Moving on from Famous 5 and Malory Towers - ideas please?

[dunnoreally]

Hi

my dc needs to move on from these books, they aren't really helping with her writing and use of language [according to her teacher] I can see her point, they don't use really exciting vocab I suppose.

She doesn't have interest in usual girlie type thing but really likes the Enid Blyton books. So any ideas? She is 7 btw.

TIA

Chalet School - they speak French some day n'est pas? (or something like that...)

Harry and the Wrinklies is fab.

Artemis Fowl - might be a step up level-wise.

Try her with some Rumer Godden stories.

The Diddakoi or The Fairy Doll might be good starting points.

The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge.

Thank you. Have Amazon basket filling nicely.

Keep them coming!

Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer, although I didn't read that until I was about 10

Children of Winter by Berlie Doherty. It's based upon the story of Eyam plague village.

Anyone know of any other secret club/adventure/spy type stories?

Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome

The Trebizon series? 'First Term at Trebizon' is the first one.

The Enid Blyton 'Adventure' series are slightly more grown-up than the Famous Five/Malory Towers series. 'The Island of Adventure' is the first one IIRC.

Hmm. 'A Little Princess' might be a bit teary.

Harriet the Spy?

Does she like Roald Dahl?

The Babysitter Club :o Maybe not...

Thank you - am researching those ideas now.

I wondered if Trebizon might be too mature? I seem to remember a boy in one of the books? Might get the first one for me. Will get The Island Adventure too.

She is ok with Roald Hahl but it isn't her bag iyswim, she doesn't seem interested in fantasy or the impossible just yet. Whereas a group of 4 kids and a dog finding caves and treasure seems pretty do-able to her

There is a boy in Trebizon but not until the later, rather boring, books. The first ones are all schoolgirl scandal.

Plllleeeease look at Harry and the Wrinklies. It sounds like she would love it. I gave my 7yo nephew a copy last year and it's one of his favourites to read with his parents.

Right - have a pre-loved one on its way from Amazon. Will let you know what she thinks. Also got the adventure series by reliable Enid and I also stumbled on one of those Famous Five books where you have to cpmplete it yourself {I had one of those nad loved it so much}

This thread cost me £28!

Assume she has read the Cressida Crowell series? Mine went on to Percy Jackson series after that, oh, no, 7? Harry potter, deffo. Then Percy Jackson.

I'm sad her teacher was so down on Famous five etc. Dd(8) is obsessed with Malory Towers/St Clares/Adventures etc and her teacher is encouraging her completely. She seems to think that they're great for encouraging story structure/imaginative writing and also just inspiring reading. Certainly dd is doing well in all of those...

She's also reading Noel Streatfield, The Diddakoi as mentioned earlier, and condensed versions of the classics...

Owl who was afraid of the dark and the other jill tomlinson ones.
A necklace of raindrops (my favourite as a child and forgotten about until mentioned on a thread a few months ago.)
Though i would have thought 7 is the perfect age for the famous five etc!

You could try her on the PG Wodehouse school stories (not the Jeeves and Wooster stuff) - The Gold Bat and Mike at Wrykyn. Really well written and in the mode of Malory Towers etc but funny. Agree with the Swallows and Amazons series (there are loads in there to keep her going). Harry Potter/Dark Materials??

My DD is also 7. Her favourite books recently have been the White Giraffe series by Lauren St John - she totally and utterly loved all 4 of them and I really can't recommend them highly enough - great books.

On a slightly more trite and formulaic (girly but not TOO girly and not nearly as awful as some) the Sea Horses series by Louise Cooper (also Mermaids Curse series). She also really loved the Stardust series by Linda Chapman although that is a bit more 'girly'.

Her current book is Atticus the Storyteller: 100 Greek Myths, which she is really enjoying working her way through.

Has she ready Harry Potter yet? I thought they were maybe a bit too grown up but DD set off on them anyway and finished all 7 within 6 weeks (kept her busy!) as with every other child on the planet she totally loved them.

Her other great loves are Tintin (luckily my DH still had his whole collection from childhood) and Calvin & Hobbes cartoons.

What? I have to move on from Malory Towers??
I'm 36, with an English degree, and I still read my battered copies...

Try the What Katy Did series, or Little Women - there's about 4 or 5 of those too. Suggest your DD alternates, a new book, then a Blyton. Reading is for pleasure too!

I used to love The Worst Witch series by Jill Murphy when I was little.

How would she get along with pony stories? My daughter liked the Ginny series (Patricia Leitch) and the Jill series by Ruby Ferguson. Lots of horses but there's lots of other adventures/drama going on too and they're much better written than Enid B.

Some excellent reccomend actions here but I too think its a shame that the teacher is poo pooing the Famous Five. I am a teacher and an avid lifelong reader. Famous Five was one of my TOTAL favs at that age and I have gone on to read everything I could get my hands on! I would not at all be worried about the ' vocab content' of the books she is reading - its far more important IMO that kids foster a love of reading and if they get that by reading Grandads 'Budgie Weekly' magazine does it matter?? If she loves reading she will progress nicely at her own rate. The most important thing you can do is to give her the opportunity to discover new series of books when's she ready to let go of the famous five. I would look to recruit the following and put your daughter in thier path:

1. A passionate employee in the children's section of your local bookstores. They know what's what!

1. The same again at your local library.

1. The teacher in school who is a book nut.

1. Any other mums who are book nuts.

If she is having conversations with such people she will be tempted into new authors and characters on the reccomendations of these people. It's a chance to Have dialogue about what's she reading and what she likes with excellent guidance.

Good luck

Thanks nelly for reminding me of the white giraffe series. My dd is 9 - reads all sorts but we recently came back form 3 months in SA so these will really hit the spot. I looked to get them on her kindle while we were away (3 months worth of books is a lot of books hence the kindles for all of us) but they are only available in book format. Just ordered them form the library:)

I really enjoyed Malcolm Saville's Witchend (Lone Pine Club) series at about her age, as did my dad when he was little They're very much along the 'group of kids and a dog solve mysteries' theme and they're well written and a bit less gratingly sexist than EB's offerings (which I completely adored as a kid, however!)

Chronicles of Narnia
Chronicles of Prydain
Redwall (?not sure of age actually)
Alan Garner books (not red shift or elidor yet)
Ramona books
Definitely the Arthur Ransome books- all of them are purely children having adventures!
Pippi Longstocking
Coral Island?