Isaac’s Book Picks (age 11)

Ever since my kids were infants, I have read to them.  I have collected children’s books since I was a child.  This collecting was increased when I began studying to be a teacher.  It increased even more when I discovered I was pregnant with my first child, and it has never stopped!  Anyway, since I’ve surrounded my children with good books, I thought it would be fun to have them tell you their favorites.  First up is Isaac, my 11-year-old son.

I showed Isaac the lists of books he read in 4th and 5th grades and what he’s read so far in 6th grade (click links to see the lists).  I had him tell me which ones stood out as his favorites.  In the process, we came up with favorite authors (most of his favorite books were by the same authors).  Isaac’s top five favorite authors are (in order):

1.  Frank Peretti

2.  Enid Blyton

3.  J.R.R. Tolkien

4.  C.S. Lewis

5.  Arthur Ransome

It’s interesting that the first is a current American author, but the other 4 are famous British authors who are no longer living.  Anyway, he loves all the books he has read by those 5 authors.

For each author (except Enid Blyton), I asked Isaac to choose his favorite of all their books.  With Enid Blyton, I had to be content with allowing him to choose his favorite from each series that he has.

1.  Frank Peretti—His #1 favorite books right now are the Cooper Kids Adventures series (the only Peretti books he’s read).  Out of the 8 books in the series, he’s read 6.  His favorite is The Deadly Curse of Toco-Rey.

2.  Enid Blyton—I had never heard of Enid Blyton before moving to England, but her books are very well-known here.  Upon having someone recommend her mystery series to Isaac, I checked some of the library.  Isaac now has a full shelf of her books. 

Enid Blyton wrote over 800 books in her life, including several popular series.  Isaac has chosen his favorite from each series he has (though he finally did pick one overall favorite—see note below):

The Famous Five series:  Five Run Away Together

The Secret Seven series:  Shock for the Secret Seven

The Five Finder-Outers series:  The Mystery of the Vanished Prince

The Adventure series:  The Mountain of Adventure

NOTE:  Isaac did say The Mountain of Adventure was probably his top favorite of Enid Blyton’s books because he likes the funny parrot in the series.

The Adventurous Four:  The Adventurous Four, Again

He also likes one that’s not a part of a series:  The Boy Next Door

3.  J.R.R. Tolkien—Isaac has read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy.  His favorite is Return of the King.

4.  C.S. Lewis—He has read The Chronicles of Narnia and loves them all, but his favorite is The Last Battle.

5.  Arthur Ransome—This is another author I never heard of before moving to England, but his books are famous here.  Many of his stories took place in the Lake District, which happens to be our #1 favorite place in this country.  We have nine of Ransome’s books.  Isaac has read 3 and is working on his 4th.  He has enjoyed all of them, but his favorite is Peter Duck.

Here are some more books that made Isaac’s favorite book list (in no particular order):

The Adventures of King Midas (Lynne Reid Banks)

Stormbreaker (Anthony Horowitz)

Bad Kitty vs. Uncle Murray (Nick Bruel)

The Adventures of Tintin series (Hergé)—Isaac has read 2 volumes of stories that we checked out of the library; I’m not sure which ones.

Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator (Roald Dahl)

Generally speaking, I’d say mysteries, adventures, and humorous book are what Isaac likes best!

Read-Alouds

I have read a lot of chapter books to my kids (since kindergarten), and I asked Isaac to choose 5 favorite books that I’ve read aloud to him.  Here are the books he chose as favorites:

The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien)

Little Lord Fauntleroy (Frances Hodgson Burnett)

The Twenty-One Balloons (William Pène du Bois)

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Mark Twain)

Aesop’s Fables

If you have preteen boys, what books top their lists?

I’m linking this post to “The Children’s Bookshelf” at What Do We Do All Day?