Good Books suggestions pls?

[kerryla77]

Hi, my son is going to be 6 next month. He is on the Gifted & Talented Register for his literacy skills. He reads at age 9-10 & his infant school is struggling to give him reading books appropriate for his abilities. His teacher is allowing me to provide books from home, however- it is very difficult to find books that suit his abilities but are also appropriate in content for his age! Does anybody have any suggestions please? Many thanks

Ds liked The Indian in the Cupboard when he was about this age. Also Stig of the Dump. He also loved a book called Christopher Mouse which is a much more sophisticated and poignant type of Humphrey the Hamster story.

I also agree with The Beano. Ds kept all of his and now dd loves them. Reading does not always have to be worthy stuff.

Hi, hope this isn't unhelpful; when you say age appropriate, what exactly do you mean?

If you mean short on sex and violence and other 'adult themes', then the best bet is books from the past originally written for fmailies to read together - Dickens, for example, or Victor Hugo, or even Virgil and Homer, or other retellings of eg mythology. My ds loved all of these. Or even Lord of the Rings, whihc ds polished off at 6. I'd steer away from novelizations, though; most are keen to up the violence and romance.

If you mean 'with protagonists of roughly the same age', then I can't think of much, but again the Edwardian children's classics such as Wind in the Willows are actually quite challenging.

As well as LOTR, there's The Hobbit.

Also you might like to try other older books (if you can find them) such as the Jennings series, Henty's footie books, and Five Children and It. Also Just William and Biggles.

Roald Dahl would be a good choice, and also the Orchard adaptations of stories from Shakespeare and Greek myths (these have much more challenging sentence structures, but DS just loved Macbeth in year 1 and it took him to reading the witches' spell in the original - now an annual Hallowe'en tradition in our house.

Finally, the Book People sometimes have discounted sets of children's classics, so it may be worth getting some to have ready.

I agree with the Harry Potter recommendation. My 8.5 year old just finished the series (and immediately started to re-read them!). We watched each film after she read each book, and my 6 yr old got totally into the films. Most of their games together center around HP for past few months! Both are girls.

Enid Blyton, Faraway Tree stories was a hit in our house too.

My son has the same issues - streaks ahead in reading (reads and understands anything). He is a very young 5, and we struggled to find books that were appropriate. Our choice picks so far:

The Hobbit
Anything by Jenny Nimmo (DS currently reading the Dragons Child, got others for Xmas)
Michael Morpurgo (some topics a bit dark, so watch out).
Astrosaurs (a bit silly but fun)
Dinosaur Cove (ditto)
Geronimo Stilton (a mouse detective, v funny!)

I think good quality comics can be useful, my son definitely misses the pictures even though he doesn't need them.
Asterix and TinTin books are fun, too.
Calvin and Hobbes

I also bought the whole set of 'Little Encyclopedias' by Usborne... my son laps those up. (History, Oceans, Space, Atlas, Human Body). Great for car journeys...

Lots of good suggestions here!
A few I don't think have been mentioned yet;
Tintin -- my son has read all 24 books and loved them, as did I.

Asterix (like Tintin, just good fun to read, with some interesting observations about other countries and cultures, too)
Charlotte's Web
Stuart Little
The Wind in the Willows
Treasure Island
Enid Blyton "Adventure" series
The Dragon Rider (and Inkheart and others by Cornelia Funke which are better suited for slightly older children)
Swiss Family Robinson (long, but engaging; kept my son's attention)
In my opinion, Harry Potter is ok through book 3; themes beyond book 3 are not appropriate for younger children -- but, obviously, many people disagree with me!

re-posting, hopefully without all the words struck out:

Lots of good suggestions have been mentioned already!
A few I don't think have been mentioned yet:
Tintin my son has read all 24 books and loved them, as did I.
Asterix (like Tintin, just good fun to read, with some interesting observations about other countries and cultures, too)
Charlotte's Web
Stuart Little
The Wind in the Willows
Treasure Island
Enid Blyton Adventure series
The Dragon Rider (and Inkheart and others by Cornelia Funke which are better suited for slightly older children)
Swiss Family Robinson (long, but engaging; kept my son's attention)
In my opinion, Harry Potter is ok through book 3; themes beyond book 3 are not appropriate for younger children but, obviously, many people disagree with me!

If he has a DS, the classic junior books collection is good,as are many of the flips.

DD loves many of the books already mentioned, but for non-fiction there is nothing better than the 'ology' books - beautiful. The Usborne History of Britain is another one she is currently devouring!

If he were a girl (slightly off post!) I would suggest some Noel Streatfield. She was very prolific, and writes simply and well. "white boots" (the skating equivalent of ballet shoes) was one of my daughter's favourites at that age.