AIBU to ask for book recommendations for a 7 year old girl

[Mydarlingsleepthief]

She’s read all of the Daisy books, and likes Jacqueline Willson too. I got her a big box of Jacqueline Willson books but just realised some of them are about quite older themes, like death and violence! I don’t really want her reading them as she’s really sensitive and worries, but she likes the style of writing, and I don’t know what to try her with now!

She’s only just started free reading and loves it, so I want to be able to get her quite a few books for Christmas!

Oh and we are in tier 3 so can’t go to library

Flat Stanley, The Worst Witch books, Roald Dahl, David Walliams, Kid Normal and The Boy who grew/lived with/flew with Dragons are all favourites with my almost 7 year old.

My 7 year old DD loves the Ivy and Bean series.

Old school Enid Blyton? Noel Streatfeild wrote Ballet Shoes and White Boots about skating and dancing which are very old fashioned and quite innocent. They might be a bit hard, depends how good she is at reading.

Enid Blyton and Roahl Dahl are my DDs favourites. Also loves the Worst Witch, the storey treehouse, David Williams and the rainbow magic fairies are very popular but you might not want to encourage that as they are dire!

Just ordered a box set of ivy and bean!! They look fab!

Try these gentle ones:

Anne Fine (the thinner, easier ones) - very like JW
Jeremy Strong - similar to JW
Mia Mayhem - diverse superhero series but gentle, limited peril
Diary of a Wimpy Kid - funny, about school, no real peril
The Tom Gates series - v similar to Wimpy Kid
The No1 Car Spotter series - lovely, gentle stories with a great protagonist
Also could try Enid Blyton's Naughtiest Girl series, which is a bit younger/easier than Malory Towers etc.

JW is wonderful but there are some really tough stories and violent incidents, IIRC there's one with a stabbing and the kid gets trapped in a caravan that gets set on fire, DD was in floods. Rent a Bridesmaid is quite lovely though, maybe one to read to her at this stage as it's very long.

Flat Stanley and Billy Bonkers are also silly gentle books for that transition age.

If you value your sanity avoid the bloody rainbow magic series.

Wizards of once series by Cressida cowell. The books are brilliant and with a feisty heroine!

Definitely worst witch, roald Dahl and maybe some Enid blyton. Perhaps a book of poems or short stories?

The Dotty Detective series is good, as are the 13 Storey Treehouse series.

My 7yo dd nearly died laughing at both Dogman and The Bad Guys - both are quite heavy on toilet humour though if that bothers you.

Isadora Moon is going down well with my 8 year old

The Ramona Quimby series by Beverly Cleary

Ramona Quimby

Cross post! Great minds. I still enjoy them and I'm 39!

Agree any of Cressida Cowell. Also if she likes the Witch one and How to Train Your Dragon (not the film version) the audiobooks by DavidTennant are a hoot.

Coraline might be a bit scary but it’s good and definitely try the very funny ‘unfortunately the milk’ by Neil Gaiman. Haven’t read the new one pIrate Stew but he is very good.

My daughter is currently reading "George's secret key to the universe" by Lucy and Stephen Hawking. She keeps telling me that it is the best book she has ever read, and wants to show me the cool pictures in it. I may have to borrow it, once she is done!

Other favourites in this house are mentioned above: Treehouse series, Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Oh, and Dr. Proctor's fart powder was also well received!

Amelia Fang is a big hit with my 8yos (and has been since they were still 7!)

Oh yes avoid J Wilson. Dustin Baby is about a baby who is abandoned by a teen mum. So many older themes wrapped up in appealing to younger kids covers.

My 7 year old also loves the Daisy books and moved on to Junie B Jones which are very easy to read short chapter books about a very naughty Kindergartner, the books are very American and I was in two minds at first if it was encouraging bad behaviour/too trashy but in the end I decided any devouring of books is good and she'd old enough for the protagonist attitude not to rub off on her. These books are really popular in America but less so here though I have had luck finding them on eBay, I got a new box set of the first grade collection for a good price recently.

She also likes:
Clementine
Ivy and Bean
Sophie (Dick King Smith)
My Naughty Little Sister
Milly Molly Mandy
Ramona and Beezus (these are longer and older writing style which I read to her first but she took over)
Fudge series
Naughty Amelia Jane
The Naughtiest Unicorn
The Never Girls (about human girls that visit Never Never land)
Charlotte's Web (I read the first time)

@Toddlerteaplease, I discovered them when I briefly lived in the US when I was 9, then persuaded my library to buy them when we got back to the uk. I’ve recently finished reading them with dd (just 9), who also loved them. Still excellent nearly 40 years later! I have no idea why they are not more well known in the UK.

There's a whole set of Flat Stanley books that are very innocent, not a hard read either. Horrid Henry books are my 7 year old DDs favourite at the moment although I'm not a fan of Henry's nasty parents.

@BikeRunSki my Year 3 teacher read one of the to us and I loved them. I discovered there was one I missed as a child as well.

Mrs Pepper Pot
Brer Rabbit

Have you checked if your library is offering a click n collect service? Most of them are even though they're closed for browsing. If your local authority isn't operating this service and it's not too far to the next borough you can join any library you wish to. I presume this is still allowed during lockdown. What we normally do is allow borrowers to sign up online and then bring proof of address when they come to collect their items. Good luck!

Some fabulous ideas thank you all so much! I’m going to scour eBay too for some, and I will look into click and collect at the library