Children's Books discussion

I have been asked l write a little list of about 5 or 10 books that a dad can read as serial stories to his son. He only sees his little boy every second week but I am so happy to help as I think dads make wonderful role models. I should mention i am a teacher librarian in an Australian elementary school. So far I have thought of old classics like

Flat Stanley
Stuart Little
The world according to Humphrey
Tashi by Anna
Roald Dahl


Any other ideas would be great. Thanks in advance.

I have a 7 year old, and this year we've enjoyed:
The Samurai Kids series by Sandy Fussell (starting with White Crane) & all (well, we're on #9) of the How to Train Your Dragon series! We also still love picture books so most nights it's a mix.

I would highly recommend the following series:

Roscoe Riley Rules
Magic Tree House
Dragon Keepers
Geronimo Stilton
Dragonbreath
Jigsaw Jones Mysteries
Horrible Harry
Magic School Bus chapter books

and there are so many more that are great for children this age...

I will mention that many of these series take place in the U.S. and aren't about Australia. I don't even know how many of them are available in Australia, although I know most can be purchased online. We borrow them from our local library.

Mrs. Piggle Wiggle was always one of my favorites. The chapters are individual stories and stand alone after reading the first chapter.

Thanks for these suggestions. Dolly I have nearly all the series you mention in my school library. I don't need an Australian setting for these books just good chapter books the dad can read each evening at bed time.

Two suggestions: Pippi Longstocking, and Arabel's Raven. My son enjoyed having them read aloud to him around that age, and IIRC, they wouldn't suffer from having the chapters read two weeks apart. Mary Poppins is also very episodic.

Thanks again. This little boy is only 5 just turning 6. Mary Poppins might be a little too hard not sure.

I will order Arabel's raven as I adore Joan Aitken. He large picture book The moon's revenge is one I read to my Grade 5 students every year.

Children Make Terrible Pets - great book for humorous discussions (male author/illustrator), One Cool Friend - book about a boy, a pet, and his dad, Crocodile Tears - book about African animals in search of an answer (male author/illustrator). These make fun interesting reading. :)

The Story of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting - when I was a wee lad of six my dad used to read me chapters from this book as if they were individual stories - he'd adopt character voices and make funny sound effects.

and are stories about boys of a certain age and are hugely entertaining and episodic in nature.

is also episodic and great fun.

is also worth a look - colorful adventures stories.

Thank you. We have an old copy of Dr Dolittle I might lends it to the dad.

The "Emil" series by Astrid Lindgren is also wonderful, episodic, fun and I think perfect for a six year old boy (although I have never read them in English, just in German).

Some of the English language versions of the Emil tales are (and as stated above, I have only read them in German, but I loved these as a child and my little brother, who was not much of a reader when he was younger, also loved these stories):

Emil's Little Sister
Emil's Sticky Problem
Emil in the Soup Tureen
Emil and Piggy Beast
That Emil
Emil Gets into Mischief

By the way, it does not appear that these books are all that readily available, and I think there also are alternative titles for some of them. It's too bad that the Emil series has not been as popular in English speaking countries as the Pippi Longstocking books.

Oh, and for another great episodic series by Astrid Lindgren (although this is a bit more girl oriented, but does have very many anecdotes featuring the brothers of narrator, seven year old Lisa), try the Noisy Village series:

The Children of Noisy Village
Christmas in Noisy Village (this is a picture book)
Happy Times in Noisy Village
Springtime in Noisy Village

My son is five and I just read him My Father's Dragon and he LOVED it. My little sister is six and listened as we read and actually enjoyed it too.

Thanks Gundula and Amanda. I keep seeing My Fathers Dragon mentioned in other contexts but I have yet to read it. I loved Emil and the detectives when I was a child and Pippi too because I share the authors name.

How about The Jungle Book lots of great individual stories.

Thanks Ivan I have a good copy of these plus some fun Retellings.

Don't forget the Australian classic The Muddle-Headed Wombat - lots of ideas to discuss between the two of you, such as, for instance, what's the difference between being nice and being a doormat?

A Bear Called Paddington is a novel, but episodic. I always loved Paddington.

And there are lots of Paddington books besides the first... :)

I have a teacher in my Australian school who reads Muddle headed wombat every year to her class. Thanks for this suggestion.