dd(7) at tricky 'in-between' stage ....

[basildonbond]

dd (y2) has been a fluent and extremely keen reader for a while now - she devours books at a tremendous rate and I'm starting to scratch my head at what to suggest next

She's read most of the usual suspects which get mentioned on here and is no longer interested in fairy/princess/magic kitten-puppy-pony/unicorn/mermaid/animal ark/rescue-type formulaic books (phew!)

I was browsing the shelves of the children's library today and there seems to be a huge gap between the books she's grown out of and the books for older children - not in level of difficulty, but more in terms of theme etc

any ideas?

My niece is at this stage and she is enjoying things like Famous Five, Secret Seven, Dick King SMith books such as Lady Lollipop.

How to Train your Dragon series (Cressida Cowell)
Captain Underpants (sorry can't recall author - much more sophisticated than they look tho!)
Horrible Science/Murderous Maths (probably NOT Horrible History until a little older IMO)
Anna Hibiscus (Atinuke)
Wombles books (the full length stories rather than the picture books - just nicely pitched at a 7 y/o sense of humour)
Noel Streatfield books esp Ballet Shoes
Narnia books
Swallows & Amazon series
Books of traditional stories

sure there are lots more - my dd is just 8 so has been at a similar stage for a while!

As well as the above:

Enid Blyton
Younger Jacqueline Wilsons (Connie and the water babyies, cliffhanger, etc)
Anne Fine
Humphrey the hamster series
any Astrid Lindgren - Bullerby children, Lotta and Jonas series, as well as the 3 Pippi books
Dick King-Smith - Sophie series, animal series.
Heidi
Mrs Pepperpot
Mr Gum
Just William
Roald Dahl
Wolves of Willoughby chase series.
some of the younger Michale Morpurgos.

all of the above are not too old in theme and my dds have enjoyed them at 7-8.

The how to train your dragon series by Cressida Cowell (brilliant - I read them as well)

and Clarice bean chapter books

She also loves Mr. Gum and the secret seven

sorry - when I said she'd read the usual suspects I mean she's read virtually everything you've all mentioned ... I started a list but deleted it cos didn't want to come across all boasty

she's read all Dick King-Smith, all Anne Fine, all Jeremy Strong, all Narnia, loads of fairy tale compilations, Cressida Cowell Dragon series, Wimpy Kid series, Clarice Bean series, all Roald Dahl, lots of younger Michael Morpurgos, Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, Noel Streatfield and lots, lots more - the problem is she reads very quickly so literally devours several books a week. I was wondering if her comprehension was OK as she was going through books so quickly but she can happily recount what's happened, predict what might happen next and talk about her favourite bits, so it's obviously all going in

I've not come across Anna Hibiscus before so will look that out and I'll dig out the Wolves of Willoughby chase et al from ds2's shelves

any more suggestions gratefully received as that won't keep her going for long!

Does she like history? She might enjoy Caroline Lawrence's Roman Mysteries series or The Lady Grace Mysteries by Patricia Finney. If she liked Ballet Shoes she might enjoy some of the older ballet books like Ballet for Drina or Lorna Hill's Sadler's Wells series - all out of print but easily tracked down on Amazon. You don't say whether she's read the Naughtiest Girl in the School series - the first four are by Enid Blyton but Anne Digby has written another six or so titles and they are available as a box set - I've seen the set very cheap in WH Smith recently.
Sally Gardner has written some very good books for this age too - Lucy Willow is great and don't forget Rumer Godden - The Fairy Doll or Miss Happiness and Miss Flower are ideal.

the secret garden, animals of farthing wood, famous five, secret seven, the sophie adventures by dick king smith are good too.

Harry Potter? My ds's are too young but I was thinking of buying the early Potters for my goddaughter who will be 8 this month, are they age appropriate?

E Nesbit, Jennings,
Wind in the willows,
Water babies,
What Katy did series,
Anne of Green gables series,
Phillipa Pearce,
Nina Bawden,
Little house on the praire series,
The younger Philip Pullmans (I was a rat, Clockwork).

all the old classics. Once you get going on those it should last her a long time.

A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket

The first 3 Harry Potters

The Snow Spider Trilogy

Does she like non-fiction? My dd is also a very fast reader, but the denser non-fiction books definitely slow her down & give her something to think about

The Way things Work is a nice book - a bit dense, & I find the jokey mammoth bits rather confusing in places, but dd likes it a lot & I've seen others recommend it on here. And in fact even her friend who will only read books about tractors seemed rather taken with it.

Children Just Like Me has also been a hit - even though there isn't masses of text, its still fascinating (for an adult, too). I'm thinking of getting her A School Like Mine in the same series if we can't get it from the library.

She also got this book from the library which is really too old for her but she still seems to like.

Maybe point her in the direction of non-fiction in the library & see if anything takes her fancy?

Poetry might also hit the spot?

Read me & Laugh is one of a whole series, I haven't seen the others but this one is definitely ideal for 7 y/os

Invest in the Ultimate Book Guide for 8-12 year olds (ISBN 9781408104385). I guarantee you will find many wonderful books in there, old and new, that she will not have come across before.

madamehooch that looks brilliant! thanks for the suggestion

takver she does like non-fiction, but pretty much only if it's about animals (a tad obsessed ...) - we've tried a bit of poetry - she loves Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, but I'll give that book a try too

thanks for the HP suggestions, but she's very easily scared and not particularly interested in magic, so will give them a miss for the time-being. She's already had to endure listened to me ploughing through the entire Lemony Snicket series (I feel that man has robbed me of years of my life) when her brothers started getting into them so I'm not in a hurry to get them back from her cousins ...

I know a lot of you have recommended Enid Blyton ... I just can't ... I grew up in a house where Ms Blyton's books were banned, along with ITV and pop music ... and although I happily watch and listen to whatever I like as an adult, for some reason I can't bring myself to break the EB taboo

I need to go back to the library first thing before we go on holiday as she's already whizzed through the huge pile of books I got earlier in the week. I am eternally grateful for our public libraries - they are a truly civilised institution (they also save me hundreds of pounds a year )

Congratulations on reading aloud all the Lemony Snickets; you are clearly a devoted parent. Lazy mothers like me bought it, complete and unabridged on CD, from the Book People . On the minus side, you can have too much of Tim Curry and LS himself reading out loud, I find.

When my girls were listening to all of the Potters on CD (thank you public library for these), I almost found myself setting a place at the table for Stephen Fry, whose voice was ever present, sometimes issuing from two rooms at once.

Have you come across the Michael Lawrence, Jiggy McCue books? Titles like The Killer Underpants, and The Iron, the Switch and the Broom Cupboard. There'll be some in your library.

My DS1 liked the Judy blume 'superfudge' books when he was 7-8.

Do try some of the horrible science/horrible histories (I started reading HH at 7 and HS at 8, so not too young IMO) - they are non fiction but they are very funny, well-written and interesting.

Just trying to remember a few of the things I liked that haven't been mentioned, I used to go to the library, get my 10 books out, and have read three of them by dinnertime.

Babysitters Club (too old?)
Little House on the Prairie
Younger Jacqueline Wilson, like Buried Alive

Would avoid Harry Potter for now if she is a fast reader, because the later books
in the series are not really suitable for younger children and it is quite gripping, she will want to read them all.

It's a shame all those endless pony series are largely out of print these days - I was a voracious reader (still am - just less time to do it these days!) as a child and would devour anything by Monica Edwards or the Pullein-Thompson sisters as well as Malcolm Saville - did anyone else at all read the Lone Pine series?

Does your dd reread - I guess that is what dd tends to do a lot - 12 x the Swallows & Amazons books keeps her entertained for a long time

The only problem is that they were my copies, & I read them so often too that I sometimes think dd spends as long collecting up the pages & getting them in the right order as reading them . . .

SleepingLion - yes to the Lone Pine books, and the ones set in Rye. Also all the pony books.

Oh, that's interesting, Minda. Not that either of my children have shown a flicker of interest in my extensive collection of K M Peytons so far.

Oh I loved the Lone Pine books. No-one ever seems to have heard of them!

dd1 read the hp's at 7, they would be fine, honestly (and sometimes the point of reading is to try new stuff and see if you like it )

dd2 is reading the percy jackson stuff now (she's 7 next month) and whilst i was a bit sceptical (in terms of scary content etc) i have to say they are brilliant. all 3 dc's are now obsessed by gods, goddesses and the like.

at moments of reading crisis i generally give them a fixed amount to spend and stand well back though. they always find something. i'm taking a back seat and letting them start to make their own reading decisions. they get enough 'direction' at school.

i draw the line at sex and drugs tbh, but a good bit of monster slaying is long time good and evil fairytale stuff