Auntie Pam is obviously a person of excellent taste.
AskNott, I love Sandburg as a poet. He’s one of my favorites, second maybe only to William Stafford (and I believe he was Stafford’s favorite poet). I also love tall tales and children’s stories. I say that in preface to the statement that Sandburg’s children’s stories are so baffling and non-narrative they are likely to bore any child to death. YMMV.
I’m going to give my nephew for his 8th b-day, Coroline, by Neil Gaiman.
I agree, Roald Dahl books are all great - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The BFG, The Witches, etc.
Also:
Charlotte’s Web by E B White
Trumpet of the Swan by E B White
Mrs Piggle Wiggle by Betty MacDonald
Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren
Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
The Cricket in Times Square by George Seldon
Yang the Youngest and his Terrible Ear by Lensey Namioka
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
The Tale of Desperaux by Kate DiCamillo
“One more step Mr. Hands and I’ll blow your brains out!”-- Jim Hawkins to Israel Hands in Treasure Island. While I don’t think *Treasure Island * is overly violent there are some parents who might object to a young boy being armed. The violence is relatively mild and there’s no gore.
Incidentally, Treasure Island kicks some serious ass.
Odesio
I’ve read ‘The Hobbit’ to several local friends’ kids.
It’s got chapter cliffhangers, trolls, dragons, wizards and treasure.
Plus the narrator can do accents and also sing the songs together with the kids.
Half-Magic
The Mad Scientists’ Club books are back in print—including the previously unpublished or barely published pair of novels—and those were a big hit with me (and my dad, when he was the same age) when I was a kid.
Fang and I just finished Captain Underpants verus the Lunch Ladies from Outer Space and the Evil Zombie Nerds. (Title paraphrased).
That was great fun. Mrs. Magill tolerated the chapters she read, but acknowledged that it was right up our alley.
TI is amazing, but its vintage Scottish vocabulary will be difficult for most 7-y-o kids to understand. Check it out.
Swallows and Amazons and sequels, by Arthur Ransome.
And her Ramona books or her Henry Huggins books. All are well written from kid’s perspectives and both Ramona and Henry are funny. Ellen Tebitts (another Cleary book) is one of my all time favorites.
I’d stick with simple story lines (not simplistic, but simple) at age 7. Kids can get lost in lots of descriptive prose (depends mightily on the child and their interest level, of course!).
Add one more vote for anything by Beverly Cleary.
And How to Eat Fried Worms, by Thomas Rockwell.
And The Whipping Boy, by Sid Fleischman
I always liked My Father’s Dragon as a kid.
It’s a chapter book but also has good illustrations and even a nice map of Wild Island.
The Extraordinary Adventures of Ordinary Basil is a fantastic book to read aloud ( especially if you are partial to accents as the bad guy in this is a GHERMAN baddie, ja. you know who else vas a gherman baddie?
Goofy and fun. Fast and engaging.
Harry Potter #1, the sorceror’s stone is another good read.
The Phantom Toolbooth is a must, especially if he is kind of geeky and likes letters and numbers. And the pictures are neat.
A Light in the Attic and Where the Sidewalk Ends, by Shel Silverstein. Must reads for any kid. (However, you can go ahead and skip the misery that is The Giving Tree.)