Books to read out loud to 7-year old

[IceandIndigo]

DS is nearly 7. We like to read out loud at bedtime, but I'm running out of books. I find myself leaning towards classics, because that's what I know and trust. He likes Roald Dahl and we have just finished The Hobbit, which he also loved. We've tried a few more contemporary books but I've found some of them to be poorly written. The Wild Robot was ok.

Any suggestions for appropriate books for this age group? For reading aloud I'd prefer books that are intended for slightly older children rather than ones a 6-year old would read to themselves.

Narnia?

Michael Morpurgo. SF Said, Jeremy Strong.

Try poetry. There's some great silly rhyme books for children.

How to train your dragon series, Harry Potter - first ones are less dark, stuff by Matt Haig…

The wild robot was "ok"?!
I can't help you. I thought the wild robot series was fantastic!

The land of Roar series by Jenny Mclachlan

Yes, this is a fantastic series!

Tom Fletcher's books, especially the Christmasaurus

An Alien in the Jam Factory series

Toto the Ninja Cat series

The Boy Who Grew Dragons series (a PP suggested how to train your dragon, but I'd say that's best to save until a bit older, my DS has only just got into it, age 8.5)

Loki: a bad God's guide to being good (that's the first one; it's a series)

DS really enjoyed the 13-storey treehouse series - I didn't, but he ended up reading them himself so that was fine

Does he like Minecraft? The Mojang Woodsword/Stonesword series are great - very age appropriate, great characters, challenging enough vocab for a 7 year old and fun storylines.

Since my DS has turned 7, we’ve done:
Just William
Wind in the Willows
Stig of the Dump
Pippi Longstocking
Famous Five

The Nowhere Emporium series by Ross Mackenzie. My DGD loved them

Some great recommendations, thanks so much. DH has vetoed Narnia because of the religious themes, although I think this went over my head as a child. We have done all the Boy who Grew Dragons books, also Stig of the Dump and Pippi Longstocking. I loved Famous Five as a child but I think some of the attitudes might feel problematic now.

The biggest hits in our family for that sort of age were the Pamela Butchart Baby Aliens series, and the Wayside School books by Louis Sachar (who to me is a kind of American version of Roahld Dahl).

Also I think Famous Five and Secret Seven are safe enough even in the modern era. There are a couple of terms you might fudge around and a few chats to have about attitudes that have changed, but would be a shame to avoid the whole series over those.

Dealing with Dragons :)

The Clifftoppers series is quite good. Kind of Famous Five but set in the modern day.

E. Nesbit books.
Swallows and Amazons.

It’s worth teaching your DS about how attitudes have changed, there’s some otherwise great books you could miss out on e.g. King Solomon’s Mines.

We enjoyed the Mary Poppins books. They were really funny and Mary is quite different from the films but in a very funny way.

The Boy Who Biked the World series. Brilliant and based on true events but told from the view of a young boy.

The Adventures of Mr Penguin are very good and funny

My ds is loving five children and it. There are some outdated terms but I just explain why they're not great nowadays.

If you havent read Winnie the pooh collection that's a good one. We started harry potter, alternating a page each when dc1 was 7.

If you wanted an updated book with the feel of famous five then the adventurers series is good.

What are the books you found poorly written? That might give a sense of what sort of things DON'T work for you and we can make recommendations accordingly.

Beast Quest series. There are loads!

I read the Famous Five and Secret Seven to my kids.

After reading a suggestion here on MN, I often reverse the sexes when reading - so the girls go out on an adventure while the boys make jam sandwiches at home and wash the dishes.