Books for almost 7 year old DD - advanced reader

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Hi,

DD will be 7 next month and has just discovered a love of books. She has recently started to read Narnia and we are looking for books of a similar level. We have an older DS and so I'm not familiar with girls books. One of my concerns is that whereas boys books seem to just be adventure based and fairly harmless, I am aware that girls books tend to be a bit more 'issue based'. Books aimed at her age are too easy for her (she got a Rainbow Fairy book out of the library at the weekend and read it in 30 mins when we got home) but books that are at her reading level, may well be too grown up. She showed an interest in Jacqueline Wilson books at the library, it I have concerns over them.

She has a lot of the classics at home which used to be mine along with a whole batch of Enid Blyton and Rohald Dahl. However, my mum wants to buy her a book as an Easter gift (rather than chocolate) and so I'm trying to find an option.

Can anyone recommend books that might be suitable for a 6/7 year old in terms of content, but still provide a challenge for her.

Thanks.

My dd had exactly that same problem - here are some of the books on our shelf that worked well:
Nina and the Travelling Spice Shed
Nina and the Kung Fu Adventure
Charlotte's Web
Magic at Silver Spires
And then all the Roald Dahl adn Enid Blyton which you already have!!

My dd likes:

Early Harry Potter books
The How to Train your Dragon
The Wishing Chair series
Faraway Tree
Spy Pups
The hundred mile an hour dog

Some of her friends like the Malory Towers, Famous Five, Secret Seven type books.

She's been given some from the Lemony Snicket series but hasn't read them yet.

101 Dalmatians
Black Beauty
Judy Moody
Sophie and the Shadow Woods

I know what you mean - there's a fine line between extending their reading to maintain their enthusiasm, and reaching for books where the content is just not right.

Luckily there are many authors / publishers who are aware of this. I would highly recommend the following;

Waffle Hearts - new for this year; great story about friendship

Ophelia and the Marvellous Boy - great adventure story with a strong girl as its protagonist

Finding Serendipity is a fantastic adventure story brimming with imagination, a love of books, a respect for words and a big dash of magic.

Operation Eiffel Tower has a great, fast moving plot.

Happy reading!!

Dick King Smith, Sophie adventures? Some of the ladybird clasics, they are nice books www.amazon.co.uk/Ladybird-Classics-Peter-Pan/dp/1409312224

Wolves of Willoughby Chase (Joan Aiken) etc

My 7yr old is a DS and a great reader, some of the books he's really enjoyed that might appeal to your DD: Dick King Smith, E Nesbit (this was a bit of a surprise, thought he'd find it dated), also early Harry Potters.

Unfortunately you'll find with an avid reader you can only censor for so long. My dd is also 7 and has read all sorts of books that are probably too old for her including Jacqueline Wilson and Cathy Cassidy. It doesn't help that she's the youngest of 3 girls and raids her older sisters rooms for books!

But also if she goes to the school library you also lose a bit of control as they choose whatever book they like.

My dd likes:

Harry Potter
Ballet Shoes
Worst Witch
Ramona books
Younger Judy Blume books - especially the Fudge ones
Jeremy Strong books
Lemony Snicket
Naughtiest girl series
Malory Towers/St Clares
Flat Stanley
Semi abridged classics such as Little Women, What Katy Did, Pollyanna, Anne of Green Gables

My 8 year old is an avid reader and has recently enjoyed Little Women and What Katy Did. Her favourite book is a collection of Oscar Wilde's children's stories. They are really beautiful and quite challenging for her but she loves them all, particularly The Selfish Giant and The Happy Prince.

Roddy Doyle is going down well in our house.

What did your DM choose in the end?