Let’s talk about books. Not just LGBT books, but kids and young adult books in general. What are your kids reading now? Please share in the comments (along with their ages and/or grades, as a guide for others).
My second-grade son is very into the Diary of a Wimpy Kid
series by Jeff Kinney. I’m ambivalent about the books myself—I find the humor a bit sophmoric—but I suppose that’s the appeal to the second-grade set. My son will sit and read them for a long time, though, so I can’t really complain.
He’ll also browse his LEGO Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary
for hours. While there’s minimal actual reading there, he gets ideas for things to build and then has to figure out how to do so with the Legos he owns, sans instructions, since I’m not going to buy him everything in the book. Future Engineers of America? Who knows, but he’s having fun.
We’re also enjoying family reading with the The Chronicles of Prydain 
series by Newbery Award winner Lloyd Alexander. Yes, in many ways they’re “Tolkien Lite,” but they’re more digestible for younger kids, IMHO. We did read The Hobbit
a while back, but I think I’ll save the full, dense, Anglo-Saxony Lord of the Rings goodness for when he’s a bit older. I like to think of the Prydain series as a nice warm up—although there’s much good to be said about them in and of themselves, if you like medieval fantasy adventures.
That’s us. How about your families?
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My daughter (2nd grade) became obsessed with the Goddess Girls series (Athena the Wise, Artemis the Brave), etc. Warning to parents: only the first 4 books in the series are currently available. The others haven’t been released yet. We’re on pins and needles.
I have a first-grader, and he’s reading the Big Nate series. Very similar to Wimpy Kid and the humor is just as immature, but what can I say? So is he! ;)
As a family, we have been slowly working through Harry Potter and are now on Azkaban. I think we’ll have to pause for a while after this one as I hear that it gets much darker…
Thanks, Jan, and Amie! We also read a ways in HP (up to Goblet of Fire), but stopped for just the same reason. Probably should have stopped after Azkaban–not just for the darkness, but for the plot complexity. We did only about a chapter a day, sometimes less, and it was easy for our son to lose the thread of the tale.
Haven’t read the Goddess Girls series–but between that and the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, it strikes me there’s something of a classical resurgence going on in kids’ lit. Not a bad thing. (I’m just not sure how I feel about toga-themed birthday parties….)
Our daughter is 13 months old, so we are big board and picture book readers. We recently discovered, and really love “No Matter What” by Debi Gliori. A lovely bedtime read about always loving your little one no matter what; great illustrations, sweet story about an adult fox and his/her little fox, and what’s really, really cool – the “kid” is called “small” and the adult, “large” – so no genders and no specific family structure.
I loved the Lloyd Alexander series as a kid (thought they were deliciously scary!). I have a book list for boys that I’d like to share with you and you readers that includes this series:
http://www.pragmaticmom.com/?p=116
My 8th grader is a big fan of history and alternate history, and he’s been reading mostly Winston Churchill and Harry Turtledove. In terms of more typical fiction, he recently read the newest Artemis Fowl book, which is a series he and I have both enjoyed for a while.
A couple fiction series that he really enjoyed in elementary school were the Spiderwick Chronicles and the Lemony Snicket “Series of Unfortunate Events.”
My boy is totally into the “Wimpy Kids” books. He’s also into a new book series called “Zombie Chasers”. He normally hates reading, but can whip through these books in a couple days.
Oh, thanks for the note about Spiderwick, S! We’ve read a couple of them and enjoyed them immensely. Hoping to get back to the rest, although I think our son wants to get through the Wimpy Kid series first.
Haha – funny that you say that, just went to a toga-themed 7th birthday party last weekend!
Too funny! Actually, I think it would be pretty cute.