Book recommendations please - Is Harry Potter suitable for a 6yo?

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My 6 yo is an amazing reader, she picked it up age 3 and now reads at an adult level (lord knows why) but I'm struggling to find books that are appropriate for her and are challenging enough.

I've never read the Harry Potter books (or seen the films) are these OK for a (not particularly sensitive) 6yo?.

Any other recommendations please. She loves all things fantasy, dragons, angels, fairies etc, but will read just about anything, I would love any recommendations for some books with strong female characters as well please. I'm not much of a reader so I'm struggling.

My DSs were also advanced readers and read the first 3 Harry potters about that age. I think the later books become less age suitable imo.

People generally recommend older type books, famous 5 etc as being a bit more innocent than more modern ones but mine just never enjoyed that type.

What's about Narnia books?

I wouldn’t at that age. It sounds like she would be capable of reading them and the first 3 aren’t too upsetting or scary. But in a year she’ll want to read book 4 which is. The themes are quite advanced and better suited to older readers IMO. Lots of y5/6 pupils have read the lot but in my opinion the later ones are more secondary appropriate - they’ll get more out of it at that age in my view.

Why not take her to a bookshop or the library and let her choose?

Skullduggery pleasant books have a strong lead but might still need to be a few years away yet. My boys loved them.

The library is probably your best friend in this scenario. Minecarevin their 20s now so I'm struggling to remember what was good around that age.

Remember it doesn't always need to be challenging as even though she finds the reading easy, the stories for younger children will still be enjoyable. It's just that she'll get through them very quickly which is where the library comes in.

It's okay if they're not particularly sensitive, my dd sounds very similar to yours and I'd be happy for her to try them. They do get both scarier and more sophisticated in theme as they go along though so you might find she can't cope with the latter half of the series yet.

To be honest if she’s not sensitive I think they’d be fine, yes they get a lot darker but a lot of kids can deal with dark themes - in fact they relish them.

Other possibilities with strong/funny female characters - the Violet Veil mysteries; The Wizards of Once; Ramona; Clarice Bean (latter two very easy to read but lovely, and beloved by my daughter around that age and onwards). Will look at DD’s shelf later and see if I can think of more…

Thanks everyone.

She read the Narnia ones, and loved them, she has read all the famous five books too, and the likes of Wind in the Willows and other classics from my childhood.

We are at the library twice a week currently, she can't get enough of reading, which is great, but I struggle to keep up.

She gets really bored with books for a younger age group unfortunately, that would have solved my problem.

I'll try her with the first 3 Harry Potters then and will probably read the last 3 before she does just to see what I think.

I'll have a look at the other suggestions now, thank you.

1, 2 and 3 are ok.

The worst witch, Clever Polly and the stupid wolf, Percy Jackson, Narnia, Isadora Moon, Northern Lights, The Ruby in the Smoke, Jennings.

Ask the librarian for suggestions?

My kids love the Redwall series by Brian Jaques

I would say try her on the first couple and see how she goes. Other than that, I'd suggest Percy Jackson, the younger Discworld books by Terry Pratchett (Maurice, The Wee Free Men and the other Tiffany books), the rest of the Enid Blyton books (Magic Faraway Tree, Wishing Tree, Secret 7, Mystery series, the Five Findouters etc), and if she will manage then some classics like Jane Eyre and Little Women, Alice in Wonderland, Robinson Crusoe, Swallows and Amazons, then when she is a little older things like Animal Farm, to kill a mockingbird and A Tale of Two Cities could be good too. (I was an early reader and my mum got me reading classics at an early age which helped me to develop my vocabulary and understanding as well as them challenging me due to the changes in how English is used over time).

Great recommendations so far. I'd add - Pippi Longstocking, Heidi, Little Women, Ballet Shoes, Five Children & It, Pollyanna. The Hobbit.

So many!

There is also masses of non fiction books that would be good. Learning about animals/space/dinosaurs/science/history etc

One DS used to like Scream street books and both loved Darren Shan at a bit older.

My DD has just read drop of golden sun and loved it. Nice uplifting life affirming book.
The Nevermore series gets raved about on here
Adam Kay’s books for kids if she doesn’t mind a bit of gore (and all the horrible histories books too are great)
Grimwood are funny
Frost Fair - Magical Sweetmakers is also 🤩

Try Sophie Anderson, fantasy and folklore. And if she likes dragons my daughter loved the Dragon Realm series by Katie and Kevin Tsang, and The Boy who grew dragons books.

I take she's read the How to train your dragon books?

I massively regret introducing DD to Harry Potter early, she was a fabulous reader and loved them but it ruined so many other books for her as they just didn't measure up it was really hard to get her reading again afterwards. Plus the later ones are very dark so I made her wait to read those. Keep them until Key Stage 2 instead.

The Beast Quest series of books (and there's quite a lot of them to go at!)

The first 3, definitely. That was how old dd was.
Narnia is more complex writing. I did read TLTWATW to DD at that age, but because of its age, some of the syntax went over her head.

Had similar situation here.
Get her a Kindle - unless you have loads of bookshelf space! very useful for holidays (less to pack).

I buy a lot second hand online (eBay, Amazon etc.) as big savings that way. Amazon is good for recommending things if you search things your dd liked click around a bit and see what else comes up, what other people have bought etc.

Also see if library can order in books you would like but they don’t stock. There may be a small fee but it’s cheaper than buying if only going to be read once.

Ones below with a * are a bit less well known or old but I would really recommend.

Anna James - The Book Smugglers - Pages and Co. Series

• Beverly Cleary - Ramona series

Horrible histories box set - esp if she likes the TV programmes (and who wouldn’t?)

Robin Stevens - Murder most unladylike series

Astrid Lindgren - Pippi Longstocking series, Lotta series, also there are some that were known as the Bullerby series but have been republished as “noisy village” series I think. These are my daughter’s most favourite - they are v old fashioned but quite charming.

Jill Murphy - Worst Witch series

Clara Vulliamy - Dotty Detective series - easy but lots of fun & good female character.

Kes Grey - Daisy and the trouble with…

• Emily Calandrelli - Ada Lace series (again great female lead character)

Liz Pichon - Tom Gates series

Jenny McLachlan - Land of Roar series

Alex Milway - Hotel Flamingo series (v easy but fun)

Judith Eagle - The Accidental stowaway

A.M.Howell - Peril on the Atlantic

Clare Povey - The unexpected Tale of Bastien Bon Livre

• Kate do Camillo - Flora and Ulysses

Eva Ibbotson - Journey to the River Sea, also Star of Kazan, and others

Isla Fisher - Marge in charge series

Katherine Randell - Rooftoppers

• Stacy McAnulty - The miscalculations of lightning girl

• E.L. Konigsburg - From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler

• Karen Inglis - The Secret Lake

Chris Riddell - Ottoline series

• Natalie Jane Prior - Lily Quench

Alesha Dixon - Lightning Girl

Enid Blyton - Mallory Towers, Twins and St Clare’s. Some people not keen on these as dated and some stereotypes but my dds loved them anyway.

Marcia Williams - illustrated sets of Greek myths, Roman gods, Shakespeare, Dickens, Robin Hood etc.

Usborne See Inside books - lots to learn from these.

The classics are your friends here, because the language is more complex but the themes are age appropriate.

Paddington
Just William
The Adventures of the Little Wooden Horse
Swallows & Amazons
The Secret Garden
The Little Princess
Tom’s Midnight Garden
Little Women
Little House on the Prairie (series)
Anne of Green Gables (series)
Enid Blyton school stories - twins at St Clare’s, Malory Towers etc

I personally wouldn't. The topics are complex and what do you do after book 3 and she is not allowed to go on?

Astrid Lindgren is a great author. Cornelia Funke also has several books outside the Inkheart series which are highly entertaining, even for an advanced reader.

Robin Stevens - Murder most unladylike may be a good series

Rosemary Sutcliffe for historical fiction and The Dark is Rising sequence might do. I was a very advanced reader and had read some Dickens by 10, Dracula and other assorted genres. The librarian helped and I was reading from the adult section by 10

@Compsearch those are all the kind of ones I would recommend - much more advanced vocab and sentence structure than so many modern ones, but more innocent themes. Slows down speedy readers a bit! A lot of the ' pink and sparkly' books are not that great, although it might seem like they tempt reluctant readers, the writing is often quite poor. Librarians will enjoy recommending books although may still suggest books which are too 'old'.