Fantasy book recommendations

Agree with recommendations above for Kate Saunders and Jenny Nimmo's Charlie Bone series. If she loves Rick Riordan, try Paul Shipton's Pig Scrolls and The Pig Who Saved the World, which are funny fantasies set in Ancient Greece. An oldie but goodie is James Thurber's The Thirteen Clocks. I would leave Earthsea for a bit, particularly if she couldn't get into Susan Cooper. You may find she will love them in a couple of years time.

My Father's Dragon books (a trilogy)
Eva Ibbotson books too

This is a good site for searching for kid's books, easier to navigate than Amazon. I think they do giveaways for review as well:

www.lovereading4kids.co.uk/

wow, so many awesome replies! @Hiddeninplainsight I'm the first poster under your OP, I've actually note read much fantasy (but found I liked the ones aimed at children, and the ones I do like, I really like) and the list was a mix of my recommendations and OH, who has read LOADS from about age 8. Because we re-remembered books as we pulled together the list, I've been re-reading Quest For A Maid by Frances Mary Hendry, and I just love it.

(slightly derails thread) Can you pm me the ballet book recommendations? My DD is 5. There was one I read as a child and I'd love to find it again (written 1980s?) about a girl who was a good dancer but thought her friend was better than her...and when they were picked for the harder class the protagonist didn't join and her friend did...she finds out at the end that she is actually a better dancer. Sorry it's so vague, I don't remember it very well but I remember feeling very anxious for the protagonist! Cheers

Not sure on age but what about the time travel/historical type of book:

A Traveller in Time
Charlotte Sometimes
Moondial
The Haunting of Bellamy 4
Tom's Midnight Garden obv

YY to the Nicholas Fisk and Tripods recommendations above. Also Robert Swindells for dystopian stuff. And yy to Catherine Storr (Marianne Dreams and others) - sort of eerie/slightly supernatural rather than fantasy.

Rosemary Sutcliff is ace. I remember Warrior Scarlet and Knight's Fee. Preferred them to Eagle of the Ninth actually - possibly because the main characters were children?

I had forgotten about The Stream that Stood Still!

Archie Green books by DD Everest
Witchworld books by Emma Fischel

There are also the Beverley Nichols books:

The Tree That Sat Down
The Mountain of Magic
The Stream That Stood Still

Look for un-abridged versions though!

The Edge Chronicles should keep her going for a bit.

Would definitely agree with all the recs for either Terry Pratchett's Tiffany Aching series or his Johnny books. I've just read his Only You can Save Mankind. Always good to read something that doesn't assume kids are idiots! If she reads Only You then explain that it's the Gulf War and who Stormin' Norman was first and it'll make more sense! For Douglas Adams, maybe keep her away from Dirk Gently just yet, one of them has a severed head spinning on a record turntable in it.

YMMV on these ones. I was fine with them but I have been greeted with horror on other threads at these for primary school children so I guess it depends on the child.
Nicholas Fisk, especially Grinny. Nothing like kids defeating the insidious alien menace that creeps into their home. My primary school recommended Grinny and I loved it.
The Tripods books. Remember them on TV? Main disadvantage looking back is virtual invisibility of female characters.
The Devil on my Back and The Dream Catcher by Monica Hughes. Have seen this suggested for everything from your DD's age to end of high school! I guess it depends on the reader. Dystopian fiction.

Oh and if you don't mind an overtly Christian philosophy (think Narnia) then the Stephen Lawhead Dragon King books are really good.

Have you tried the Renshai books by Mickey Z. Reichert?
I really enjoyed them when I was younger and they have nods to Norse mythology as well.

What about Abi Elphinstone?
Or Cogheart by Peter Bunzl.
Philip Reeve also might work.

Stephanie Burgis has a great trilogy - A Most Improper Magick is the first. It's effectively Jane Austen + magic and very well written. There's also a new one (stand alone I think) called The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart about a dragon who gets turned into a girl and becomes a chocolatier's apprentice!

I would also recommend Alan Garner, Madelaine L'Engle and Marianne Dreams.

There is Mistress Masham's Repose by T H White which is fantasy based on Gulliver's Travels.

Other authors she might like - Eva Ibbotson, Katharine Rundell.

I was going to suggest Eagle of the Ninth chronicles too! My DS sounds very like your DD in terms of literary appetite, he's just turned 8 this week. He's currently reading the Eagle and can't put it down.

As for Kate O'Hearn, try the Shadow of the Dragon series - nothing too YA there. Also Hitchhiker's Guide, Restaurant at the end of the Universe etc.

If she also likes history (DS is obsessed) I recommend Roman Mysteries by Caroline Lawrence, and there's a series called Secret Breakers which combines modern life and history with code breaking.

Maybe the Eragon series? DD was given them for her 9th birthday and really enjoyed them.
The Lion Boy trilogy by Zizou Corder is good and definitely appropriate for an 8 y/o (but be aware that they are really one book split in 3 and book 1 at least ends on a total cliffhanger!)
The Snow Spider series by Jenny Nimmo is lovely - based on Welsh mythology (her Charlie Bone series is also good)
The Last Dragonslayer books by Jasper Fforde (most of his books are for adults, but this series is aimed at children)

I loved the series beginning So You Want to Be a Wizard by Diane Duane. A normal 13 yr old finds a book about how to become a Wizard. Long enough to develop plot and characters fast paced and as far as I remember no older teen themes that would be too old for her. And the William Corlett books starting with the Steps up the Chimney. A bit Narnia like with 3 siblings drawn into a magical world. Was a tv series at one stage. And Oskar and the ice pick, bit younger in style but so funny and different. I bought it to read again as an adult!

I was like your daughter and ended up reading a lot of things that probably weren't that suitable! Remember reading and rereading those series though.

Oh and the winter of enchantment by Victoria walker is a wonderful book though hard to get hold of. I regret selling my copy.

Hi, I agree with Verypunny - the David Edding trilogies were/are wonderful stories. I must have re-read them a number of times growing up. I had also enjoyed the Fighting Fantasy books, don't know if they're still around though. The idea of choosing my characters destiny based on the decision I took whilst reading through the books was really fun.
If I can be a little bold, the digital book I wrote for children called The Ponds of Wonder is also a fantasy story you'd might like to consider. It's targeted to readers from 8 years of age and older. You can find the webiste for it by searching the title of the book. :)
Happy reading.

To answer your Terry Pratchett's question, there are several that are more child-friendly than the Discworld series. I'd suggest the Johnny books (Only you can save mankind, Johnny and the dead, Johnny and the bomb), the Nomes books (Truckers, Diggers, Wings), and The Carpet People.

A few of his are Discworld for younger readers, but IMO they're better if you've read the others and know the world more.

Eagle of the Ninth is very sophisticated in terms of the language (and the series can be quite bleak) so way above most 8YO - your DD might be an exception. The best intro to Sutcliffe for younger readers IMO is called Capricorn Bracelet and is a collection of short stories about the Romans in Britain, all linked by the eponymous bracelet. It's out of print last I checked but I bought it second hand on amazon. It would be a great to read together on run up to a trip to Roman Baths.

(PS Does she have a library card? She needs one if not, so she can keep gobbling up books. )

I'm not quite sure if these count as fantasy or not, but they do feature things that couldn't happen in real life:
Indian In The Cupboard
Toms Midnight Garden
Marianne Dreams