Books to read aloud to a 9 year old boy

[Splandy]

My 9 year old is a very reluctant reader. He's fluent and reads very well but just won't. He's more likely to read comics or joke books, and will sometimes read books of facts or other non-fiction. I've started reading aloud to him again to try to capture his imagination and show him how fun it is. I'm currently reading the second Harry Potter book and he is loving it. He has found it a bit scary, though. He's quite sensitive in that way. I don't think I'll go beyond the third book at the moment.

Any recommendations? I'm struggling a bit because most books at the library which seem geared towards getting boys reading don't seem like they'd be any good for me reading aloud to him - not exactly brilliant stories.

I read Famous Five aloud....DD is 9 and loves them! I do voices...she sniggers at my "posh" accent.

I find that Enid Blyton need lots of editing or explanations to be honest, they are of their time.

What about Rick Riordan's Oercy Jackson series? My 9 yo DS loves them.

The other thing I often recommend is Cressida Cowell's How to Train your Dragon series. Much better and much funnier than the films. Very funny to read out as well for the adult.

^^ oops Percy Jackson!

Scarlett I don't. I just explained once to DD about how things used to be. She grasps that girls don't have to do all the domestic shite any longer...and that boys aren't better. And that's that. It doesn't stop her enjoying the stories.

I can't understand people dumping Blyton when they're happy to read other, outdated books.

user149 I read the Island of Adventure to my DC, I had to talk to them about:

why you shouldn't keep a meeting with a new adult a secret from your parents

Why it's wrong to go without your parents knowledge and spend time with strange man

Why it's wrong to get in strange man's car

Why it's wrong to secretly go to dinner in a hotel with strange man

Why it's wrong to take sailing lessons with strange man

Why it's wrong to steal the family manservant's boat

Why it's wrong to be so rude to family man servant.

Why you should not sail stolen boat through dangerous waters to an island after being explicitly told it's dangerous.

Why you should not climb down a rusty old ladder into an old mine works on island.

And that's without addressing the general idiocy of the main characters, the main characters continual lying, general sexism related to the aunt and female characters and reading an updated edition that removes all reference to the manservant's race.

I'm not advocating throwing them all out and never reading them again, I was just cautioning the OP that they can be problematic. Just how problematic they are may depend on which series.

God...I don't explain EVERY fictional scenario as wrong Scarlett...that would be exhausting! Many, many children's books have situations which my child knows are fictional...and she wouldn't think to copy them.

Unless a child has additional needs or something...as long as they understand the rules in life which keep us all safe, it's fine to read books...we don't need to point out EVERY danger as "not something we do"

Holes and the Wayside School series by Louis Sachar

I would agree with Percy Jackson and How to Train your dragon.

To read to himself has he read the 13 storey tree house books? My 8 year old reads them over and over. He sometimes makes me read them to him, but they are a bit too daft for me to enjoy. He also likes a series called Barry Loser, they are also very silly. Both of these have little cartoon pictures so they might appeal.

I just read a copy of 'Holes' I found lying around. I actually enjoyed it, and intend to read it to/with DS when he's a little older. I would recommend that one and also second the suggestion of Eiowen Colfer (sp?) and Huck Finn. In fact, the US authors seem to me to do epic adventure stories well.

The Cressida Cowell dragon series'?

What about Michael Morpurgo?

The Book Club is great for bargain box sets, and there are usually voucher codes available for free P&P/discounts.

One thing that I find with my reluctant reader is that sometimes the chapters are too long for me to read in one night, especially the more pacey ones so I might need to leave it mid chapter. Of course she is always welcome to read ahead and finish the chapter .

You could try the Helen Moss adventure island series. Like Enid Blyton but with moblile phones and fewer retro views on the role of girls in mystery solving. Still the rather predictable 2:1 boy:girl ratio of heroes plus animal accomplice.

David Walliams and David Baddiel might suit. Or Chris Colfer Land of Stories series. There is some death and adventure but doesn't get as dark as quickly as Harry Potter.

Oops, that post took me hours, in between doing other stuff, so I've only just spotted that all my suggestions had already been posted

Lionboy - Zizou Corder. DS loved it; there are 3 in the series.

Ooh, thanks for all these responses! Had no idea I'd had so many replies. Plenty for me to look into here. To answer a few questions - I think we've read most roald Dahl books over the years, he has read a few Barry loser ones but not bothered enough to read any more, he has two David walliams books he won't even open and suggested yesterday that we could get rid of them, he hasn't read 13 storey treehouse and very rarely reads alone. The only time he reads stories is if I make him do it and I don't want to make it into some sort of punishment and turn him off even more. I tried setting him a reading challenge last summer but he lost interest as time went on and the reward clearly wasn't enough of a moivator. He can be very, very lazy. I think the reason he won't even open the David walliams books is that they look a little thicker than others which means effort or work. His English teacher isnt a nice person and a few children have actively been trying to get themselves moved into to the lower set to get away from her. So reading or writing is a Very Bad Thing.

I do have a problem with the things in Enid blytons books. My son believed that men and women were equal until he went to school and now he doesn't even question things. He stood up for himself against some boys last week by telling somebody that their bike was girly and laughing at them because it was pink. Don't want to reinforce that at all and me telling him this stuff is wrong doesn't seem to sink in because I'm his mom and it has no impact. I had a shock when I read a very old edition of tales in toyland to him a few years back. The racism was appalling! Had to stop reading. Not sure how much censoring I would have to do and would rather read books that have girls as cool main characters.

If you want girls as leading characters the hero in the Mr Gum books is female and How to Train Your Dragon has a pretty fierce cool girl in them.

Great, thanks for all the advice. I don't solely want girls as main characters but it would be nice to not have to actively discuss and counter the female characters. Thanks for taking the time to make all of these suggestions

Ds is 9yo nearly 10yo the books he has really loved being read to include:

Farmer boy (Laura Ingles Wilder)
Peter Duck/Winter Holiday (Arthur Ransome)
All the Lone Pine books by Malcolm Saville (his all time favourite)
The Black Riders/House of the Palidin (not sure on spelling there by Violet Needham)
Storm Ahead/White Riders/Cargo of Horses/Hidden in a dream (Monica Edwards)
Cue for treason (Geoffrey Trease)
Alex Rider Series
Biggles
House in Cornwall/Children of Primrose Lane/Curtain Up/White Boots/Party Frock (Noel Streatfield)
Enid Blyton's adventure series.

He's currently working through the Cherub series, but check those before you read as they're a little bit interesting in parts. I do stop and talk through (and occasionally alter bits).

He's read others, but these are the ones he's begging for the next chapter and reading ahead because he can't wait.

I disagree with the view that the FF is sexist.
Anne is not an insipid child who stays at home and doesn't want to do it. She's actually very brave because she does these things despite being scared. I think she's the bravest really as none of the others admit they're scared. She does the cooking etc because she likes it, not because the others make her.

George is depicted not as being "as good as" but actually she's often referred to as "better than" the boys. They refer to her ability to do things like row/swim with admiration.

I think if you swapped so you had Julia the leader and Dickie the second, with George who was best at swimming and active things and Andrew who liked to stay at home doing the housekeeping, you'd have objections that Julia is made a "typical bossy girl" and "Dickie" has no character, and why have you made George be the best at active things-it's implying that girls aren't good at active things...

If he finds the creepiness and peril in Tom's Midnight Garden a problem - then you probably need to be targetting books for younger readers at the moment. He is going to really struggle with the rest of Harry Potter, which has genuinely disturbing themes. How does he get on with Dahl? They are really fun to read aloud, but darker than TMG.

I would suggest that you go an look in the library for chapter books for younger readers. They are often shorter and are likely to be less worrying. He might like books by Michael Bond, try the Olga series about a guinea pig as well as the Paddington books (in which most chapters usually works as a stand alone short story). Jeremy Strong books are also very popular.

You could have a look at Terry Pratchett's children's books such as the Carpet People, which are funny and interesting and fantastical but fr enough from reality to maybe not feel so worrying.

You don't want him to read books soley about girls? But you don't want him to read Enid Blyton because it's sexist?

user149 re-read the OP's posts.

That's not what she said at all. She's looking for balance.

A book that helped engage my reluctant reader in independent reading was Aarron Blabey's "The Bad Guys".

It looks like a chapter book but there's lots of pictures. The language isn't too hard but it's really funny. It looks quite "grown up" to.

It's about a gang of "bad guys" who keep doing good rather against their will.

There are two books in the series so far but more are coming.

What an odd way of twisting my post. Its quite clear that I meant I'm not looking to only read books with female main characters and will happily accept suggestions of books with male main characters. Suitable books with a female main character would be a bonus and books where I have to discuss that those views of women are not OK are not what I'm looking for.

But I mainly want to get him reading and excited about stories.

Scarlett not sure if you will see this but thanks for bad guys recommendation, a new favourite with my two now.

At this age my DS loved being read to, he really enjoyed 'The Family from One End Street', Emil and the Detectives' and 'Stig of the Dump'. He also loved Wind in the Willows and Skulduggery series but they were a little scary at times.

Pippi Longstocking
Moomins
Olga da Polga

Second Swallows and Amazons, and How to Train your Dragon.

I wouldn't try Roman Mysteries on a sensitive child; eg deliberately decapitated dog in the first one if I remember correctly.