Sorry to be asking this oft-asked question - but I have a fairly picky reader here.
DS8 is reading around 5-6 gr. level at least.

He will need to read 20 minutes a night this school year, so we will need lots of books which pique his interest.

Currently his interest is in books with no words, or very very few. Ex: Tribal Warfare (a graphic novel about dinosaurs, who of course did not speak english anyway). They went to the library at school and he picked out a book called 'robot dreams', very minimal words and some I Spy books. These are cool books, but I am pretty sure the assignment to read includes reading 'words'.

Here's what we did last night - went through almost all the various bookshelves, me suggesting, him rejecting almost everything: magician's nephew, books on space, books on chipmunks, velveteen rabbit, magic tree house, eragon, rocket boys, time warp trio, etc.
We finally landed on a book which his DGran gave him a while back - the story of Beowulf retold, with gorgeous and somewhat scary illustrations. I think it was published about when that movie came out.
I know he mentioned liking a book on Greek myths last year, so I am leaning towards looking into more of this type.
Any suggestions in that vein, or other veins which might suit would be greatly appreciated!!

Percy Jackson and the Olympians series are easy chapter books which heavily incorporate Greek mythology into a present day story. The first one is called The Lightning Thief.

I like to use the Renaissance Learning website to look up books. Using this link you can find books in the level you desire. And generally, the lower the number of AR points, the fewer words/pages there are.
I think younger children get overwhelmed with longer books when they are moving up quickly on their reading ability. They'll easily go through 10 books with 50 pages each, but won't even attempt 1 book with 500 pages.

My youngest loves this series! There are 4 books out now and they are making a movie based on the first one to be released sometime next year.


If your son likes pictures and illustrations, have him try George's Secret Key to the Universe by Stephen Hawking. There are a lot of beautiful pictures taken from the Hubble, as well as drawings. The text is probably more of a 4th/5th grade level but the story is entertaining.

Books of Greek and Roman myths have been very popular around my house, and a selection can usually be found in the library too (thank goodness). My DD11 enjoyed a Beowulf retelling recently too, she also has liked other books of poetry - try Tennyson, perhaps? Again, the library is usually a great place for these, especially the books which are a single long poem. Also, what about non-fiction?

The goal is sounds like figuring out how to make reading fun. The books that I have seen move several kids from reading-because-they-have-to and reading-because-they-cannot-put-the-book-down are Captain Underpants. Heck the first night one came into the house, dinner was late because I couldn't put it down. They are very clever and different than most anything else available. If you haven't tried them, they are worth a shot.

The books that really caught DS's attention, the ones, he couldn't put down as an early reader were the Bunnicula series about a vampire rabbit that sucks the juice out of all the vegetables in the house.

Acs is absolutely right! Captain Underpants. My kids have also loved the Percy Jackson series (but there are lots of words). I highly recommend the Myth-O-Mania series (now 8 books) by Kate McMullan. I just looked them up on Amazon & Barnes/Noble and I can't believe they're out of print! Little paperback books sell used for $33 to >$100! My kids Loved these, they were easy (still 9-12 age group) and fun. See if your library has them or can request.

Also, kids have a hard time resisting Roald Dahl books (reward with the movie "Matilda" after the book--Great movie--ooh needs to be added to the movie list about gifted kids!) My DS7 and I are reading Andrew Clements books now. They're always good.

One thing I found with having young advanced readers was that while they were able to read/comprehend at high level, the high level books may not have held their interest, or may be too long to keep their interest (so by the time they'd finish and AR test, they wouldn't remember a lot of the details). I tried to help them by reading a chapter to them, then they'd read the next chapter, and so on. This would make it go faster (they could test more promptly and not forget). It also gave them incentive to read because I couldn't read the next chapter till they had finished theirs and they could recap theirs to me verbally which helped retain what they had read.

I only stopped reading to them at about age 9 (so I'm savoring my reading time with DS7).

Does he like the DK one subject encyclopedias? DS loved that shelf at the library, particularly one about religion all over the world.

There are picture books with lots of words, like the Dinotopia series, you might try.

There are also comics you might try to get him hooked on - Calvin and Hobbs, Peanuts. My son is currently enjoying the web comic 'KXCD' i think it's called.

Probably it is this one: xkcd. I like it too.

Have you tried the Encyclopedia Brown series? I ate those books up as a kid, and I was the type of kid who mainly read comic books.

I will add, in favor of comic and other "non-serious" types of books, that two independent testers placed me as reading at a 10th grade level when I was 9, so I must have been getting something out of all those Uncle Scrooge stories.

Does your son like science? My eldest loves to read science encyclopedias for kids. Also, what about magazines such as Ranger Rick, etc.?

I think that the length of a chapter book can be off-putting to some kids, especially if they aren't used to reading them. Books with discrete, bite-sized pieces can be the start of a good pathway into reading longer things.

Val