My son just turned 8yo and, while he doesn't read much himself yet (we're working on it), my husband and I read a LOT of books to him. Always have and he loves books. My husband has started reading books with more action/conflict to him over the past year but he's taken to really copying a lot of the behaviours. I want to dial it back a bit and I'm looking for middle grade suggestions for more "gentle" reads. He does love the classics (he liked Heidi, Anne of Green Gables, the Secret Garden, Tom's Midnight Garden, etc) but he also really loved the Vanderbeekers, the Penderwicks, Candymakers, the Boxcar Children, and then some younger book series like Sophie Mouse, Zoey & Sassafras, Heartwood Hotel, the Lighthouse Family, etc. Does anyone have suggestions along these lines? Thank you!
by sunbakedbear
8 Comments
Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman
Kiki’s Delivery Service by Eiko Kadono, the movie too
The Borrowers series by Mary Norton
Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard Atwater
A Wrinkle in Time was one of my favorites at that age. All of her books, really. I also loved The Chronicles of Narnia and The Babysitters Club (don’t tell anyone, ok?! 🤣).
The Wingfeather Saga (4 books) was a ton of fun.
The Book No One Wanted to Read by Richard Ayoade
Dragons in a Bag by Zetta Elliott
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente
Honestly Elliott by Gillian McDunn
The All of a Kind Family by Sydney Taylor
Wagnificent by Bethanie Murguia
Pilu of the Woods by Mai K. Nguyen
The Swifts: A Dictionary of Scoundrels by Beth Lincoln
Weirdo by Tony Weaver Jr.
The Tea Dragon Society by Kay O’Neill
Just Right Jillian by Nicole D. Collier
Hilda and the Troll by Luke Pearson
Ways to Make Sunshine by Renee Watson
Layla and the Bots by Vicky Fang
Roll With It by Jamie Sumner
Yusuf Azeem Is Not a Hero by Saadia Faruqi
Detective Beans and the Case of the Missing Hat by Li Chen
Aven Green Baking Machine by Dusti Bowling
The Fabulous Zed Watson by Basil Sylvester
Frizzy by Claribel A. Ortega
$150,000 Rugelach by Allison Marks
Garlic and the Witch by Bree Paulsen
Ivy & Bean Take the Case by Annie Barrows
Huda F Are You by Huda Fahmy
Amelia Bedelia Cub Reporter by Herman Parish
Swim Team by Johnie Christmas
The Baker and the Bard by Fern Haught
Spin with Me by Amy Polonsky
The Hatmakers by Tamzin Merchant
Aquicorn Cove by Kay O’Neill
The wild robot
– [The Railway Children](https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/f57e9651-b1b1-4a15-9ebd-7a57f4740bad) by E. Nesbit
– [The Melendy Family](https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/c0f8300f-90b0-4239-b6cb-4e1835399335) by Elizabeth Enright
– [The Moffats](https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/b2aa45d0-98e8-44ec-a873-a94de3fba4fe) by Eleanor Estes
– [Pippi Longstocking](https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/9a462fb6-87a6-4add-be8c-7cd9866572c9) by Astrid Lindgren
[The Silver Arrow](https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/7c66b29c-0175-4f4a-8f45-02269322f989) by Lev Grossman
In the same vein as E. Nesbit, Knight’s Castle and Half Magic by Edward Eager.
From The Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankeiler