Something to grab the attention of 9-10 yr olds

[belindarose]

Can anyone suggest a novel for a y4/5 class? I only have them once a week, so would like something really exciting that they'll remember week to week. A difficult to engage class. This is for me to read aloud, not for them to read.
Thanks.

Percy Jackson? Or will too many of them have read them?

I'll have a look at Percy Jackson. Bit out of touch with what that age group are reading. I don't get the impression that a great many of them are prolific readers, so should be okay. Do they appeal to boys and girls?

I would say so - they seem generally popular on here as well as among dd & her classmates. There is quite a bit of fighting in them, I don't think too much so for 9 year olds but I don't know what is considered appropriate for in school so you might want to skim read first!

Alternatively How To Train your Dragon is also excellent, and if they're not particularly keen readers then perhaps would be new to them too. (Though might they have seen the film? Percy J also filmed of course, but I think probably less popular?)

David Walliams Billionaire Boy? A bit rude which they will find funny! Or a Roald Dahl?

HM Hoover is very good, but I think you'd have to find a used one. They do pop up on amazon and ebay pretty regularly, and it's highly unlikely any of the pupils will have heard them before. This Time of Darkness is a good one. Or Room 13 by Robert Swindells - all of his are good, but some are for older readers, and some have some "serious" subject matter. Room 13 is a great one for reading aloud though, it has "spooky" bits and it's about a group of school children on a school trip (to Whitby - guess who they meet ) which might be nice for a class story.

My Brother's Ghost by Allan Ahlberg grips them from the first paragraph and has short engrossing chapters. Also The Fib by George Leyton is my standby as a supply teacher,short stories but one or two a bit long so I read them first and edit with a pencil! They love them,though,especially Balaclava Boy!

I would go with something they are more unlikey to pick up and read themselves. So not a Percy Jackson or How to Train your Dragon but something more like:

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
The Indian in the Cupboard Lynn Reid Banks is quite fun
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Swiss Family Robinson by Johann Wyss
Five Children and It by E. Nesbit (yes, it's Edwardian, but the wishing for things that turn out to be not as you expect is great "it seems so fresh because it gets to the heart of being a child - the wonderful sense that anything can happen to you and probably will" this would be my top choice from this list!)
The Borrowers by Mary Norton

My son's teachers (Yr5) sent a copy of an article by Julia Eccleshare, the children's book editor of the Guardian. Unfortunately it's from 2000 and I can't find a link. But in summary it says "the best books for this age do not inform children about the world, but present it to them as a transformation" It also says beware of some older classics which can come across as dense in terms of their writing style (I'm thinking the original Robin Hood!)

I've gone for 'Billionaire Boy' and they're entranced. Thanks for all suggestions.