suggestions please for ds (8), his reading level is about age 12, but we're running out of suitable material..

[clumsymum]

He is an avid reader, reads for at least 30 mins every bedtime, gets thru a novel in 2 days. Read all horrid henry last year, just completed the Astrosaurs series, read some famous five/ secret seven (altho they don't seem to grip him, been thru all the Jeremy trong the library can provide, read loads of Dick King-Smith.

So where can we look next. Is he ready do you think for Harry Potter independantly (I always said we'd read them together, but ds is less interested in bedtime stories from Mummy now). His teacher has lent him the first Artemis Fowl book, can anyone tell me what sequence the series goes in, so I can order the next one from the library?

ny help gratefully received.

[Bink]

I think Philip Reeve is rather specially good - and he does the drawings for Kjartan Poskitt - in one of the Urgum books there is a quite gorgeous 6mm-sized miniature of a Spiny Pant-Eater, which had my two in unbreathing hysterics.

I'm at home now so I can scan the shelves:

Mark Haddon's Agent Z books
Norman Hunter's Professor Branestawn - slightly old-fashioned language though.
Emily Rodda's Deltora series-upon-series
the Dr Who novelisations
Erich Kastner's Emil books (Emil and the Detectives etc.)

This is a very useful thread - reminded me of things I haven't yet got hold of, like Astrosaurs.

[FrannyandZooey]

How about E Nesbit stories? the one about the Bastables are especially funny (Treasure Seekers etc)

He might also like Helen Cresswell's Bagthorpes Saga which again is very funny

[TheYoungVisiter]

Ooo loads of these are good - I particularly loved Just William, Ursula Le Guin and Alan Garner - in fact I still read all regularly.

Has anyone suggested...

Swallows and Amazons series - classic and brilliant

Anything by John Wyndham - these are adult books but easy enough for a child to read. Start with Chocky, which is about a child.

Rudyard Kipling, Just So Stories are great, also lovely for reading together.

Not sure if they are still in print but Monica Dickens Worlds End series - about a group of kids who set up house on their own.

He's probably just about old enough for The Hobbit, although it's quite scary so not if he's prone to nightmares.

The Bagthorpe series by Helen Cresswell - very, very funny. Start with Ordinary Jack.

[Troutpout]

Tom's midnight garden
Any micheal morpurgo
Narnia
Philip Reeve's Buster Bayliss books
Geromino stilton series
Alistair Fury books (jamie Rix)
The unluckiest boy in the world (Andrew Norriss)
Molly Moons incredible book of Hypnotism (Georgia Byng)

[hewlettsdaughter]

The second Artemis Fowl is called Artemis Fowl and the Arctic Incident, I think. My ds (also 8 and a good reader) has enjoyed all of the Artemis Fowl, Alex Rider and Harry Potter books, plus others that have been mentioned here.

How about Hugo Pepper, by Chris Riddell and Paul Stewart? (there are others in this series too).

[Saker]

I would really really recommend the Pongwiffy stories by Kaye Umansky - fantastic also for reading aloud - start with Pongwiffy, A witch of dirty habits then I don't think it matters what order they are read in.

Also stuff by Sally Gardner like "The Invisible Boy", "The boy with the lightning feet" etc.

My Ds1 is similar and races through whatever I get him - sometimes I get tapes and cds of things like Enid Blyton from the library and he listens to them instead of reading - that slows him down a bit and makes the more difficult stories accessible.

Ds1 also likes Just William, Michael Morpugo, Philip Pullman ("I was a rat" is very good) and other suggestions that have been made here.