Books for good 4 year old reader

[singersgirl]

Hi all you experts.
I know there have been various threads on this and I have searched the archives, but all the suggestions I've found were a bit too advanced for DS2. He was 4 at the end of August and is reading really well (for example, the TA was telling me she gave him the carol lyrics in the concert yesterday and he was reading things like "since our redeemer made us glad"), but the next lot of school reading books (ORT Stage 9 and 10) are really too old for him in terms of interest.
The teacher's given him lots of Blue Bananas, which are very easy for him now. He still wants colour pictures and early chapter books are offputting to him.
Last night he chose to read me half of "The Tale of Benjamin Bunny" (would have read it all, but I made him go to bed) and that was quite good coz it's about cute little bunnies with nice pictures, but has words like "consequence" and "camomile" in.
I will do another archive search, but just wondered if anyone had any specific ideas once we've finished the works of Beatrix Potter. Thanks!

The Walker Books Read & Wonder series ("Think of an Eel" "A Ruined House" "Big Blue Whale" - they're non-fiction) is good - it's aimed at 4+ in terms of content, and though the text is more written to be read to, than by, the child it's quite simple and very nicely laid out, so you don't get that mass of text that's so off-putting to a very young reader.

Amazon won't let me link, but if you do a Books search with "Walker" as publisher & "read wonder" as keywords you'll get masses.

Also on the lay-out/non-mass of text line: poems! Lots of lovely anthologies.

Beatrix Potter was extremely prolific. She should keep your ds busy for quite a while!

sorry this is a bit of a hijack - v impressed by your ds singersgirl!
My ds1 is just 4 and seems quite interested in reading now, and I feel I should be trying to encourage this a bit more actively - can either you or aloha recommend any books or schemes to get started on? I did buy the 'teach your child to read' book that I think aloha recommended ages ago, but I can't face/don't have the time for such a systematic approach.

You could try the ever controversial (on MN) Jolly Phonics. Honest, ds enjoyed it, we only did it briefly and for a short while but he cottoned on v quickly.

Actually, Aloha, I'm not sure I can stand all of Beatrix Potter even if his interest keeps going that long... most of them are a bit thin on plot..!
Elliott, we did the Jolly Phonics stuff earlier this year and my DS really enjoyed it,and I'm sure that's why he's such a good reader.
Thanks for the suggestions, Rockinrobinkie. We have some lovely poetry books that my older son used to love, so will look them out.

Do you think they are thin on plot? I think they have fantastic, exciting, gory, thriller-type plots!
Tom Kitten getting captured by Samuel Whiskers and Anna Maria and being tied up and nearly made into a roly-poly pudding used to make my ds beside himself with excitement. Plus it has a really complex structure, whereby you see the events from the different views of all the characters - like a movie - so you can piece together what was happening.
Also the Flopsy bunnies nearly being made into a lining for Mrs McGregor's coat and poor silly Jemima Puddleduck and awful Mr Tod!

I think he would really like Flat Stanley. And what about Curious George? My ds is obsessed by him.

Ah, but Samuel Whiskers really is the far and away the best of them - the others don't quite reach that height. Don't you think?

How I used to love being pompous evil SW while ds and dd capered about being Tom & the girl kittens.

My Naughty Little Sister stories, Milly Molly Mandy, Olga da Polga?

All easy to read, with not too long chapters, and enough plot to keep a 4 year old interested I would think.

thanks, will try jolly phonics!

Of course you're quite right about Beatrix P's plots, now I think about it, Aloha - honestly I think that it's just for some reason I find them deadly dull, and really don't enjoy reading them. Don't know why.
Thanks for all suggestions - we don't have any Curious George, but do have "Flat Stanley", which I'd rejected as being too like a big book.
I'm trying to tread that fine line between encouraging him where he wants to go and putting him off by giving him too difficult/old/long stuff when he doesn't want it. He's a keen reader at the moment and I'm a bit scared of quashing his enthusiasm.

At that age, my dd used to love to read the Dr Seuss books - they are quite silly but good for early readers (all that rhyming and repetition). Someone will probably mention Dick King Smith books - dd never really liked them but they are popular with early readers.

Other than that, some of the best early reader books (in my opinion) are the sort of books you would read as a bedtime story to a 3/4 yr old (room on the broom, gruffalo, winnie the witch, blue kangaroo, meg and mog, mog etc.) because they have loads of pictures.

wow! am impressed your 4 year old can read so well. My dd was 4 in sept and recognises some letter and the occasional word or two
sheesh
wondering if I should be doing more

My DS can't read as well as yours but loves trying to figure out Dr Seuss and the Mr Men/Little Miss books.

Thanks for all other ideas - I knew Mumsnet would be good for inspiration. Foxinsocks, you're right about the story books and he's been reading some like "One Duck Stuck" and "I will not ever never eat a tomato". Have now got loads of ideas to keep us both happy over Christmas!

Have you tried some of the Young Puffin books? DD still likes one called "The witch's dog" and Dick King Smith, Jacqueline Wilson have all contributed to the series. Corgi have a similar scheme called "Young Pups" and Usbourne have some nice early reaers which tell the tales of Jason and the Golden Fleece etc.

DD is slightly older than your DS (will be 5 at the end of Feb) but school has effectively given up with reading scheme books as the content is inappropriate. She still gets a Rigby Rocket or something everyday but these are to help with her grammar/spelling rather than as reading practice. It also means that the others in the class don't think she's any different which I like!

hana, don't worry - my ds is just four and probably not as far on as yours - he recognises some letters but not any words I don't think (apart from his name) - and I consider him to be pretty bright (totally objective view of course!)
He has recently started asking 'what does this say' when he sees print, and that's why I'm thinking of trying to be a bit more active about starting to read.

Thanks, Marialuisa, for suggestions. We've read a couple of Usborne early readers and I've got a few Colour Young Puffins from the library. To be honest, though DS2 reads really well and has an impressive vocabulary, he doesn't seem particularly advanced in any other way - he's very much 4 in terms of interests (just watching 'Bob the Builder' now!) - and he still can't ride his bike even with stabilisers.
We are doing spelling practice instead of learning reading words etc but as his fine motor skills are at the low end of just 4 writing a sentence takes some time.

ds prefers to read labels, posters, notices and my mumsnet postings to books! He loves books, but wants them read to him.

DS2 is keen on signs and notices too. Our conversation in the bathroom goes something like this: DS2:"What's bleach?" Me: Simple explanation blah blah. DS2: "Well, what's non-bleach?" Me: "What do you mean?" DS2: "What are Parozone Non-Bleach Cleaning Wipes?"
And so an ad infinitum.

Oh the endless questions!!
DD is a funny one as she is interested in anything and everything but has a very low "scare" threshold. She has been taken out of RE because the stories scare her-she has a tendency to take a relatively harmless idea (e.g. Franny's feet in the cartoon or the Magic Key in ORT) and then her imagination goes into overdrive.

DS2 will happily watch bad guys biffing each other on cartoons like Batman, but cried this year because the leaves were dying!

And forgot to say lol at finding the magic key frightening - that is some imagination! You never know what will spark their fears or their enthusiasms.

Singersgirl, why not try taking your son to the public library and letting him choose for himself? They usually have a good selection of picture books, and some of them are more challenging than they first appear. How about the Elmer series and other books by David McKee like Charlotte's Piggy Bank - they will probably be familiar to him from nursery and therefore fun for him to read for himself, but not completely weedy if I remember rightly. The Mr Croc and Sausage books (I can't remember the name of the series or the publisher - sorry!) were a success with ds2 and ds3 as a way into simple chapter books.

Thanks, Hallgerda - sorry, only just seen your reply. We go to the library fairly regularly but for various reasons I've been rushing in by myself the last few times without the children. I'll let him have a good look around - there is a fantastic early readers section at our library, but unfortunately it is right next to the computers, which exert a strange pull...