I have 3 birthdays coming up.  My oldest niece will be 10, my nephew will be 9, and my other niece will be 8.  I want to get them each one or two books in addition to whatever small gift I get them, but I don't know what would be good for them.

Last year I got the 10 year old the first of the Narnia books - My sister said that she didn't really understand them, too much detail or something.  I know she likes the wimpy kid books.

All I got from the 9 year old is that he wants the wimpy kid books, but I'm short on funds and they are WL on PBS so I have no idea

The 8 year old has "Misery is a smell in your backpack" that she loves and reads over and over, but I don't know anything about it.

If you all have any ideas that would be great!  I thought about the Max Ride books for either the 9 or 10 year old, but they're YA and I don't know if they're still too young for those?  Thanks in advance!

I don't have kids but I do like kids books and I just got some that an educational place recommended(havne't read though but I did buy 2 new copies last  year for a friend's niece but havne't heard if she liked them or not) they're by Carole Marsh and take place in 'educational places' or cover that  history such as chocolate town(hershey pennsylvania) white house christmas, biltmore house..can't wait to read these but the lady at the teacher supply said they were very popular and they even had a card to stamp for every so many bought one free..maybe someone here is familiar with these? a few were available here on pbs but I found them on half.com and got several so they averaged out with the shipping to under $4 each seems like.

boxcar c hildren is good too - the first ones are more dated but give the background of the story but t hey picked the series up again and have writtten tons more - I need tos ee which I'm missing and hunt for deals on here to finish the collection.

I could never get into fantasy or 'complicated' storylines at that age..still prefer simple stuff for some reason.

my brother liked books dealing with football or baseball..he wasn't much of a reader but those are what he'd usually read for pleasure. along with charlie and the chocolate factory. (I liked that one too)

The Secret Garden was good but I did have trouble getting through the beginning since cholera I couldn't pronounce (um still can't LOL) and it was set in India I think then in  England and the words were unfamilar and the accents bugged me but once I got into the story with the garden adn the mystery I was hooked!

I have an 8-year-old son, and he loves the books from the series: "The Magic Treehouse", "Goosebumps", "Diary of a Wimpy Kid", and any of the shorter Roald Dahl books. He also likes the Fudge books by Judy Blume and all of Shel Silverstein's poetry books.

I bought him several Hardy Boys mysteries, but he's a bit intimidated by those because they "don't have any pictures and too many words."  :))

Maybe some American Girls books for the younger girl....it's about 1 grade level higher than where she should be, but they really are easy reads.

I second the Magic Treehouse books for the boy...my nephew can't get enough of those.

The older girl sounds like the tricky one to me.  Perhaps The Sisters Grimm by Michael Buckley or Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr.  Circle of Doom by Tim Kennemore is supposed to be funny and is right at her age range.

For the 8 year old:

Cam Jansen( mysteries)

Mary Kate and Ashley mysteries

Jigsaw Jones(mysteries)

Magic school bus

little house chapter books (these are pretty short and take parts of the orginal series and gather them into books)

For the 10 year old:

American Girl

Magic Attic

Animal ark

Who was (they are all about famous persons and are great books, ex abe lincoln, george washingtion, the beatles, Ben Franklin) My daughter still loves them

For the boy:

definately the magic tree house

Bailey school kids

The 8 and the 9 year old often really like Joke books as well!

 Jean

Please note: message attached
I am sure I can think of more. Most of my shelf is that age range.. Take a look I am doing 5 books for 3 credits. JEan

Hello

For the young lad I recommend the "readers digest" version of Robin Hood.  It is very adventurous and fun for a boy around age 9.

My nephew loved  the Rotten School series of books. It's by the guy who writes Goosebumps (R.L. Stine), but it is a completely different feel. They are humorous and very, very geared to boys. The series is available in the club. The first is "The Big Blueberry Barf-off."  He loved them. He had to collect the whole set.

My 9-year-old son and I have been on here looking for books and saw your post.  He seconds the suggestion of Joke books--he loves those, and he also suggests the "Captain Underpants" series.

When we were at Wal-Mart yesterday, he saw a book that he wants called "Zombiekins".  It's a hardback book and was $8-$10.  (and zombies are all the rage right now with the kids!) 

Oh, and another series that my 10-year-old son has liked for the past couple of years is "Hank the Cowdog".  Each one is a different mystery, I think.

Hope this helps, and good luck!