A friend of mine has a ds who's almost 8, and she's been complaining about the same thing! It's a shame that most books are geared toward girls.

I was going to suggest the Hardy Boys books. I think the majority of them were written during the 1950s and they are very tame. The characters are put in some peril (like Nancy Drew), but IMO it's nothing that will give kids nightmares.

I also recommend the Cam Jansen series. The main character is a girl, but she has a male friend that helps her solve mysteries. Again, some occassional peril, but nothing scary.

Of course, Junie B. Jones is a classic. I know some people have a problem with her because she's always up to mischief, but it's a good way to talk to kids about how NOT to act. I've read the entire series to my dd and she's never tried to immitate Junie.

I'm sorry you don't care for the Magic Tree House series. I find those books to be very educational.

Too bad someone hasn't written and American Boys series (like the American Girls). Those books are great! My dd loves them. If there was an American Boys series, we would read those ourselves. I don't have a problem reading a book to my dd where the main character is a boy.

Around that age I really liked the classics like...

-The Jungle Book, Rudyard Kipling...especially Rikki Tikki Tavi, I remember my grandfather reading it to me when I was 5 or 6 years old.

-Aesop's Fables were also a favorite of mine...maybe you could read one or two a night.

-What about Hans Christian Anderson Fairy Tales? There are plenty that would be great for boys as well as girls.

-Grimms Fairy Tales

-The adventures of Winnie the Pooh

-Tom Sawyer

-The Laura Ingalls Wilder books would probably hold his attention.

-L. Frank Baum and the OZ books he also wrote "The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus"

-I LOVED The Wind in the Willows

-Beatrix Potter has some longer stories that you could stretch out for two or three nights...everyone loves her characters.

-The Velveteen Rabbit

-Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimn

-What about Black Beauty?

-The Jack London Books...Call of the Wild and such might be too old for him, but will be good later on

You really do have to think about it, but there are some good ones out there.

It is hard to find these books! We are going to start the Magic Treehouse books soon. However we have been reading the smaller books to work on his reading. I was so upset that he found the Mouse and the Motorcycle so boring. I loved that book.

I SO love Beverly Cleary books!! I will never forget, the highlight of my 3rd grade year was my teacher reading, "Ramona Quimby, Age 8". I could NOT WAIT until lunch was over so we could go back to our classroom and lay our heads on our desk while Mrs. Cooper read aloud to us...it was especially soothing for her to read to us on rainy days. I like the Ramona books because they're pretty unisex...Ramona is a tomboy and she has a little boy that's her best friend.

I was also going to suggest the older books from the Hardy Boys series. I was a die hard Nancy Drew fan when I was a kid!

Thank you everyone for the great responses. I think right now we are just at such a gap because of his age and the fact that he's sensitive. I know books like Charlotte's web would bother him at his age (that they were going to kill Wilbur). I personally love the Magic Treehouse series, we started the first one and the tension about the dinosaur (even though I am very monotone about the whole thing and just use a nonchalant kind of voice, it's funny, really) he still didn't want to finish it. I'm thinking maybe next year he'll be a little older and can handle the tension better.

I did find the Cynthia Rylant (sp?) books the Lighthouse family and they are WONDERFUL! I wish they were longer, but hey, what can you do? Even the one about the girls club - he might be young enough to us to get away with reading those to him.

Another idea I had was to get a 'compilation' book of books he already likes, and read that continuously a story a night, i.e. I know they have a compilation of Curious George stories that have like 20 stories in them ~ it wouldn't be the same idea as chapters but I'd be reading something similar each night, you know?

Thanks again for the other suggestions. I am going to print them off for the future!

Thank you so much for all these suggestions. My son isn't ready for chapter books yet, but I'm saving these lists.

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~Jeweled