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Original poster

books for 8yo DS with reading age of 15

105 replies

darleneoconnor · 11/05/2011 23:45

DS had his reading assessed at school and he's done much better then I had expected. I knew he was a bit ahead but he doesn't like 'language' so I didn't expect too much. he prefers non-fiction to fiction but I'd welcome some appropriate suggestions on either. I dont mind him reading some things tht are a bit above his age as he is quite streetwise and pre-teenish in his behaviour/outlook but I'd imagine that 15+ books would have unsuitable themes in them.

OP posts:
Becaroooo · 15/05/2011 17:47

Harry Potter series
Alex Ryder series
Lord of the rings trilogy

Does he have any interests you could link to? eg; wildlife, history, art etc?

vintageteacups · 15/05/2011 17:48

Aha - going from what ZZZenagain said, you could look at french amazon and find a good french children's author. Then, it should tell you if they have translated the book into english. They deliver to the UK as normal.

vintageteacups · 15/05/2011 17:51

Check out the percy jackson books on amazon

quirrelquarrel · 15/05/2011 18:47

Slug:
Chaim Potok is a firm family favourite :)
I'm reading his History of the Jews at the moment- would be compelling even if it was all fiction! Have you read that one?

As for my poor straw man- well, I know it was silly, but I don't think that very many parents get their DC to read impressive books so they can boast about it, if any. I thought that rather a poor thing to say in itself, for I don't get the impression from this thread at all that people are proposing books just so they can come across a certain way (i.e. as good parents).

Does anyone else think that we're dumbing kids' books down a bit? Okay, not everyone will love the classics at any age, we've covered that. But things like Cathy Cassidy, Twilight (not to start a debate! not the worst kind of book by a long way), that kind of fiction...I really do think that those sorts of books go a long way to breeding reluctant readers. If you make it easy, people will not rise to the challenge. You give out the message that reading is hard, so they're giving them something easy to make up for it and cushion the fall- it's easy to catch on to that. If it was expected that everyone had an interesting and informative book going at the same time, they wouldn't be deciding that they couldn't be bothered to read past the first page of a book (which is especially pandering to them. Which wouldn't exist with this new frame of mind :o).

Another vote for Enid Blyton- she is and always will be fantastic for children right up to the age of whenever they like! Simply tophole :o

exoticfruits · 15/05/2011 18:55

I feel the same about HE kids doing GCSE syllabi at age 11-14. Why is that a good thing?

I don't know either-other than for the parent to be able to boast. There is so much that you can do if not in the straightjacket of exams-why not do them- and then do the public exams at the same time as anyone else?(which should be a doddle)
I don't see the point of reading books that you can decode, if emotionally you are not ready for the content or the maturity to understand it.

PrettyCandles · 15/05/2011 19:45

Because a child capable of doing, say, GCSE Maths at 14 is going to be bored stiff if they are obliged to do the same Maths class as the rest of the 14yos in the year. Unless they are lucky enough to have a teacher who can stretch them in class. For children who are simply bright, that is possible. For the truly G&T, the really unusual children, that is very difficult.

PrettyCandles · 15/05/2011 19:51

I just realised that HE is not a typo, but that you mean Home Ed.

Well, my opinion still stands. Why shouldn't a child do what they are capable of? Why should they have to stick to a timetable established fir the average child? Yes, there are always - sadly - going to be children pushed by their parents to over-achieve: in sports, beauty pageants, acting, academically. But I hope that most parents are driven by the best interests of their child. And that means teaching them at the level that they are capable of and that enthuses them.

Original poster
darleneoconnor · 15/05/2011 19:58

Well, this thread certainly grew wings and flew away!

It probably works quite well as a suggestion list of reading for boys in general, so that's good.

As for my specific remit, up to v recently DS was a very reluctant if not totally non reader of fiction. He devoured reference books but shunned fiction. So in the last couple of months as he has started to take an interest in fiction I've been wanting to have a good selection in the house for him to choose from. It is important to me that he reads some 'impressive sounding' books in the next couple of years but a selection of easier and harder reads is fine. (I'm entering him for scholarships/bursaries in 2 years and I know they'll ask him about books he's read at interview so it is important from that pov).

OP posts:
exoticfruits · 15/05/2011 21:23

It would different if you were holding back a DC at school- but a HE can do anything and then just do the exam at the proper time-they have complete freedom- so I don't see the point in getting a GCSE early.

It is important to me that he reads some 'impressive sounding' books in the next couple of years but a selection of easier and harder reads is fine. I'm entering him for scholarships/bursaries in 2 years and I know they'll ask him about books he's read at interview so it is important from that pov).

I think this is one of the worst reasons. If your DC likes reading you won't be able to stop him and he will be able to discuss any book with real enthusiasm. Hopefully any interview panel will see straight through mother's desire to impress.

I've been wanting to have a good selection in the house for him to choose from

Why bother when a public library has a massive selection for free? I also think that an interview panel will be far more impressed with a weekly visit to the library with a free choice than mother's selection at home.

If I had a parent who was trying to control my reading at that age, I think that I would have been deliberately difficult. My mother bought me books she thought I might like from jumble sales-other than that she had the good sense to leave me in the local library.

seeker · 15/05/2011 21:59

"It is important to me that he reads some 'impressive sounding' books in the next couple of years but a selection of easier and harder reads is fine. I'm entering him for scholarships/bursaries in 2 years and I know they'll ask him about books he's read at interview so it is important from that pov)"

Oh. That noise you can hear is me leaving the thread, gathering my skirts around me in distaste.

If anyone wants to join me in a thread somewhere about interesting books for boys who are good readers, plese feel free. This thread is not for me.
.

JemimaMop · 15/05/2011 22:02

I think I'm with you seeker.

exoticfruits · 15/05/2011 22:12

I'm definitely with you seeker -the only thing that gives me any satisfaction is that any interview panel worth their salt will be able to tell the difference between a 10yr old who is an enthusiastic reader of anything he fancies for pleasure, and one with a mother who wants him to impress.

I was right in my first assumption-it wasn't anything to do with what would an 8yr old like to read-it was all about 'tell me as a mother what my 8yr old should read in order to appear well read.

singersgirl · 15/05/2011 22:18

Can I join that other thread too?

exoticfruits · 15/05/2011 22:23

The more the merrier Wine
If anyone genuinely wants suggestions for books that boys, in particular, will enjoy I am happy to give suggestions-based on my own DSs.

singersgirl · 15/05/2011 22:26

Actually I have so many ideas for books (reading lists from schools, donations from older cousins, serendipitous finds in the library that lead to whole series) that DS could probably read books suitable for 9 year olds for several years....

exoticfruits · 15/05/2011 22:36

I'm sure that schools will give lists if people ask-ours gave a whole list of suggestions -and very wide ranging. (but I suspect OP wants to be a step ahead and thinks that her DS is unusual.)

Dunlurking · 16/05/2011 07:58

Ds was a reluctant reader at 7 but suddenly took off when he found Harry Potter one summer holiday. Think he was 8 or 9. Lemony Snickett and Rick Riorden kept him going reading fiction. If it's any consolation he is now a pupil librarian at his grammar school and loves book club. He also writes his own Greek Myths stories aka Percy Jackson style fairly obsessively every holiday. He still doesn't tackle any of the "classics" except in English lessons though.

I think the important thing is that they enjoy their reading at this stage. My instinct is that a lot of boys (especially if they are borderline aspegerger's as mine may well be) don't have the social understanding to tackle classics early on, whatever their reading age.

I tore my hair out at your stage OP at the lack of books that would challenge his reading skills, that were socially appropriate for his age. In fact I even did a couple of courses on writing for children and have a manuscript that is lurking under the bed Blush Good Luck.

Dunlurking · 16/05/2011 08:00

asperger's even

ZZZenAgain · 16/05/2011 08:28

are you still reading to him darlene? If so, I would try to be a bit adventurous in your choices of non-fiction material to read to him, something, sometime will catch his interest, just have to find out what. I would think about what non-fiction topics interest him and then try to find fiction which has a theme related to one of his fields of interest.

ZZZenAgain · 16/05/2011 08:28

sorry in your choice of fiction obviously.

LIZS · 16/05/2011 08:50

"It is important to me that he reads some 'impressive sounding' books in the next couple of years but a selection of easier and harder reads is fine. (I'm entering him for scholarships/bursaries in 2 years and I know they'll ask him about books he's read at interview so it is important from that pov)."

I'm with singersgirl and Seeker , that is so not important . As long as he has one book or set of books/author he has read recently and can talk passionately about the rest is of no relevance. That can be anything from CS Lewis, to Rick Riodan, to Dickens or even Enid Blyton ! tbh he will learn more about the crafting of books from reading a breadth of the more age appropriate books - which have to tightly develop characters , plot , description and structure into fewer pages to hold the young reader's attention - than some of the longer, more adult or "classic" books with complex subplots, social historical context and difficult language. How is his creative writing ? The next stage is to incorporate some of the ideas, grammar and structure into his own work. btw a reading age is not a true indicator of level of verbal comprehension, it is about decoding and often within a specific context.

exoticfruits · 16/05/2011 09:54

They will all have reading ages of 15 eventually (unless SN), it isn't a race. As an adult no one knows or cares what your reading level was at 8yrs-they won't even know or care at 11yrs. LIZS is quite right.

lljkk · 16/05/2011 10:29

Wow, Darlene. You're certainly very ambitious for your son. I hope it works out well.

Original poster
darleneoconnor · 16/05/2011 12:18

Well I dont think some of those comments were justified AT ALL.

As I said, until a couple of months ago DS wouldn't read any fiction at all. I was fine with that, his talents lie elsewhere and I didn't want to push him or make reading some kind of chore or punishment.

But recently this as changed and he is willing to read more fiction. I want to facilitate this (as any good parent would) by having a selection (as I said, easy and hard) of books at home.

Not that I should have to justify myself but I am disabled so going to the library regularly isn't feasible. It's easier for us if, when i'm well, I go and stock up on things, so that when I'm ill and we are stuck in there is plenty to keep the DCs occupied. My desire for DS to go through the vv competitive process of applying for a funded place at a boarding school in a couple of years is so he doesn't have to spend his chilhood stuck in the house with a disabled mother. These scholarships and bursaries are extremely hard to get and part of the assessment will be him talking about books he has read. I've never suggested that I would push him to reading something he didn't choose himself but I'm not kidding myself that some books wont sound better at interview than others.

BTW I know that there are other children his age who are better readers than him. I know that it isn't unusual to be reading 'ahead of years' at that age. This is the G&T board not the general parenting or education or children's books topics. Posters expect to be able to post on this section without having to justify their DC's talents.

To whoever asked his decoding age was 12.5, I think, a few months ago.

OP posts:
exoticfruits · 16/05/2011 12:27

What will impress at interview is the enthusiasm that he brings into a discussion about books-not what they actually are. Give a whole list of classics and they are going to wonder if it didn't come from the parent who thinks they will sound good. The best advice is to be yourself in an interview-you can come very unstuck if you anticipate the 'right' answer.
Let him read whatever he likes, get hooked and it will come across to anyone he talks to.
I didn't realise it was on G&T until the last minute-I only found it scrolling down last 15 mins-otherwise I would have left alone!

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