Exciting books for boys that are not scary please

[deaconblue]

Ds is only 5 but has a massive vocab and has been enjoying stories for older children. We are reading Harry potter to him at the moment and he loves the books but keeps having bad dreams so we think they are too scary.
Recommendations for non scary books aimed at 7-8 yr olds would be brilliant thanks

We've read all the Dahl books, done lots of Jeremy strong and he has rejected the how to train a dragon series btw

Has he read any Flat Stanley? My DS loved them when he was younger.

DS is 5 and loves Tintin, he can read them (mostly) by himself now but when he was younger he would get DH to read them to him. I refused, I don't get Tintin and I can't read comic strips out loud.

Charlie Small is good journal like adventure. Or you could try Charlie Bone (a Harry Potteresque series - but not nearly as scary)

Harry Potter is a bit old for a 5 year old IME, and Tintin is way too old.

I would try Flat Stanley (but not the sequels which are tedious) my naughty little sister (and Bad Harry), the Big Big Book of Tashi, some of the Roald Dahl books (fantastic mr fox, the bfg, James and the giant peach)

the Cows In Action books have been a big hit in our house.

More modern books:
Astrosaurs
Cows in Action
Captain Underpants (don't be put off by the title!)
No. 1 Car Spotter series
pretty much anything by Dick King Smith (esp if he likes animals)

Classics which might fit the bill:
The Swallows and Amazons books (and there are 12 if he likes them - they were our bedtime reading for dd for ages!)
Farmer Boy and the earlier Little House books, esp Little House in the Big Woods
The Narnia books
Enid Blyton Famous Five et al (though personally I would either get audio books or avoid these until he is old enough to read them to himself )

He loved flat Stanley and has really enjoyed faraway tree stories and the borrowers series. Will have a look at Charlie bone, sounds promising if it is similar to Harry potter

Have been considering narnia books but wondered if the scene where Aslan is 'killed' might be too much

I really recommend the Tashi books. Underrecognised Favourites

Secret Seven? Exciting mystery style but much simpler than famous five. Can't remember any mention of 'revolvers' and such.

Ds is now nearly 6, he likes astrosaurs, david mellings' goblin books (shadow goblins, puddle goblins etc), jack stalwart, wild rescue, greek myths
When a bit younger he loved dinosaur cove and he's just coming out of his beast quest phase (i think; i would not read BQ to him ,too dull! He didn't seem to find them scary)
He also loved Narnia and was in no way freaked by them. Prince caspian is his favourite though, lots of swords and battles....

DS quite likes Clarice Bean (nowhere near as annoyingly bad as the C/L books)

Have you tried him with poetry?

Beast Quest and Dinosaur Cove are not scary.

Charlie Bone is a brilliant series but I would not recommend it for a 5 year old. It is scary in parts and is also quite involved. Why not wait until he's a bit older so that he can really appreciate it.

Same for Narnia. The Aslan killing is quite brutal.

There's so much good quality stuff aimed at his age group. Try Mr Gum, the Troll Trouble series by Alan McDonald, Marvin Redpost series by Louis Sachar, the Legend of Spud Murphy by Eoin Colfer or even Pongwiffy by Kaye Umansky.

There's plenty of time for Harry Potter et al.

Astroaurs - fantastic!
Any Roald Dahl - any but particular faves are Georges marvellous medicine and the twits
Also, we listen to them on audio cd too before bed as a wind down.

Harry Potter is a bit old for him IMO.

My ds was very easily scared at that age. He wouldn't have coped with Narnia. I would recommend all the various Enid Blyton series - Faraway Tree, Secret Seven, Famous Five. My ds liked astrosaurs but I didn't enjoy reading them. Did really enjoy the Ramona books by Beverely Cleary, you might need to get them 2nd hand.

The Phantom Tolbooth.

I agree with Madamehooch - the age thing is not just about scary/ not scary or vocabulary. It is about complex stories with long pay-offs, assumed knowledge (about boarding schools for example) and characters that are much older than the child.

Stories like that can become boring for a child who is too young for them. Why push him into stories for children much older?

Ooh the phantom tollbooth is awesome. I was in an am-dram play of it as a 10yo, I was the Spelling Bee :o

Don't think we have pushed him into older stories. He was desperate to watch the Harry potter films ( lots of his peers have watched films I consider far too grown up) and I felt the books were a compromise. He really loves them and is really into the characters but just gets too involved. He had nightmares after the part where voldemort is drinking unicorn blood for example. I thought that the films were a definite no as the scary bits are so explicit. I wrongly assumed that his imagination would only take from the books as much as it could cope with iyswim.

How about Rosemary Manning, greensmoke? All about an elderly dragon living in Cornwall reminiscing adventures in king Arthurs court. There are quite a few in her dragon series and I loved reading them when in was 7.

Mr Gum. Silly and lovely.

Dick King-Smith

Ursula Moray Williams' books may be good - The Adventures of the Little Wooden Horse and Gobbolino, The Witch's Cat.

You may also want to have a look at Tom Trueheart by Ian Beck. The first one in the series is based on fairy-tales but maybe wait a while for the second one.

What about the Willard Price adventures? I remember them being a huge favorite of mine when I was about 6. I've bought the series again for our LO although he hasn't even been born yet!