Recommendations for enjoyable chapter books to read aloud to a six-year-old

[AliasGrape]

DD will turn 6 in the summer holidays.

We have endless picture books and forever picking up more, but I’m finding it hard to find chapter books to read to her that she enjoys and don’t make me want to jump out of the window whilst reading them (I just cant face another bedtime of Rachel and Kirsty helping their fairy friends find the three magical objects over and over).

Any recommendations for chapter books for this age? She is, despite my best efforts, very into the stereotypically girly princess fairy sparkle unicorn stuff, but I would like to also encourage a bit of branching out where possible.

Things we’ve got/ read with her -

Rainbow bastard magic fairies - she loves, but even she is getting a bit over the exact same plot every time now

Secret Seven - Her dad’s been reading his old ones to her. She quite enjoyed them on and off, but has said she’s bored of them now!
I was a Famous Five girl myself and might try her with those at some point.

Magic Faraway Tree - she wasn’t interested, though to be fair she was probably still a bit young when we tried and might be worth another go

Sophie Mouse - I think they’re sweet, I think she finds them a bit dull

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - she loved this, tempted to try other Dahl’s now but she can be a bit sensitive and I think she’d find Trunchbull too scary in Matilda, I also think the BFG might scare her (might be projecting as I was terrified of him as a child!) Same for The Witches but I know there’s others. I do struggle with people being described as fat and/ or stupid on every page, think I need to get over myself a bit though.

The Worst Witch - I had high hopes but she couldn’t have been less interested!

We’ve tried a few from the library but the selection is crap and we tend to fall into the trap of grabbing anything with a fairy/ unicorn/ mermaid on the front and then they’re just not very good. Or she’ll gravitate towards stuff that’s too old for her. So I’d like to have some suggestions to reserve, or to put on her birthday list to buy please.

She is gymnastics obsessed at the moment also - don’t know if there’s any books with that as a theme?

Shes not overly fussed about independent reading yet unless it’s information books - she’ll have a go, but this is still mostly for us reading to her as she likes a story at bedtime.

Dick King-Smith’s Sophie series were a big hit with DD at this age - they’ll appeal if she’s an animal lover as Sophie is a feisty wannabe farmer who loves all animals, from snails to carthorses. The How to Train Your Dragon series (very different from the films, much funnier) is also good but maybe a year or two older.

Teddy Robinson - read this to my dc from my childhood copy. Possibly will have to buy it second hand.

www.worldofbooks.com/en-gb/products/about-teddy-robinson-book-joan-g-robinson-9780140307528#9806646542609

I liked the "Daisy and the Trouble with..." series. Lots in there to entertain the adults too.

Oh, and Ivy and Bean. Wonderful!

Mrs Pepperpot

Ronia the robber's daughter (possibly next year) - also a beautiful TV series cartoon

Little House in the Big Woods, then Little House on the Prairie and all the rest

Isadora Moon

What about My Naughty Little sister? Or The Naughtiest girl in the school.

Ballet shoes
Sheep pig
Sophie is six
how to train your dragon
lion the witch and the wardrobe

There are Some Phillip pullmans but I’m no expert on those.

The Clumsies by Sorrel Anderson. Hilarious series - lovely turns of phrase. I still miss Purvis and Mickey Thompson the mice.

Ballet shoes - Noel steatfield

Charlotte’s Web

The Moomins

Milly Molly Mandy

She might like the princess in black series, it’s at the level where she may be able to read a bit of it by herself too.
The Unicornia series by Ana Punset is probably right up her alley (though maybe less so yours!).
There’s Julia Donaldson’s Princess Mirror-Belle which has been made into a CBeebies show, more of a series of short stories rather than chapter books though.
Ive heard good things about the Wigglesbottom Primary series of books, I’m looking at getting one or two for my six year old.

The day I fell into a fairytale by Ben Miller is a nice twist on a classic, not too scary I don’t think.
There’s also a series called the princess rules, about a princess who doesn’t fit the usual princess stereotypes.

The paddington Bear ones are nice.

Oh, and for Dahl, Esio Trot is lovely, I’ve just read that over a few nights with my six year old. Billy and the Minpins may be ok for a sensitive child too, maybe read it yourself first but I don’t recall any issues.

My daughter liked Mummy Fairy and Me series which are by Sophie Kinsella and a cut above as fairy books go imo. Same goes for Kevin the Unicorn and Unipiggle - in the ballpark your dd likes, but quite good. Bad Grandma also went down well.

I sympathise as mine (now 7) bright and capable of understanding interesting books but what she wants to read and what I would like to read to her are some distance apart! She's now obsessed with Bunny vs Monkey.

Adventure Mice

Mr Gum books - they are very, very funny and silly and should appeal to most kids (and should be fun to read). Also they have a great unconventional 9-year-old-girl protagonist

For my five and a half year old we’ve read The Giraffe, The Pelly and Me which worked well and Fantastic Mr Fox - where I had to elude some bits about death and killing so not sure I’d recommend that one. Otherwise the Winnie the Pooh books and the original Paddington book have been hits.

Winnie the Pooh.

Wow loads of great ideas thank you!

We started reading the Dog Diaries series when DS was around 6. They are really funny, have illustrations and because a dog is the narrator, there are lots of funny plays on words and phrases that DS found hilarious.😀

Janet and Allan Albert wrote and illustrated many very amusing books.
Can’t remember who wrote Mr Gum, but it’s a very funny series with a female protagonist, although it’s a bit gross at times.
My son also liked a series with another female star about two brothers, princes, with very different personalities and their female friend, doing brave things. I can’t remember what it’s called now but I found it quite enjoyable to read.

Oops, snap!

Not typically girly but my DS really enjoyed the Secret Explorers series at 6 (as did I - way more interesting and fun to read than lots of other books!)

He also enjoyed Wigglesbottom primary as pp mentioned - they are sit and give us a giggle but I find them slightly more grating to read as an adult than secret explorers! But they’re still a firm favourite now at 7 so I put up with them!

Agree with PPs about the giraffe, the pelly and me and esio trot

Agree with others .. Daisy and the trouble with Zoo is the funniest kids book - all the family were cracking up reading it

The Claude series (featuring a small dog that goes on adventures) are a hit with my 5.5 year old. Our local library has them all. Very funny in a way that I also appreciate.

My daughter also didn't like the Magic Faraway Tree but I think she will love it in a year or two.