She has to read to me every night and atm is ploughing through Horrid Henry, I didnt realise there were so many books and the school library seem to have them all. Now, far be it from me to discourage her reading (it has taken enough blood and tears to get this far) I would love to find something else that would appeal to her without looking too young (this is a consideration as her friends all read much more 'advanced' books) and prefereably something new rather than a classic ( she feels embarrassed taking my knackered old books in apparently)

i know

there are none

<<sobs>>

Ds1 loves Horrid Henry too and we periodically confiscate them as his behaviour plummets!

Other things he likes are the Narnia books (although not 'modern' I think the films help to make them feel more modern). He also likes factual books like the Horrible Histories.

What do you think of Jacqueline Wilson (think she may be a love/hate author, but she is popular among the girls)?

Also Michael Morpurgo is supposed to be really good, and he's doing a series of talks in Bristol between now and Christmas - am hoping to take ds1 and dd to this - might that be something your dd would be interested in? He is the author dd's teacher (who is a very good friend of ours) ALWAYS recommends for all ages.

mr majeika?(but beware it is a series of books too)
my 8 year old dd (yr 4)has took these into school and not(yet)had any snidy comments from so called class mates

ooh fabb torty I may book tickets and see you there

You might find that Barrington Stoke do something that interests her. They do books aimed at children with reading difficulties or who aren't motivated to read -- the books have slightly larger than normal text size, use of illustrations to break up the text, and many of them (not sure if they all do) combine a higher interest age with a lower reading age.

My dd2 is 9 and loves the

Arabel's Raven books.

Luckily I had kept mine from childhood and started reading them to the dds at bedtimes. However, DD2 has now claimed them for herself

oh how could I have forgotton barrington stoke

dd1 said that SWAP was the best book she had ever read

Another firm favourite you could try is

Milly Molly Mandy