Books to read to nearly 7 yr old

[CocoM66]

Could anyone recommend books for me to read to my nearly 7 yr old.

They read to themselves short chapter books (e.g Bear Grylls adventure series, owl who was afraid of the dark, worst witch). So looking for books slightly more advanced than this in terms of vocab but still suitable for age.
Am conscious of "you only get to read it for the first time once" so don't want to rush too soon with things like Harry Potter, Narnia etc so would be interested in opinions on good age to start those. They are a bit sensitive to death, though perhaps avoiding this is counter productive in the long term.
Thank you

Pages & Co is a nice magical story. It has some adventure and also talks about older books such as Alice in Wonderland. We loved the first one but never got around to the others!

My DDad read my The Hobbit and Lord of The Rings at about this age, which I loved (but might be too death-y for your DC)

Other ideas:

Peter and the Starcatchers series
The Borrowers
The Tale of Desperaux (do not read most of Kate DiCamillo’s books until DC is less worried about death though, they still make me cry!)
Mrs Frisby and The Rats of Nimh
Lots of Roald Dahl books!
Stuart Little
A Wrinkle in Time
Judy Blume’s Fudge books
Terry Pratchett - the Tiffany Aching books (the first 3 should be fine, maybe not number 4)

7 is the prime age to start enjoying Roald Dahl together. The shorter books, such as George's Marvellous Medicine, Fantastic Mr Fox, Esio Trot, The Twits etc are great for that age. To be honest though, if you're reading it to them they'll probably also enjoy some of the longer ones such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda.

Personally, I'd save Harry Potter for another year or so. Younger children can definitely appreciate it being read to them but if you want the experience to be remembered and cherished forever maybe 8/9 is a better age to start. Up to you though.

Astrid Lindgren - Pipi Longstocking
- Ronja Robbers Daughter

and my all time favourite The Brothers Lionheart now this book does deal with death, but in a very beautiful way ... death basically means you live a perfect life in another world full of campfire stories and adventures.

The Faraway Tree
The Boy Who Grew Dragons
Awful Auntie
Kaspar Prince of Cats
The Danger Gang
James and the Giant Peach
The Sheep Pig

Dick King-Smith's Sophie books?

I often read my 6 and 8 year olds older books - as in, both not written recently and a bit harder to read - that might have trickier vocab and that they probably wouldn't pick up themselves.

These ones were big hits:
The King of the Copper Mountains (this is sort of about death but in a very sensitive way)
Mrs Frisby and the rats of NIMH
The Phantom Tollbooth
The Princess and the Goblin (Victorian so language was sometimes a bit hard, but very exciting)
The Magic Pudding (the younger one especially thought this was hilarious)
Till Owlyglass, Michael Rosen (they both LOVED this)
The Toymaker's Daughter
Haroon and the Sea of Stories

Also this is the one we are reading now, not old and not finished yet, but it is great so far - Lesley Parr, The Valley of Lost Secrets (although a skull has just appeared in a tree...!)

hallcuts I'd forgotten about The Phantom Tollbooth - great suggestion.

Thank you for all the great suggestions.

I also really like hallcuts idea of me focusing on reading books they otherwise might not pick up themselves.

That was supposed to say "Thank you for all the great suggestions everyone".

It's something a bit different but if your 7 year old likes learning and short stories, then this could be something to try inbetween reading longer books:

www.learningstory.co.uk

You put in whatever you want to learn about and you get a short story that integrates the learning topic. I really enjoy using it with my son!

Indian in the cupboard? My seven year old loves these, although he is read to as doesn’t read yet.

My 7yo son really enjoys the How to Train Your Dragon series - we are up to book 6 so far!

Don't miss out on Pippi Longstocking. Unmissably brilliant children fiction.