Okay, I have to admit, when I love something, I will RAVE about it, but the previous post rave just meant we really really like the book series as a family, no one gave us any free books or anything to rave about the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series- honest. But to smooth things over, I set my kids out on a quest to discover what their friends are reading and compiled a list of 20 Children’s Book Series that will fire your child’s imagination. These books are the 4th-8th grade range unless otherwise noted.
1. 43 Old Cemetery Road
Written by Kate Klise, the books are mainly correspondence between the resident ghost and the occupants of 43 Old Cemetery Road house. My daughter loved this series. Easy to read and because of the short- spurt format, good for kids with short attention spans!
2.Diary of a Wimpy Kid
By Jeff Kinney (see previous post). Middle schooler Greg Heffley and his mis-adventures.
3. The Magic Tree House Series
By Mary Pope Osborne. Follow the adventures of Jack and Annie as they travel to different periods of time. Very easy to read. Both my kids started these around 2nd grade- and there are a ka-zillion of them (or so it seemed). Good for bed time stories!
Ellen Miles. My daughter went through a dog-phase and these were her favorites. Each story is about a different dog (Patches, Boomer, Shadow, etc). Who can resist a good dog tale? (4th grade)
By Rachel Renee Russell. The girl misadventures, with middle schooler Nikki Maxwell. This was recommended by my daughter’s friend.
6. Floors
By Patrick Carmen. Adventures of Leo at the Whippet Hotel. There are only 3 books in this mystery series so far and according to my daughter, they are GOOOOD.
7. Goosebumps
By R.L. Stine. If they like Goosebumps on TV, they’ll love the books! Scary for young kids. I’m not keen on the scary tales myself, but the kids loved it. Each tale is a different story- different characters and all, but scariness is their common thread.
8. 39 Clues
Various authors. Amy and Dan Cahill and their world-wide adventures to find the family treasure, and trying to beat their not-so-nice relatives to it. You must read Maze of Bones, book 1 first to understand it! They’ve already come out with series 2 on this, but start with the first one.
By Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black. Family move to house in the woods and young Jared stumbles across a secret room and the Field Guide describing fairies, trolls and other critters unseen to human eyes. (Good Movie too!)
10. Spirit Animals
By Brandon Mulls. Kids and animals sharing a special bond ( and powers to boot!). My daughter is currently reading this and swept through the first book in only a couple of days!
11. Percy Jackson
By Rick Riordan. Everything that flows from Riordan’s pen turns to gold! We love this writer. Follow demi-god Percy Jackson (mom’s a mortal, dad’s a Greek God) through his adventures with his other demi-god friends (there’s a lot of them.) Good for getting to know that Greek God lineage too! They’ve made movies from two of his books already.
By Ridley Pearson. (Another really good children’s author). Follow adventures of Finn and fellow friends who are part of the holographic program at Disney world as they uncover plots of evil Disney Villains trying to take over the world. Each book is set in a different Disney park. Very cool to read after or before your next Disney vacation! (6 books)
13.Harry Potter
By JK Rowling. It all started with The Sorcerer’s Stone. Follow the adventures of wizard Harry and his mates at Hogwarts. Very long books, but if your child catches the Potter fever….you can’t stop them. Good movies too!
14. A Series of Unfortunate Events
By Lemony Snicket. Follow the mis-adventures of newly orphaned Violet, Sunny and Klaus as they uncover the suspect and reason behind their parent’s death. 13 books in all (of course).
15.Tunnels
By Roderick Gordon. Will Burrows uncovers a secret world beneath the streets of London. 1st book was incredible and innovative- I read it myself! The author has just released the 6th & final book in the series.
16. The Shadow Children
By Margret Peterson Haddix. Another awesome writer, this series follows a dystopian government where only two children are allowed per family, third children are forced to flee and hide in the shadows like criminals. Fast paced and easy to read. Am waiting for the movie! (7 books)
17. Peter and the Starcatchers
By Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. Follow young Peter Pan and his mates in this fast paced adventure series. Good bedtime story fodder! (5 Books in all)
18. Brian’s Saga
By Gary Paulsen. My son loves this series of a boy who is sole survivor of a plane crash and has to survive the wilderness, but when he makes it back to civilization, finds he prefers his old wild life. (3 books)
19. Tucket
By Gary Paulsen.14 year old boy is crossing the Oregan Trail when he get kidnapped by Indians. He must survive the Wild West and try and find his way back to his family. Another recommended by my son. (5 books)
20. Swindle
By Gordon Kormen. Adventures of a group of trouble makers for the right cause (that was my son’s description!) He also says the Doberman on the cover of each book is their symbol- it’s not about dogs, mom!
A lot of these book series have interactive websites with games for kids. But just because they don’t have the uber-cool website does not mean they are lesser books! Explore and Enjoy!
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