Music themed?
3rd-5th grade mysteries
Chapter books for a 3-year-old
Christian J books
(from Laura's PUBYAC inquiry)
hanks to everyone who gave me good ideas of Reader's Advisory websites.
Here is the compilation.
http://www.renlearn.com/store/quiz_advanced.asp
While I personally am not a fan or AR books the Renaissance site will
allow you to search by reading level and links to books giving a brief summary. It is a pretty powerful search engine and covers LOTS of books
NoveList K-12 database
http://www.lexile.com/DesktopDefault.aspx?view=fa
This website lets you look up very specific reading levels.
I use Carol Hurst's website for reviewed books for specific grade levels. www.carolhurst.com
We are in the process of creating such a book list (by age) based on the "classics" from past years but it will not be available for another month or two. When finalized, it will be on our site, Through the Magic Door ( www.ttmd.com). In addition to having recommendations by age level, books will also have detailed reviews which include discussions of style of illustration, how the book can be used by a parent or teacher, red flag's such as language, violence, etc. Attached is a sample review (scroll down) http://www.ttmd.com/rel/v2_viewupc.php?storenr=272&upc=0060229357. TTMD was established to help busy parents identify those books best suited to the interests and needs of their children in order, by matching the child well with a book of interest to them, to encourage the habit of reading. In addition we focus on the back list and attempt to introduce children's authors from abroad that may be relatively unrecognized in the US. For more on TTMD see About Us or Welcome.
Until then, the California Department of Education produced a listing of a few thousand recommended children's books back in 2001 or so and have been updating it. Their site is http://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/rl/ll/ap/litsearch.asp. You can search "grade spans" (K-2, 3-5, etc.) which would serve the purpose of your patron. It also is searchable by broad categories (cultures, genres, awards, etc.). As with any list, some of the recommended titles might be questioned, but it is a place to start.