What are some good books for kids? Like the Chronicles of Narnia...

Check these out:

https://www.amazon.com/Who-Should-We-Then-Read/dp/0970962819/

https://www.amazon.com/Who-Should-We-Then-Read/dp/0970962851/

I used to read Hardy Boys and Tom Swift books at that age. Other kids that age and older read The Hobbit, but you said "nothing remotely occult," and I'm not sure how a middle schooler will be able to differentiate between "magic" in the Tolkien universe and real magic (or even what neo-pagan wannabes are into).

Your tolerance for magical elements might not be as high as mine but here are some fantasy novels like those of Lewis' I would recommend.

There's the Hobbit, an obvious choice since JRR Tolkien was friends with CS Lewis.

I would recommend the Chronicles of Prydain. Takes inspiration from Welsh Mythology.

The Once and future King, specifically the Sword in the Stone story. Based on the Arthurian Legend.

Then finally the Snow Queen, Hans Christian Anderson.

If you want non-fantasy books, Ender's game is a good sci-fi for children which is challenging but nothing an early teen can't handle. Though I wouldn't recommend the sequels as they might be a bit too much for a middle school student to handle.

Healing with Jesus said:

One of my children just finished the Chronicles of Narnia series and thoroughly enjoyed it. This was C.S. Lewis' only work written for kids. It's a really beautiful series if you haven't read it. I first read it around age 30.

What are your suggestions for other works of fiction for the middle school age crowd?

Please, no suggestions like Harry Potter or anything that is even remotely occult.

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Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan.

I don't think that the Narnia books are Satanic. I thought they were wonderful books. Of course, I would have any issues with either the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings or the Harry Potter books so I'm probably a bit more open than some posting here.

One book that I think is now out of print but is a wonderful read is O Ye Jigs & Juleps! by Virginia Cary Hudson. It is a series of essays on topics ranging from the library to China to sacraments to etiquette written by a southern schoolgirl in the late 1800s. It is an easy read and it is hilarious. If it is out of print I'm sure that your local public library could get a copy for you on interlibrary loan.

Healing with Jesus said:

One of my children just finished the Chronicles of Narnia series and thoroughly enjoyed it. This was C.S. Lewis' only work written for kids. It's a really beautiful series if you haven't read it. I first read it around age 30.

What are your suggestions for other works of fiction for the middle school age crowd?

Please, no suggestions like Harry Potter or anything that is even remotely occult.

Click to expand...

I'm not sure if your objection to Harry Potter is the secular humanist worldview of the author or that it simply brings up the topics of wizards/magic/etc. If it's the former, you may enjoy

The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien

The Michael Vey Series; despite being written by a Mormon I don't see anything that specifically advocates for Mormon theology aside from the change in Michael Vey at the end of the story...but even then, if you didn't know about the Mormon acceptance of the heretical teaching of apothéōsis, you wouldn't identify it.

There's also a very old series called "The Childhood of Young Americans"; biographies of historical figures of importance written at a time when political correctness wasn't a thing...but that's probably written at a 4th-6th grade reading level and may be a little too easy if your child is already working through Lewis.

Healing with Jesus said:

One of my children just finished the Chronicles of Narnia series and thoroughly enjoyed it. This was C.S. Lewis' only work written for kids. It's a really beautiful series if you haven't read it. I first read it around age 30.

What are your suggestions for other works of fiction for the middle school age crowd?

Please, no suggestions like Harry Potter or anything that is even remotely occult.

Click to expand...

Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan.

I would also suggest some of the books about the missionaries of the past.

I allowed my kids to read of lot of sci-fi books. In those political ideas come up a lot, but not magic or witchcraft.

Just read books before your kids, and decide which ones are appropriate for your children. I allowed my children more adult content like would be presented in historical fiction like The Book Thief while they were fairly young, so some of what your going to allow might be different than what others might allow.

I found movies like Rainman to be appropriate for my children at a younger age even though it was rated r, than many pg-13 movies that I considered "over my dead body"..

So a lot of what you would find okay for a young teen, might be far different than what others would allow. I always read books before allowing my kids to read them, as a result.

A fantasy book I liked for my daughter was the book Inkheart, but I may have been more permissive than you.

I liked 'what Katie Did' ( it might be by Frances Hodgson Burnett) and 'Little Women' by Louisa May Alcott. I also enjoyed 'To Kill a Mockingbird' but that has a serious plot covering sensitive issues.

I love the Enchanted Forest Chronicles. I picked my user name here bc of the heroine character. Princess Cimorene!!!

The story of George Clark Rankin is a good one...

The Life of George Clark Rankin

The Chronicles of Narnia is just as occultic as Harry Potter

A very valuable friend of mine shared with me those stories:

Aesops Fables - Short Kid Stories

You can also have the interactive page-to-page version here:

Library of Congress Aesop Fables

If you find these good, I can share the link for the paperpack with you.

Forgive me if they are not suitable for the middle school age. I'm still 23 years old myself and I'm not so experienced with this. I'm just sharing stories I found lovely.

Of course you can go through all the stories first to make sure they are the best for your children.

Other people have already said The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien, and I would agree. Otherwise, I don't know what else I would recommend in the high fantasy genre, or even in the fantasy genre more broadly. Well-written fantasy is hard to come by and well-written Christian fantasy is even harder to find.

I was a big fan of the Royal Diaries and Dear America books, although those are more geared towards girls, and I don't know if you're recommending these to a boy.

Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson is an adventure novel set in 18th century Scotland.

I started reading the Horatio Hornblower book series long after middle school, but I think they'd still be appropriate for middle schoolers (or at least the first few books I read were, to my memory). The books follow the story of a young man in the British navy during the Napoleonic wars.

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell is about a Native American girl who is accidentally abandoned on an island, and must learn to survive on her own. Sort of a sad book, but still enjoyable.

Dancing Shoes and Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfield both focus on sets of adoptive sisters at dancing and theatre schools in England during the 1930s and 1940s. Due to the subject matter, I'm not sure how much boys would enjoy them, but I would recommend them to middle school girls.

I read the Sophie books by Nancy Rue when I was in 4th and 5th grade, but I still think middle school girls would like them. They deal with a lot of Christian themes, as well as other topics relevant for girls in that age bracket, such as friendship, bullying, and getting along with one's parents. Nancy Rue wrote other book series as well, but the Sophie series was the one I was most fond of.

I also HIGHLY recommend reading books beforehand, or even at the same time, as your kids. It gives you the opportunity to discuss the book's themes and content with them, which can be really good if you're worried about a book having murky aspects to it. That way, you can talk through them with your kids. I'd also see if you could find a book club for Christian middle-schoolers in your area. I joined a book club for Christian homeschoolers early in high school, and not only did I make lots of friends, but I read wide variety of books.

I'll come back if I think of any more books.

Harry Potter is a good book series. The whole "there is occult" accusations are phobias of reading powers that doesn't involve God or Jesus in the story. Just because there are spookey elements in that universe doesn't mean it will make your children worship satan. Your children will likely grow up and find out (or know already) that all the magic stuff is fiction.

Depending on their age, you can also try Goosebumps.

It really depends what the genre they like. Horror, Sci-fi, fantasy, comedy.. need to be more specific with their interests.

R. Genevieve said:

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell is about a Native American girl who is accidentally abandoned on an island, and must learn to survive on her own. Sort of a sad book, but still enjoyable.
.

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This is a great book.

Healing with Jesus said:

One of my children just finished the Chronicles of Narnia series and thoroughly enjoyed it. This was C.S. Lewis' only work written for kids. It's a really beautiful series if you haven't read it. I first read it around age 30.

What are your suggestions for other works of fiction for the middle school age crowd?

Please, no suggestions like Harry Potter or anything that is even remotely occult.

Click to expand...

These might be considered "girly" options to some but I believe that even young boys can derive a lot of enjoyment and even life lessons from these books:

As they grow up, perhaps gradually read the "Anne of Green Gables" series. The first book is very kid friendly and reading them as the child grows is a good idea bc as the main character, Anne, grows and lives out her interesting life the subject matter delves into tougher life lessons that are age appropriate to the age Anne is in each book.

Might I also recommend the "Little House On The Prairie" series. Can never go wrong with classics like this.

Also, if you have a girl in the house, "Little Women" is a really good book for girls.

If you want to see if your kids will enjoy some of J.R.R. Tolkien's material, "The Hobbit" would be a good start as the tone of the book is written in a way that is appropriate for children (as the book was originally written for a child audience). I wouldn't have them delve into the famous Trilogy or any of the other works by Tolkien until they are at a higher level of reading and comprehension.

"The House on Mango Street" is a good read for children wanting to understand the perspective of people possibly different from them. The book is a series of vignettes written from the perspective of a young Hispanic girl from Chicago and her struggles.

"Because of Winn-Dixie" is a really good book about a daughter of a preacher and a stray dog she finds and becomes friends with. It's a really good book that teaches not only the value of friendship and family but also how to deal with emotions like sorrow when tough things in life happen.

The "Redwall" series by Brian Jacques is a fun and adventurous classic.

"The Secret Garden" is also really really good and I highly recommend it to any child no matter the gender.

"Black Beauty" is a really good book about the life of a horse. It's tragic at times but it does end well

Lastly, "Bridge to Terabithia". I'm not gonna lie, this book has a really sad tragedy happen in it. But I think it's an important book for children to read because it tackles grief and death as well as how to handle it and how to find the courage to press on in life and hold onto such things as hope and friendship and to be happy and thankful for the time we are given. And all of this is done in a way that is appropriate for children and is written in a way they can understand.

R. Genevieve said:

Other people have already said The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien, and I would agree. Otherwise, I don't know what else I would recommend in the high fantasy genre, or even in the fantasy genre more broadly. Well-written fantasy is hard to come by and well-written Christian fantasy is even harder to find.

I was a big fan of the Royal Diaries and Dear America books, although those are more geared towards girls, and I don't know if you're recommending these to a boy.

Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson is an adventure novel set in 18th century Scotland.

I started reading the Horatio Hornblower book series long after middle school, but I think they'd still be appropriate for middle schoolers (or at least the first few books I read were, to my memory). The books follow the story of a young man in the British navy during the Napoleonic wars.

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell is about a Native American girl who is accidentally abandoned on an island, and must learn to survive on her own. Sort of a sad book, but still enjoyable.

Dancing Shoes and Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfield both focus on sets of adoptive sisters at dancing and theatre schools in England during the 1930s and 1940s. Due to the subject matter, I'm not sure how much boys would enjoy them, but I would recommend them to middle school girls.

I read the Sophie books by Nancy Rue when I was in 4th and 5th grade, but I still think middle school girls would like them. They deal with a lot of Christian themes, as well as other topics relevant for girls in that age bracket, such as friendship, bullying, and getting along with one's parents. Nancy Rue wrote other book series as well, but the Sophie series was the one I was most fond of.

I also HIGHLY recommend reading books beforehand, or even at the same time, as your kids. It gives you the opportunity to discuss the book's themes and content with them, which can be really good if you're worried about a book having murky aspects to it. That way, you can talk through them with your kids. I'd also see if you could find a book club for Christian middle-schoolers in your area. I joined a book club for Christian homeschoolers early in high school, and not only did I make lots of friends, but I read wide variety of books.

I'll come back if I think of any more books.

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I had forgotten about Horatio Hornblower. A wonderful series.