Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Books Boys Love


This week's Works-For-Me Wednesday, hosted by Rocks in my Dryer, is a backwards edition. Here is my question:

Persnickety Pete, age 5 1/2, used to love being read to, but lately he hates it. He still enjoys picture books, but I have yet to find a read aloud that holds his interest. If Fern and Wilbur dueled with light sabers, or Pippi blew away the robbers with a .44 Magnum, it would be a different story. (Sorry, couldn't resist the pun!) So many "boy-friendly" read-alouds
are just so far over his head that we can't get into them because I'm spending so much time explaining new vocabulary and concepts.

Does anyone have any recommendations for books that little boys love? Although I'm especially interested in read-alouds with fewer pictures, I'm also looking for riveting picture books to rekindle that love for literature that he has lost. Plots involving bad guys, heroes and weapons are a plus!

Thanks for your help! For more Works-For-Me Wednesday stuff, visit Rocks in my Dryer.

15 comments:

Totallyscrappy said...

My 7 year old recently found a series of boy friendly Easy to Read chapter books. Written by Denys Cazet, they are called Minnie and Moo. M&M experience all sorts of boy-friendly adventures... travel, mysteries, bank robberies... ;)
I hope your library carries them.

Phyllis Sommer said...

my 6-y.o. loves (and has loved for a while now) the Magic Tree House books. They are great.

have you tried audio books? My son loves them and they keep him so interested in the books...

Anonymous said...

For a picture book try The Boy who loved words. It incorporates new words into every day reading and the pictures are beautiful! Also - you might try Encyclopedia Brown series.

Kim said...

BTW your link is taking me to last weeks WFMW post.

Sonshine said...

My 3 boys enjoy Magic Tree House Series, Geronimo Stilton, Boxcar Children, and A to Z Mysteries Series.

HTH!

Alli said...

I third the Magic Treehouse books idea. My boys' favorites were the ones about dinosaurs, ninjas and pirates. The books have pictures every few pages and we read one chapter a night before bed.

Jendeis said...

All three of us kids (2 girls, 1 boy) loved the Laura Ingalls Wilder books. Ooh, and my brother loved The Indian in the Cupboard.

Anonymous said...

My boys love the Magic TreeHouse Series and The Spiderwick Chronicles.

MamaToo said...

Have you read the Henry Huggins series? My boys love, love, love them. (the books are for ages 6-10, I think). Beverly Cleary (the author) also wrote the Ralph Mouse books, which have been hits with our boys, too. The chapters are little stories by themselves.

happy reading!
MamaToo

Brad and Shana said...

Thanks for the tip on my site.

My 5 year old son likes Nate the Great books. They are chapter books, similiar to Junie B. Jones but geared for boys. Nate is a detective and is always solving cases. They always have an element of humor in them too. And, there are some pictures but not on every page

Amy said...

Thanks for your comment on my blog! Sometimes I think my son is whiny because he is tired, but usually he sleeps approx 11 hours at night and naps 3 hours so it's not the main issue.

Good luck finding boys books for your son. I have such littles that I have no suggestions, sorry!

TexasTanya said...

We do Magic Tree House, too. But we also like Hank the cowdog. He's got tons of books, and my boys really like it when I use different voices for the characters.

Anonymous said...

Hi I have a 5 and 7 yr old and they love the Magic Tree House books too. We also enjoy the Jigsaw Jones Mystery books. My oldest just got a Hardy Boy book but we haven't starte that yet. Goodluck!

Mamacita said...

Hmmmm...I have never heard of either one of those cleaners. Thanks for the suggestions - I am eager to try them! :)

Mamacita said...

P.S. I just saw your question. When my son was younger, he loved the Henry Huggins series and absolutely adored the Hank the Cowdog series. They are lots of fun. :)