can you recommend authors/books?

[hopeandpray]

need books with themes and ideas that are OK for a 7 year old but teenager reading level. Am censoring gore and too much death, crap sexism etc. Running out of ideas, having trouble keeping up with whats she's exposed to, recommendations much appreciated.

I so remember being in this situation - when I was eight, my reading age tested at thirteen. What has she already read? For starters, I'd suggest Elizabeth Goudge, particularly Henrietta's House and The Little White Horse. Joan Aiken's children's books - The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, Black Hearts in Battersea and so on. Diana Wynne Jones - The Ogre Downstairs. Let me know if this is helpful and I'll see what else I can come up with.

Thank you! Haven't tried any of these. Lots of Michael Morpugo, Gerald Durrell, Black Beauty, Nesbitt, Lucy Daniels, Narnia series...that kind of thing.

It's Michael Morpugo that has worried me, Private peaceful is traumatic, and another made me cry...so I've hidden them....borrowed off her out of curiosity. Think execution is a bit much for just turned 7.

Any other recommendations much appreciated.

I was in a similar position as a child, have good recall of what I read, and made a list a couple of years ago for a friend's child in a similar position (though she was 9 I think). So - long list of possible authors, with a few remarks:
Nina Bawden, Jill Paton Walsh, Jane Gardam, Gillian Cross, Philippa Pearce, Lucy M. Boston, Diana Wynne Jones - all good writers, some serious themes but no sex or gore
Ian Serraillier (sp?), 'The Silver Sword' - this is a lovely book - I definitely read it at 7 as I remember talking about it for a Brownies badge
Michelle Magorian - these are great, though a couple would be a bit 'old' for her
Laura Ingalls Wilder books - not nearly as cheesy as the TV version would lead you to expect, I read all these quite young
Lois Lowry (some for younger children, some older, some serious, some less so - a big range)
Judy Blume is unfairly maligned I think, enjoyable for light reading - and though famous for controversial content, most of them aren't at all
William Mayne, the Swallows and Amazons stories, Heidi
Frances Hodgson Burnett (I loved 'A Little Princess' in particular at her age)
Noel Streatfeild (sic) - lots of these, very enjoyable
you mention Gerald Durrell - if she's only read 'My Family and Other Animals' (which I enjoyed very much too) there are several others; she might like Roald Dahl's autobiography 'Boy' too
my sister enjoyed Dick King-Smith books (I'm thinking animals) - though I never read them.
Then of course there are all the school stories - Enid Blyton (St. Clare's and Malory Towers and 'the naughtiest girl' ones), The Chalet School (though I didn't enjoy those till older), Antonia Forest (v. classy, but again I was older before I liked them). As a child I also really enjoyed all my mother's v. old fashioned 'nursing' stories - 'Jean Becomes a Nurse', 'Cherry Ames', the Sue Barton ones - they are horribly unPC now, and the nurse always ends up married, but I enjoyed them for the stories and always flipped boredly through the compulsory 10 pages of engagement at the end!
Hope some of that helps.

My DD is similar in terms of age and ability and she has enjoyed the following:

anything by Eva Ibbotson, the Ramona series by Beverly Cleary, Emily Windsnapp books by Liz Kessler, Nelly the Monster sitter by Kes Gray, George's secret key to the Universe by Stephen and Lucy Hawking, Vlad the Drac series by Ann Jungman.

My DD is "rising 7" and quite young in some ways so these may not be sophisticated enough for your DD but I think they are good light reading if not especially challenging or thought provoking IYSWIM.

Great lists here.

A couple further:

Rumer Godden - Miss Happiness and Miss Flower, The Dolls' House etc.

John Masefield - The Box of Delights

Richard Adams - Watership Down - but that I think is for a really strong reader - long, small print, complex vocab. Beyond my 8yo, let alone my 7yo (but not beyond some MNers' dc )

Will revert if I think of anything more. I'm at work so can't go & prowl dd's bookshelves ...

Hi ? I have a seven year old dd in the same position ? she has read most of the books arionata suggested ? especially enjoyed the E.Nesbitt books, the Frances Hodgson Burnett books (Secret Garden, Little Princess etc.), and the Silver Sword. The Frances Hodgson Burnett books in particular are good because the language is a little more sophisticated so a bit more satisfying to read. She didn?t enjoy ?The Box of Delights? though. She also enjoyed ?Boy? by Roald Dahl but finds the Dick Smith Books a bit too easy. Recently she has been working her way through the Noel Streatfield books (Ballet Shoes and many more of that ilk).She has just read - and loved - the whole of the Anne of Green Gables series.

If she is familiar with the E.Nesbitt books the Edgar (or Edward?) Eager books such as the Thyme Garden are quite fun as they refer to the E.Nesbitt books.

Dd has over 200 paperbacks now so there are a lot I could list but other favouites are Charlotte Sometimes (by Penelope Farmer), Tom?s Midnight Garden, The Ship that Flew (Hilda Lewis), Pollyanna, and some of the Kathleen Fiddler books.

What level of scariness and battles can she cope with? Dd enjoyed the Hobbit.

Maybe not quite for 7 year old...but very good for later on: Orson Scott Card's Ender books. He wrote these about G&T children and many who read it wrote to him to say that these books were the first that "understood" them. I think the first is called Ender's Game. I suggest you read it first as some of it is quite intense.

A favourite of mine was My side of the mountain... about a boy who goes to live on his own in a tree in the canadian mountains. Really great adventure. Sorry, can't remember the author. (Amongst other things he tames a falcon, makes wild strawberry jam and lives through the winter to be found in the spring)

NOT William Mayne please.
What about more modern things as well as the traditional:; Cressida Cowell, Lauren Child, Phillip Pullman (early Pullman much lighter that the Northern Lights trilogy), Kevin Crossley Holland's short story collections, Echo Freer, Eva Ibbotson.

AndFrank - My SIde of The Mountain is by Jean George, who also wrote Julie of the Wolves.
I agree, it's brilliant!

Thank you very much , I will follow up and see which of these I can find at the library. I wondered about Pullman but a friend suggested they had a strong sense of menace. I think I'll read them for me and try and find some earlier for her..as suggested. She loved the secret garden so I'll explore the others. I haven't read watership down but isn't it very very sad? May well be being oversensitive...i suppose a function is to prearm with vocab. Heard m.Morpugo on the radio saying that sadness is OK as long as there is a strong redemptive theme. Think that's probably right. Anyhow I'm loving reading some of these...think I may have found my true reading level!!

Has anyone mentioned Louisa May Alcott - Little Women and so on? I loved all of her books, including the more obscure ones like An Old-Fashioned Girl and Eight Cousins.
I wouldn't recommend Watership Down - it's very long and is, in places, very sad. It was originally written for adults but because it's about rabbits was repackaged for children - but isn't really appropriate for them!
Philip Pullman's writing does have an element of menace, but in the same sort of way that fairytales do.

The latter of the Pullman Dark Materials trilogy have some 'adult' content (sex - though quite understated), but as others have said he's written plenty of other books aimed at slightly younger children. Watership Down is rather sad - and also quite difficult (and arguably quite boring - apologies any rabbit fans!), but if she likes animal stories she might be keen. Re: vocab, I think not knowing some words is part of the fun and challenge of reading for bright children - if she knows all the words she's not really being stretched, though of course if there are too many that are strange she may be put off and come back to it a bit later. Happy reading!

My 6 yo DD found my DH's collection of Enid Blyton - Famous Five.

DD's really enjoying these and I feel comfortable with her reading them as the content is not too old for her even though they are a little 'old-fashioned'. I guess you would call them 'wholesome'.

They all contain a good adventure and there are 20 or more books in the series.

Can I recommend the Ingo series by Helen Dunmore? My dd is 7(reading age tested at somewhere around 11) and has really massively enjoyed these. The first is called 'Ingo', the second 'The Tide Knot' and the third 'The Deep'. I suspect there will be more, because there seem to be lots of loose ends left up in the air (apologies for the mixed metaphor) at the end of 'The Deep'. Ingo is a land of mer people. The books are set in West Cornwall (a place close to my heart) around Zennor and the area west of St Ives (all fictionalised, but very identifiable), and deal with a girl who discovers that she is half mer and is able to enter the underwater kingdom of Ingo.

Dd has also enjoyed the Roman Mysteries series (Caroline Lawrence), Dragon Rider and The Thief Lord (Cornelia Funke), The Divide (by someone whose name I forget - she got it from the library so I can't check), Lionboy, various E.E. Nesbits (Five Children and It, The Phoenix and the Carpet), etc. I know opinion is divided on them, but she also loves the Cressida Cowell books (How to Speak Dragonese, et al.)... she laughed so much at one of them that she fell out of bed!

I could go on (though my list would overlap with some of the others on this thread). We have found a lot of these books by chance, by just going to the library and browsing the shelves. Have fun!

Have now done prowling of dd's bookshelves: some more authors not yet mentioned (I think, apologies if any oversights, I know how those can sting):

• Tove Jansson, Moomintroll books - not very hard going at all, but subtle & gently surreal in all sorts of ways, so suitable for wide age range;

• Alf Proysen, Mrs. Pepperpot stories - very easy reading, maybe too much so but why not;

• Astrid Lindgren, Pippi Longstocking & sequels (I prefer the version which hasn't been repackaged as a vehicle for Charlie-and-Lola-illustration - bit too much like "branding" for me);

• Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales, though tread carefully around The Little Match Girl etc.;

• Ursula Moray Williams, Gobbolino & sequels;

• Barbara Sleigh, Carbonel & sequels - that's probably the best suggestion in this list;

• S F Said, Varjak Paw + sequel, suits girls as well as boys; and

• Dodie Smith, 101 Dalmatians, but even more so the fantasy of Starlight Barking, marvellous book.

Dd is getting a very keepsake edition of Oscar Wilde's fairy tales from my mum for Christmas - we know we have to be careful there too (I sobbed and sobbed over The Happy Prince) but I think she will get the drift of why they're written the way they are - it's a nice stage of reading.

I see no one has mentioned Marianne Dreams yet. Why the hell not? Terrific book.
But more to the point hopeandpray, get thee over to the Children's Books forum and have a look through some of the threads there - although I think this thread certainly has plenty for your DD to be going on with.

My ds (just 7 but a good reader) is currently reading the Arthur Ransome Swallows and Amazons series. He loves them. They are advanced enough to be interesting reading, but no unsuitable material, and I think are good for both boys and girls (I also read them as a girl).

I would also recommend the Susan Cooper "Dark is rising" series of books.

I found DD rereading The white giraffe by Lauren st john yesterday so that may be good, she also likes Just William.

Gosh Rosa would you really think Marianne Dreams for a 7yo, however readingly-advanced? I would have thought not before 10, just because it's so reverberatingly deep. (Utterly agree about how good it is though. Other Catherine Storrs maybe better for a 7yo, like all the Clever Polly ones.)

Just to reassure you this does get easier. Once ds1 got past the sensitive stage, he tended to pretty much self-censor. He found anything to do with (teen) relationships and so on a real turn off, so would give up on a book at that point.

He's 10 now though and I am happy for him to read anything he chooses to.

The other day I was talking to a bookshop manager as to whether Before I die is suitable for 12 yr-olds, and ds1 overheard and said he'd read it for me and give his opinion. I was a bit taken-aback by this, but said OK. I've left the book out for him, but he hasn't actually picked it up.

I think it might be more tricky with girls though, as I think 'teenage girl' literature is more unsuitable for preteens, than the equivalent 'teenage boy' material. (Unless there's a whole realm of teenage boy literature we haven't come across yet!)

The only books I've ever read which I regret were some Stephen King books as a young teenager. I found them quite disturbing.

I don't know Bink. I think a bright seven-year-old would enjoy Marianne Dreams, although maybe not get quite as much out of it as a 10-yr-old would. But that's true of quite a few of the books suggested in this thread. Not sure I'd let a sensitive 7-yr-old anywhere near The Dark is Rising for instance.

I definitely read Marianne Dreams by 8, I always know because we moved house quite a few times! My mother read it to us when I was 7 and then I read it a bit later myself. I found it riveting (and scary), though I may well have missed the finer points. I do think in general that there are loads of old-fashioned books that are great for this age- I read What Katy Did at 7, and lots of Noel Streatfeild, Little Women, Anne of Green Gables and so on.

Hi hope
I was similar to your dd and at age 7 or 8 my dad would take me to the library every week, and I just devoured all the junior science fiction section and ghost stories. I loved Alan Garner, Susan Cooper etc. Agree Marianne Dreams is disturbing but I loved it at that age (I still remember those incredibly scary evocative images of the house and the things moving toward it...)
I think I also read CS Lewis at that age or around then, she may like that.

I've never even heard of Marianne Dreams
Is it a very girly book, or will my boys appreciate it?