On nights that I'm not working, I like to read stories to my kids at bedtime. The kids are 3, 5, 8, and 10. We recently finished the Swallows and Amazons series by Arthur Ransome. For those not familiar, these are stories about a group of British kids who spend their summers sailing and camping and generally having adventures outdoors. These were great books...wholesome and imaginative, with fun story lines, and great plot and character development. They're well written, held the attention of all four kids, and most importantly really sparked their imaginations. On multiple occasions I caught them pretending they were sailing or exploring just like in the books. It was also nice that there were a lot of them...it took us over a year to get through the whole series.

Now that we're done with those, I've been struggling to find something similar to move on to. I want something with some depth that's fun to read, but also inspires the imagination and an appreciation for independence and the outdoors. It's also important that it be wholesome...no profanity, mature themes or innuendo...that kind of stuff. It needs to be simple enough for the younger ones to at least be able to understand what's going on, while deep enough for the older ones (and Dad!) to not be bored by it.

Anybody got any suggestions?

Chronicles of Narnia

My daughter likes the Geronimo Stilton series. Separate stories with the same mouse characters. She’s almost 9 and has been reading them by herself since about 6.

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Originally posted by lkdr1989:
Chronicles of Narnia

Seconded



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Originally posted by TigerDore:

quote:

Originally posted by lkdr1989:
Chronicles of Narnia

Seconded

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Indeed excellent books, and exactly along the lines of what I'm looking for. We've already read them all, though.

When I was a kid, I really liked a bunch of books by Jim Kjelgaard - Many of them centered around the outdoors & animals.

On a side note: until now, when I was looking for the correct spelling of Kjelgaard's name, I had no idea about the manner of his death

-Also, although they're not quite books and more like "comics" - Tintin by Hergé are excellent....just avoid Tintin in the Congo

I say pass on CoN, it is an intellectual con job. Not without merit but an artiface.

Have a go at Lloyd A lexander's Black Cauldron books. The books are much better than the stupified Disne y animation.

I liked the Black Cauldron series. While not a series, the Robert Heinlien “juvenile” books should meet your needs:

Rocket Ship Galileo (1947)
Space Cadet (1948)
Red Planet (1949)
Farmer in the Sky (1950)
Between Planets (1951)
The Rolling Stones (also known as Space Family Stone, 1952)
Starman Jones (1953)
The Star Beast (1954)
Tunnel in the Sky (1955)
Time for the Stars (1956)
Citizen of the Galaxy (1957)
Have Space Suit—Will Travel (1958)

Starship Troopers (1959) might be a little harsh for the littlest.

While you can likely skip the rest of the little house on the prarie series, “Little House in the Big Woods” got read to my girls a lot - particularly the chapter when Pa is casting lead balls and carefully loading the rifle and putting it up on pegs above the front door.

My 9 year old has been reading several of Chris D'Lacey's books. I believe it's The Last Dragon Chronicles series she's most interested in. Suggested by our local librarian and turned out to be a huge hit. Also, just picked up the Warriors: The Prophecies Begin set (Warrior Cats as my daughter says) by Erin Hunter. Popular around here!

Also, Mo Willem's Goldilocks and the three Dinosaurs is a favorite book for the young ones. Really quite cute and funny.

Hank the Cowdog

The Rush Revere series put out by Rush Limbaugh. Teaches the youngun’s real American history that they will never hear about in schoolthrough a time traveling horse named Revere. Sounds like your youngun’s are the perfect age for the series.