BOOKS for 10 yr old dd and 11 yr old son PLEASE!!

[hullygully]

We will be away for two months in the Summer and both my kids are great readers (no friends/ machines there, you see!). I need suggestions for both of them. They have read the Little House series, Harry Potters, Warriors, Noel Streatfield, Horowitz, a lot of the children's classics. I need long complicated books so they last and partic faves are action spies, and ponies (not Heartland, read those). ANY suggestions? Please? Thanks.

[sglat]

The Edge Chronicles and the Roman Mysteries have already been recommended, so I'd add something for action/thriller fans: The Jimmy Coates series by Joe Craig. There are I think four or five of them out now for them to get their teeth into and each one is a gripping conspiracy thriller.

[christywhisty]

Oops Cherub are written by Robert Munchmore

Mark Walden writes the HIVE series which ds also likes

[christywhisty]

DS 12 has just been engrossed in one of the Cherub books by Mark Walden.

[Marina]

Agree with you about the presentation hullygully, the dense typeface does put them off

[Marina]

Thanks for that madamy
Ds is completely immersed in Percy Jackson, huge hit

[madamy]

Shameless plug for this book by a new author aka my step BIL!!

[dilemma456]

Message withdrawn

[hullygully]

Part of the problem with my collection of my childhood books is simply presentation. The typeface is so much smaller, I think they find it intimidating. My dd read all the old Streatfields, Monica Dickens etc because we were up the mountain and there was absolutely nothing else! And she loved them. Both also like the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency btw, and My Family and Other Animals for DS.

[Marina]

That's gone straight on MY holiday shopping list thanks porpoise!

[Marina]

Ds' reading habits very rarely annoy me but his sniffy approach to preloved classics from our own bookshelves or bought off Abebooks really does hack me off ! It took me months to coax him to try Paul Berna because they are all dh's wizened old late sixties Puffins. And now he loves them.
I always feel comfortable with classics, many of which do provide thought-provoking plots and excellent writing, without the graphic approach that is common in current writers (eg Robert Muchamore, Louis Sachar, Melvin Burgess etc, all great but definitely for over 12s IME)

[hullygully]

Same problem with dd, difficult to find books with content she can handle at a suitable ability level. That's why she races through them. (There's an opening in the market there.)Ds can cope with a lot stronger stuff IYSWIM.

[Porpoise]

Yes, same here (ds1 is 9, about to turn 10) and hoovers books up. Was a bit nervous about him reading Horowitz (PFB alert) but he seems to have survived!

Ooh, just thought of this one which has been a recent hit...

[Marina]

Ds is just nine. He really rates Michelle Paver. Glad Tunnels was a hit!
I do find it hard matching his reading enthusiasm with his youngish age tbh. There is a lot of good fiction for teens which he is still really too young for

[Porpoise]

Marina - the PJ books are fab. Just got sent the proof of the new one and am hiding it until ds1's birthday.

Haven't tried him on Michele Paver. How old is your ds?

Ooh, and it was your recommendation that made me get Tunnels. What a great read! Thank you for that.

[hullygully]

Thank you. Am going to have to buy shares in Amazon soon..

[Marina]

Porpoise, you just beat me to it! Ds got the first Percy Jackson for his birthday from his godfather, and he is gripped already. I hadn't heard about these before but thought of this thread as I looked at the book jacket
Ds also got given a Michele Paver, as previously cited, and the third in a lovely series of novels by Anne Forbes, highly recommended if your family lives in or visits Edinburgh

[Porpoise]

Great suggestions here. Can I add the Percy Jackson books?

[RosaLuxembunting]

Not great with boys, but DD1 is 10 and loves the Ingo series which Ellbell mentioned and is eagerly awaiting the next installment of Roman mysteries. (Out today, I do believe)
One book that might work for both of them is The Alchemyst by Michael Scott - the sequel has just come out in hardback and have ordered it for DD1's birthday as she is dying to find out what happens next.
Another that I have given to various boys and girls aged 10-13 and was enjoyed by all is The Medici Curse though I may be biased as it was written by a friend.

[hullygully]

Thanks for these.

[Ellbell]

OK... will save those for later, then. DD doesn't cope with gruesome. Also, she particularly hates exploitation. Talking about the Roman Mysteries books she has to spell out the word S-L-A-V-E or to refer to 'that thing that Nubia is', because the idea upsets her [sweet!]. School sent her home with a horrid book (ORT!) about child slavery in India which really upset her. I complained (about this and about another book which had a boy not sure who his dad was as his mum turned out to have had an affair years earlier... this was ORT too, and dd was a young 7 at the time!) and they took her off the reading scheme altogether, since when she has been happy as Larry reading whatever she fancies!

Sorry for hijack (again), hullygully. Enjoy these suggestions!

[Marina]

Sorry hullygully!

[Ellbell]

Oops, cross-posted in a Cornelia Funke-related way with Christy!

Also, dd loved the Greenwich Chronicles (Time Wreccas is one, but there are others and I can't remember the titles now) by Val Tyler.

[Ellbell]

A few more suggestions. I should add a disclaimer to the effect that I have a dd who is only just 8, but she reads stuff that is aimed at older kids, so some of this might be suitable.

The Ingo series by Helen Dunmore (now up to 4 books: Ingo, The Tide Knot, The Deep, and The Crossing of Ingo. These are fab (and quite long, so will last a while).

Have you already read the Roman Mysteries series?

DD has just read I Coriander by Sally Gardner and loved that.

Also anything by Cornelia Funke has been a big success. Some are aimed at younger readers, but Inkheart/Inkspell might be OK for slightly older children.

You mentioned ponies, so you could try My Friend Flicka (and sequels) by Mary O'Hara. (DD has just read that, but got frustrated by the fact that the protagonist was a boy and that girls were portrayed as 'sissy'!) There is always Black Beauty as well [pack tissues...!].

DD has also recently enjoyed The Fire Thief, which is a retelling of the Prometheus myth.

The Britannia series looks interesting Marina. When you say that it's aimed at over-8s, is that because of the language or because of the content? When are you off to B-C? I am having withdrawal symptoms, as only going to Devon this year.

[christywhisty]

My DD liked Cornelia Funke Inkheart