My 10 year old son doesn't like to read. He needs to improve his
reading skills though so I want to try to get him interested. Where
can I find lists of books that he might like?

Dear splato-ga;

Here you go. Follow my search strategy and you?ll find DOZENS of other
lists just like these:

READING SUGGESTIONS FOR 4TH GRADERS FROM THE WEBER COUNTY LIBRARY
http://www.weberpl.lib.ut.us/booklists/books.php?BookListID=14&SortOrder=Author

EDUCATION WORLD ? FOURTH GRADE BOOK LIST
http://www.education-world.com/summer_reading/4th_grade.shtml

CITY OF RENTON LIBRARIES ? 3rd and 4th grade reading list
http://www.ci.renton.wa.us/commserv/library/thirdbklst.htm

4TH GRADE SUMMER READING LIST 
http://www.loucol.com/sch_lower/sumread/4.htm

ROCHESTER PUBLIC LIBRARY ? BOOKS FOR THIRD AND FOURTH GRADE
http://www.rochesterpubliclibrary.org/childbooklist/books43rdand4thgrade.html

BOOK LISTS FOR KIDS GREAT READS FOR 4TH GRADE
http://www.skokie.lib.il.us/s_kids/kd_booklists/kd_lists/grade4.html

You will note that some book titles are duplicated on other lists.
That?s a good thing ? whenever you see a book mentioned on more than
once list it means that multiple sources agree that that particular
book is a good one for young readers.

I hope you find that my answer exceeds your expectations. If you have
any questions about my research please post a clarification request
prior to rating the answer. Otherwise I welcome your rating and your
final comments and I look forward to working with you again in the
near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.

Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga ? Google Answers Researcher



INFORMATION SOURCES

Defined above


SEARCH STRATEGY


SEARCH ENGINE USED:

Google ://www.google.com


SEARCH TERMS USED:

BOOK LIST 4TH GRADERS

BOOK LIST 3RD GRADERS

BOOK LIST FOURTH GRADERS

BOOK LIST THIRD GRADERS

BOOK LIST 10-YEAR OLDS

BOOK LIST TEN-YEAR OLDS

-- SUBSTITUTE THESE SEARCH TERMS FOR ?BOOK LISTS?:  

RECOMMENDED READING

RECOMMENDED BOOKS

INTERESTING BOOKS

READING LISTS

---

Clarification of Answer by tutuzdad-ga on 14 Jul 2005 19:04 PDT

Hmmm, about 30 minutes I guess.

Dad

Thank you tutuzdad! There are a lot of books in the lists you have
directed me, so hopefully I will find something my son would be
interested in reading. It looks like you put a lot of effort into this
search, how long did it take to find all these lists?--again, thank
you very much :)

HI,
What about magazines for his age group?  Having "his" magazine arrive
in the mail would be special and an incentive to read it.  Of course,
these days there are some online too.  Might ask his teacher.

Here is a site directed at writers, but that would be interesting for
you, to learn what they tell potential writers:

http://www.smartwriters.com/index.2ts?page=magmarkets

And this one could also be interesting, but maybe it is too much online:

http://ca.dir.yahoo.com/Society_and_Culture/Cultures_and_Groups/Children/News_for_Kids/Magazines/

I found this long article very interesting  - for you.

http://www.pennydreadfull.net/soti/soti_chapt05/soti_chapt05.html

And a ten year-old is not too old to be read to.  My 4th grade teacher
read Tom Sawyer to us after lunch (skipped the chapter about his
getting engaged, as we later discovered ourselves).  Being read to
helps kids understand phrasing and the use of dialogue, hearing it,
instead of just seeing lines of uninflected text.  So when they read
themselves, they learn to envision that something in quotation marks
is a voice speaking, and so on.

Maybe this site supports this idea:

http://www.kidbibs.com/learningtips/lt25.htm

And if he gets interested enough in a story that is being read to him,
he can move ahead on his own before the next (regular) session.
I wouldn't read "kiddie" books to him:  Mark Twain, Kipling (the
animal stories or Captains Courageous), Earnest Thomas Seton (Wild
Animals I have known, or others.  ETS was one of the founders of the
Boy Scouts of America).
An adult's reading the kiddie stuff is incongruous, also to a child.
Reading together is good "bonding" too, and something Dad can do, both
father and son laughing at Tom's or Huck's misadventures.

And --- the McGuffey readers are still being used by people doing home
schooling.  Sure, they are old fashioned, but they are solid and
taught many generations of children to read.  Might get a couple (can
be found on the web) and just let them lie around.  (Most adults will
be very surprised at the reading level in these graded readers.)

Good luck, Myoarin

I agree with the aquatic commentor.

Kids are peculiar, they know a lot, but they like a different world.

In some ways I suspect that they are pre-adapted to the past.

I suggest a really good copy of 'Swiss Family Robinson'
Also 'Coral Island'
Shove in the odd Harry Potter - I suspect that some of the success is nostalgia
Be politically incorrect and throw in a 'Biggles'
The Wind in the Willows is another contender - watch out for tunnels

If I remember correctly, Heinlein had some well targeted stuff
- Starman Jones 

I suggest that you start a collection of rather dated 'children's' books
- you might actually enjoy reading them yourself

BTW: you can be sure that he already knows all about any little store
of pornography that you have.

Two of my sons love Harry Potter. My oldest never really was
interested in reading until he was about your son's age. His teacher
read the first two books to the class and then when the third one came
out we were in the store and he asked me to buy it. I remember
thinking, why would I buy you a hard back $25 book when I NEVER see
you read? But he talked me into it and he spent the whole rest of the
summer reading it. It was the best money I have ever spent as he has
read all the others that have come out. He's 16 now and reading is a
favorite pastime of his. Unless your son becomes interested in Harry
Potter first, the books may be very intimidating. My youngest son was
always reading smaller chapter books but for some reason he thought
the book was too big and he wasn't interested. I spent about a week
reading him a few chapters each night and then he just picked it up
one day and kept reading because he wanted to know what happened next.
He did say later that he didn't think he could read a book that big.
He, too, has read all of the Harry Potter books now and can't wait for
the new release. Smaller books that are still chapter books that my
kids have enjoyed are the American Chillers series. He also like the
Junie B. Jones series. The goosebumps series are very popular with 10
year old boys, too, but they can be too scary. My one son got one at
school but couldn't even sleep with it in his bedroom and my other son
couldn't get enough of them.