Encyclopedia Brown, Book 1 by Donald Sobol

Some of the details are a bit above Samuel's head, such as the detail about the man who claimed that he was robbed making it all up because he didn't want to tell his partner he had spent the money. And the trick about Stonewall Jackson and the First Battle of Bull Run.

Maybe best to wait for a couple years and let him read these on his own - not quite catching the clues in the stories.

The Magician's Elephant by Kate Dicamillo

Read this to Samuel in one week. Discussed with him why the author might have had the weather cold and grey with no snow all winter, and what it meant, how it might have felt, when it started snowing on the night of the elephant's disappearance. Nice theme about the older brother taking care of the younger sister.

Reading level of about 10 year old - Samuel listened quietly through the whole book. On one day we read about 120 pages, 40 pages in the bookstore alone.