Question for Mums of dc ages 9/10/11 - what have your children read this year that they loved?

[Earlybird]

DD is an avid reader, and I'm looking for some suggestions. Personal recommendations can be the best, so please share with me what has enthralled your children.

Thank you.

DD9 is going through Jacqueline Wilson at a rate of knots.

I'll start with a recommendation of my own: dd is 9, and has recently completed/ loved this series of books about a girl named Theodosia who lives in a London museum:

www.amazon.co.uk/Theodosia-Serpents-Chaos-R-Lafevers/dp/0618756388/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=12 7248428

oops, she's not 1 of 9 , she is 9yo

they look good - are they written serially? i.e. is there one to start off with?

I second Jacqueline Wilson! Also Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events and Jeremy Strong's Hundred Miles an HOur Dog series

And the ubiquitous Harry Potter of course, if yours hasn't gone through all of them already...

There's a boy in the girl's bathroom, by Louis Sachar

A funny, touching story about the class troublemaker and his attempts to change. Has a bit of gentle pre-teen romance in it. Great book

Also: Tales of A Fourth Grade Nothing - Judy Blume. Story about 9 year old boy and his funny, annoying 2 year old brother. I recommended this to DS1 (I read whole series as a child) and he liked it

DS1 (10) has scorched through the entire set of Percy Jackson books by Rick Riorden. (Boy who finds he is a greek demigod - quite Potteresque.)

Huw - the main one i linked to is the one to start with.

katisha - yes, Percy Jackson was a favourite around here too. DD hasn't asked to see the movie yet, and i'm not sure i'll take her anyway....have you/ds seen it?

Yes it was the film that got him into the books. He didn't particularly want to see it but really enjoyed it, so I got him the first book (which apparently is quite different from the film) and he went on from there.

The Septimus Heap books- Magyk, Queste etc. by Angie Sage, Molly Moon by Georgia Byng, anything by Eva Ibbotson or Rumer Godden gets read and re-read. The White Giraffe by Lauren St John went down well, as did Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah.

Have you got him the 'Ultimate Guide'? DD got it for her birthday, and it was one of the gifts she was most thrilled about....

www.amazon.co.uk/Percy-Jackson-Olympians-Ultimate-Trading/dp/1423121716/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&q id=1272485644&sr=1-2

DD (9) loved Cressida Cowell's How to Train Your Dragon series, Jeremy Strong's My Brother's Famous Bottom, The Enchanted Library by Karen Andrea. Oh, & The Name of This Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch.

DD isn't keen on "classic" children's books such as Noel Streatfield but has had a bit of a WW2 theme going on and enjoyed When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, Goodnight Mr Tom, Back Home (Michelle Magorian) and Carrie's War.

my 10 year old niece has read the Twilight series, Alice in Wonderland and the Diary of Anne Frank

Dd1 (10) has read the classic Wizard of Oz, which she loved.

Also Anne Franks Diary, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, some Jacqueline Wilson (don't ask me what they all look the same to me!), Lemony Snicket, Stig of the Dump, and has just launched into "A Wizard of Earthsea" by Ursula Le Guin which I can't get her out of!

I've read the following to children if that age. All went down well

wolf brother series by michelle paver sort of fantasty set in native American type culture
Charlie small series adventure/ fantasy
Philip Pullman many and varied genres and levels of story

the boy in the girls bathroom is great but is a recommended text for y5/6 literacy. We've really enjoyed this unit at school especially as we had our own 'bradley chalkers' in the class at the time. Helped them to empathise, well till he got excluded and sent to the pru!

mine love the Harry Potter cd's read by Stephen Fry (and so do I in the car!)

DD 9 is going through a phase of loving the semi-fiction series of 'The diary of ...' or 'My royal story' published by Scolastic

DS 9 enjoys Beast Quest, Jack Stalwart, Harry Potter, Famous Five, Secret Seven. At the moment he is reading some SAS book but not sure what it is called or who it is by and he has taken it to school.

DD 11 loves Ponies so Pony Club Secrets books. BTW if your DD is into Ponies, then Pony magazine seems to be really good value, loads of real writing for the cover price.

Dd has also read some Murder mysteries by Tanya Landman. There are also the Roman Mystery's. My daughter also read some of the books by Lauren St John (who visited her school).
We also like Sharon Creech (on Amazon not in Waterstones).
There is also the Carnegie medal shortlist, not sure how suitable the books are for this age range this year.
Frank Cottrell Boyce is quite fun too, and for boys I'd recommend Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, and the Alex rider books.

Dd1 has devoured all of Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider books. I like them too .

OP thank you for this thread it has given me some great ideas for authors to introduce to my ds

Glad you've found it useful and informative - i know I have!

Here's another for you...dd and i recently read a book called 'My Side of the Mountain'. It is about a boy who runs away from home because he wants to try living on his own in the wilderness. It is very descriptive about how he made a place to live, what he ate and how it was prepared, local wildlife, etc. (Perhaps a 'junior' Ray Mears? )

The book was written around 50 years ago (i think), and the author actually did all the things the boy in the story does - so very believable.

Link here:

www.amazon.co.uk/Side-Mountain-Puffin-Modern-Classics/dp/0142401110/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1 272540590&sr=1-1

Thank you, it looks good. I think I will order it for me ds