chapter books to read to a 5-year-old-girl.

[imaginaryfriend]

I'm seeking a bit of inspiration really as dd's only just got into me reading her bedtime stories which are not primarily picture books. I've had very few successes so far:

Hits:
Enid Blyton's Amelia Jane stories
The original story of Pinocchio

Misses:
Pippi Longstocking
All the Roald Dahl books I've tried so far
The Magic Faraway Tree
The Naughtiest Girl in School

Dd's not a terribly 'girly' girl although she loves 'magical' things like mermaids and Tinkerbell. I've looked at a few of the princess-type books in Waterstones and she'd hate all that pink, fluffy, friend / not-friend scenario stuff. She's mad on animals, especially rabbits.

Any / all suggestions really gratefully received.

Hi dinny! No, I haven't tried Famous Five yet. My brother and I adored them when we were kids but I don't think dd's quite ready for it yet. I'm going to look at the moomin books.

I've had some superb suggestions on here though, thanks everyone, I'm looking forward to the Amazon order.

seeker, that's so nice of you, thanks. Alas ... I have put one Animal Ark book on my Amazon list ... it's the Brave Bunny one. I could tell it looked pure cheese from the cover but dd will be so thrilled by it. She's the world's greatest rabbit fan!

My very wimpy/sensitive ds was completely wigged out by Roald Dahl until very recently (he's 7 now) - so go carefully there!

Have you tried Beatrix Potter?

Winnie the Pooh?

Little Grey Rabbit?

Sam Pig?

seeker, dd's actually remarkably non-wimpy. But she gets bored when there's too much 'description' / 'build up' in the story and not enough action. I'm hoping this will change as she gets older?!

Dd's always hated Winnie the Pooh "and anyway mum why is he called poo?"

We've read all the Beatrix Potter actually. It's funny, I never thought of those as 'chapter books' but I suppose they are.

We are trying the secret seven (less grown up than the famous 5) with some success....my dd is really in unicorn school (like HArry Potter but with unicorns and is terribly written so I kept trying to insert other books in). She also likes the magic treehouse books (again they are not brilliantly written)

The Lady Grace Mysteries
Hiccup Horrendous Haddock
Daisy Meadow Fairy Books

If she likes a challenge you could go to Tom's Midnight Garden or even The Midnight Folk

Gobbolino the Witch's Cat
Bedknobs and Broomsticks

She's only 5, barnstable! (are you in barnstable, btw? I lived near Tiverton when I was little!)

I would save Hiccup - my ds is reading them to himself at the moment, and it's wonderful to hear the peals of laughter coming from his room!

Ditto Midnight Folk and TMG - I think you have to be a bit older to enjoy them properly. Don't forget the Box of Delights when she's the right age for it!

She's only 5, barnstable! (are you in barnstable, btw? I lived near Tiverton when I was little!)

I would save Hiccup - my ds is reading them to himself at the moment, and it's wonderful to hear the peals of laughter coming from his room!

Ditto Midnight Folk and TMG - I think you have to be a bit older to enjoy them properly. Don't forget the Box of Delights when she's the right age for it!

seeker, I'm so looking forward to when dd can sit and read to herself like that. When did your ds start doing it? My dd will occasionally sit and look through a book quite intently but mostly focusing on the pictures despite being able to read quite a lot of words.

He read his first book on his own in the Easter holidays in year 1 - I remember because we were camping in the rain and everyone else was reading and he didn't want to be left out. He was 6 and a bit. It was a "for confident readers' type specially written book - can't remember which one. At this point he started to read Match magazine - he still reads it from cover to cover every week. It was the summer before year 2 - when he was 6.5 that he started reading proper books - and the beginning of year 2 when he would go off and lie on his bed and read easily for pleasure.

your dd will probably be quicker - my ds is the sort of person who considers any activity which involves sitting down a opportunity to play football wasted, so he has to be very tired or really convinced that there isn't anything more active available before he will resort to reading!

I guess that's bound to lead me to ask ... what's the best kind of first 'real' book to give them? Although it's probably too soon for dd as she's daunted by the amount of words on a page of a stage 5 ORT book!

And that's bound to lead me to say "Plenty of time for that....live in the moment.....!"

I think generally girls love the horrendous Rainbow Fairy type thing. There is also a series called The Glitter Girls my dd likes. Apart from that, I think you just let them loose in the library/bookshop and let them choose. If they choose something too hard they drop it after a page or two and you can put it away for later.

Ds's first real REAL book was How to Train your Dragon. Too hard really, but he had heard it on tape first so that gave him a boost into it.

For first "read yourself" books there are some nice ones put there.

If around ORT level 5/6 I'd say thinks like the Blue Banana books & Poppy and Max, moving onto First Young Puffin, Colour Young Puffin & Corgi Pups, and the hings like Sprinters.

Five Dolls in a House, Helen Clare
Stuart Little, EB White

seeker !

Thanks for those suggestions. I think I'll try to get her some first 'proper' reading books in the summer holidays.

I'm off to Waterstones in my lunchbreak to look for some books for me to read to her.

I'm sorry I got a bit carried away. The Fairy books are good for that age though, check them out. And Asterix really inspired dd to read independently when she was 5 (they were far too hard for her, but she wasn't going to be beaten).

I'm not in Barnstaple, seeker, but I am in Devon - s/e though. Not sure why I chose this name, really can't remember as I don't think I've even been there !(though fairly close)

seeker - if you're around - thanks so much for the books you sent. I'll be trying them out over our Easter holidays next week.

So far though I can't ween dd off the Amelia Jane books.

If you are still looking for chapter books to read to your dd, I used to love the Moomin books, My Naughty Little Sister and Milly Molly Mandy (although possibly a bit too old-fashioned now)

Diana Wynne Jones is great for non-Harry Potter magical stuff - try Charmed Life for a start, The Ogre Downstairs or Eight Days of Luke.

And possibly hunt out 'Odd and the Frost Giants' by Neil Gaiman (a £1 World Book Day book with 8 chapters) as my ds1 (just turned 6) loved having it as his bedtime book for the past week.

Have just noticed the recommendation for Narnia books - I haven't tried them with ds1 yet but might get dp to get them down from the attic sometime soon.

you're welcome, imaginaryfriend.

Ds brought home a book from school on Monday by Alexander McCall Smith. Apparently he was a children's writer before he started on the Detective Agency series. It's a detective story, and according to ds, it's the "best book he's ever had from school" So there's another recommendation.

dd was reminiscing last night about Fattypuffs and Thinifers which I read to her when she was five

Ok, that's going on my list seeker!

Fattypuffs and Thinifer?!

I got a Moomins book to try. I didn't read them when I was a child though. I used to love Diana Wynne-Jones though, especially Eight Days of Luke. Would dd be too young though at 5?