Folks might have other recommendation requests, but I’m looking for books for my niece. She is in kindergarten but reading way above her level. Because I’m the far-away auntie, I’m kind of at a loss.
She loves books and is different than me and her sister, in that she wouldn’t be offended by a too-easy book but I want to give her a couple or three good ones!
She loves Kate Beaton’s Princess and the Pony, and A Pig in a Wig, and really enjoys wild and weird illustrations. And I think she would like poetry.
The thing is, I don’t even have ideas from my childhood because I was always trying to grow up so fast, I avoided kid things.
Do some of you have kid book recs? I would really appreciate some ideas!
My 5 year old has one she loves called Mummy Cat. Feather, Fur Fin is amazing, as is Moth. Rosie Revere, Engineer. Ada Twist, Scientist. Camilla, Cartographer.
No specific books or authors, but my nieces could not get enough of anything with unicorns or fairies, glittery colours and, of course, pink. So much pink. Your niece may be different but my two were - and are - girly girly girly girls and despite my best efforts were just not interested in anything beyond fairly traditional gender roles, ‘girly’ things such as unicorns, fairies, rainbows, etc, and colours. ♀ ♀
Oh yes, younger niece is glitter pink and cotton candy sparkles, with unicorns and babies. Older niece likes skulls, spiders, and ninjas, she would like to be a chef, or do monster makeup. The good news is they play each other’s made up games together and get along well. They also both have a lot of strong feminist influence
I guess it depends on how far above kindergarten she’s reading, but Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume were popular in 1st and 2nd grade.
maybe The Wind in the Willows? I liked it when I think I was in kindergarten but my mother read it to me, but it was the illustrated one so I think I read along while looking at the pictures.
get her started on a classical education with D’Aulaires Mythology, which is picture book style Greco-Roman.
Heck, when I learned to read, my mother swears I did it by rote, because she read the same book to me OVER AND OVER, so that I was able to read when I was in kindergarten. After that, it was Nelly, bar the door! when it came to reading for me. And having bookworm parents…well, that couldna been better.
OOOH - Encycolpedia Brown! I remember looking through the World Book encyclopedia of my era when I was her age, not understanding all of it, but the photos were state-of-the-art back then, them and Time-Life’s. Also, it helps foster the truth that book-research need not be dull!
(i get really hepped-up over younger folks reading books, it’s almost embarrassing)
If you are an Amazon user, they have a service called FreeTimeUnlimited that allows kids to borrow ebooks for free. The same idea as Kindle Unlimited, but for kids’ books. It’s $3/month for one kid or $7/month for a family plan, slightly more if you are not already a Prime member. There are other pricing plans available. Initial subscriptions include a free trial month. We have the family plan and we for sure get our money’s worth, and then some. It’s been a lifesaver during the lockdowns here, especially while the libraries were closed. It has decent parental controls, if that’s an issue for you. It’s a good selection, everything from picture books to things I’d consider near-adult books. (Harry Potter, for example.) I highly recommend it.
Edit: I am reliably informed that it’s called Amazon Kids+ now:
Age levels are hard to guess and subjective, but these are some of the ones that I remember enjoying from early childhood (lots of magic and silliness):
Oh geez, so’m I and I’ll still read Henry Huggins, too! I love “Henry and the Paper Route” the best. I have my brother’s copy, and he’s seven years older than me, turned 63 yesterday, gawdluvim! I got his hand-me-down books from Scholastic Book Services, and lemme tell ya, he got some great ones, especially the science-DIY books!
I am reading, honest to Pete, a collection of E.L. Konigsburg short stories Throwing Shadows. I have a 1954 Trixie Belden hardcover book from a Friends of the Library Book Sale, which I mean to read before I turn 55. blush
I belonged to the Trixie Belden Mystery Club! I was reading a few from this series that my late Aunt Ann kept around her house (and my late mom inherited):
From WWII to just after the war are the ones I read.
As you are an adult reader with a delicious sense of humour, I recommend you add to your holiday wishlist Mabel MaNey’s The Case of the Not-So-Nice Nurse, a Cherry Ames LGBTQ send-up. Tobin and I read MaNey’s Nancy Clue and the Hardly Boys in A Ghost in the Closet and howled with laughter.
I do not recommend Mabel MaNey for children’s reading.
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