Has anyone else picked up the Einstein Anderson series of books? DS8 loved those books last year. The books are a collection of short (3-4 page) stories where a boy (maybe 5th or 6th grade) uses science to outsmart his opponent (sometimes a bully) or to solve a mystery. They present you with the clues and then you get to turn the page and see if you guessed how Einstein solved the problem. Very fun!

Other books that DS has read recently:
1) My Side of the Mountain series: about a boy who goes off and lives by himself in the New England mountains and learns survival techniques. Very non-scary, but for the boy who loves being out in the woods.
2) Wrinkle in Time series: We are in the middle of book 3, although Harry Potter and Guardians of Ga'hoole have sidetracked us a bit.
3) Flight of the Dragon Kyn, and Dragon Milk by Susan Fletcher. Anything with Dragons has to be cool!
4) The Mistmantle Chronicles, Book 1 is Urchin of the Riding Star
5) Poppy and Rye and similar books by Avi. Animals (mice, porcupines, etc. must form friendships in order to overcome an obstacle-an owl who hunts them)

I will probably let him start reading the Brian Jacques books soon (Redwall, etc.) Does anyone have any experience with these?

I would like to offer my profound thanks to the person who suggested the Mad Misadventures of Emmaline and Rubberbones books by Howard Whitehouse. DS just read The Strictest School in the World, Being a Tale of a Clever Girl, a Rubber Boy and a Collection of Flying Machines, Mostly Broken. He absolutely loved it!!

If he likes silly poems, you might want to check out Polka Bats and Octopus Slacks by Calef Brown.

I am so excited just reading all these recommendations! And the good news is... most of the books are avail in the library. Thank you!!!
I am quite sure DS will like the Einstein Anderson stories because he likes anything that he can solve. He tends to look for all the books in the same series and tries to finish all of them! Another "older" series I missed out earlier were "Clue" books.

Polka Bats and Octapus Slacks has been a favorite of ours for years!

THATS IT!!

Thanks, its been bugging me all weekend.

Those stories are a hoot and a half!


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mad_Scientists'_Club


The Mad Scientists' Club books build their plot devices around science, mechanical inclination, a do it yourself ethic, and some good-natured pranks, making the boys in these books sort of junior precursors to MacGyver - or a fictional counterpart to the real-life Rocket Boys. The early stories and the first book in the series were published in the wake of the impact of Sputnik and the space race and reflect the thinking of that period (the first book even includes a plug for joining the United States Air Force in the last story, "Night Rescue"). There is one odd, inexplicable exception to the usually science-based, non-supernatural nature of the stories, and that is "Big Chief Rainmaker" in the second book. The level of technology found in these books is of course "low-tech" by today's standards with no home computers or miniaturized electronics, but the technology depicted in the books (scuba, ham radio, helicopters, remotely radio-controlled devices) was, at the time, typical of the cutting edge of technology during the post-WWII, pre-Internet era.

LOL, we have Polka Bats too. My kids memorized Eliza's Pockets (dd 8) and Snails (ds 11) for their memory pieces when trying out for a play this summer. We had a ton of fun with those!

My son started reading Redwall books at age six. They have great vocabulary and the violence is minimal, though most are about battles between the good creatures and the bad . Mice, badgers, and hares are good, weasels, rats, and foxes are evil...

Someone recommended "The Flying Circus Physics book" by Jearl Walker. I managed to find it in the school library. Now DS can't stop reading it! It's a thick and wordy book...I think it will occupy him for quite awhile. Thank you!!!