What next for DS1 (aged 8) and I to read at bedtime togther??

[severnofnine]

so... Ive been browsing on amazon and I'm out of ideas. As much as I would enjoy it I dont think DS aged 8 will much fancy jane eyre or a bit of Hardy, but I cant face horrid henry again! what will we both enjoy?

Over the past 12 months we 've read:
Treasure Island (DS LOVED this I thought it was good too)
Kidnapped (not loved so much)
the hobbit ( we both enjoyed but my enthusiasm was waning towards the end)
Lord of the Rings ( both hated and gave up halfway through first book)
Moonfleet ( DS likes I'm not so keen)
Harry potter of various sorts
and lots of roald dahl - which I enjoyed especially james and the giant peach but we had to abandon the witches due to bad dreams.

I can remember a series of historical novels for children ( one set on channel islands in WW2?) from when I was young which were good but think I was a bit older than 8 when i read them. any ideas?

What about the How to train a dragon series by Cressida Cowell? I enjoyed reading them to my DSs and my eldest (10yo) happily reads them himself now.

Tom's Midnight Garden?

Second the How to train a Dragon - though you can cheat and buy on CD.
Mr Gum books.
My Naughty Little Sister
Judy Moody
These two would normally be for girls but have been popular collections with our boys.
Avoid Beast Quest.
Oh another good collection is Mr Majekia.

As you have liked some older stuff

Swallows & Amazons
Swiss Family Robinson
Around the World in 80 Days

and don't forget Jennings !

DS2 (8) and I are currently reading His Dark Materials which he is absolutely loving and talks about constantly.

He is a big fan of fantasy stuff so we have read Inkheart, some Alan Garners (Elidor, The Weirdstone of Brinsingaman and a couple of others), Lemony Snickett and The Spiderwick Chronicles recently.

We loathed Stormbreaker but I know quite a few boys who like it.

We're working our way through the Narnia series, which DS1 (8) is loving. Just started number 4 - Prince Caspian...

He's also loving the 'Spy Dog' series at the moment (and still into Beast Quest - just as I thought it was over, another series comes out!)

WW x

We worked our way through the whole Swallows and Amazons series around that time - I remember DS being very taken with Roger, who starts the first book and was the exact same age as he was at that point.

He also quite enjoyed the Famous Five on CD (I don't read Enid Blyton!).

The Narnia books also went down well, although I thought that they had not aged as well as Swallows and Amazons - the religious stuff is very heavy handed.

Charlie Bone was a series DS read to himself when a year or so older, so would probably go down well as a shared story.

The other book that really caught his attention was 'Bridge to Terebithia'. I bought it expecting fantasy, which it is most certainly not, and we were both crying our eyes out when the girl is killed. But he took the book away with him and re-read it to himself.

I miss the evening story now he is older!

Jeremy Strong. Very funny. 100 mile dog books.

We are nearly at the end of the Mr Gum series - DS loves them (he's nearly 8)

He also loves the Captain Underpants books (you may not, but that's another story!)

'Diary of a wimpy kid' series went down a storm with a lot of kids about that age at our school.

David Walliams books. Hilarious. Lots of left dangling moments to keep you hooked.

I read wolf brother (and then the rest of the cronicals of ancient darkness to my boys at about that age)

I'm reading Gerald Durrell's My Family and Other Animals to dd (she's just 10, but I think it would be fine for 8-going-on-9 at least). I've just ordered Beasts in My Belfry to read next.

Other books we've both enjoyed read out loud in the last couple of years:

The Lionboy trilogy by Zizou Corder
Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder (the story of a year in her husband's life when he is 8 then turning 9). I'd highly recommend this one (and the Laura books as well of course, but I thought Farmer Boy read out loud especially well).
Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones

I started a thread on books to read at bedtime a while back & got some good suggestions, will see if I can find it.

One other thought - what about the children's version of A Very Short History of Nearly Everything. Annoyingly we'd just read together a different (and I didn't think so good) 'universal history' before I ran into the Bill Bryson one, but if you (and/or he!) like science/history it might be a good bedtime read.

I have just finished Stig of the Dump with my DS (aged 7) I worried it might be a bit dated but it isn't at all, we both absolutely loved it.
We are now on The BFG - I want to try the Just William series but they are very dated - the language is so antiquated that I am not sure I will be able to read and edit at the same time to make it enjoyable!

Jennings might be a good alternative - funny in the same way as William, but not so hard to read aloud.

The Children of Green Knowe - there is a series of these - I read the first two to my son when he was about that age

The Midnight Folk and The Box of Delights

In addition to Tom's Midnight Garden, other books by Philippa Pearce such as A Dog so Small and Minnow on the Say

Mrs frisby and the rats of Nimh went down very well here. Also Michael Morpurgo particularly the butterfly lion, little manfred and an elephant in the garden

The amazing mr blunden
The ghost of Thomas kemp
The time of the ghost (can you spot a childhood theme emerging here)

Ooo and how could I forget the Invention of Hugo cabret? We're half way through and both DSs and DH are hooked!

Hmm not The Time of the Ghost. Have just recalled some bits that might not be age appropriate

Ds2 was 8 last week and we like reading Michael Morpugo - he particularly enjoyed Toro Toro and Kaspar Prince of cats. We have also enjoyed the David Walliams books. DS2 tends to listen to Roald Dahl story CD's on the nights we cant manage bedtime reading - Danny the Champion of the world is a current fave.

The Eagle of the Ninth was a big hit with mine at that age.

Now wasting time googling children's books! I'm going to get Chocky for DS1. I remember enjoying the children's tv series in the eighties and Stephen Spielberg is apparently making a movie.

Dr Proctors Fart Powder? Although I must admit that whilst DD loved it, it bored me rigid.