Looking for classic "boys books" that DS will love as he gets older

[mrsgboring]

I grew up with one sister in a very girly household and know nothing very much of boyish literature. I'm doubting that DS will want me to read Noel Streatfeild etc. So I'm reading ahead with adventure and fantasy type books I think DS will like as he gets older.

Currently reading Swiss Family Robinson, have just reread all of Narnia. Anyone any other suggestions?

Thanks

Insert apostrophes to taste in subject line. Sorry.

just william
arthur ransome

Don't know how old he is, but my dss loved the Redwall Series (Brian Jacques), the Alex Ryder (sp) series - and of course, Harry Potter. Also anything by Michael Morpurgo, and Phillip Pullman.

How old is he now?

Am thinking:

Just William
Jennings
Treasure Island
Arthur Ransome
Geoffrey Trease
Stig of the Dump
Ursula K LeGuin

Just Willian and Jennings very funny, but of course very old fashioned.

Definitely Just william
Terry Pratchett's Johnny series
Garth Nix - the Keys to the Kingdom series is the only one I've read so far

Some of Enid Blyton's Famous FIve books are ok too

If he's very little now - so not yet even into pre-school boy-y books - Richard Scarry is the first one to make sure you have in hand. (Dare I say Thomas the Tank ... but try to do Little Red Train instead if you have any sort of choice.)

The less cosy Beatrix Potters - Samuel Whiskers, I love Samuel Whiskers - are good.

Then Tintin.

Just remembered - the Enid Blyton Mystery series - the one with the boy called Fatty who was a master of disguise and detective work.

Also the "Adventure" series - for example "The island of Adventure" - There were several. There was a parrot....

Jennings is totally brilliant - I loved it as a child.

Treasure Island for when he is a bit older.

Also the Silver Sword by Ian Serraillier. Not particularly a boys or a girls book but just absolutely brilliant.

DS is only 2.9 at the moment, but I am bored and (possibly) trying too hard. It's partly for me, so I've got lots of input to imaginative play, stories to tell out of my head etc. etc.

Thank you for your suggestions - I have actually read a few of these. (I loved Jennings and Just William and Famous Five now I come to think of it).

If he's still quite little:
Winnie the Pooh
Paddington
Olga da Polga

A bit bigger:
Roald Dahl - especially George's marvellous medicine and Danny the Champion of the World

Oo yes, thanks, thumbwitch. We have recently started Winnie the Pooh and he loves it.

Feel I am on firmer ground with the current books (which are far more unisex) - I'm looking towards the fabled testosterone surge and making sure I don't become an irrelevance. (DH read lots as a child as well but he has the memory of a goldfish and is therefore no 'elp at all)

For resources for telling out of your head, get a good treasury of fairy tales & remind yourself of the non-princessy ones (Puss in Boots, Hansel & Gretel eg).

Also Aesop's fables are good for retelling to boys, for some reason.

and the Greek Mythology classics too - they love all that Hercules and whoever killed Medusa the harpy stuff.

Captain Hornblower might appeal

Yes, we are doing fairy tales and Aesop's fables - (he likes Little Mermaid and Cinderella at the mo and maybe he'll carry on liking them which is fine and great by me)

Was wondering about Greek myths too so will definitely look into that.

If you like Narnia, what about 'Five Children and It' and 'The Phoenix and the Carpet' by Edith Nesbitt. Old fashioned but fun and lots of adventure.

Atticus the Storyteller is a brilliant "portmanteau" collection of Greek Myths and Legends

The Orchard Collections have lovely Tony Ross illustrations as an alternative

He is too young for this at the mo but also get hold of a copy of Geraldine McCaughrean's Britannia - also an excellent if occasionally grim collection of tales from Britain's past. From Hereward the Wake to the Torrey Canyon, it's all in there

YYY to Five Children and It - E Nesbit loved children with a passion (just see the deeply touching dedication to her son, "the Lamb" in the Puffin Classics edition of this book) and that transcends the old-fashioned style of her writing

DS1 (now aged 9) loved Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising sequence.

Not particularly boyish - I loved them as well.

He is also very fond of the Septimus Heap books www.septimusheap.co.uk/.

Geraldine McC also did a cracking translation of the Arabian NIghts - well worth it if you can find a copy

there are some really good stories in that set as well - the bishop's handkerchief, the rest cure, William goes to the pictures...

Alan Garner - Weirdstone of Brisingamen and other titles (not just for boys). The Hobbit (but never volunteer to share-read Lord of the Rings).

Effie, our favourite is definitely the one where William mistakes a down-on-his-luck travelling entertainer for a snotty violinist and hauls the wrong one in for the village fete