I need books for very able reader who just gobbles them up!

[onetiredmummy]

DS1 is aged 8 but at the last parents I was told he has a reading age of 12.5

He has run out of books, he's been reading BeastQuest but he's now bored with them & he's just worked his way through all the Harry Potter series.

The books for age 8 don't hold his interest but I'm worried that if I start to buy books for age 12 he may not comprehend the plot even though he can read the words iyswim. But he has understood Harry Potter fine. He is reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid at school.

Which ones do I try him with next? :)

I was thinking of the Famous Five?

Have no suggestions but interested in answers for dd.
Best thing I ever bought was her kindle. I have a trawl through amazon every now and then for something new.

There are tons of great books for a good reader of that age. Has he tried Anthony Horowitz? The Alex Rider ones were some of DS's favourites when he was that age, or Charlie Higson's young Bond series is similar. If he likes Harry Potter, you could try some Eva Ibbotson (lots of good books involving magic, eg The Secret of Platform 13), or Diana Wynne Jones. David Walliams' novels are good, or things like Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce.

My two never took to Enid Blyton or Arthur Ransome, but some children like them, there are lots of other classic children's novels around.

Possibly the best thing to do would be go to the library, have a browse, and ask the librarian for some recommendations.

Alex rider, Charlie bone, the hobbit are a good start. Plenty of pages to keep an avid reader going for more than an hour in each of them books.

Has he read Robert Louis Stevenson - Treasure Island, Kidnapped etc?

How is he with non-fiction which could stretch his vocab without wandering into more adult topics perhaps better than fiction can if he has that reading age.

Horrible history and sciences? (there is loads)
Enid blyton
Helen Moss
Astrid Lindgren (plenty of other books after pippi)
Morpurgo
The animal ark series
Asterix
Some Usborne detective/spy manuals...

Just let him loose in the library. An able reader doesn't need adult guidance. If he gets 6 books and only likes 3 of them that's fine- he can take them back and get some more. Let him do the looking.

Indian in the Cupboard series

Have you tried the Lemony Snicket books - A Series of Unfortunate Events?

Or what about some classics like
Black Beauty
Around the World in 80 Days
Swallows and Amazons
The Narnia series by CS Lewis
The Secret Garden
Holes

Good authors to look for are
Dickens
E Nesbit
Jack London

I could go on and on - try googling for lists of classic children's books - there are enough to keep you going for years.

DS1 is eight and similar

I would recommend:

The Divide series
Mrs Frisby and the rats of Nimh
The Kane Chrionicles
Percy Jackson
The Neverending story
A series of unfortunate events (Lemony Snicket)
Narnia
Anything Michael Morpurgo
Charlie Bone series
Howls Moving Castle
Chrestomanci series
The invention of Hugo Cabaret
The Spiderwick Chronicles
The Hobbit
David Walliams and Roald Dahl

For Christmas we also have the following for DS1 (so not sure how much he'll like them yet)

Alex Rider box set
Philip Pullman His Dark Materials collection
The Homeward Bounders
Marianne Dreams (one of my favourites as a child but still remember being terrified of it)

And have a look at The Book People - loads of full sets at really low prices.

Alex Rider and all the Anthiny Horowitz books will be ideal.

DD is 6 but has similar tastes. She's done Harry Potter and more recently The Hobbit. Just finished Lemony Snicket which was a hit and likes David Walliams and E Nesbit in particular. I actually find that she surprises me sometimes with what she does and doesn't like and I find the library our best weapon. We take her to other local libraries apart from our own and they tend to have a different selection. I've found that her most recent choices have tended towards non-fiction. She is reading a Tudor gruesome history book atm and the history of our local city (aimed at children). She also went through a phase of reading books on Henry VIII and The Plague. She tends to find a topic she's interested in and then raid the libraries until she's satisfied. She likes people too. Read about Francis Drake last week and she likes books about inventors/discoveries/famous entrepreneurs.

DD didn't like the Famous Five as much as she liked the Secret Seven. Worth trying both ime.

Loads of good suggestions here - my ds also loves Artemis Fowl.

The Beano is brilliant for expanding his vocab and for something different. My ds (8) loves it. It's also cheap and more portable than a book. (We have take something to read wherever we go). Dd (10) loves it too.

Thanks everyone!

I'll get him a library card this weekend & also some for Christmas from the lists here :)

"His dark material" is not suitable for an 8 yo. I checked for DD1, because she liked the movie and wanted to know how the story ended.

National geographic kids magazine.

Please don't waste His Dark Materials on an 8 year old!

Just because you can read something doesn't mean you should

Varjak paw. It's awesome. DD did it at school in year 4.

DS is similar. Some of his recent library books:
Fangs, vampire spy series - Tommy Donbavand
How to train your dragon series (he loves these - we have the audiobooks)
Sleeping Army / Lost Gods - Francesca Simon
Captain Underpants series
David Walliams
Indian in the cupboard
Farmer Boy - Laura Ingalls Wilder
Varjak Paw
Pippi Longstocking - and other books by Astrid Lindgren
Maisie Hitchens books by Holly Webb
Roald Dahl
Antony Horowitz
Fudge books by Judy Blume
Wild Boy - Rob Lloyd Jones
Oliver and the Seawigs - Philip Reeve

He reads anything - really enjoyed Harry Potter and the Hobbit, and is currently reading Treasure Island at school, but also checks for the latest BQ in the library. I keep an eye on the book giveaways on here and reserve them from the library for him. I also often suggest books I enjoyed as a child, but they tend to get rejected. Although he is reading Heidi on my phone at the moment.

Why is his dark materials not suitable for an eight year old? I've read the whole trilogy and think the books are fantastic. Yes there are themes in there that as an adult I would interpret differently to how I would have as a child but I'm struggling to remember anything inappropriate.

At the end they kiss.

We're not religious and so the criticism of religion doesn't both me. And to be honest may well go over his head, the religion in Narnia did.

I might reread them and decide whether to keep them for a year or two or whether they should be read to him rather than by him.

I think an 8 yr old able reader does need adult guidance, because some things he can read prob aren't suitable. I have a 7 yo ds1 who is also able reader but def isn't old enough for much teen fiction.
In addition to suggestions above, ds1 likes:
Ranger's apprentice and Brotherband series
How to train your dragon
Biggles
Edge Chronicles
Secret Kingdom series
Chronicles of ancient darkness (quite scary, but ds1 seems fine with them)
Adventure Island series
Roger Lancelyn Green tales of robin hood, greek heroes, troy etc (not sure if these are still in print but easy to come by 2nd hand)
Powder monkey and sequels
Hero on a bicycle
Can you tell I spend a lot of my time rounding up books for ds to read?

My son, 12yrs has just enjoyed the Maximum Ride series by James Patterson. About some children who were created in a lab, they are part avian and are persued by their creators once they escape. Got them 2nd hand cheap ish off eBay/amazon. Kept my lad enthralled.

Has he read the Mortal Engines series by Phillip Reeve?

The last Book People catalogue I saw had a big collection of the Biggles books very cheaply if you were looking for Christmas presents. I used to love biggles as a kid!

Mortal Engines creeps me out! How about the shapeshifter books?