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MarilynW
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Any views on Lemony Snicket and the Unfortunate Events series? I included them in the boys' lists but have never read one? Are they twaddle?
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Marilyn
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Angel
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I haven't given Lemony Snicket to my kids, for two reasons.
1)The plots seem unrelentingly, I don't know, depressing? I'm not sure if that's a fair assessment, having only skimmed through a few of them, and I think that it's their over-the-top depressingness that becomes part of the humor, but maybe someone else can comment?
2)As I was thinking that they were unrelentingly depressing, I came upon this post from Alice. So I just thought that maybe it would be better to avoid them.
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Angela
Mom to 9, 7 boys and 2 girls
Three Plus Two
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MarilynW
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Angel wrote:
I haven't given Lemony Snicket to my kids, for two reasons.
1)The plots seem unrelentingly, I don't know, depressing? I'm not sure if that's a fair assessment, having only skimmed through a few of them, and I think that it's their over-the-top depressingness that becomes part of the humor, but maybe someone else can comment?
2)As I was thinking that they were unrelentingly depressing, I came upon this post from Alice. So I just thought that maybe it would be better to avoid them. |
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Thank you - going in to remove them right away. They were in a Christian homeschooling catalog - so I assumed they were ok
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Marilyn
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knowloveserve
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Wanted to 2nd the Great Brain books; they were my absolute favorites when I was younger... and without any kind of female protaganist I can imagine that boys will LOVE them. I have the whole series ready for my boys...
also, the timeless classic:
Hatchet.
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Ellie
The Bleeding Pelican
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Rachel May
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I have yet to find an excellent book that my boys don't love. Thomas particularly enjoyed "Little Princess", "Little Women", and "Anne of Green Gables". However, I have never bought into "boy culture" of "girl culture". I offer a balance of books with male and female protagonists and just see what they think. They've neer rejected books because they are "too girly". 
Thomas and Anthony were reading "Just So Stories" to each other this week and have enjoyed the Jungle book on audio.
Jenn, I know you already know "Outlaws of Ravenhurst", and my boys liked "King of the Golden City" too.
One caveat on the Great Brain (which we love). There is a chapter where JD helps a boy with one leg try to kill himself. They try a variety of effective ways (tie him in a bag and throw him in the river, hang him from a rafter in the barn) but are unsuccessful before TD finds out, puts stop to it, and helps the boy find a reason to live even with one leg. Think about how you want to treat this before feeding it to your son's imagination.
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Rachel
Thomas and Anthony (10), Maria (8), Charles (6), Cecilia (5), James (3), and Joseph (1)
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BrendaPeter
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"My Side of the Mountain" & the other Jean Craighead George books have been popular with our boys.
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Blessings,
Brenda (mom to 6)
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Tonya
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One of my sons loved the Horatio Hornblower series and the other did not like it so much. We all love the Great Brain series as we have a TD in our family!
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Tonya
Mom to 2 daughters (24 and 21), 4 sons (19, 15, 12, 12), and 3 in heaven
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LLMom
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I would suggest Hank the Cowdog series for the 5-10 year old crowd. They are hilarious. All of my dc love them, but the boys especially.
They also love Ralph Moody series, Redwall, and LOTR series.
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Lisa
For veteran & former homeschool moms
homeschooling ideas
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Betsy
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I wanted to chime in with a few suggestions....
These are books that we have read that were suggested by Ambleside Online. All of the literature that I have read from this site as been excellent and my boys have LOVED them. We have chosen to skip all of the History due to the Protestant World View of most selections.
Here are a few of our favorites from AO:
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
Robin Hood by Howard Pyle
The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald
Children of the New Forest by F Marryat
The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
The Little Duke by Charlotte Yonge (IMO, this one was the best of the best for boys!!)
Betsy
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Betsy
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Bumping this up...and adding a new suggestion.
My son (and a few of his friends) have been TOTALLY enjoying the Freddy Series
Some of the books have been reprinted and are at Amazon and the rest you would have to get used or at the library. We have also found A LOT of these on audio at the library. We all love listening to them.
Betsy
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JennGM
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Rachel May wrote:
Jenn, I know you already know "Outlaws of Ravenhurst", and my boys liked "King of the Golden City" too.
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I'm glad for the recommendation of King of the Golden City. I've gone back and forth on that book.
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to  & ds1  '03 & ds2  '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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Maddie
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Have you tried the Childhood of Famous Americans series? I much prefer the old versions of the series. My boys just gobbled up these very "boy" books that are full of good ole American boy spirit. Bears are killed, the boys hunt with their Pa or older brother, Indians attack, one boy is roughed up by British soldiers...I don't know if all of them have been reprinted or not, but the older versions just seem like they have more in them or the political correctness isn't there. I haven't compared the new versions with the old but my daughter once read the older version of Susan B. Anthony and then read the newer one and she showed me where they had taken God out of the book in a few places.
They are great read alouds too. I lost track of how many I have read out loud but they are usually engaging enough for me to want to read the next chapter and the next, much to the children's delight.
I have seen the older versions on ebay, the covers are usually blue or orange.
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~Maddie~
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Mackfam
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I love Kind of the Golden City as well. I read it with my dd as part of First Communion prep and she loved it. My son, however, just wasn't of a maturity at that age to "get" the allegory, so we went back and re-read it last year for 3rd grade. It's really a treasure worth reading and shelving for a year or two and then pulling back out because my dd uncovers more and more depth with each reading as she grows. She's entering 8th grade next year and has read it several times. I think it's a treasure you'll probably want to have around, Jenn. Also, grab the full color one from CHC - it is stunningly illustrated. I saw it and loved it so much, I replaced my older copy with the illustrated one.
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Jen Mackintosh
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Wildflowers and Marbles
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MelissaClaire
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My 5 year old sons devours the Boxcar Children books. The best thing about them is that the author has written well over 100 so it makes it very easy to just pop in the library and have him pick a stack of them he hasn't read yet.
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Melissa
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CrunchyMom
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MelissaClaire wrote:
| My 5 year old sons devours the Boxcar Children books. The best thing about them is that the author has written well over 100 so it makes it very easy to just pop in the library and have him pick a stack of them he hasn't read yet. |
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I think that like most series of this nature, the original author did not write all the books. It is acutally a pen name used by a series of authors hired by the publisher (like Carolyn Keene and Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys books).
Not saying that the series isn't good in filling that need for voracious readers! Just clarifying that they aren't all the work of a single author.
Just did a quick google search, and according to the Wiki article, the original author wrote the first 16. 
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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Mackfam
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CrunchyMom wrote:
| I think that like most series of this nature, the original author did not write all the books. It is acutally a pen name used by a series of authors hired by the publisher (like Carolyn Keene and Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys books). |
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I did not know that!!!!!!  Not that it makes a big difference...I just had no idea!
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19, ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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missionfamily
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Can anyone comment on the Rowan of Rin series? We came home from the library with these today, and a quick scan shows them to be okay, but just wondering if anyone else knows anything about them...I'm hoping he chooses the stack of Howard Pyle books over these anyhow.
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Colleen
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Faithr
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I see a lot of great books listed here. I've got some others that my 3 boys have enjoyed:
Finn Family Moomintroll series by Tove Janssen (all ages)wonderful, gentle fantasy
Nicholas series by Goscinny & Sempe (I think the same folks that did Asterix)(all ages)
The Tripods trilogy by John Christopher (older boys; a bit scary sci-fi, but well written and gripping).
The Bantry Bay trilogy by Hilda von Stockum (great read alouds for younger boys)
Bunnicula series by James Howe (silly stories about a vampire bunny; all three of my boys loved these and read them over and over again) 3rd grade level
Wayside School series by Louis Sachar (really laugh out loud funny books, even for grown ups. 3rd grade level
The Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander - kind of like Lord of the Rings except for younger readers. Wonderful tales!
The Pushcart War and The Toothpaste Millionaire both by Jean Merrill - all of my boys loved these books.
We heartily loved the Lemony Snicket series. These are very witty and well written. However, the child has to have a sophisticated sense of humor, understanding tongue in cheek humor and irony, so I don't think they are for kids under 10 or 11 and some kids/grown ups might not ever care for them at all.
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Matilda
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I also found the Lemony Snicket books depressing when I read the first one but I was really turned off to them after I read this interview with the author, Daniel Handler. (WARNING: vulgarity) The interview is about his adult works, but it left an impression in me that I couldn't shake. Everyone has to decide for themselves.
We (my oldest son and I) are so excited that Ranger's Apprentice #6 is coming out next month.
My son loves the Childhood of Famous American series and I was frustrated to discover that our library won't acquire them because they don't think they are very historically accurate.
What do you all think about the Dave Barry/Ridley Pearson Peter books? My husband read the Peter and the Star Catcher book out loud to the kids a couple of years ago and remembered having to edit out a few parts but we haven't read the others. Any thoughts?
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Charlotte (Matilda)
Mom to four (11, 10, 9 & 5) an even split for now
with bookend boys and a double girl sandwich
Waltzing Matilda
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sarahb
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Suddenly, Paddington Bear is a huge hit with my 9 yo. My 12 yo enjoyed it as well on audio for a car trip. I got it for the 4 yo initially.
We all liked it so well that Im busily buying up all the books. So far I have read 3 of them to the kids and I am starting another tonight.
Paddington Bear
More Paddington Bear
Paddington Helps Out
Paddington Abroad
I was so pleased that everyone enjoyed these together.
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4Real Forums : Living Literature
Topic: Finding Series that Boys Love
