to be secretly pleased that DD was hiding a book under her covers?

[MmeLindt]

... just like I used to do.

Am so pleased that she is enjoying reading. Must buy her some new books, at the moment she is reading mainly in French. What would be suitable for beginner reader of almost 9yo.

She is not so good in English as she has learned to read in French. A lot of the new reader books I have looked at are too basic, boring stories.

I used to do it all the time as a DD-I wish that my DCs did!

I actually considered buying her a torch.

Good for her! I hope you let her get away with it sometimes. :)

My parents never realised that I always wanted the head of my bed by the window so that I could read using the street light outside. :o

I second the Magic Faraway Tree books, and Malory Towers. I know a lot of people don't like Enid Blyton but I still love reading them :)

YANBU

'Ivy and Bean' by Annie Barrows. About the same level as The Magic Tree House.
She co-wrote 'The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society'.

Flat Stanley

aw, that is lovely. First time we caught ds reading under the covers dh and I struggled to keep our faces straight while telling him off, then hugged each other outside his room. (My mother still complains she does not understand how I ever managed to sleep with a dozen books under my pillow. I never thought this was a problem at all and had no idea what she was moaning about.)

Oh, I loved the Guernsey ... Pie Society.

As a child, I loved Judy Blume. Are you there God, its me Margaret.

When I was younger the Famous Five/Secret Seven. Heidi. Anne of Green Gables.

I cannot wait till she is able to read these old favourites.

i have a houseful of bookworms aged 7-9. favourites include
horrid henry
roald dahl
winnie the witch
enid blyton
horrible history/science/geography
how to tame your dragon series
oiooi longstocking

Milly Molly Mandy
Faraway Tree
Wishing Chair
Five Find-Outers
Adventure Stories (Isle of Adventure etc)

Ooh- yes- Milly Molly Mandy. I love those books, wore my childhood copies out.

Also maybe in near future Anne of Green Gables?

chippy - love your typo on Pippi!

I know exactly where you're coming from mmelindt, I caught dd1 (6 1/2) doing the exact same thing a couple of weeks ago. She's just got to the point where her reading is good enough to enjoy a story on her own. Sadly she was reading a Horrid Henry book, HH makes me want to tear out my eyes, but she was reading and that's a big thing.

Would she like the classics, What Katy Did perhaps? The Secret Garden. THe one where Posy and Pauline et al do ballet (I forget the name . DD1 likes Roald Dhal but isn't quite able to read those herself yet.

Will read people's responses for ideas myself :)

Dhal? wtf?

George's Marvellous Tikka Masala

I think Narnia series (mentioned earlier in thread) is quite difficult reading, both as to vocabulary and style.

some other suggestions for 9 y/o whose emphasis has not been on written English so far:

The World According to Humphrey series - written 'by' a hamster

Ms Whizz series

The Worst Witch series

Awwww. Though not as impressed to have gone upstairs at 10.45 tonight and discovered DC1 still reading in bed. Grrr

Agree with Enid Blyton. I loved the the Famous Five (still do), I used to read them over and over. They're good stories but quite simply written so might be a good starting point - maybe start with The Secret Seven?

you are definitely not being unreasonable. i'm a bookworm and so is son (who is severely dyslexic). i was over the moon when he started hiding books in his bed

sooo pleased for you

Ms Wiz books (Terence Blacker)
Magic Children books (Sally Gardner)
Mr Majeika
Humphrey (hamster stories)
Possibly some of the younger Louis Sachar ones like the Marvin Redpost series, or the Wayside School series.
If she happens to be into animals, there are loads of series about puppies/kittens/ponies etc - have a browse through the book people or the Red House sites to get an idea of what's around - not sure if they ship to Switzerland, they stopped shipping to Asia a few years back.

And as an aside, I followed your link to the Martine book and that really brought back memories - I think I had that precise book, I'm amazed they are still going. I wasn't brought up bilingual but my grandmother taught French and used to buy and read French children's books with me and my sister. I can see myself getting addicted to Amazon.fr....

My mum used to hide all the torches in the house as I would read for hours. Then when we had a powercut she'd get really annoyed at not being able to find them

Then I got given a toy microscope for a birthday present and it didn't take me long to realise that there was a light on that too - I used to put it very carefully and quietly back in the box when I had finished, she didn't realise about that one for months.

I don't think the comics for girls exist any more. You can still buy the annuals around christmastime (or look on amazon?) but they are a bit . You can get old ones on ebay though I'd imagine. The ones from the 90s wouldn't be too dated maybe?

lol at Dhal

Some great suggestions here

exexpat
DD loves the Martine books. In a neighbouring village there is a great Troc shop that sells them for next to nothing. I can have a great wander around while she and DS search for a book.

Might not be quite so pleased if she is still reading at 10.45 pm, Mud.

My dd at 9 does exactly the same. She is now into all the old classics and adores What Katy did etc.

Have been through the Naughtiest Girl in the School books as well as all the St Clares and malory Towers which she adores and rereads at any excuse.

A few books she loved at 7 were the Judy Moody stories - they are US based but great fun for kids. She also loved the Fairy stories (although I hated them!)

DD likes to read in bed when she wakes up.

This morning at 3am I heard her door close. She sleeps with her door open so I went to check on her and she had her light on and was starting to read! Fortunately I managed to convince her it was the middle of the night!

I appear to have been prioritising reading skills over time-telling skills.

DD would read all night too. She really does need her sleep so doesn't have any source of light in her room We once caught her reading by the light of her digital alarm clock.
All the suggestions I had in my head have been made, Humphrey is one that DD loved. I would suggest Esio Trot as your DDs first Roald Dahl. It does use quite simple language, but is a really good book.

So you remove the bulb from the main light every night?

No, she doesn' t have a bulb in it , rather nice lampshade that shades - nothing. We take a lamp in for her.
Her reading really is extreme, bath, car on the way to school, church, breakfast, while watching the telly....................any situation you can imagine, DD will read.

Ohh if she likes horses... most 9 year old girls seem to... I loved Jill's pony club books at her age, by Ruby Ferguson. Lots of my friends had horses (we weren't well off, they just lived on farms/out in the sticks) ... I was allergic to them :(

It is great... and exactly what I used to do.

However, I now have appalling eyesight. Some is undoubtedly due to my genes. But, I always wonder if my nights with a torch under the duvet have anything to do with it? If I catch DS at this, I might suggest he has half an hour extra time with the light on, but ask him to avoid reading under duvet.