Classics for 10 year olds

[admysteltoe]

Can anyone tell me which 'classic' books/novels your 10 year old dc have read? We live abroad and up to now ds has read all the Harry Potters and Eragon triology in English but when he tried Treasure Island he said it was too hard to understand. His schooling is all in German so he only hears English at home or on holiday.

stephen king

Black beauty
Little men/little women
Alice in Wonderland
The hobbitt
Lord of the rings etc
Journey to the centre of the earth
Around the world in 80 days

swallows and amazons

Great ideas. I think he would like The Hobbit and Lord of the rings. Is treasure island quite hard for his age group? Worried his English isn't up to scratch.

Hmm. Ditch Alice in wonderland. I'll ask ds about treasure island in the morning and get back to you.

Treasure Island in the original form is probably a bit tricky for many 10-year-olds. Black Beauty even more so, IMO.
The Hobbit is perfect. I have girls so DD1 at 10 was reading Little Women, Anne of Green Gables, What Katy Did etc but I don't think a boy would enjoy them.
If you want real old-fashioned classics would go for Just William, Molesworth, 20,000 Leagues under the sea, The Land of Green Ginger, the Green Knowe series, Susan Cooper's Dark is Rising series, Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea trilogy.

Is he already a keen reader in German?

Some of the classics which aren't too hard, language-wise might be (including ones already mentioned but my dc have enjoyed):

Stig of the Dump
Just William
Hobbit.
Peter Pan.
Agatha Christie
Biggles (terribly dated but I loved them as a child)
Swallows and Amazons series.
Dick King Smith animal stories.
Tom's Midnight Garden and other Philippa Pearce.

Yes he is a keen reader in German and he seems to be able to jump from English to German books with no problems. He read the first 3 Harry Potter books in German and teh last ones in English and he said he didn't notice any difference except that they had translated some of the names differently.

Stig of the dump and Peter Pan werer nice - he read them a couple of years ago (my old books!) but trouble is I'm a girl and I have a shelf full of What Katy did, little women and Heidi style classics passed down from my mum at home which ds will not touch!