Child book recommendations help needed please!

[emmiepips]

Well I wonder if anyone can advise me- I am wanting to buy a couple of really nice books for my partner's niece and nephew (girl 8 and boy 5 or 6). They live in South Africa, so don't know what they have currently. The little girl in particular is very intelligent and precocious- are there any books your kids love you could recommend to me...I don't have very long to get them a little something. I know I have been very vague, but would love to hear your little one's fave books all the same. Thanks, Em

My DD loves the Rainbow Fairies books atm, but she is only 5 (a good reader tho).
How about Narnia books for the girl? Or Noel Streatfeild (sp?) - bit old fashioned but Ballet Shoes I loved as a child, maybe a bit older than 8 tho.

Horrid Henry is popular for boys of 5-6, Roald Dahl always a good bet. Or some non-fiction might be nice - something like a historical book, my DS is into the Tudors and the Romans etc. Books about knights also hit the spot - there's a nice one from Usborne books called How to Be a Knight oer similar.

How about Charlotte's Web or (also from our school reading list) Alice in Wonderland, The Secret Garden and A Little Princess, The Animals of Farthing Wood series, Dick King Smith animal books, Clarice Bean, Judy Moody series, Jacqueline Wilson books.

For the boy I'd go with Horrid Henry, Flat Stanley, Usborne readers (they rehash classics like Treausre Island as well as original stories) or their Puzzle books series like Puzzle Castle

For the 8 year old girl, how about some English classics eg Frances Hodgson Burnett, Elizabeth Goudge, Lucy M Boston, Arthur Ransome, Michael Morpurgo?

For the younger ones, Sally Gardner is great (very accessible) and CS Lewis? Have fun!

There is a fantastic but little known book called Charlotte sometimes. It is about a girl at boarding school who goes back into the past. I loved it as a child, and read it again a few years ago and was still rather impressed by it!

If the girl is precocious, you could always try the children's philosophy book by Jostein Gaarder??

I adored Charlotte Sometimes!!!!! There is also Tom's Midnight Garden similar. The younger ones would love the Horrid Henry books or Flat Stanley.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions- I think I'm going to track down the Charlotte Sometimes book and read it myself first! The Horrid Henry books sound fab too- I remember buying Flat Stanley from a school book sale when I was six...imagine my surprise when I found it at Christmas on my mum's stairs! It still had my "trying hard to write neatly" name scrawled in it and the date stamp when it was bought. Can't wait til my little one (due next month) is ready for books- Cheers all!

The Dangerous Book for Boys

Lauren Child's Clarice Bean books are about a bright precocious little girl. My dd (10 and not reading ahead of her age) really likes them. She also loved Peter Pan in Scarlet (just out) by Geraldine McCaughrean.

The Anne Fine Diary of a Killer Cat books are very good read alouds for 5/6/7s

If they are expats living out there, she especially might enjoy the Britannia anthology of stories from Britain's past, written by Geraldine McCaughrean. They are wonderful.
Pick Me Up is a fabulous children's encyclopedia published by Dorling Kindersley. If she is a precocious, inquisitive child, she will love it!