I'm looking for books for 7 year old DD

[BikeRunSki]

I've seen that there is already a thread on a similar theme to this today. but many of the recommendations, DD has already read!

She's read the Dick King-Smith Sophie books
Mudpuddle Farm (and now says its babyish)
Flying Fergus series
Frank Lampard football academy series
13 Storey Treehouse series
All the Barry Losers
All the Wimpy Kids
Some simpler Roald Dahls (Fantastic Mr Fox, Magic Finger) but is familiar with the stories and not bothered about reading them
The World's Worst Children 1, 2, 3
Mr Stink, Billionaire Boy

I have tried introducing the books I read at that age but she finds the either quite archaic (Mrs Pepperpot, The Family from One End Street) or too American (vocabulary - eg: Beezus and Ramona; Fudge).

She wants something more challenging that the cartoony Wimpy Kid/13 Storey Treehouse etc, but modern.

Many thanks

Are you reading to her or is she reading to herself?

I’m currently reading my soon- to-be seven year old The Chronicles of Narnia and he’s really enjoying them. I also remember my Mum reading me the Snow Queen at a similar age and I was entranced by it.

If she's read the simpler Roald Dahls why not the longer ones? What about the Secret Seven, or other Dick King Smiths? The words you have suggested she is struggling with do suggest she isn't reading at the level that would be expected at seven, but if she has read the books you describe that contrasts with that. Does she not like unfamiliar words ? I have a child like that with a high reading ability unless she finds words she doesn't know instantly. Is the archaic vocab stretching her, that might be a good thing?

Narnia, the BFG, Matilda, How to Train a Dragon, Harry Potter are all more challenging than what she is currently reading but if she can't read Mrs Peperpot then she would struggle with them.

She wants books she can read herself. Inifteb read her a few pages at bedtime, then she’ll dismiss me and carry on. She’ll always read in the car and usually picks up a book as soon as she gets in from wherever she has been. She can read the archaic and unfamiliar vocabulary, but would prefer something more modern.

She is my second child, and we have had CDs of the Roald Dahl and David Walliams books for long car journeys (we do a lot of these) for years, so she wants new stories.

I’m reading the Harry Potter books with her, by alternating who reads each page.

Oh yes, she dabbles with How To Train Your Dragon, but not really into the stories, although enjoys the wordplay.

How about The Worst Witch series?

Yes to Narnia
Swallows and Amazons
Five Children and It
Alice in Wonderland
My DD liked a book called "Marge in Charge" by Isla Fisher - I think she's written a few books actually.
The Sheep-Pig
Stig of the Dump

Otteline or Goth Girl books are brilliant. My 7 year loves them.

Thanks, i’ll look into these. I was terrified of the White Witch as a child, so I’d forgotten about Narnia!

Marge in Charge sounds right up her street. Possibly Swallows and Amazons. Alice in Wonderland is a family tradition - I think we are all able to recite it by heart by the time we start school.

She’s been reading Flat Stanley recently.

Clarice Bean
Isadora Moon
Alice Miranda
The Royal Babysitters
Worst Witch
Daisy books by Kes Gray
Best Friends Bakery series
Witch for a Week series
Books by Megan Rix

As she's already a reader just take her to a big bookshop or library and give her a good hour there - let her choose. You only need to search out tempting morsels for reluctant readers, not for children who already read prolifically and know what sort of thing they like.

If she's put off by archaic Swallows and Amazons is not what you're looking for though, and the reading age is years above Harry Potter despite the fact it's not nearly as scary. I read Swallows and Amazons to my kids a year or so ago - I doubt many modern 7 year olds would get through it alone. We forget how dumbed down yet speeder up modern children's fiction is, non stop action, limited description, relying on frights and thrills to hold attention - Swallows and Amazons is far slower paced, and yes, plenty of it will seem archaic.

Modernish: Sophie and the Shadow Woods? Second Ottoline and Goth Girl.

Not modern, but hopefully not too dated: Black Beauty, Pippi Longstocking, 101 Dalmatians, Charlotte's Web

I read a lot of Alex T Smith to my DS (whose reading and attention span aren't great but he likes the stories).
Also Cakes in Space and others by those authors.

My 7 year old just really enjoyed The boy at the back of the class, which I think won the Costa children award this year. Was worried it would be too long for her, but it's written in a really engaging way.

She's also loved the Ottoline books and a series by Pamela Butchart - Attack of the Demon dinner ladies is one. She's reading Wizards of Once by Cressida Cowell at the moment, which is a good mix of pictures and stories.

Also Mr Gum books are very funny and easily digestible.

My seven year old DS is enjoying Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising series at the moment.

The House With Chicken Legs by Sophie Anderson has been a hit with my children.

There are lots of websites with reading lists.

This one has ideas for seven year olds schoolreadinglist.co.uk/reading-lists-for-ks2-school-pupils/reading-list-for-year-3-pupils-ks2-age-7-8/

And this is a great booklet with suggestions for primary aged children which can be downloaded: teachlikeachampion.com/wp-content/uploads/5-Plagues-Reading-Spine.pdf

Other DW
gangsta granny
Awful auntie
Fing
Grandpa's great escape
Midnight gang

Pippi Longstocking and Mr Gum.

My 7yo i has enjoyed the Alesha Dixon superhero books, as well as Harry Potter 1,2,3, My Naughty Little Sister, The Secret Garden.

My 6yr old Year 1 DD is an avid reader, these are the series/chapter books she has read or is reading:

Clarice Bean
Isadora Moon
Flat Stanley
Some Dahl
Faraway tree/ Enchanted wood
Marge in Charge
The Never Girls
Agatha Parrot
Rainbow Magic
The Worst Witch
Amelia Fang
Daisy
Claude
Amelia Bedelia

She also adores The Phoenix magazine (comic) that arrives weekly, and the spin off books Bunny Vs Monkey.

The Top Secret Diary of Davina Dupree by S K Sheridan - my daughter can't put it down!!

The bolds
The queen’s nose
Charlotte’s web
Olga da polga

The Adventures of Algy

There is a cool website for children: www.earlybirdkid.com.

There is a cool website for children: www.earlybirdkid.com.