Suggestions for books for 7 year old dd

[leolion]

Hi there,

Just wondered whether anyone had any suggestions for my 7 yr old dd. She is a very able reader but has never been one to get lost in a book and I'm trying to find some inspiration for her.

She tends to be put off by long books but then gets through shorter books in a day. She loves the Tom Gates books because the text is broken up by pictures and they have an interesting layout, but dislikes anything where she can guess the story- think animal ark, princess's stories etc. I've tried to tempt her with Enid Blyton, Roald Dahl and JK Rowling but she is put off by the long text. Any ideas?

[OverAndAbove]

David Walliams? They have good solid plots and characters. Dick King Smith as well; lovely vocabulary and often a twist or just something unexpected. Both at 7yo capability although each book varies; some are a little harder

[OverAndAbove]

Oh or what about factual books? Would she read an annual, which is more broken up into chunks of text and puzzles etc? Or a reference book from the library that she could choose herself?

[Treaclepot]

My six year old is similar, he likes diary of a wimpy kid as it has pictures too.

[emmaMBC]

These ones!!!!

The Violet Mackerel series is a wonderful, wonderful series. It's been going down a storm in Australia over the last few years, and it's now been released for the UK ( & USA too I think).

Violet is the main character in each. She is plucky and lovely, has a little bit to learn in each book. Beautiful pencil illustrations. Urm, can you tell I'm a fan ?!?!

www.mybookcorner.com.au/listings/403-violet-mackerels-brilliant-plot

[BlueChampagne]

Alex T Smith's Claude books have plenty of illustrations. Or the Winnie the Witches for older children?
Graphic novels (not that I can think of any for that age group)?

[pancakesfortea]

My 8 year old loves Captain Underpants.

[mummy1973]

Mr Gum?

[Littlepinkseal]

Angela Nicely books by Alan Macdonald
Alfie Werewolf books by Paul Van Loon

[kikidee]

Thank you for the Violet Mackerel suggestion EmmaMBC. I got them for my DD who has just turned 7 and she loves them, just the right stage for her.

[GoingToBedfordshire]

The Worst Witch books by Jill Murphy.
Ottoline books by Chris Russell.
Second the recommendation for the Claude books.
The Pain and the Great One series by Judy Blume.
Tim the Tiny Horse books by Harry Hill.
A Boy and a Bear and a Boat by Dave Shelton.

[GoingToBedfordshire]

Ach, Chris Riddell, not Russell.

[kittermum]

Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren?
Or the shorter, abridged Roald Dalh books : they come in a large format with lots of colour illustrations. I love them and the text is hilarious. Try The Twits or James and the Giant Peach, they should be about right for her.
Other book suggestions for this age here

Good luck :) I am sure she will come around in her own time :)

[IndianMummy]

Nina and the Kung Fu Adventure
Nina and the Travelling Spice Shed
The Cat Mummy

[Sheditious]

I had the same problem.

At the age of six, my daughter was a good reader for her age, but refused to start reading “proper books” with chapters and no pictures. She was bored with “Horrid Henry” and fairies saving a rainbow yet once more and insisted that she was old enough to read proper books, but every one she tried was “too difficult”. It wasn’t she couldn’t read them, it was the concepts and storylines; they were all designed for nine and ten year olds.
There was another problem too. She wanted to read about girls, yet all the books about girls we could find were twee and dull. My daughter is happy to read about a princess, along as she is a Ninja Princess; happy to save rainbows, as long as it involves a good sword fight or perhaps a well-planned heist.

After a few months of this, my lovely daughter stopped reading. We tried most of the “first chapter books” that people recommend; all met with disinterest. So I asked her exactly what she wanted in a “proper book”. After much though, she wrote down:

“Dragons, princess, zombies, vampires, ghosts, but not spiders and it should be funny and scary and have fighting in it.”

We couldn’t find such a book with concepts and vocabulary suitable for a six year old – so I wrote one. I had written novels before, but not a children’s book, so I had help from my daughter to find the right level. There were other issues too; my daughter was terrified of the idea of ghosts and very frightened of spiders. So I added in the concept of happy ghosts and theatrical spiders that love to perform.
I POD published a copy and gave it to her. It was a success. After critical review by my daughter and re-writes, my daughter considered it just right. To quote “I can’t believe you wrote this Daddy, it’s just like a real book”.
She started going upstairs on her own without fear of ghosts and asking politely if I would remove the spider from the bathroom, rather than run away screaming. She started reading again and now, two years later, is a firm fan of Holly Short (from the Artemis Fowl books) and Hermione Granger.

If you want to try the book with your dd, then you can download it for free from Smashwords.