We read a terrific book together in second grade, Lloyd Alexander's The Fortune Tellers. It is gorgeously illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman. Second graders were delighted and exasperated by the fortune-teller's predictions. "Will I be famous?" asks the young carpenter. "No question about it," said the fortune-teller, "once you become well known." "Amazing!" said the carpenter. "But, now tell me: Will I marry and be happy ever after?" "You shall wed your true love," said the fortune-teller, "if you find her and she agrees. And you shall be happy as any in the world if you can avoid being miserable."
Lloyd Alexander is himself well-known for his Black Cauldron series about Taran the Assistant Pig-Keeper. (The Book of Three is the first in the series) If you have a long stretch of time for family reading, these novels make for a great literary adventure.
