To think that the Wimpy Kid books are pure shite?

There are books that can be read to children and there are books that the child reads to themselves, Wimpy kid was definitely a book DD read to herself. How old is your son? DD was was, and still is, a book worm and she read two or three books a week. By 7/ 8 she no longer had the patience for me reading to her.

Yes. Dd aged 8 has rejected all these new authors and we working our way through wind in the willows, the enchanted tree, the secret garden ..

My sons both loved Wimpy Kid but I never read them to them, they always read them themselves. I was happy to see this, any passion for books is good in my opinion. The main problem was that they were too short and were read in about an hour, so not ever good value for money!
The Wimpy Kid books are intended for 9+ so the content isn't trying to be suitable for younger children.
My eldest abruptly stopped reading as a young teens, and my youngest was only about 11 before he decided reading was 'boring'. I remember the excitement of buying books when a child, such as Malory Towers, St Clare and Sweet Valley High. None of these books are exactly high quality but they did instill a love of reading and I would have been mortified if I hadn't been allowed to read them.

YADNBU OP, Wimpy Kid is awful. The main character is a little shit. Have you tried Tom Gates?

I love diary of a wimpy kid. My kids loved it too my oldest wrote to the author Jeff Kinney and he wrote back 😁 she was over the moon with his reply.

In desperation during a long car journey last week I chose the world’s worst pets by Walliams as an audiobook on Spotify. After half an hour , Woops! We ran out of signal. DH and I just couldn’t bear that rubbish anymore.

I refused to read them or Walliams to my son, so he had to read them himself. I prefer to read proper stuff if I’m reading to the children!

I get what you mean but they’ve been a good way to have conversations with my son about how we treat other people which can be tricky due to ND.

The worst childrens books ever are the ones written by David fucking Walliams. I refuse to read those after the first couple. My daughter had a tonne when she was younger and I can’t remember which book made her decide she hated him but she sent them all to the charity shop because she didn’t want her brother reading them as they were so terrible. Think she was 10 at the time.

Dd struggles with reading and currently reads only graphic or illustrated books like Wimpy Kid, Dork Diaries, Dog Man. I encourage her reading them herself but if she does insist on me reading a WK book I always use it as an opportunity to point out how badly the character is behaving!
I smuggled the Walliams books she'd inherited from her sister (who also dislikes reading) out of her room because they are just awful.

DS1 (9, Yr 4) loves wimpy kid, I think they are boring but I am glad he is reading for pleasure. He reads them to himself luckily.

I'm not a fan of the David Walliams book, the one we had I found offensive.

Rainbow Fairies are trite, repetitive nonsense but great for increasing confidence in early readers. Similarly Beast Quest and Dinosaur Cove. I was happy for my kids to read them to themselves but chose more interesting books to read aloud.

They are dreadful....but....

DS1 struggled with and hated reading. WK was pretty much was the first book that he voluntarily read to himself for more than the school required homework time. He loves them. Asked for them for birthdays and Christmas one year and built up his reading stamina.

He also enjoys DW. Again a fairly easy read that he'll voluntarily read at bedtime so building up stamina.

He's still fussy about what he reads but when challenged with other stories is able to read enough to actually get enough pace to enjoy the story.

FC = father christmas.

DS 6 quite likes rainbow fairies, I found a few in a library book sale. I haven't read them myself, can someone give me the cons briefly?

He enjoyed the sam silver books.

Interesting to read about wimpy kid. DS is only six but has a reading age of at least 12, however content-wise he is a small child and I don't need him to be reading about what PPs have described! So thanks for the heads up!

He reads for at least three hours a day and it's hard to keep up. He doesn't have any screentime at home so it's either books or trainset. I did buy him a job lot of back issues of kids' magazines which has plugged a gap.
Totally agree that "kinda" would be a real turn off!! Already the American cartoons he watches on netflix at grandparents' house is a source of Americanisms!

So much for boys these days seems to approach them as though they don't enjoy reading and need it to be cool.

I've looked to the past and found some famous five, which he enjoys.

Agree. And agree about Walliams. Awful. Have you tried any Anne Fine books? They are quite short but really overly stories. I have read them to children iver the years and they have loved it. My daughter still loves Bill's New Dress. And the angel of Nitshill road is a lovely book.

They are more year 7/8 secondary aren’t they? I found them quite funny but wouldn’t really read them below year 5 sort of age.

All the kids at school started writing kinda etc because of that wimpy bloody kid

So I had a rule that children can read anything they want themselves but if they want me to read it I have a say in what book I read. So, e.g. I refused to read any Rainbow Fairy books, those were for DD1 to read to herself. So if your DS likes the Wimpy Kid books then he can read them himself and you will read him book X that you'll both enjoy.

But it’s the parent reading them, not the kid.

I agree with the other poster who said these books are for independent reading. Any kid old enough for those books should be capable of reading them themselves.

I refuse to buy Walliams. I hate his books. So until my kids can work the library reserve system I’m safe

Agreed! DD loves them and I think they're grim. Much prefer Tom Gates which is similar in style but actually funny and relatable.

Totally agree on Walliams as well. He's always given me the creeps and the unpleasant vibe from the books is entirely fitting with my visceral aversion to him.

I know people rave about reading to kids but must say them becoming independent readers and reading to themselves at night was a happy day for me.

Rainbow fairies did no lasting damage both mine avid readers and opted for English lit gcse / a level which they ace!

Oh my. I had forgotten about the Rainbow Fairies! DD1(14) loved those when very young. She is an avid and discerning reader now!

DD loves them and I let her read them. I wouldn’t read this to her
@MrsTerryPratchett.I couldn’t agree more about Walliams.

I remember loving the Babysitters Club series and Swert Valley High and went on to be discerning reader.

At least you are spared the rainbow fairies.

What's FC?