Recommendations for good books to read aloud - that adults will enjoy too!

[speedyfingers]

I'm looking for books to read aloud to my two DSs (aged 6 and 8). They love being read to, but it's got to be exciting and funny for me and/or my other half to enjoy it too.

They have loved David Walliams and Andy Stanton, but I want something a little bit more grown up / with more exciting adventures / greater sense of place....

I'm reading books I enjoyed to ds age 7yo. He even sometimes volunteers to go to bed early to get an extra chapter:

His favourite so far is: Cue for Treason (Geoffrey Trease)

I'm reading The Wolves of Willerby Chase (Joan Aiken) at present.

I've also read:
Noel Streatfield: The House in Cornwall, Tennis Shoes, When the Siren Wails
Monica Edwards: Storm Ahead, Hidden in a Dream, White Riders
Malcolm Saville: Mystery at Witchend, Saucers over the Moor, Spring comes to Nettleford
Laura Ingles Wilder: Little house in the big wood, Little house on the Prairie, Long Winter, Famer Boy
Arthur Ransome: Swallows and Amazons, Winter Holiday, Peter Duck, We didn't mean to go to Sea
Violet Needham: Black Riders, another couple i can't remember the names.
Enid Blyton: All the Adventure series, Secret Island
C S Lewis: LWW, Horse and His Boy, Prince Caspian, Silver Chair
Various Biggles
Various "boys adventure stories" from 50s/60s! Occasionally edited while reading when certain expressions are used.

Anything by Terry Pratchett in his wonderful children's series, great for children and adults alike .
Maurice and his educated rodents is a good starting point.

the Roald Treasury is great and so is the book A Little Aloud for Children - it has excerpts from well known and classes books and is an ideal way to introduce new books to children. Quite a few times it made me want to hunt out the original book and read it fully.

Grat fun reads are the Eoin Colfer books - Spud Murphy

Lion Boy by Zizou Corder

Would definitely second Farmer Boy + the other Laura Ingalls Wilder books (I liked FB the best to read aloud)

I have really enjoyed reading aloud to DS;
The Phantom Tollbooth - Norton Juster
The Land of Green Ginger - Noel Langley
Truckers - Terry Pratchett
Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass - Lewis Carroll
Fergus Crane (and then Corby Flood and Hugo Pepper) - Paul Stewart
Narnia series - C S Lewis
Harry Potter 1, 2, and 3 - J K Rowling (we are spacing these out with 6 months between each as they get darker, adds to the anticipation!)

Enjoy!

Roddy Doyle "The Giggler Treatment"
Caroline Lawrence Roman Mysteries
Anthony Buckeridge Jennings series
Just William

Woof by Allen Ahlberg

The Wishing Chair - Enid Blyton

Absolutely anything by Roald Dahl.

Crumble Tales is a short story collection and is getting some good reviews on Amazon for reading to children and enjoying it as well!!!
www.amazon.co.uk/Crumble-Tales-David-J-Boxall/dp/1480263001/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1419012899&sr=8-1&keywords=crumble+tales

The Hiccup Series by Cressida Cowell- I have been gripped, and we've just finished No. 11.... just waiting on 12 being published.

I am a big fan of Sir Terry Pratchett, he writes stories suited for both parents and kids.

Gruesome Gamebooks, fun fairytales with a unusual twist where your child gets to choose where the story leads.

So far they've done Snow White (amzn.to/1xvEC9s) and Cinderella (amzn.to/1vFXpIP)

We really like the David Walliams books. We are currently reading Yge Parent Agency by David Baddiel and really enjoying it. It's about a boy called Barry who is fed up with his parents and get to try out different parents.

Pongwiffy by Kay Umansky. Very very funny.

Agree with Moonrocket -

How to train your dragon series starring Hiccup is fantastic. It was such a relief for me to read something well written and funny. It's not a heavy duty book but a great adventure to share.

Dragonrider by Cornelia Funke - a much longer more involved dragon story.

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer.
these have been some of the favourite chapter books in our house with boys and girls. They are about a teenage semi criminal genius, his bodyguard Butler and their adventures with a fairy called Holly. Holly isn't your typical fairy but a member of the fairy police, armed and dangerous! There is a twitchy centaur, an earth eating dwarf, evil pixies... It's great and lovely to have a central female character, Holly, who is brave and clever.

We are currently coming to the end of Tom's Midnight Garden. I have enjoyed reading this. It have hints of the time travellers wife about it and the vocabulary is much more challenging than the more modern books we have been reading.

DS 8 has got the first Artemis book lined up followed by The Hobbit, inspired by the film. We'll see how we get on.

DS has just said he liked The Sword of Kuromori which was a bit like Alex Rider meets Japanese gods and another dragon! It's proabaly aimed at kids older than yours though.

Definitely would recommend 'Crumble Tales' from Amazon. Great stories - very funny and some great moral choices. Thank you 'Fatwad' for the heads up on this one!!!!! (Good username btw!)

I loved reading the Ramona series by Beverly Cleary to my dc at that sort of age. Also the Railway Children and Stig of the Dump.

Swallows and amazons

Fangs - Vampire Spy. I've been helpless with laughter reading some of them to DS.

Nina and the Kung Fu Adventure was my favorite last year - I learnt lots about China along the way (all the Nina books are interesting in that way and after you finish you can keep the kids engaged with the free activity pack: www.randomhousechildrens.co.uk/index.php/nina/)

Paddington chapter books.

what about the William books?

Another vote for "How to Train your Dragon" - gave the DSs the first as an audio book for Christmas (mmmm David Tennant reading), and it was a hit with all on long car journeys.

Caroline Lawrence's Roman Mysteries are also good. "Swallows and Amazons" stands the test of time if you like that sort of thing (I do).

Failed with "Five Children and It" and, surprisingly, "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe". They'll have to read that for themselves.

Also, "101 Dalmatians" and "Charlotte's Web".

How to Train Your Dragon is a good one also. Definitely one of our favorite :)

Indian in the Cupboard. Ds loved that.

Maze runner. I'm reading that to ds at the moment. Might be a bit old though, has mild language in it.