MTH is one of the only books series that I can get my daughter to read. She needs to find some new books (we have so many but none hold her interest). I'd also like to step it up a bit as MTH are too easy. Any suggestions? Nothing girly (sigh) and no superheros. Just good stories with an active plot line. She is a 3rd grader and reads on her level. TIA!!
Thanks everyone! We made it out to the library on Saturday and took out a bunch. They didn't have book one of the Secrets of Droon so we will try again next week. We did get an American Girl book, some Nancy Drews, and a couple of other non-chapter books. We also agreed to start to read the Little House books.
I appreciate all of the suggestions!!
A-Z Mysteries by Ron Roy is similar. The book level is grades 2-4. I think they are faster to read than MTH too.
edit: Jigsaw Jones Mysteries also popped up when I did a search. My kids have not read these, but it looks similar.
The American Girl historical fiction books are very good -- well written and historically pretty accurate and interesting. I think they are on a second- to fourth-grade level. If she likes MTH for the history stuff she might like them. My daughter loved them. I'm not talking here about the more recent ones with modern girls as the lead characters, but the older ones that are six-book series featuring different historical periods.
Libraries have them so you dont' have to buy them. The best ones (we thought) were Kit (Depression era), Molly (World War II), Kaya (Native American) and Addy (Civil War). The books unfortunately get overlooked in parents' complaints about how expensive the dolls are, and AG has sadly moved away from its historical characters. But the historical book series are really very well done and not often thought of enough when people are looking for books for early elementary readers. As for being "girly" -- well, all these girls have to be tough and smart and take initiative to do a lot of things for themselves during tough times, so no, they're not busy with frills and pink-ness at all. Read a couple yourself and see what you think.
The Boxcar Children
Hardy Boys (or Nancy Drew)
Bobsey Twins
Harry Potter
Ember
Geronimo Stilton
Mary Poppins or Nanny McPhee
ETA- I forgot to mention the Alien in My Pocker series. My daughter really liked the 1st one and can't wait to get the next one. They have cool science experiments at the end.
I love the 68 rooms series about some kids who find a magic key that allows them to shrink down and explore the miniature rooms at the Chicago Art Institute. Each room opens up into an entire world and the kids go on adventures. I was very jealous of the characters!! Very much like Magic Treehouse.
My daughter loves the I Survived series. She has also liked the Secrets of Droon series and the American Girl books (the historical ones, not the girl of the year ones). She devours the Boxcar Children books. She also likes the A-Z Mysteries and Calendar Mysteries. At that age I like the Mouse and the Motorcycle series. Elvis and the Underdogs is a great book and there is now a sequel. The Sarah Plain and Tall series is good. White Fur Flying by the same author is another one that my daughter loved. Mr. Lemoncello's Library is a great book! My niece really likes the World Acording to Humphrey series.
See if New York has a student book award list. If NY doesn't, Google book award lists for other states to get ideas. In Minnesota we have a book list that kids read from and then they get to vote for their favorite book. There are lots of great books on those lists.
What about Dealing With Dragons? Or the Tiffany Aching series by Pratchett? What is she into? IMO, neither of those are "too girly" but her taste may be different. My SD was into Catwings for a while. And Little House On The Prairie.
Geronimo Stilton is a good series (colorful pictures, but also introduces challenging vocabulary). Also, my son loved the Diary of a Wimpy kid books. I read a few of them. I think girls would enjoy them, too.
What about Harry Potter?
My reader absolutely loved that series. I started out reading it, then they took over after about 3 books in.
Geronimo Stilton was another favorite, but that might be younger than Magic Treehouse.
Those were a favorite here too :)
Get out to the library. Does it have to be a series?
My daughter (also 3rd grade) loved the Narnia series and has started picking out books that are not part of a series. There are so many to choose from.
Ditto to Secrets of Droon--they have a similar tone to Magic Tree House and level of complexity in the text. Our kids loved them, and public libraries have them all. The American Girl books also appealed to our daughter, and there are tons of them, broken up into series of 3-5 for each major character/ historical era. Again, the library probably has the whole lot of them.
Depending on her tastes, she might enjoy the Animorphs series too. Percy Jackson also might appeal to her tremendously--3rd grade is when my kids have read them. There also are the classics such as A Little Princess and The Secret Garden. Again, the library can be your friend...
My children have loved browsing the shelves in the library. They find new series and authors that way, and you don't have to put out the money for them, especially when a book might just not be a hit. Have fun!
Try Secrets of Droon by Tony Abbott. My son loved these. It is about a group of kids who find a mysterious staircase that leads them to a magical land called Droon. They have many adventures in Droon. The early books start off at a level a bit harder than MTH and get harder as the series progresses. They have fun make-believe creatures and have more of a plot than MTH, in my opinion. They are out of print, but many libraries have them. Some of the special editions are hard to find, if she really gets into it, but you can find the hard to find books on-line for a good price.
