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Piers Anthony is a definite maybe. Some of his work is wonderful for a child, but even the Xanth series depends completely on double entendre and adult puns. ("The Color of Her Panties" ????) And even the best of them have gotten old very quick. But sometimes, that is exactly what a child wants - something that is pretty close to identical to the last one.
There are other books that he's written which ask some very adult questions about life, politics, and religion. Depending on the family and their policies, those might get you in trouble.
And, last of all, there is one Piers Anthony book which borders on child pornography, and would be something I'd never give to anyone else, let alone a child.
My advice would be to remember all the animal books, especially horses. Misty of Chincoteague, and such. At that age, I devoured the Joseph Altsheller Kentucky books (they're available here on MR) and also his Civil War series. More currently, I recommend Tamara Pierce, and Diane Duane (which has the ulterior motive of introducing the child to her more adult books as time goes on - she wrote a lot of Star Trek stuff.)
You might also search out stuff like the old media tie-in books from older TV shows and movies. I remember several books about the 6-million-dollar Man, for example (I think those were by Martin Caidin, who also wrote a bunch of aviation books)
Time travel and alternate history could be fun, and could tie in to both school studies of history and planned vacation travel, to see sights described. Biographies of explorers, such as Lewis and Clark, or people from the Hudson's Bay Company. ( I remember reading "Land of Giants" by David Lavender, and as a result knowing more Northwest history than my 7th grade history teacher, who came from somewhere else. Heady stuff to know more than the teacher....)
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