tearjerker at the end.
The Great Brain books by John Dennis Fitzgerald, about a family growing up in Utah in the late 1800s. Told from the point of view of a younger brother about his too-smart-for-his-own-good older brother. Very funny.
And, of course, you really can’t go wrong with Roald Dahl’s childrens’ books. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, etc.
Oooh, my first thought when I saw the thread title was, “I LOVED those Little House books, but I wonder if they’re somehow too “girly” for a boy?” I thought they were great. Not too preachy, and Laura got into enough trouble that it’s easy for kids to relate to her.
Seconding the Dahl recommendation.
What about A Wrinkle In Time? I re-read that one a fair amount as a kid. I also absolutely loved Watership Down, though it might be too long, depending on your kid’s attention span. I skipped over all the paragraphs describing various flora and fauna and sunrises and such … that might help a lot.
Oh, yeah … and Superfudge!
The Secrets of Droon series by Tony Abbott–magic and bad guys and there are dozens of books in the series.
Even better is the Moongobble and Me trilogy by Bruce Coville. Magical and very funny. Moongobble may be the lamest wizard in existence, but he has a good heart.
Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne (My 5 year old likes all of these too).
And we just started reading our 7 year old Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. We were a bit afraid he’d have trouble following it, but he’s really enjoying it and he gets what’s going on so far. Of course, Harry just got to Hogwarts, so the really difficult stuff hasn’t happened yet.
He also likes the Black Lagoon series by Mike Thaler. They’re picture books but funny ones, with titles like The Gym Teacher from the Black Lagoon, The Cafeteria Lady from the Black Lagoon, The School Nurse from the Black Lagoon. Silly and little gross at times.
Speaking of gross, there’s always Captain Underpants. We resisted him for a long time, but he can be very clever and funny, when you’re not saying ewwwww.
I’ve read Farmer Boy to him and he liked it. Other favorites not in series are Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which we’ve read at least 3 times, and Charlotte’s Web.
Wow, thanks for all the great recommendations! I’m going to compile a list and hit Amazon.
Another one from my youth - “Follow My Leader” by James Garfield. A story of a young boy (11, I think), who is blinded in an accident, and his guide dog. Great story.
This made me think of one of my favorite books My Side of the Mountain and its sequel the Far Side of the Mountain. They are about a kid that runs away from home and lives on his own in the wilderness I really enjoyed them.
Just to throw in a couple more - Dav Pilkey, particularly the ‘Captain Underpants’ series.
And one we just finished last night that was a huge hit - Kirk Scroggs- the Wiley and Grampa’s Creature Feature.
A second on the ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’ series. We also finished off a comic version of Treasure Island recently - I think I’ll wait a year before trying any of the other R. L. Stevenson. We have a copy of Bunnicula out from the library - I’ll let you know how that goes over.
I was going to include those, but didn’t want to list out too many. Great books, especially the first one. I must have read that thing a dozen times in grade school. Looking back on it, I was a total sucker for boy-and-his-whatever-in-wilderness stories.
Oh, one more suggestion, a little different from my others: The Wind in the Willows. Funny, sweet, and well written. Total classic.
This was one of my favorite books growing up. Although it made me afraid firecrackers forever.
The Bunnicula books are great. And I not just saying that because I am acquainted with the author James Howe. 
I remember loving those as a kid! I stopped by B&N on my way home and found a series of classics that they re-work to be more kid-friendly. I thought that might be a good way to start. They were on sale for 3 for $9.99, so I got* Treasure Island, The Jungle Book* and The Adventure of Robin Hood.
Seconding the Captain Underpants books. When I was a 1st grade teacher’s aide, my students would beg me to read these books to them – they’re really cute.
Louis Sachar’s Wayside School books (Sideways Stories from Wayside School, Wayside School Is Falling Down, and…others?) are great, too. The chapters are pretty short, which means you could use the promise of a second chapter before bedtime as an incentive. 
When I visited the Ingalls homestead in SD, there were a handful of little boys on my tour who seemed like big fans of the books and eagerly answered all the trivia questions our tour guide threw at them. That really warmed my heart, because those books are fabulous, and I like to see boys encouraged to read books with female protagonists. Farmer Boy is a good introduction to the series – for one thing, it’s set earlier than Laura’s story so chronologically it comes first (Almanzo was 10 years older than she, but the books shrink their age difference).
The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary. It has two sequels.
Fixing AuntiePam’s link:
[url=“http://www.amazon.com/Mudville-Kurtis-Scaletta/dp/0375855793/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247584163&sr=1-1”]Mudville](http://www.amazon.com/Mudville-Kurtis-Scaletta/dp/0375855793/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247584163&sr=1-1[/url) by Kurtis Scaletta
Rootabega Stories by Carl Sandburg was out of print for a while, but these days, you can probably get in online. It’s halfway between prose and poetry, in a collection of beautiful human stories, set in radically unreal places.