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Can you recommend some books for dd. She likes things like Narnia and Harry Potter, but...

74 replies

ISeeThreadPeople · 29/10/2012 12:42

... I'm struggling to get the balance right between reading ability and appropriate literature. She's a fairly precocious reader but I need to keep suitability and comprehension at a level which fits.

She read the first Harry Potter herself and I've read the second and third to her as part of her bedtime stories but have stopped as I think the subject matter becomes too much at that point onwards.

She really likes worlds she can lose herself in in particular. So something like Harry Potter or the Chronicles of Narnia are good and she particularly likes fantasy. We have reams of fantasy but really it's not going to be suitable until she's 10 or older I think. DH reads lots of fantasy fiction and sci fi and she's going to be very happy in a few years time but there's sort of a gap now where she's hankering after longer chapter books, dissatisfied with shorter books but not really old enough for DH's dragonlance collection or things like Philip Pullman.

She's read or had read to her all of the Dahl books, have done Alice In Wonderland, Wind in the Willows and similar classic texts.

What don't I know about? What are the David Walliams books like for example?

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HeathRobinson · 29/10/2012 12:44

How old is she?

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ISeeThreadPeople · 29/10/2012 12:51

She's 5 and a half. I did try searching for books recommended for her age group but really they're not what I'm after. She's a competant and voracious reader and her comprehension is good but she is still 5 and I need something which is chapter based, fantastical if possible but not too far ahead in terms of content.

DH has bought The Hobbit for her and is going to give it to her as a Christmas present for example.

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Takver · 29/10/2012 12:55

Charlie Bone is rather like Harry Potter but less dark (I'd recommend reading through them yourself first though just to check as she's so young)

At that age dd loved (read to her) the Swallows and Amazons books - although they're not fantasy, they're ideal to 'lose yourself', also the Little House books (especially the earlier ones where Laura is younger).

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Takver · 29/10/2012 12:58

She might also like the Edward Eager books which are 1950s but very much 'inspired by' the E Nesbit books (very similar plot, and in at least one case the children run into the characters from Five Children & It) - Half Magic and the Time Garden are two of them, but I think there are more.

She might also enjoy the E Nesbit books though they are quite wordy.

Has she read The Ordinary Princess?

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chinley · 29/10/2012 12:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Takver · 29/10/2012 12:59

Other things suitable for a precocious early reader, though in the main not fantasy:

My Friend Mr Leakey
the Professor Branestawm books
Both the Wombles and the Paddington chapter books (also Olga da Polga)

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ISeeThreadPeople · 29/10/2012 13:02

Oh this is brilliant. Thank you! She loves The 5 Children and It incidentally. She does NOT like Paddington oddly.

I am making a list.

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Poledra · 29/10/2012 13:04

Look for the Tumtum and Nutmeg books. DD1 likes Emily Windsnap, but didn't start reading those until she was about 6.5. Or the stardust books, though again DD1 had read them over the last couple of years, so 6-8 years.

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shriekingnora · 29/10/2012 13:11

If she loved Five Children and It then she will like The Phoenix and the Carpet which is about the same children.

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noblegiraffe · 29/10/2012 13:11

Diana Wynne Jones is the queen of children's fantasy. I think she has written some books for younger children but there are also plenty around the early Harry Potter level if you want to read to her. The Christopher Chant books are wonderful, maybe try The Magicians of Caprona?

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LIZS · 29/10/2012 13:11

Magic Treehouse, World according to Humphrey et al, Dick King-Smith, The Family from One End Street and dare I mention Enid Blyton?

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wearymum200 · 29/10/2012 19:17

.Gobbolino the witch's cat, the little white horse, bogwoppit, stone goblins, green knowe, borrowers
If these look like oldies, it's because I have been raiding my own childhood collection for ds, who similarly mismatches reading age and ability, and I can give him things from my childhood without having to pre read them!

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SuePurblybilt · 29/10/2012 19:26

Mine is much the same age and LOVED the E Nesbits (5 children, Phoenix etc). We're pondering Borrowers or Blyton next, I agree with The Little White Horse.

What's that fantasy series with mice - Brian someone? Redwall? I also found the Animals of Farthing Wood series very pacy.

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ravenAK · 29/10/2012 19:28

I devoured Watership Down at a similar age - but it might be a tad gruesome?

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weegiemum · 29/10/2012 19:30

Try reading to her the Ursula LeGuin Wizaed Trilogy (wizard of Earthsea). My dad read me the Hobbit at 6/7.
Rosemary sutcliffe roman books.
Narnia?

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Rents · 29/10/2012 19:32

The Mary Poppins books are really good, there's about 5 in total. They are pure fantasy and much darker and imaginative than the original film. Also all the Phillip Pullman books are fantastic.

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charleybarley · 29/10/2012 19:34

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Strawhatpirate · 29/10/2012 19:45

Truckers by Terry Pratchett? Its a lovely funny little fantasy novel. A hat full of sky (also by Terry Pratchett).

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3bunnies · 30/10/2012 12:47

Will have to go through this list later as looks like some great suggestions. Wrt Walliams, dd1 loves them, but she is nearly 8. The style is v v v similar to Dahl, however some of the issues are more 'contemporary'. For example boy in the dress is about a boy whose mother has left his father who is a 'bloke', who discovers that he likes looking at Vogue and that he enjoys dressing as a girl helped by an girl a few years older than him, he then goes to school pretending to be a girl, but is expelled but then ends up playing in a football match where all his friends wear a dress too. It isn't massively heavy, not scary, and dd1 was fine with it, but it did raise a few questions.

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tribpot · 30/10/2012 12:50

The Dark Is Rising? Artemis Fowl? I can't get my ds to let me read him Artemis Fowl, I don't know why Grin Love, love, love The Dark is Rising, though.

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vesela · 30/10/2012 12:51

Seconding Takver's recommendation of Edward Eager - Half Magic etc. I've just bought them to have in for DD (the same age) and they look good. Also Mary Poppins and Swallows and Amazons.

Also:

  • The Toymaker's Daughter, The Three Toymakers and Malkin's Mountain by Ursula Moray Williams (second-hand from Abe Books). Mix of fantasy and Alpine village.
  • The Sam Pig Storybook (Alison Uttley). These are beautifully-written. One of DD's favourites.
  • Magic in my Pocket (an anthology of Alison Uttley stories)
  • The Night Fairy (Laura Amy Schlitz)
  • Bunchy (Joyce Lankester Brisley). Bunchy makes an appearance in Milly-Molly-Mandy (which DD likes too) but the Bunchy stories all have an element of fantasy.
  • The Little Book Room (Eleanor Farjeon)
  • The Girl with the Broken Wing (Heather Dyer - haven't read yet but looks good)
  • Where the Wind Blows (Helen Cresswell) Second hand (we found it in the library). Maybe other Helen Cresswell books for younger children, too. I don't know them - can anyone suggest? There's one about a dragon.
  • The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane (Kate diCamillo)
  • Green Smoke (Rosemary Manning) and other things published by Jane Nissen unless they say 10+
  • Rumer Godden books.


What about the Borrowers? (was wondering re. DD too) - a bit older?

I was keeping the Green Knowe books for when DD is a bit older, although she loves history. I have The Castle of Yew in my Abe Books basket, though.

Is The Mouse and His Child (Russell Hoban) too old?
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Nightwish · 30/10/2012 12:51

I second the Edge Chronicles suggestion. I started with 'Beyond the Deepwoods'.
I have them all and will still read them now at 21.

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SarkyWench · 30/10/2012 12:55

Be careful with the David Walliams books.
I just read Gangsta Granny to my 7 and 5 year olds. The 5 year old was in floods of tears. I had no idea that it would end this way but felt I couldn't stop reading when it was clear where it was going.

Great book though :)

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vesela · 30/10/2012 12:55

also Finn Family Moomintroll, which I didn't like as a child, but feel duty bound to recommend! (I always feel bad that I don't like it, because the setting is great and the writing beautiful, but some of the creatures are too out there for me. I know that sounds silly).

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Lancelottie · 30/10/2012 12:57

Yes, save us from the Antlion, Veseda!

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