It’s taken me a little while to put together this response to last week’s Top 10 Tuesday prompt (hosted as always by the good folks at the Broke and the Bookish), a free form gift guide. What direction did I want to go?

Then a friend wrote me asking for help picking books for a nine-year-old boy, reading level and interests unknown.  Third grade is a tricky spot – some kids are still on early chapter or picture books, while some have moved on to middle grade, and the “official” reading level falls somewhere in between the two.  Graphic novels are pretty universally popular.  Here are some suggestions:

Early Chapter Books

• Zapato Power: Freddie Ramos Takes Off (series) by Jacqueline Jules
• Alvin Ho series by Lenore Look

Not Quite Middle Grade

• Dragonbreath (series) by Ursula Vernon
• Going, Going, Gone. In Due Time series by Nicholas O. Time
• Stories Julian Tells -or- Julian, Secret Agent by Ann Cameron
• Zero Degree Zombie Zone by Patrik Henry Bass

Graphic Novels

• Dragons Beware by Rafael Rosado and Jorge Aguirre
• Hilo: the Boy who Crashed to Earth by Judd Winick
• Mighty Jack by Ben Hatke
• The Nameless City by Faith Erin Hicks

What books are you looking forward to giving this year?