What next for reluctant and fussy 10y (after Unfortunate Events and Thomas Taylor)

[StColumbofNavron]

DS3 let’s me read to him. It has been a huge struggle over the years with reading but we now have a lovely time with me reading every night. He reads quite simple footballer books for school but we have read the entire A Series of Unfortunate Events and all of the Eerie-on-Sea series by Thomas Taylor (Malamander, Gargantis and finishing Shawdowghast shortly).

It seems he like real life stories but with an element of magic or fantasy.

The Eerie books have short chapters which is a plus. These are his favourite and he (we) have tweeted with the author etc.

I was wondering about some of the Terry Pratchett’s but no idea where to start. He is adamant he doesn’t want Harry Potter and has turned his nose up at Percy Jackson too.

The best Pratchett for his age would probably be the Tiffany Aching books:
The Wee Free Men
A Hat Full of Sky
Wintersmith
I Shall Wear Midnight
The Shepherd's Crown

Truckers, Diggers and Wings are also for children but might be a bit young for him.
There is also the Johnny series (Only you can save mankind, Johnny and Dead, Johnny and Bomb).

I'll take a look, thanks. I just don't want to lose the momentum we have and he seems to quite like a series where we can invest in the characters.

Fablehaven by Brandon Mull
Dark is rising series by Susan Cooper
Are normal life plus magic
The Chrestomance series by DWJ
Is a mixture

All good to read aloud.

Has he tried comic books to read to himself? Amulet, Zita the Spacegirl, Corpse Talk, Bunny V.s Monkey

Full on magic but very silly/funny Sisters Grimm - all my kids like them despite having quite different taste in books

Skulduggery Pleasant?

Nevermoor (three books with more on the way) by Jessica Townsend.

They're set in a world where magic meets science and a few special people can manipulate the underlying fabric of the universe (not completely unlike Jedi). The hero is a cursed child who is rescued by an (extremely amusing ginger-haired) adventurer. She becomes a member of a magical society, committed to improving things for their community. But the problems soon start to pile up: her powers are thought to be so extreme that even other members of the magical society are afraid of her, an evil genius is fixated on her, and her guardian doesn't know who can be trusted.

Great suggestions, thanks so much.

Lots of the above but also the Alfie Fleet books, both fantasy and incredibly funny.

Terry Pratchett - Bromeliad Triology
www.amazon.co.uk/Bromeliad-Truckers-Omnibus-Diggers-Wings/dp/0552546070/ref=sr_1_1?crid=6NHUTPNBWWS0&keywords=bromeliad+trilogy&sprefix=Bromeliad%2Caps%2C82&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&qid=1643141050&sr=8-1

(Discworld - The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents)

Songs of Magic (The Darkness of Dragons) www.amazon.co.uk/Darkness-Dragons-Songs-Magic/dp/1474945678/ref=sr_1_1?crid=19NYTXOWOII6N&keywords=the+darkness+of+dragons&sprefix=The+darkness+of+%2Caps%2C79&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&qid=1643141158&sr=8-1

The Wizards of Once - Cressida Cowell

School librarian here - Ali Sparkes's Shapeshifter series (Finding The Fox etc) is brilliant and I'd really recommend The Midnight Guardians and Amari and the Night Brothers if you want to try any stand-alones. I'd also second Skullduggery Pleasant - great books and Derek Landy is very active on Twitter.

Thanks so much. Even though he insists I read on Kindle I’m going to take him to the book shop to look through them and see what he likes.

The Alex Rider series is fantastic! Not fantasy, but very action-packed with some futuristic technology, involving incredible escapes from dangerous situations similar to Unfortunate Events.

I would suggest the Amazing Maurice for a first Pratchett, or perhaps Nation, but both are stand alone.

The Chrestomanci series by Diana Wynne Jones as recommended above are great too.