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I've got a 7 year old son that loves to read but I'm having trouble finding good books for him to just read on his own. We are doing Beyond and he loves our read alouds, I am also doing DITHOR with him and he loves those books too. But what about books for him to just pick up and read in his free time? He loves series and mystery/adventure books but has read most of the Boxcar books (lots of times). Is there another series that is good and wholesome and interesting to young boys? What is your opinion of the Hardy boys series?

The Hardy Boys is quite a bit more mature reading than The Boxcar Children series. I think I'd wait on those until your ds is older. It is very hard to find truly excellent living books for dc to read, and HOD has pretty much found what's out there and put them in the curriculum somewhere. But, I realize that dc need free reading books too, and I have had the same dilemma of finding books that are good for this purpose. These are not all-time great books, by any means, but they do fit the bill of light enjoyable free reading time without having worrisome content in them. The "Flatfoot Fox" series fits in the mystery genre, and it is a fun, light series. The "Catwings" series is wonderful. The Jack Russell mystery series are hilarious and fun to read. "A to Z" mysteries are a pretty safe mystery series for younger readers - again - they won't win any classic/timeless awards, but they are quite safe to read for the mystery genre - I do choose more carefully which books we get from this series. "The Littles" books have been around a long time, and are a good, clean fun read. The Carol Marsh mystery series has some good books, though I'd maybe wait until your ds is a bit older for those. The RAF series is excellent for adventure based on history, though they may be OOP. The "You Choose" history book series is good, though pick with your child's sensitivities in mind. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

Encyclopedia Brown is one of our family favorites. There are lots of books to choose from too.

Anything by Patricia St John is wonderful! But check the age range some are good for 7 and some are for older. But all are great Christian fiction. And all of them have salvation woven through them.

Dolphin Treasure by Wayne Grover is good as well as Dolphin Adventure.

A Place for Peter by Elizabeth Yates was a favorite for all of us.


Edie

My dd has been enjoying the Liza, Bill, & Jed Mystery books by Peggy Parrish. Last year we read Key to the Treasure as one of our Beyond read aloud books and both of my dc really enjoyed it. I had gotten several of the other ones in the series thinking they might enjoy them for DITHOR but when I was looking for something extra for my dd to read, I decided to let her go ahead and read one since I had several. She really took to them and has been reading them all now. I just got the last two in the series this last week for her. They've been a big hit with her and maybe your ds might like them as well.

We read a book in the Happy Hollisters series by Jerry West last year when my daughter (and I) were not enjoying one of the read alouds in Beyond for the mystery genre. We both enjoyed it very much and I think it might have even appealed more to a boy than it did to her. I would recommend checking out the series. I think there are 30 books or so in the series, written in the 60's...we are able to get them at our library.

Thank you so much, ladies! Lots of these series were new to me so I'm excited about checking them out. Thanks again for your suggestions

I loved the Happy Hollisters, but my kids haven't enjoyed them as much as I did.

If you can find the Einstein Anderson mystery series (by seymour simon) my son loves those.

Max Elliot Anderson is an author I've heard great things about but we haven't read any yet (our library doesn't carry them
so I'm just going to have to buy them )

Encyclopedia Brown was a big hit with my son too.

kvmck wrote:...Max Elliot Anderson is an author I've heard great things about...

I'm glad you said this - we have LOVED all of the books by Max Elliot Anderson! They can be harder to find though, I believe.

In Christ,
Julie

pjdobro wrote:My dd has been enjoying the Liza, Bill, & Jed Mystery books by Peggy Parrish. Last year we read Key to the Treasure as one of our Beyond read aloud books and both of my dc really enjoyed it. I had gotten several of the other ones in the series thinking they might enjoy them for DITHOR but when I was looking for something extra for my dd to read, I decided to let her go ahead and read one since I had several. She really took to them and has been reading them all now. I just got the last two in the series this last week for her. They've been a big hit with her and maybe your ds might like them as well.

We also love these books in our house. We've read 2 so far. Though we like reading them as a family so we can figure out the mystery together.
I've heard Concord Cunningham books are fabulous too.