S/o clean books for smart 9 year old boy

#BestBubby

Thu, Nov 02 2023, 4:48 pm

amother OP wrote:

Narnia?!? Why do people recommend it? It is entirely the story of Yoshke and the whole Xian theology in a story form.

Not at all.

It's about 5 books and there is story about one story about a heroic lion king who was killed in a heroic battle and later came back to life.

A Jewish child would not recognize any allegory to yoshke. And that is just a couple of chapters out of a series of books.

amother

Lilac

Thu, Nov 02 2023, 4:55 pm

Asked my daughter and these are series she recommended

the books of elsewhere
The story thieves
Pages and co
Never after

#BestBubby

Thu, Nov 02 2023, 5:02 pm

Tom sawyer

Johnny Tremaine

Lassie, come home

Across five April's

The boy who had the power

Old yeller

Little britches

Sherlock holmes

Henry Reed books

Swiss Family Robinson

20,000 leagues under the sea

Around the world in eighty days

Call of the wild,

White fang

Captains courageous

Treasure island

Kidnapped

The white mountains (science fiction)

jewishmommy1

Thu, Nov 02 2023, 5:53 pm

amother OP wrote:

Never heard of this series! Can you explain the series?

All seven books are very loosely linked although there are different children featured in each book. They can be read independently, but he'll follow the "loose linking" better if he reads in this order. Here's a quick blurb for each, copied from Goodreads:

Half Magic- Four children wish on a Half Magic coin that gets their mother Alison half-way home, rescued by Mr Smith. Mark's wish zaps them to a desert without island, where half-talking cat Carrie gabbles to a camel. Romantic Katherine battles Launcelot. Eldest Jane rejects siblings for another family. Stubborn youngest, Martha, causes a riot downtown.

Knight's Castle- When the ancient toy soldier comes alive, the Old One grants Roger's wish to adventure in "yeomanly" Sherwood Forest. Will Roger earn his second wish, to save his father? Need for an operation brings Roger 11 and younger Ann to stay with bossy cousin Eliza and Jack. Can the children convince Ivanhoe to marry Rebecca over Rowena, and conquer the castle - in pjs?

Magic by the Lake- If Jane and Mark and Katharine and Martha had stopped to think, they might have ordered magic by the pound, or by the day, but a lakeful of magic causes extraordinary and unexpected events. By the end of vacation, with an unwilling sly old turtle, and Ali Baba's forty thieves, they help stepfather Mr. Smith save his failing bookstore in a most surprising way.

The Time Garden- "Anything can happen when you have all the time in the world" says the frog-like Natterjack in old relative Mrs Whiton's thyme garden. Cousins Roger, Ann, Eliza and girl-crazy Jack ride for American rebels, bow to Queen Elizabeth I, and even rescue their own parents when they were children.

Magic or Not?- The magic begins when Laura and her family--brothers James, baby Deborah, and her parents--move to a country house in Connecticut. There is a well in the yard, and Laura is the kind of girl who believes in making wishes. Her first wish comes true, and this sets off a round of adventures for Laura, James and two neighbors, Kip and Lydia, who mix what seems to be genuine magic with good deeds: saving old Miss Isabella King's house from a mortgage foreclosure, rescuing the "long-lost heir," persuading snobbish Mrs. Witherspoon to support the new school proposal, and discovering the secret of the antique desk. And as for the magic, is it or not?

The Well Wishers- Just when the children thought the magic in the old well was all played out (that is, if it was magic!) and had sworn an oath in blood not to make any more wishes until the well gave them a sign, Gordy—in a reckless moment—told it to get going with its magic, or else! Something certainly did begin to happen then, whether it was magic or not, for a strange, witchlike old woman came to the children's secret house in the wood soon after and led Gordy away. The most unexpected things kept on happening all through that eventful autumn, just the sort of things an unpredictable wishing well might involve them in, from reforming a nearly delinquent juvenile at school, keeping apple trees and romance in bloom, and rescuing a damsel in distress, to helping a new family settle in the community.

Seven Day Magic- A seven-day book of magic proves to be fractious for five children, who must learn the book's rules and tame its magic.

#BestBubby

Thu, Nov 02 2023, 6:53 pm

Carry on Mr. Bowditch

the Cay

Cheaper by the dozen

amother

Pistachio

Thu, Nov 02 2023, 9:20 pm

My kids are huge readers. I cant keep up with it. And I was the one who encouraged it.
But I so regret not getting them into frum books. Theres far more available today. And they wont touch them.
Just offering my perspective so you can learn from my mistake.
As preteens now its so hard to keep saying no /and allowing things Id prefer not to.

But thanks for all the suggestions in this thread.

amother

Thu, Nov 02 2023, 9:29 pm

amother Lilac wrote:

Asked my daughter and these are series she recommended

the books of elsewhere
The story thieves
Pages and co
Never after

He loved story thieves! Will look into these too! Thanks

#BestBubby

Thu, Nov 02 2023, 10:06 pm

amother Pistachio wrote:

I read secular books as a kid. There were hardly any Jewish books, just Marcus Lehman and Olemeinu magazine.

But these days, I would encourage kids to stick to frum books because there are hardly any appropriate modern books.

The books I recommended are old books.

amother

Beige

Thu, Nov 02 2023, 10:17 pm

amother Pistachio wrote:

THIS!

I encouraged my older kids to read non Jewish books, but looking back I think I made a mistake. There are so many frum books available now and who knows what's in the non Jewish books nowadays.

amother

Beige

Thu, Nov 02 2023, 10:23 pm

For non Jewish recommendations - Gordon Korman books and the wizard of oz series are some books my boys enjoyed. The Three investigators series is a bit more sophisticated than the Hardy boys and squeaky clean (if you can find them).

I enjoyed Sherlock Holmes, Alfred Hitchcock, random classics, and autobiographies of famous people when I was his age. Johnny Tremain, Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn...

amother

Saddlebrown

Thu, Nov 02 2023, 10:40 pm

Secret science alliance is a graphic/comic style book but is brilliant!

amother

Winterberry

Thu, Nov 02 2023, 10:46 pm

amother Beige wrote:

Gotdon Korman, very funny but he has some geared to older kids that aren't 100% clean.

Deep Blue

Fri, Nov 03 2023, 12:24 am

Moccasin Trail
City of Ember
Running out of time by Haddix (other books by author not clean)
Invention of hugo Cabret is a really unique novel interspersed with chapters told in illustrations
Orphan Train quartet

Last edited by Deep Blue on Tue, Nov 07 2023, 11:38 pm; edited 1 time in total

amother

Pewter

Fri, Nov 03 2023, 12:59 am

I second Moccasin Trail. I read that a bunch of times. It’s intense - you have to be mature enough.

Also - incident at hawk creek (just look into it first)

The Edward Eager books mentioned above I loved as a child.

Look into the Efraim Harari books - I just saw one today about the wonders of human anatomy

amother

Dahlia

Fri, Nov 03 2023, 1:21 am

amother Winterberry wrote:

Gotdon Korman, very funny but he has some geared to older kids that aren't 100% clean.

Some of Gordon Korman's really good clean books are:

Radio Fifth Grade
I Want To Go Home
No Coins Please

I love these books!

I think OP's child may have a very specific genre of literature that interests him, from what I gather, but these are great books for anyone with upper elementary/pre teen age kids. Or for teens and adults. Like me. LOL.