Children's book recommendations

[littleme]

My daughter has just turned 9 & has only in the last 6 months become interested in reading books...

She's read most of the Jacqueline Wilson books (Hetty Feather series & a few others) & has lately started reading Cathy Cassidy (Chocolate box girls) - but do you lot have any recommendations?

I have to admit that I've steered her away from Enid Blyton as I don't think her books give a realistic look at life (don't get me wrong, I was brought up on Famous Five, Secret Seven & Malory towers and loved them - but I also grew up thinking that all of life's problems could be solved with a picnic & ginger beer or a good old singsong & a few heel clicks in the street with the neighbours!)

So, suggestions please - doesn't have to be too girly either (she loves Dr Who) just a good read.

 

[Lucy]

All the little house books, or Noel Streatfeild, old fashioned but great.

 

[Gramaisc]

Just William.

Biggles.

Swallows and Amazons.

 

[Lucy]

Brendon Chase.

There's some great books in a series called The Whitby Witches by Robin Jarvis, probably better for an 11 year old though, if you can find them.

 

[Lucy]

There's another great more up-to-date series about 3 sisters, but I can't remember the names. I will have a look on my bookshelves when I get home. My much older sister worked in Children's books for years so I was always a guinea pig, and I still read some today.

 

[Withnail]

http://www.skulduggerypleasant.co.uk/books/skulduggery-pleasant/

 

[Wormella]

Don't discount how many issues in life can be solved with picnics and ginger beer! I think at that age I started on the BabySitter Club books - of which there were millions and are probably terribly outdated now.

I'd have thought the Lemony Snickert books would be worth looking at but I'm rubbish at working out what books are suitable when.

The best advice I saw recently - it may even have been Neil Gaiman - was to allow children to choose their own books.

 

[kyoto49]

I'd like to minus a vote for Swallows & Amazons, my daughter and I are both avid readers, and when she was about 9 I tried to read this as a bedtime book to share. It was truly horrific, it was slow, the first half contained a dictionary's worth of sailing terms we didnt understand, and it was dull. I could probably forgive one of these, but all in one book was too much for both of us and we sadly gave up. This was our only failure though!!

You can't go wrong with the classics in my opinion, after all they have survived so long because theya re good, Swallows & Amazons being the exception...............obviously!!

A local author who works at the railway station has recently had the following published, looks decent!

http://www.paulmullinsauthor.co.uk/

My daughter loved:

Everything by Eva Ibbotsen
Everything by Michael Morpurgo
Roll of thunder hear my cry
The Silver sword - Ian Seraillier
Stig of the dump
The family from one end street
The Borrowers
Wolves of willoughby chase
Milly Molly Mandy
Adventures of Tom Sawyer

To name just a small fraction of what she has read.

And don't forget Black Beauty - a true classic

 

[Lucy]

Oh yes, The Family from One End Street is brilliant. Are they still in print? The books I was thinking of above were The Exiles. Robert Westall are good but a bit scary

 

[Wormella]

Isn't 9 about the right age for Narnia / Harry Potter?

 

[littleme]

Don't discount how many issues in life can be solved with picnics and ginger beer!

The best advice I saw recently - it may even have been Neil Gaiman - was to allow children to choose their own books.

That's what I've been doing, partly because its taken so long to get her interested in reading & I don't want to put her off, but also because I thought my childhood reading list was quite old fashioned- turns out that you lot are all reading the same stuff!

Thanks for all the suggestions folks....keep them coming, especially ones from children themselves...

 

[Withnail]

Isn't 9 about the right age for ... Harry Potter?

Most certainly, and what's more i noticed earlier that the cash converters place (ex-Bookland) has the first four as a box set for £3.99.

 

[1JKz]

Take a look at Penny Dreadful, start with Penny Dreadful is a Magnet for Disaster!


Not to be confused with penny dreadful stories from the Victorian age, I think your daughter would have a fright if she were to read any of those!?

 

[Noah]

The first Harry Potter book was aimed at 11 year olds and the target age went up by one year with each subsequent book.

If you didn't like Swallows & Amazons then try some of the other S&A & Coot Club books by Arthur Ransome. Otherwise Lemony Snickert and how about Terry Pratchett's childrens books? Could look at the shelf of books I've kept from childhood but I'm not sure how many of those are still available, Biggles & Just William are still around but are the Green Sailors books still in print, or the Travelling with Romany series?

 

[Nicedave]

Eoin Colpher books

 

[Carole]

My daughter has just turned 9
I have to admit that I've steered her away from Enid Blyton as I don't think her books give a realistic look at life

So, suggestions please -just a good read.

Littleme, don't steer your daughter away from anything. If she is reading then its a good thing, and at 9 she can understand and differentiate between reality and fantasy.

I was brought up on Enid Blyton, another generation was brought up on Roald Dhal, and another on JK Rowling and Harry Potter.....do all these kids think that wizards are real?
A very good friend of mine is a headteacher and he says that as long as children are reading something they enjoy then the subject doesn't matter. They subconsciously pick up spelling and grammar, and the more they read the more they pick up.

He also said don't underestimate their understanding of reality and fiction.

Just let them enjoy reading.

 

[dawnofwar]

I thoroughly enjoyed the Redwall series of books by Brian Jacques (granted i read them as an older teenager so i don't know what age they are aimed at) but i do have the majority of them and i am looking at donating them on whilst we declutter to move house so you are more than welcome to have them for her try! (on the promise that if she doesnt like them they get donated to the library or somewhere like that)

 

[peggy]

my children of similar age love David Walliams books, i have a few here if you would like to borrow them, Il ask my daughter what else she enjoys, we have a bulging book case so I'm sure i could out a collection together.

 

[sarsaparilla]

I don' t think you can beat the old Enid Blyton books for capturing a child's imagination. Round the Clock stories is particularly captivating - the story of "The Little Singing Kettle" remains a favourite of mine today! You can get them for next to nothing on ebay/Amazon. Mr. Pinkwhistle and his little cat Sooty who answers the door to visitors wearing a little apron is so charming and Mr. Pinkwhistle certainly knows how to sort out naughty boys is a very subtle way!

 

[littleme]

Thanks for all of the suggestions & offers of books & loans of books

@dawnofwar @peggy
We are very very grateful for the offers, but will decline them as she is enjoying building up her little library of shiny new books & to keep her interested I get to let her pick when we go book shopping, but thank you so much for the kind offers.

I'm secretly hoping that she chooses David Walliams next as I want to read them too! I still can't get over the fact that its taken 9years to get her interested in reading - at her age my nose was always firmly stuck in a book!