My oldest is a self proclaimed, "Book Worm." He is 7 and I want to add in some outdoor/adventure books, as he is pretending to be characters from his books. Anyone have some suggestions? His current reading level is Hardy Boys-ish.
There is a book called, My Side of the Mountain that I read when I was a kid. Great adventure/outdoor book for a kid. Little boy runs away from NYC and lives in the Catskill mountains. Not sure on the level but likely a little much for a 7 year old. Definitely something he should read at some point though.
Old Yeller, Where the Red Fern Grows, Call of the Wild, White Fang, Huckleberry Finn.
George bird Grinnell and Theodore Roosevelt both had their lives shape by the children books written by captain mayne Reid. Books like " The Boy hunters", "rifle rangers"
And George bird Grinnell himself wrote some children's books about a boy back "jack the trapper" etc.... I've pictures them up for when my son is a little older.
Another vote for "My Side of The Mountain". There's a couple others to go with it called "The Other Side of The Mountain" and "Frightfull's Mountain" I think. I feel like I read them around 3rd grade.
Others I remember are: "Big Red", "Vulpes the Red Fox", "White Fang", "Balto", "Huck Finn".
Far North in a few years perhaps. I remember reading all of the books mentioned and being so excited by them. No better way to boost a child's imagination than with books like these.
There is a condensed version of Moby Dick that is very good for that age. My oldest is also 7. Got it on Amazon. I don't hand it to him but sometimes I read sections out of MeatEater to him. He likes that.
A book I give out to a lot of teenagers, male or female, who enjoy the outdoors is 'Wild At Heart". It's written by a Christian author. May not be quite for younger children, but early teens +. Great book. I recommend it to everybody.
Anything by Jim Kjelgaard. Dogs, hunting and trapping. I read everyone as a kid. At almost 50 I can still remember the story lines from nearly every one.