What books does your Yr 2 boy read to himself??

[IWillOnlyEatBeans]

DS1 is 7.1. He is a good reader (ORT Level 11/12) and does enjoy reading, but I am struggling to find books that he can read to himself that are interesting (to him!) and pitched at the right level.

We read to him a lot. We've done Beast Quest, Roald Dahl, David Walliams.

When he reads to himself (mainly at bedtime) it tends to be books for younger children (Mr Men, Dr Suess) or character encyclopedia type books (Ninjago, Pokemon, Star Wars etc).

So do you have any recommendations for books for 7 yr old boys that aren't too daunting? He's gone to bed tonight with The Wonderful World of Tom Gates (the first book of this type that he's tackled by himself), so will see how he gets on with that...

Thanks!

Was going to suggest Tom Gates!

My son in year two has just started reading to himself. He loved the two King Flashypants books that are out and they have good illustrations and are a lot of fun.

He's also just read the first Beast Quest book which I thought was pretty tedious but he liked it. He read it all in a few days. Not impressive for some but last year he was on picture books so I'm impressed :D

My ds is p2 and is reading Foxcraft to himself & sometimes his little brother. it wouldn't be my book of choice but he really likes it. Otherwise he's a fan of the usual Dahl books and the occasional Walliams generally any chapter books lying about from his big sister.

Tedious is a good description of Beast Quest books Hamster. There are about 6 million of them, all with the same plot!!

I just googled King Flashypants. I will see what DS thinks but suspect they will be deemed 'too scary'. However, Amazon then suggested Wilf the Mighty Worrier which looks promising (DS is a total worrier so will relate!)

Hopefully he will enjoy Tom Gates Wiggly

My dd has been captivated by the Time Chronicles Oxford reading tree series. Biff, chip and kipper are older and discover all the magic key adventures were a lengthy audition to save the world from creatures who want to mess up history. The caretaker who appears in the background of most ORT stories turns out to be the Keeper of Time, pretending to be the caretaker to see how the children cope with their adventures. Love it! They are short chapter books, my DD reads one a night and loves them.

My DS2 in Yr 2 rarely reads outside of school but did recently enjoy a few Captain Underpants books at home. He's also read a few of DS1's Diary of the Wimpy Kid books and seemed to enjoy them. He is also enjoying audio versions of Mr Gum so those books might be worth a try.

www.thebookpeople.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/qs_product_tbp?storeId=10001&catalogId=10051&langId=100&productId=647076&cm_mmc=Google%20Adwords--PLA--Biff%2C+Chip+and+Kipper%3A+Time+Chronicles+Collection+-+18+Books-_--BCKT&gclid=CLG4qYXivdICFYQ4GwodBq8D_w

Steve Cole books (Astrosaurs series; Cows in Action series; Secret Agent Mumms series, etc)

Does he like Star Wars? My son liked these in Y1/2:
www.amazon.co.uk/Jedi-Academy-Jeffrey-Brown/dp/1407138715?tag=mumsnetforum-21

Also, Michael Morpugo, Roald Dahl, Dick King Smith, the longer Johnny Duddle books. I'll keep thinking, he's reading obsessed so there are probably loads more...

Ds1 loved Captain Underpants at that age.

Mine is 7.8 and y3 so thinking back to last year :
Lots of Dick King-Smith and Jill Tomlinson animal books
Paddington books
Humphrey Hamster books

Try diary of a wimpy kid, because as with the Tom Gates, the have little sketches in them which seemed to amuse my DS. He also likes Beast Quest and horrible histories etc

Have you come across the Tree House books? Starts with 13 storey, then 26 storey, 39, 52 & 65. DD is in Y2, at a similar reading level & is racing through them. All utterly ridiculous stories, lots of pictures & some of it is done as a cartoon strip. Main protagonists are boys. They were recommended to me by two friends whose sons enjoyed them.

I was going to suggest Tom Gates too
There're quite a lot of non-fiction that are good, like horrible histories, horrible sciences and other sciencey type funny ones.
My DS is just starting Harry Potter as well, although I know we're going to have to limit him to the first few

DS mainly read Jeremy Strong in yr 2. There are books at various difficulty levels from Pirate School (very easy with colour pictures) to Indoor Pirates (still pretty easy), the My Dad Has an Alligator series, then 100 mile an hour dog series. (And more...) All very funny.

Another good if formulaic first chapter book series is Dinosaur Cove. Easier reading than Beast Quest, would be about right for your son's level I think.

DS also loved Project X Alien Adventure books around year 1-2. These are easier than any of the above but he loved them anyway. We got a couple of series from the book people.

Have you done Claude in the City etc? Magic Treehouse? Winnie the Witch chapter books (easy sell if he likes the picture books)?

My ds really enjoyed Supercat at that age. He currently likes the secret seven, Roald Dahl and horrible histories (wouldn't recommend the latter to a 7 year old though as they have some graphic info in them). He is 9.

He also liked Gangsta Granny and Horrid Henry at 7.

Mr Gum we only discovered recently (Y3 for DS but younger DD reads them too) -brilliantly zany. They look intimidatingly fat but there's not actually much writing on the page.

I'm so glad you started this thread! I'm finding this to be a tricky age too for books - we have the exact same situation in our house OP. We've recently discovered DogMan... It's written as a comic strip but s quite a long book (4 long chapters) and it does have a lot of text. It's a totally insane story about a half man half dog policeman and his arch nemesis, Petey the cat. There's a second book too: DogMan Unleashed. It's basically loads of gross-out jokes and crazy schemes, but they're v popular in our house... probably for that reason. I was really against them at first (still trying to encourage the Secret Seven etc... had a bit of success with that, but not really taken off). Also because of the jokes etc DogMan isn't exactly a restful bedtime read, but I've sort of resigned myself to going along with whatever stokes an interest in reading. Would people not recommend Beast Quest then? I was considering those!

Largely Lego technical books

He's just got into Johnny and The Dead by the late, great Terry Pratchett. I can see him becoming a big Pratchett fan (sensible boy)

I would have said Tom Gates too!

My Y2 boy just started on Harry Potter (limited to the first two volumes for now). HP is actually quite easy to read, though the books are obviously longer than most at this level, and therewith perhaps more daunting.

Otherwise this school year:
Time Hunters
Secret Agent Jack Stalwart
Flying Fergus
The Enchanted Wood
A bit of Secret Seven/Famous Five
Astrosaurs (one of the books came with a CD which he now listens for going to sleep)
He quite enjoyed 'The Secret Rescuers' which is pitched for girls but has boy and girl characters. It has fun magical beasts and plenty of adventure but is less gory than e.g. Beast Quest.
Beast Quest, and Sea Quest

Oh also I look on Waterstones site in the age range

Chicken Mission
Cows in Action
Dinosaur Cove

You could have a look at How to Train your Dragon ...

Asked DS and he seconded Jack Stalwart, flat Stanley, treehouse series, Enid blyton especially the magic far away tree series and the Judy Blume series about Fudge