Books for 9 yr old dd.. she thinks books her age are babyish !

[Louisa111]

Need some advice .. our 9 yr old dd is complaining that a lot of her books are just not interesting her anyone but I'm
Completely stuck about what books to get.
She usually reads
Diary of a wimpy kid,
Harry Potter
Fairy books,
David Walliams books etc

Just lately she says these are a bit babyish and wants books that are more real life but I feel she's too young for teenage books .. she is quite grown up for her age so any recommendations would be appreciated 😊

Oh and Tamora Pierce’s Alanna series 👌

Ha, the ones near us don’t! Though I suppose it is likely the people working in the library are library assistants not actual librarians.

Either way the people in our local library act like the children’s section is a cross they are forced to bear.

Mallory Towers?

Just asked my DD, she says, Lottie Brooks series, Murder most unladylike, a book called How to Be (she can’t remember the author!), Resist by Tom Palmer. Her school teacher has been great at recommending books for her so if a librarian is unwilling then teacher might be an alternative person to ask.

I highly recommend Septimus Heap by Angie Sage.
Very similar vibes to Harry Potter, Septimus is a wizard apprentice and it’s a 7 book series, great for adults too!

Sounds similar to my 9yr old and she loves Lottie Brooks, Dork Diaries and Jacqueline Wilson.

What about The Babysitter’s Club?

My advanced reading 9 yr old likes Alex Ryder. Also the Adventurers series by Jemma Hatt and the train adventure books www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B087Z2T9H4
this went down well too www.cranachanpublishing.co.uk/product/breaker/

Has she read Little Women? Maybe she'd enjoy some other classics, if she's a strong reader, Austen or Dickens?

The Lottie Brooks books and Pamela Burcharts series are popular with the year 5/6s at our school (PTA librarian). Skulduggery Pleasant if she's OK with peril (nonworse than some of the stuff in HP imo)

Oh and absolutely, 100% Jacqueline Wilson

The Lockwood & Co series by Jonathan Stroud. About a group of child ghost hunters. The books are no scarier than Harry Potter (I’ve been told the tv series is aimed at a slightly older age group though).

I loved the Ramona Quimby books at that age. Still read them now!

My daughter has just read the last bear and loved it. She also liked the boy at the back of the class, the night diary and when life gives you mangoes. I have also bought her the Judy blume fudge books but she has not started those yet.

The adventure island series by Helen moss 10 books in the series. My DD + DS love these

I totally loved Nancy Drew at that age - is that something that might appeal to her?

It’s not exactly real-life (anyone knocked unconscious as frequently as Nancy is would have a fairly serious traumatic brain injury by now, and the amount of crime in River Heights strains credibility). But it isn’t witches and wizards, or dinosaurs coming for tea.

I have memories of the breathless descriptions of Nancy’s amazing hair getting a bit tedious, but I tended to skim over those parts and focus on the crime-solving.

Time travelling With a hamster by Ross welford was fab.
Polly Ho Yen is fab - Boy in the Tower was great albeit a bit sad. I did read this to a y5 class.
A Place called Perfect was another brilliant read!
oh. And The Nowhere Emporium. Amazing! But definitely quite fantastical.

Karen McKombie’s Ally’s world series. I loved these.

Not really 'real life', but:

Narnia

Blyton's 'Adventure' series

Arthur Ransome

E. Nesbit

Noel Streatfeild

Frances Hodgson Burnett - Secret Garden and A Little Princess

Monica Edwards Romney Marsh series - don't know how available they are. The characters age through the series, but she's the right age for the first ones, when Tamzin the heroine is ten.

Antonia Forest - but I think she might be a bit young for them yet.

Otherwise, if she's into school stories, the Chalet School. Yes, adult Joey is insufferable, but the Austrian and wartime ones are well worth reading, I think.

Eva Ibbotson wrote books aimed at young children, at 11-12 yos, and adult romances. DD might like the 11-12 yo ones.

I love those my story ones and I’m 56.

Try:
Noel Steatfeild- Ballet Shoes, The Bell Family and many others
Hilary McKay- The Skylarks War, Binny books etc
Laura Ingalls Wilder- Little House on the Prairie series
Arthur Ransome- Swallows and Amazons and 11 other books in same series
The Railway Children
The Secret Garden

At that age my DD moved onto Dork diaries & Percy Jackson for series. Local library & also Waterst9ones staff were great on giving suggestions for her to try out other types

Echoing other posters - Jacquline Wilson and Artemis fowl / northern lights trilogy. Narnia?

Other books I loved around that age:
Goodnight mister Tom
Carries War
A little princess
little women
secret garden
goosebumps
some of the older Michael Morpugo books?

Should say she progressed quickly to young adult books but that was cos 2 x DS had lots on offer.
Narnia, Phillip.pulman & Harry potter were good as well

My 10 yo loves Jacquline Wilson books, she started reading them around 8 or 9, they've definitely got grown up vibes!