My son is the youngest in his school (not 5 until August), and 'young' for his age, but reading (and writing, and maths) at Y2 level. He loves, loves, loves reading. He found ORT hideous (don't we all?!) and the school has 'run out of books' (their words) as he has suddenly accelerated his 'consumption'.
Although he can quite happily trawl through encyclopedias for hours, he does love a good story. But I seem to have exhausted my supply of 'fun' reading books, as all the ones I bought last year he has streaked through. We do go to the library, but he loves having the books for weeks - frankly it's cheaper to buy them from TheBookPeople than pay library fines!
What books could you recommend that would engage him but wouldn't scare him? This is a child who is too sensitive to watch Toy Story, Madagascar or Ice Age (believe me, I have tried!). [He is a big fan of Studio Ghibli eg Totoro, etc, and obsessed with engineering documentaries thanks to Richard Hammond!]
All the books I have found so far for his 'reading age' are to do with monsters and bests (Beast Quest, Dinosaur Cove etc). He would quite frankly be freaked out - not so much reading it, but not sleeping afterwards due to bad dreams (he is VERY sensitive, and has a very good imagination).
I heard that Astrosaurs is good - is that funny enough to subvert any 'perilous' moments?
I am currently purchasing the Horrible Histories set as he LOVES the TV program (quote of the day: "Mummy why didn't you show me this program before? I love it!"), and I thought it would be a good tie-in. But those again are not 'stories' per se.
I know there are good books out there, but would love some guidance from those who have been there before. (I was a prolific early reader, but due to no $$ I just read the bible 100x over. DS is in a very church school and I think he gets that enough already LOL!)
ps I had wondered if I should put this post in CBooks, but it is more suited to G&T as I want a response where you would have a better understanding of the problems of suitability of books aimed at 7-9 but read by much younger ages.