to think there aren't enough books for 6 year old boys?

[becstarsky]

I'm hoping that you'll all say "YABU, here's a bunch of book recommendations" to be honest.

DS and I have been reading 'Beast Quest' - alternate pages with him reading a page then me reading a page - he's fine for comprehension but his reading isn't quite fluent enough for it - just on the cusp of being able to sit and read it alone (gosh but those books are awful though aren't they? I guess they're just sitting right in the gap in the market that I'm complaining about!). We're also reading 'The BFG' together with us reading alternate pages in the same way.

We'll be camping for two weeks in the summer, and I expect we'll get through a lot of books. So I went to Waterstones to stock up on books that he could read independently. He's just finishing Year One, and is 1A/2C with his reading (teacher put him as 1A but told me she hesitated as to whether to put 2C). Normally we go to the library for books, but I don't want to take library books camping as they might get ruined considering the weather we've been having!

Now I know that DS could read books about ballet and fairies but that is just not his bag, and I want reading to be fun, not an exercise in corrective socialisation (as I've just come off the 'typical boy' thread ). He was really struggling with reading at one point, and I'm keen to encourage him as he's made amazing progress this year.

So I'm walking around the children's book area at his level and it all seems awfully... pink. There are lots of picture books about tractors and diggers etc. but that is all waaaay too babyish for him. For older boys there are some gruesome stories which look fun for when he's older. But at his age range I just couldn't find anything.

AIBU? Please tell me that I am!

Famous Five? Enid Blyton in general?
If he likes the BFG then move on to other Roald Dahl books?

Secret Seven. Wishing Chair. Faraway Tree. Possibly those vile nasty Horrid Henry, depending how you feel about him - the pound shop did have loads of HH books recently.
Willard Price's Adventure Series possibly, they might be a wee bit tricky for him to read alone just yet.

Famous Five/Five Findouters/Secret Seven
Horrid Henry
Wimpy Kid Diaries
David Walliams
Jeremy Strong
Narnia Chronicles

There are loads of books out there for 6 year old boys :)

I think he'd struggle to read Famous Five independently, although he has some of the stories on CD and likes them. We'll definitely go on to more Roald Dahl, but he does need support with 'The BFG'. I really wanted something he could read independently.

His school had one of those book fairs a few weeks ago, and there was a scrum of boys all scrambling to get the 'Star Wars - Phantom Menace' fact book. The girls seemed to be choosing from a range, whereas the boys were all after that one book. (DS got a copy - that extra rugby training from his DFIL came in handy )

YABU to post this in AIBU rather than "Children's Books".

But here are some book suggestions:

• Happy Families series , Allan Ahlberg
• Horrid Henry
• Magic Treehouse

-Winnie the Witch chapter books -Astrosaurs -Dinosaur Cove -"Bananas" books - different stories graded by banana by difficulty -DK reader books on subject that interests him e.g. Star Wars -Wimpy Kid -Enid Blyton

• Oliver Moon
• Flat Stanley

-David Walliams

yanbu, (although you may want to try captain underpants). Non fiction books may be the way to go my ds liked books from this read and discover series
see
http://www.amazon.co.uk/What-Wall-After-Read-Discover/dp/1406318566/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1342695956&sr=1-1 for example

He could probably manage 'Horrid Henry' independently with occasional 'what's this word, Mum'. I don't like it much (His parents are the horrid ones, for sure), but it's reading - if he's happy reading I don't mind what it is! I'll have a look at Wimpy Kid Diaries, David Walliams and Jeremy Strong.

I read some of 'Narnia' to him - I think it's way above his reading level atm though.

I don't think 6 year olds can relate to Wimpy Kid books tbh, they are for kids moving up to idle school imo.

Ds read Famous Five, Roald Dahl books and Horrid Henry.

A) Lots of 6 year old girls don't want to read pink books about ballet and ponies.

B) If he's on the BFG has he read other R Dahl? George's Marvellous Medicine, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory/Great Glass Elevator, The Witches etc?

Magic Treehouse are simpler chapter books - they are easier than BeastQuest.

Oh, I just looked at Magic Treehouse on Amazon - that's perfect, he'll be able to read that, and it looks like his sort of thing.

The other Roald Dahl we will get to, but at the moment he needs me to read it with him, he can't read it independently. And he's got lots of books at that level - it's at the level of independent reading that we're really struggling to find anything.

The Magic Faraway Tree was a big hit in this house too - good old Enid

Oh I remember The Magic Faraway Tree, I loved those! I'd be more than happy to read all those again, so even if he needs support with them that might be a good option.

I must admit I didn't know there was a Children's Books section - how unreasonable of me . But I was actually right on the edge of a proper rant. I couldn't bear the thought of reading yet another Beast Quest. Awful, just awful...

Mr Gum !
Captain Underpants!

these have my 7 year old in stitches.

Also Tintin (quality comic books), cheap hardback on Amazon

Astrid Lindgren books (especially Karlsson on the Roof, Pippi Longstocking)

Dinosaur Cove - definitely
Mudpuddle farm series - Morpurgo (& the marble crusher - 3 short stories)
Dirtie Bertie - Burp (nicer than horrid henry)
Theo Walcott football fiction series
The Minpins
Spider McDrew series
Damian Drooth super sleuth

wont keep him going for two weeks, but the Beano comic got my DS interested in reading, its light, stories are short, they can reread by themselves and infer the story from the pictures.
my teenage son still loves reading and i attribute that to the fact he cut his teeth on comics.

Pondering what mine read at that age, and the answer is: mostly the Beano, plus all the Asterix comic books, and anything else where not being able to read the odd word really doesn't matter.

You do get faced with a lot of capital letters, though.

x-posts Where!

Try The Book People.

I got my nearly-six year old a set of "Horrid Henry" early readers, they have more pictures than the main books. They also have sets of Beastquest. If you can bear any more!

You can sort by age, as well.

also factual books guiness book of world records and Ripleys believe it or not have lots of pictures and facts which can be enjoyed and read together or he can browse by himself.

My 6 year old, who isn't an enthusiastic reader, absolutely loved the My Weird School series, by Dan Gutman.

My seven year old loves Mr Gum and Wimpy Kid, but think they'd be a bit tricky for an only-just-starting reader. Mr Gum is hilarious though, I like reading them too!

Ah thank you EndoplasmicReticulum - I'm looking at The Book People site now.

Yay - I was being unreasonable

Good ideas on the factual books too.

But is it any wonder that traditional bookshops are struggling? I walked around an enormous Waterstones for half an hour with cash burning a hole in my pocket. Now I'm going on the internet to spend all the money I would have spent at Waterstones. And I really love bookshops, so it's quite annoying - but if they can't sell a pile of books to someone who wants to buy a pile of books, then they are doomed.

DS really like Hopscotch Adventures - they're about Sinbad/knights/vikings etc - many of them are based on myths so they're actually teaching them something too. They're about 400 words long and great for that age I'd think.

I find the same problem tbh and my DS is 6 too.

I have bought the dreaded floppy and kipper books but the older ones I think they are from stage 10 or 11 IIRC which are actually pretty good. They are the time travellers series.

Also treetops books are very good (again ORT - I don't work for them, honest!!) and these books are fab as the actual story is not too complicated but the pages can be quite wordy iyswim which is ideal for a young child who is slightly ahead with their reading.

If you want your DS on the treetops books I think there may be some ebooks on the Oxford owl website which are free.