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Children's books

Join in for children's book recommendations.

Not Scary

19 replies

MotherOfCrocodiles · 11/11/2023 07:39

I'm looking for a new series for my y2 DD. She is a strong reader but gets very upset by anything scary or perilous in books.

She loved Horrid Henry but is scared of Magic Treehouse. She speaks scathingly of "books about cute kittens" so apparently there is a narrow window of acceptable fiction 🤦‍♀️

All suggestions welcome please, she can munch through several books a week

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BoleynMemories13 · 11/11/2023 07:48

Jeremy Strong books are great for that age.

Flat Stanley?

Dirty Bertie (very similar to Horrid Henry)

Bear and Rabbit

Daisy and the trouble with... series

The Worst Witch

Isadora Moon

Kitty (about a Superhero girl with cat powers, so maybe too cutesy for your DD?)

MotherOfCrocodiles · 11/11/2023 08:07

Thanks!

Worst witch and kitty already tried and are too scary 😟 she will read them but not at bedtime which is when she does her main reading. Will have a look at the others though, thanks

Most of what I remember from childhood is adventure stories and therefore probably too scary

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MargaretThursday · 11/11/2023 11:55

Enid Blyton: Faraway Tree/Wishing Chair, some of her short stories. She might even find The Secret Island good or some of the school ones.

Some Noel Streatfield's like Ballet Shoes. Like Enid Blyton she wrote some lovely gentle family stories, but also some adventure ones.

Would she like ballet stories? They're not really entirely about ballet, but around it.
"Lucy Jane and the Ballet" is lovely, and I think there's more in the same series./
There's a set of ballet stories by Antonia Barber called "Dancing Shoes", the first one is "Lessons for Lucy". It's more about friendships than ballet, really.

Little House in the Big Woods is another gentle one, but you may want to read it with her.

The Bullerby Children
Milly Molly Mandy
Naughty Little Sister
Family From One End Street
All ones that don't really get scary, but may need a little explanation as they're historic now.

There's also the dreadful Rainbow Fairies if those aren't too twee for her. My ds, persuaded to read them by his sister and much preferring adventure, gave it the lovely backhanded review: "When Jack Frost (the baddy) appears it was almost interesting." which I think says it all.

I do feel your pain. My middle dc loved reading but wouldn't touch anything she thought was scary for years. What I did find was 1950s/60s school/real life stories were her love. She's just gone off to university and one of the books she took was "Coronet for Cathy" which is her absolute favourite. I had to track down a second copy for her.
The stories in that era were much gentler in a lot of ways. Nowadays publishers want there to be a big event, something for the main character to work towards. So looking at older books may give you more what you're looking for.

I'd avoid the Daisy stories by Dick King Smith. They're often recommended on here, and I see exactly what he wanted to do with the character, but actually she's a rather nasty little bully who gets what she wants. They upset dd quite a lot.

MotherOfCrocodiles · 12/11/2023 07:56

Thanks @MargaretThursday, I will try Milly Molly Mandy. I am not sure about ballet- may inspire her to go to ballet in real life, which I'm afraid she wouldn't get on with at all! Maybe she would like Mallory Towers actually, I think of them as a bit older but they are less scary/adventurous than most of the Blyton ones.

The Little House books are some of my all time favourites btw. But she will lie awake worrying about all the dangers the characters face them so a no go at this stage.

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MotherOfCrocodiles · 12/11/2023 07:58

Ah also My Naughty Little sister! I thought of getting this for her as she has a naughty little brother, but just couldn't because my mum gave it to my older sister for the same reason- and I resented it for years!

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MotherOfCrocodiles · 12/11/2023 08:01

Have also ordered faraway tree series. She is scared of the audio book in places but maybe with a real book I can teach her to skip head and check they come out ok.

Honestly when m I ever going to be able to give her the real good stuff (weirdstone of bresingamen- I'd still be scared to read this after dark!)?!

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herbygarden · 12/11/2023 08:03

Rabbit and Bear are great, slight toilet humour but made my boys laugh until they cried!

MotherOfCrocodiles · 12/11/2023 08:47

Thanks! From the preview on Amazon rabbit and bear look like they don't have much text on each page, is that right (maybe they are just showing the prettiest page!) Might not keep her busy for long enough now but looks like she would enjoy them.

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BoleynMemories13 · 12/11/2023 12:33

Rabbit and Bear probably have about 4 sentences on each page on average (some will have more, some only 1 or 2). They're not long reads but they're very funny for this age group and contain some quite challenging vocabulary so would probably take just as long to read as a Horrid Henry, which would have more text but be a much easier read in general. The wonderful illustrations simply add to the beauty of the Rabbit and Bear books in my opinion.

I've just remembered the Claude series too. They're great for this age group.

BoleynMemories13 · 12/11/2023 12:44

Does it have to be a series? Dick King-Smith is perfect for this age (The Hodgeheg, George Speaks, Harriet's Hare, The Sheep Pig etc).

Some of the shorter Jacqueline Wilson ones are good for this age group too and aren't as 'meaty' in terms of the subject matter covered as her longer books which are more aimed at KS2. Off the top of my head there is Mum Minder, Lizzie Zipmouth, The llustrated mum. The Suitcase Kid is probably ok for this age too. It covers separation/divorce but nothing totally awful or inappropriate for this age group.

The shorter Roald Dahl are great too (The Magic Finger, George's Marvellous Medicine, The Twits, Esio Trot, The Giraffe the Pelly and Me, Fantastic Mr Fox). I guess only you will know how likely it is that your daughter might find these scary but when I taught Year 2 these ones were all very popular with my more able readers.

Holly Webb is another great author for this age group. Granted most of her stories are about fluffy puppies and kittens but she does do some other lovely books too.

BoleynMemories13 · 12/11/2023 12:45

Oh and Wigglesbottom Primary is another great series loved by my old year 2s, very funny.

They're all coming back to me now!

Needmorelego · 12/11/2023 12:53

Ramona books by Beverly Clearly
Fudge books by Judy Blume
Pain and the Great One books by Judy Blume
Dirty Bertie (can't remember the author).

ProfessionalTeaDrinker · 12/11/2023 12:59

Ottoline? There's about 4 of those and they were a big hit with my daughter

13 storey treehouse (I think this is different to magic treehouse?)

Dork diaries and Tom gates are a big hit as well (mine are a bit older but have enjoyed for a while, can't remember when they started)

Lottie brooks is also popular but I'd suggest hanging on til nearer 8/9 if you can

Imenti · 12/11/2023 13:02

My year 1 boy is really enjoying Plop The Owl Who Was Afraid Of The Dark and there are about 6 books in that series by Jill Tomlinson. It is about animals but not cute kittens 🤣🤣

AdoringDavidAttenborough · 12/11/2023 13:09

My daughter is the same age and also quite sensitive about content - I have only persuaded her to watch a couple of Pixar films all the way through.

She is currently reading "Matilda meets the Universe", which is very science-oriented and has gone down a storm. Also it might be worth trying Amelia Fang - the setting is Halloween-esque but the actual plots are quite low stakes. My daughter has also enjoyed the Rainbow Grey series (although a character does, so be warned) and Peanut Jones.

Grimwood by Nadia Shireen is very funny.

AdoringDavidAttenborough · 12/11/2023 13:13

I have also found that factual books and poetry collections are a way round her dislike of narrative tension - the Tiny Science series by Anna Claybourne is great and often available in libraries. To be honest, I try to let her choose her own reading material as much as possible.

In DD's school able readers often seem to be fobbed off with Horrible Histories. Be ready to step in if this happens as some are really quite grim (the Romans one is particularly bad).

Ionacat · 12/11/2023 13:15

My year 2 DD is enjoying or has enjoyed:

The exploding life of Scarlett Fife - Maz Evans (there’s three in the series.)
The 13 storey Treehouse series
Ottaline series - Chris Riddell
Charlie changes into a chicken - Sam Copeman (there’s three in the series.)
The Trouble with - the Daisy series. (Although I think Daisy is an annoying pain!)
Little Wolf’s Book of Badness
The Queen’s Nose - Dick King Smith (I remember this as a TV series as a child.)

MotherOfCrocodiles · 12/11/2023 17:12

Wow I didn't check all day- thanks for all the suggestions this is great! I will have to try a selection. I like the science-y ideas as she will be interested in those.

Weirdly she likes horrible histories and doesn't seem at all bothered by the gruesome bits. It's peril and people feeling sad that upset her.

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