Recommend me a Childrens book

get him shel silverstein. and 'the day i swapped my dad for two goldfish' is enjoyable. oh, calvin and hobbes too.

Sideways stories from Wayside school.

If you Give a Mouse a Cookie

My nephew is close to the same age as your friend's brother and as part of his Christmas present, I got him a book I loved as a kid: Where the Red Fern Grows. It's about a boy named Billy and his various adventures with his two coonhounds. The book is horribly sad at the end, though (at least I bawled my little eyes out), but Billy also learns about the beautiful Native American legend of the sacred red fern.

I haven't read it, but I've also heard good things about The Phantom Tollbooth, which also features a boy protagonist, who is knocked out of his boredom by the sudden appearance of a tollbooth in his bedroom.

Check Amazon for more info. and ideas.

All the books mentioned that i've heard of were great things to read as a kid.
The Hobbit is a good 'un, i know i enjoyed it around that age, The Prydain Series by Lloys Alexander were also enjoyable, but i don't recall what age group that's for, could be a little younger, though 3rd grade wouldn't be too old.

A friend has a girl here around that age, when I see her I bring her a book (English is her 2nd language), things I recall off hand:
_Charlotte’s Web_ E.B.White
_Charlie and the Chocolate Factory_ Roald Dahl
_Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing_ Judy Blume

These writers also have countless other books if those titles are enjoyed.

For christmas I will start her on book 1 of the Nancy Drew series.
Good luck,
j(ay)

the wind in the willows
the entire boxed set of frog and toad by arnold lobel
treasure island

"the dark is rising" series by susan cooper. i walked into telephone poles reading that because i couldn't put it down for a second.

Thank you guys for all your replies so far. I'll check them out.

[QUOTE=vidalia]"the dark is rising" series by susan cooper. i walked into telephone poles reading that because i couldn't put it down for a second.[/QUOTE]
Oh yeah, that series rocked.

[QUOTE=fullmetalbrak]My nephew is close to the same age as your friend's brother and as part of his Christmas present, I got him a book I loved as a kid: Where the Red Fern Grows. It's about a boy named Billy and his various adventures with his two coonhounds. The book is horribly sad at the end, though (at least I bawled my little eyes out), but Billy also learns about the beautiful Native American legend of the sacred red fern.

I haven't read it, but I've also heard good things about The Phantom Tollbooth, which also features a boy protagonist, who is knocked out of his boredom by the sudden appearance of a tollbooth in his bedroom.

Check Amazon for more info. and ideas.[/QUOTE]
okay so my childhood was lived in oklahoma so 'where the red fern grows' is based in oklahoma so i probably read it like 5 times back then so that's a great choice.

there's another author. i forget his name but he wrote 'the hatchet' and 'the river' and some other books and his last name starts with a c and his first name is gary i think. he was good i remember.

[I]Garfield's Grievous Realization [/I] and [I]Billy's First Existential Conundrum [/I] should get him properly prepared for modern living.

If those are too advanced just get him an IPOD, a cell phone and a Game Boy to ensure he doesn't have to be alone with his thoughts for more than 2 minutes at any given time.

might want to check out neil gaimans 'coraline' and 'the wolves in the walls' for a couple books for the kiddies

[QUOTE=big S]okay so my childhood was lived in oklahoma so 'where the red fern grows' is based in oklahoma so i probably read it like 5 times back then so that's a great choice.[/QUOTE]

Groovy. Did the book make you cry, too?

err,. depending on how warped this kid is currently or how warped u wish him to become the goosebumps series by RL stine is cool for kids,

hmm...I don't know. Of all two or three Goosebumps I've read I hated them all. So maybe I just got this personal thing against this series. Maybe...

And I don't mean I read them few weeks ago either. I just thought they were very poor.

I work in an elementary school library on wednesdays.

Any Magic TreeHouse books
ANy magic Schoolbus books
Anything by Andrew Clement.
Anything by Beverly Cleary - She is geared toword girls, but popular
Matt Christopher - sports related and a 4th grade level
Mary Pope Osborne

[url]http://www.weblyons.com/ar/arbooklist.txt[/url] this is a list of books that has the reading level with it. IT is the Accelarated Reader program that schools here in Texas use. It extensive, but if you are thinking of a book it can tell you what level it is. 3.0 or 3.8 , a little harder, but still third grade. harry potter books are 6.7 - 7.2 reading levels for example

I remember reading this choose your own adventure book with the Batman, where each scene led to another two different scenes that you had to choose from at the end of the scene and follow where it took you.

[QUOTE=fullmetalbrak]Groovy. Did the book make you cry, too?[/QUOTE]
maybe...

ditto lemony snicket, if only because daniel handler plays accordian for my FAVORITE BAND EVER, the magnetic fields.

and: mrs. frisby and the rats of nimh! those books owned me in 3rd grade.

WHAT? he plays accordion in the magnetic fields? THAT'S AWESOME.
I read one of the series, thought it was okay, but snicket has now just grown in my respect.

[QUOTE=glamhoth]WHAT? he plays accordion in the magnetic fields? THAT'S AWESOME.
I read one of the series, thought it was okay, but snicket has now just grown in my respect.[/QUOTE]
yeah. apparently, when handler/snicket goes to readings, he tells roomfuls of little kids that snicket couldn't make it, in a way that's very disappointing to them, and so he, handler, is there in his stead, and goes through entire readings not explaining to these poor little kids that it's the same guy...

but, as for the mf gig, apparently stephin merritt wrote songs for the films - what, imo, harry potter only wishes he could be... i heard dh singing an example on fresh air on friday.

Well, that rocks me like a hurricane.

yup. who's that in your avatar, by the way? i'd venture a guess but it's easier to ask.

i have a crisp 20 set aside for the series of unfortunate events//life aquatic double feature during which my head will evaporate from sheer joy

It's movies like Life Aquatic that make me wish i lived in New York.
As for the avatar, it's Buster Keaton.

ohhh. right. i saw a funny buster keaton silent while a live band played the soundtrack onstage next to the screen not too long ago. (the alloy orchestra.) it was neat-o.

[QUOTE=fullmetalbrak]My nephew is close to the same age as your friend's brother and as part of his Christmas present, I got him a book I loved as a kid: Where the Red Fern Grows. It's about a boy named Billy and his various adventures with his two coonhounds. The book is horribly sad at the end, though (at least I bawled my little eyes out), but Billy also learns about the beautiful Native American legend of the sacred red fern.

I haven't read it, but I've also heard good things about The Phantom Tollbooth, which also features a boy protagonist, who is knocked out of his boredom by the sudden appearance of a tollbooth in his bedroom.

Check Amazon for more info. and ideas.[/QUOTE]
Dear god, how I cried after reading Where the Red Fern Grows. Every damn time I read it, which was plenty. I can also back up the Phantom Tollbooth recommendation. Excellent book, especially if you're looking for something a little weird and wacky. I tore through that thing in like 3 days. I remember liking Hank the Cowdog and the Howliday Inn series too. Wow, looking back I was really obsessed with dogs.

phantom toolbooth = BEST BOOK EVER. i kind of salivate when i think of the letter "C." perfect if you love language. i give this to other adults.

norton juster also did "the dot and the line." really short, but wonderful language and drawings.

[QUOTE=vidalia]ohhh. right. i saw a funny buster keaton silent while a live band played the soundtrack onstage next to the screen not too long ago. (the alloy orchestra.) it was neat-o.[/QUOTE]
sweet.

As for Tollbooth it is very awesome. Also it jogged my memory of another series of books i enjoyed as a chitlin: Time Warp Trio (Knights of the Kitchen Table, The Not-So-Jolly Roger) i didn't read a lot of 'em but the ones i did read were tasty fun.
Oh and the Horrible Histories.
Oh shit, what was that other one... The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, yeah, that's for younger people probably, but it was still tres awesome.

that's john sciezka or however you spell that. yes, the "without a shirt" story made me laugh until i cried. i thought those stories were brilliant. the saxophone one made me really, really sad.

oh - and anything by ellen raskin. she rules. the westing game, the mysterious disappearance of leon (i mean noel)

excellent mysteries for precocious young'ns.

[QUOTE=vidalia]that's john sciezka or however you spell that. yes, the "without a shirt" story made me laugh until i cried. i thought those stories were brilliant. the saxophone one made me really, really sad.[/QUOTE]
yeah! That guy, he wrote the true story of the big bad wolf or somesuch as well.

Dude, did no one read Sideways Stories from Wayside School?? Louis Sachar??? Come on, its the BEST!!! I WORSHIPPED that book in 3rd grade, its FAN-fucking-TASTIC!!!!

Yeah i read that stuff, i couldn't remember the name though. 'Twas quite the trip as a little kid, i recall.
Of course some of that Bruce Coville stuff was entertaining too.
Man, nostalgia is fun.

[QUOTE=glamhoth]Yeah i read that stuff, i couldn't remember the name though. Twas quite the trip as a kid, i recall.
Of course some of that Bruce Coville stuff was entertaining too.
Man, nostalgia is fun.[/QUOTE]

Yes, nostalgia. Your ava reminds me of the days when I could go down to the Nickelodeon with my little sister to watch the kinetscopes all day long. We'd get enough cotton candy to make us sick for just a nickel and for a dime we could take the ferry all the way to ... *sigh* ahh, those good ole days ...

Yeah, all these new fangled talkies, i just can't keep up.

[QUOTE=jay]
_Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing_ Judy Blume
[/QUOTE]
i remember reading this an getting a kick out of it but i liked 'Superfudge' even more

I have a 9 year-old son -- he likes Lemony Snicket, Roald Dahl (get the BFG), Goosebumps, and Eye Witness series books (they're non-fiction - pirates, knights, castles, weapons...lots of boy stuff).

I used to like to memorize the cyclic rates of assault rifles. Get a compendium of modern small arms.

[QUOTE=Parkaboy]I used to like to memorize the cyclic rates of assault rifles. Get a compendium of modern small arms.[/QUOTE]
Maybe I'll get that for mine for Christmas. I'm sick of seeing yugioh cards everywhere...

there were two threads of coville books, though - the funny ones about teachers/aliens, and these wonderful fantasies about magic shops and talking frogs (the monster's ring, the skull of truth), and those i loved, even though i didn't read the alien books.

and i just reminded myself of my FAVORITE MYSTERY WRITER EVER from around 12, john bellairs. edward gorey used to do his covers, but they both up and died. i wanted nothing more than to interview bellairs, but when i called his publisher, they told me he died a few months earler - he only lived about 40 minutes from me, turns out. gorey was on cape cod. who knew? i thought he was a brit.

[QUOTE=vidalia]there were two threads of coville books, though - the funny ones about teachers/aliens, and these wonderful fantasies about magic shops and talking frogs (the monster's ring, the skull of truth), and those i loved, even though i didn't read the alien books.

and i just reminded myself of my FAVORITE MYSTERY WRITER EVER from around 12, john bellairs. edward gorey used to do his covers, but they both up and died. i wanted nothing more than to interview bellairs, but when i called his publisher, they told me he died a few months earler - he only lived about 40 minutes from me, turns out. gorey was on cape cod. who knew? i thought he was a brit.[/QUOTE]
Someone gave my son an Edward Gorey book when he was 2 -- she was getting rid of all of her books that she had as a kid. It's a popup called "The Dwindling Party". I read it to him and was laughing by the end...it's really...not for a 2 year-old, but I loved it.

that's a weird gift for a two-year-old. actually, the bellairs illustrations were the first time i ever saw his work, and it wasn't his own stories - just the professor and the kid and whatnot. i liked his own work plenty, but much, much later.

[QUOTE=vidalia]that's a weird gift for a two-year-old. actually, the bellairs illustrations were the first time i ever saw his work, and it wasn't his own stories - just the professor and the kid and whatnot. i liked his own work plenty, but much, much later.[/QUOTE]
It didn't seem weird before I read it...I was like, "wow! A pop-up book" (who doesn't love pop-up books?). I've never read or even seen any of his other books, but one of my professors had a poster in her office -- the ABC one.

[QUOTE=vidalia]ditto lemony snicket, if only because daniel handler plays accordian for my FAVORITE BAND EVER, the magnetic fields.

and: mrs. frisby and the rats of nimh! those books owned me in 3rd grade.[/QUOTE]

Haven't read those books, but you've got a picture of Devo as your avatar and you like the Magnetic Fields, so you're okay in [b][i]MY[/i][/b] book. Get it? [b][i]MY[/i][/b] book, cause were were talking about books and... yeah...

CF

Admitting my advanced age up front: any Lewis Carroll hits home with young minds. The Alice stories or Hunting of the Snark ([I]For the Snark was a Boojum, you see[/I].) appeal to young readers because Carroll takes into account how insane adults appear to be to their children. He takes the child-like adherence to literal translation as correct. The author himself had many issues with little girls (scads of contradictory histories here) but that does not change his capturing the intuitive reading of even the youngest child as feeling that being born is akin falling down the rabbit hole.

You can never go wrong with Alice. Interestingly, I have seen several places the [I]film [/I]version of the [I]Wizard of Oz[/I] refered to as the definitive expression of the American Psyche. In other words, a movie is the Great American Novel.

Let's not even get into the dark side of the moon aspect of the thing.