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Children's books

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Original poster

what are you reading to your 9yr old?

58 replies

DeliveredByKiki · 24/10/2017 03:56

DS isn't a voracious reader, unless it's anything to do with minecraft in which case he's all over it, but he enjoys me still reading to him at bedtime. We've done all the Roald Dahl and David Walliams books, we did Philosopher's Stone but halfway through Chamber of Secrets and he says it's too scary for me to read to him just before bed.

What are you reading your children? I want to read him books above his reading level but not sure what to tackle next - he does love Harry Potter so we'll carry that on in the daytime! I've tried Wind in the Willows, Narnia and various other "classics" but they've been a lot harder going than I remember. Any modern classics I should know about - I read a million books a day at his age and throughout school so I don't know why I'm struggling so much!

OP posts:
Waterfeature · 28/10/2017 23:56

My 9yo loves all Swallows and Amazons; “Red Sails to Capri”; “The Silver Sword”; Laura Ingalls Wilder. I’m currently reading him “Little Britches” by Ralph something.

MaroonPencil · 28/10/2017 23:51

This year books I've read my nine year old DS include:
The Dark is Rising - Susan Cooper (possibly scary in same way HP is)
Carbonel - Barbara Sleigh (he asked for this a second time so must have liked it)
Howls Moving Castle - Diana Wynne Jones
The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings (yes, that took a while).
Which Witch? - Eva Ibbotson
Marianne Dreams - Catherine Storr (that one is a bit spooky though)

Books we have also enjoyed are The Family at One End Street, Stig of the Dump, The Wizard of Oz, The Children of Green Knowe.

timtam23 · 28/10/2017 23:41

Forgot to say that my local independent bookshop recently recommended The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow (Katherine Woodfine) and Cogheart (Peter Bunzl) for this age group - I've just found Clockwork Sparrow in the local library so will give it a try once Midnight Garden is finished. Left to his own devices DS will read books like Tom Gates, Middle School etc which are a bit cartoony, visual gag-type books & not really great for reading aloud at bedtime

timtam23 · 28/10/2017 23:35

I'm reading Tom's Midnight Garden to my DSs (9 & 7) and they are both really enjoying it. It was written in the 1950s but it doesn't seem as dated as some other books from the same period (I read it in the late 70s/early 80s and loved it). Except that Tom is quarantined for weeks and weeks because his brother has measles, which the DCs were a bit puzzled by

DaisyRaine90 · 28/10/2017 12:19

Second the hobbit 😍

Alice in Wonderland is lovely to read out loud too.

The lion the witch and the wardrobe and the rest of that series are great 😊

DaisyRaine90 · 28/10/2017 12:17

Anything by Roald Dahl 😊

Original poster
DeliveredByKiki · 28/10/2017 06:26

Wonderful lists everyone- thanks so much for the input

OP posts:
Muchtoomuchtodo · 27/10/2017 22:24

I have a similar dc, but with the added complication of needing Welsh language books as well as English.

This is a great list to see what I can get in one or both languages.

Appuskidu · 27/10/2017 22:24

The Phantom Tolbooth and Frozen in Time (Ali Sparkes) are perfect for this age!

LakeFlyPie · 27/10/2017 22:21

We've enjoyed some of the Dick King Smith books, particularly The Queen's Nose.
The Littlenose series (which DS (9) took and finished himself).
Alexander McCall Smith's childrens books are lovely to read too.

CBW · 27/10/2017 22:12

The Hobbit is a lovely book to read out loud.

TriGirl007 · 27/10/2017 22:00

Tom Gates? Not very testing but they all read them boys & girls last year in year5.

MazDazzle · 27/10/2017 22:00

We’ve just finished Echo Come Home by Megan Rix. It was lovely! We’re not usually into animal stories, but it was gripping. My two were transfixed. I’ve bought a couple of her other books for stocking fillers.

GreatBigPolarBear · 27/10/2017 21:58

Mine's enjoying the new Jaqueline Wilson -'wave me goodbye'. Which makes me wonder if she'd like 'goodnight mister tom'
She also likes dork diaries but I can't stand them so refuse to read them to her!
Big Harry Potter fan
I've heard good things about the 13 (?) storey treehouse books

missmapp · 27/10/2017 21:55

The Charlie bone books.

Jeffers3 · 27/10/2017 21:54

Another vote for Matt Haig Christmas books they're written in such an appealing way for children, everything seems to roll off the tounge and the story is great!

KrindleKrax is also good, an oldie but a goodie. Great repitition in it for a chapter book and is fun.

LadyMacnet · 27/10/2017 21:52

My Dad’s a Birdman and Angelino Brown by David Almond are my DS’s favourites atm. (He’s 8). Going to get him Skellig for Christmas.

Witchend · 27/10/2017 21:46

Last two books I read with ds (10yo) were Biggles. Actually I only read the first two chapters to him, then he went away and read the rest. I had to pinch the book back to find out what happened. Humph!

ojell · 27/10/2017 00:26

‘The Phantom Tollbooth’ (Norton Juster) and ‘Haroun and the Sea of Stories’ (Salman Rushdie) both fall into the ‘Modern Classics’ category for me. ‘The Eagle of the Ninth’ (Rosemary Sutcliffe) is a great adventure story set in Roman Britain. At the moment I am reading ‘My Family and Other Animals’ to my boy, which he is finding great fun - but Gerald Durrell’s later books about his collecting trips in Africa and South America are both very interesting and very funny too.

HoneyWheeler · 25/10/2017 08:41

The Matt Haig Christmas books - A Boy Called Christmas and the Girl who Saved Christmas had my year 4 class on the edge of their seat last year! Highly recommend

Apileofballyhoo · 25/10/2017 08:25

My son liked The Wind in the Willows. We got nowhere with Watership Down. He loved Karlsson on the Roof. Likes The Five Find-outers series.

SummerLightning · 25/10/2017 02:36

Have you tried fuzzy mud thecraddock I have the audio book from the library waiting for us to take a long journey.

Wayside school by louis sachar are also pretty good too, but a bit younger and quite daft.

thecraddock · 25/10/2017 02:12

There’s a boy in the girls bathroom
Holes

(Both by Louis sachar)

DaisyRaine90 · 25/10/2017 01:39

Place marking

Yaley · 25/10/2017 01:19

Try David Baddeil. The Parent Agency and The Person Controller.