Books for Roisin and Yorkiegirl to read!

Well she's 6 and has older siblings to read to her. I think that secretly she does read or want to read at home, but she's kinda backed herself into a corner. I figure if I don't make an issue then she will have space to come out of it. We buy them hardback books for Christmas and at the end of the school year to say well done for working hard.

A good book that DD1 read was called Oven Chips for Tea. I can't remember who it was by, but she really enjoyed it. It was recommended by my lovely man at the Children's Bookshop. Your girls might like it. It's about a girl's grandparents who divorce and the reason she finds out about it is because one day grandma makes oven chips for tea. Grandma normally makes her own chips. Sounds grim but a wonderful read.

IKWYM about JW, the girls I teach nearly all love her, I just find her books to be very samey. I'm trying to get them to branch out, but ultimately as long as they're reading then that's fine with me too! Its so easy to fall into the habit of reading books by the same author all the time, I have done that myself. Its a shame your DD2 is not keen on reading at home independently.... hopefully that'll change

To be honest, I'm pretty good at knowing what my kids read. I was just being nosy and facetious. I am always open to suggestions for the kidwinkles. DS1 is 12 next week. DD1 loves reading Jaqueline Wilson and anything about animals. I'm trying to dilute the JW books. I think they should read a variety of authors, but at the end of the day am just pleased that they all love reading. DD2 is determined not to read independently at home, but that's ok because I know she's capable. I think that kids reading is wonderful and should be encouraged at all costs.

Roisin's DS is 7 and a very good reader. I teach year 5 and am intrigued by the books my class read. They look interesting so I read them to see for myself. More often than not they are well worth reading. There is such a selection out there nowadays that there is always a great children's book waiting to be read!
If there's a particular book you want to know about then ask us... we might know if its worth reading!

May I ask why you two are reading children's books? Is it so that you know what your children are reading? Do you just like the genre? My children have so many books and if you two are reviewing them, I'll let you know what's there and you can let me know whether or not I should remove them lol

Glad you liked them yurtgirl!

Roisin, I finished Wolf Brother last night. What a disappointing ending! So much build up and then it was over so quickly! It was interesting to read, but lacked so much depth. I think the idea behind the story could lend itself to so much more than Michelle Paver gave it IYKWIM!
Now on to Curious Incident....
Have also got a Molly Moon book to try, looks promising. Read any of those?

Aha! Yorkie girl- have been hunting high and low for you!!! Thankyou very much for the little shoes and hat - dd will look really sweet in them :)

Yorkiegirl I'm about 2/3 way through Shadowmancer - it's quite odd, isn't it? Excellent writing, but rather disturbing: I'll let you know my verdict when I've finished! (I certainly won't be recommending it for ds1 for a little while though - similar to Lirael.)

Mars - I hadn't heard of Garth Nix's works for younger readers, and someone else recommended them to me for ds1 this week; so I will definitely track them down - thanks.

That's on my pile of books to read! Want to finish Wolf Brother first, then on to that one!

How about The curious Incident of a Dog in the Night-time - absolutely fab!

Did anybody else NOT like shadowmancer-I really hated it-much too dark and horrible details like the severed hand candlestick. Gave up after chapter four.
"a Gathering light" jennifer Donnelly is very good (i think this is aimed at children as in the childrens section at waterstones) More for girls than boys though probably.
Northern lights trilogy-fab-but you have probably read those already.

Have never watched it so couldn't comment!
Wanted to read last nigth but was too tired. Should have done thos as it took me ages to get to sleep!

No! I watched "North and South" - it was fantastic - sobbed for at least 40 minutes (much to dh's disgust), and I decided I wasn't in a 'Shadowmancer' mood. So went straight to sleep instead to dream of Richard Armitage

Did you start Shadowmancer then Roisin??

That sounds lovely. Does anybody like David Almond? He writes beautiful, quite spiritual books, with "The Fire Eaters" being my favourite, although Skellig is perhaps the most critically rated. Also - "Coraline" by Neil Gaimnan for anyone who likes quite creepy stories although the ending is a bit weak imho. There's a trilogy beginning with the "Wind Singer" which is superb - William somebody? Cornelia Funke "Dragon Rider" is pretty good. I also enjoyed "Private Peaceful" - it made me cry. And if anybody likes teenage girl humour the Georgia Nicholson diaries by Louise somebody or other are an absolute scream - but def. not for the under 13s!

A great book I'd like to recommend is "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein. My bf came accross it when he was working in the states about 15 yrs ago and it had stuck with him for many years until he found it during my pregnancy and bought a copy.

He read it several times to me & Bob (the bump) and I can see why it stuck with him all those years. He used to read it to the kids at night over in the states and it was the only time they'd all be quiet and behave themselves (whether it was the book or his english/cockney accent or a mixture of both he don't know).

The book begins, "Once there was a tree.....and she loved a little boy."
"Every day the boy would come to the tree to eat her apples, swing from her branches,
or slide down her trunk......and the tree was happy".
"....but as the boy grew older he begun want to want more from the tree, and the tree gave and gave and gave"

It's a beautiful story and I think kids of all ages would enjoy it. My boyfriend worked in a summer camp for disadvantaged kids from very poor and deprived backgrounds and they aged from 11 - 16 and he said this would alwayd make them listen intently and usually some of them would be teary at the end cause it's a real thinker of a story.

Hope you can find a copy.

LOL! I've got two 'adult' tomes under my bed ... Hmmm... Think I'll start Shadowmancer

The books we are on about here are for us to read too, Mars! Roisin and I share an enjoyment of reading fiction aimed at anyone over 8! We have decided that quite often there's no need to even look at adult fiction as the children's selection is so great lately!

Probably 9 or 10. Sorry, just looked at my son's bookshelf. He's always been a good reader and was always ahead of his age. Just spoken to him and he said to wait. Will look again on his shelf and see what he was reading at 7 apart from Alex Rider and everything by Anthony Horowitz.

What age are they aimed at Mars? I have enjoyed books about Arthur in the past, namely Mary Stewart's series, so could be worth reading!
Roisin, believe it or not those boots have been worn many times, just managed to keep them in very good condition! They have been to Ingleborough and along the N Yorks Coast with school, a fair few miles, plus other walking with me and DH BC!

Another thought, what about Kevin Crossley Holland. His trilogy is Arthur - The Seeing Stone, At the Crossing Place and King of the Middle March

Garth Nix has also got some slightly younger books. Mr Monday and Grim Tuesday. It's the beginning of a set of 7 (obviously). It takes a while to get your head around the weirdness of it, but rather good.

I've got two copies - I'll send you one ... the boots are fab and in fantastic condition - I paid you far too little for them. Thank you!

I was hoping ds1 would finish LionBoy: The Chase tonight, but he isn't going to (lights out at 8); so I was looking for something else to read. I will try Shadowmancer and let you know how I get on!

G P Taylor is a vicar, well remembered! Shadowmancer is very dark, quite scarey in places. Read it yourself, but maybe not DS1 just yet. I found the imagery to be very strong and thought provoking. It plays well with the concepts of faith versus balck magic and so on. Well worth reading (as if you haven't got enough to read!) Need to get the second book of his too.

Hi Marslady - I love Garth Nix; It's one of the few children's books that I won't allow ds1 to read yet. (He's only 7, but extremely good reader). I enjoyed Lirael and Sabriel immensely, but they are definitely teenage books, and I think would be potentially disturbing for him.

We have got both the GP Taylor books on the shelf, but none of us have read them. I was put off a bit by the blurb actually - I can't remember why now. Do you rate them highly? (Is the author a vicar or have I misremembered that too?)