Book recommendations for an 8 year old who enjoyed Anne Frank diary and would like to read stories or accounts of famous people

[lisalisa]

I am very keen to get my 8 year old reading as she previously did not like reading much at all. She has read Anne Frank's diary at school ( or part of it - I can't actually believe that she's read it all partly due to its difficult subject matter ( as she didn't want to discuss anything to do with it ) and partly due to her age as it is a tricky read too) and really enjoyed it. She has now requested similar reads about famuous people and their lives.

I have tried to steer her to horrid henry or malory towers or even narnia etc but , no , it must be about someone famous and what their life was like or is like. No footballs or celebs though!

Thanks

Usborne do Famous Lives books. Also my DS loves the "Who was" series (there are lots including:
www.amazon.co.uk/Admiral-Nelson-Sailor-Dared-was/dp/1904095658/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1332283663&sr=8-6
www.amazon.co.uk/Queen-Victoria-Woman-Ruled-Was/dp/1904095828/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1332283756&sr=8-1
"The Children of Charlecote" is not exactly about famous people, but a great social history.

Can you gently steer her to historical fiction as well, for good accounts of what life was like? There are loads! We are reading through "Centuries of Stories"
www.amazon.co.uk/Centuries-Stories-Wendy-Cooling/dp/0006754155/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1332283843&sr=1-1
which has a story from every century from 1AD. DS1 and I are both enjoying it.

'The Dumpy Princess' is a funny age-appropriate book about the early life of Queen Victoria.

Dd2 (also 8) loved Anne Frank's diary so much she asked if there was a sequel.

She also enjoyed "When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit" which is autobiographical on Judith Kerr (Mog, The Tiger who came to Tea) and the Little House books. She also enjoyed "Vicarage Family" which is Noel Streatfeild's autobiography, but I don't think it's currently in print.

There's a set of books entitled "My story". They're not famous people, but more ordinary people generally, but dd2 enjoyed those too.

My DS enjoyed both Roald Dahl autobiographies 'Boy' and Flying Solo' (or was it 'Going Solo'?) The first was about his childhood, the second went onto describe some of his adventures as a war time pilot.

Thank you so very much _ I am going to explore some of these now!!

When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit is absolutely brilliant, I still reread it now.

Has she read another other books to do with Anne Frank? I was very obsessed with that whole time (I think loads of kids go through this phase) and must have read Anne Frank Remembered (Miep Gies) about ten times. The language isn't too difficult. I daresay I skimmed over the long words but picked lots up too, or asked about them, you don't learn without a challenge afterall. There's also Pearls of Childhood (different girl but same time), Memories of Anne Frank, The Hiding Place- Corrie Ten Boom...Carol Ann Lee, Hidden Life of Otto Frank and then Roses From the Earth when she's more confident.

If she ends up loving history, steer her towards A Little History of the World by EH Gombrich, genius he was to fit it all in.

Victory and King of Shadows by Susan Cooper are about Nelson and Shakespeare respectively, but the main protagonist is a child who time travels and meets them.

I too came on to say When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit - it's actually part of a trilogy (I had them all in a single volume called "Out of the Hitler Time"). I first read it in Year 4 at school, so your DD should enjoy it.

Chinese Cinderella might be good too - it's about another author (Adeline Yen Mah) and her life as an unwanted daughter in China. Not unwanted as in abandoned-to-an-orphanage, but just being unimportant to her family.

Yes I agree on When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit and Boy (although may be a bit old)

It sounds like she might not really be interested in "famous people' per se but real life stories of people's extraordinary childhoods (girlhood?)

She might also be interested in historical stories with child heroes/ heroines. Leon garfields books are great. And also Goodnight Mr Tom when a bit older.

I have a reluctant reading 8 year old and I still read to him, as he can get into stories he couldnt read to himself.

Also - following on from Anne Frank, I read Mischling Second Degree when I was about 11 and going through an intensive phase of holocaust reading.

Boy: Tales of Childhood; the self told bibliography of Roald Dahl; if they've read his books it's great to get insight to how he came up with some of his fantastic stories :)

The My Story series of books are good for this age range (various authors including Sue Reid, Vince Cross, Pamela Oldfield) but not famous people as such, but people who were around at the time eg a maid at Queen Elizabeth's court). Similar (ish!) series called My House, which is about people who lived in the same house at various important times in history (eg suffragette movement). Again, different authors, one of whom is Linda Newberry.
Zara Filipovic (name?) wrote a diary about ten years ago about living in Sarajevo during the recent troubles.

Back on the concentration camp theme, how about "I am David"? I also read and reread "The Endless Steppe" at about that age and I'd forgotten about Mischling Second Degree, but that was another one I enjoyed (is that the word?) in that phase

There are some really good ideas on here. My DD loves the Little House series.

How about then going on to historical fiction - I remember Playing Beatie Bow (set in Sydney, Australia) - which was one of my favourite ever books at around that age.