Moving on from Beast Quest .....

[colditz]

My ten year old has just read a Beast quest book in one hour flat. I questioned him on the plot, and it has really been read and processed. It's only the second one he's ever read, but I'm thinking they are perhaps not long enough? I dont want to frighten him off fiction again, but i don't know, how long is it normal for a child to take reading them?

I'm so excited that he's reading fiction, does anyone have any recommendations for beast quest lovers?

I know nothing about beast quest or 10 year old boys but I wouldn't worry about the length, let him read as many of them as he likes if he is enjoying them and like you say just be excited he is reading fiction.

How To Train Your Dragon series by Cressida Powell is a bit more challenging. The Astrosaurs/Cows In Action series by Steve Cole are about the same level as Beast Quest.

Jack Stalwart (spy series, loads of gadgets)
How to train your dragon
Tom gates (cartoony)
Diary of a wimpy kid

Percy Jackson are popular with the age group that has moved on from Beast Quest. Also some of the Anthony Horowitz books (Diamond brothers etc).

Hmmmm, mine read a few Beast Quests and then moved on to Harry Potter, which is proving a massive hit.

I'm not sure on reading age but if people think Harry Potter and Peter Jackson are OK then I'll add Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising books to the list. Oh and Garth Nix, I'd start with the Seventh Tower or the Keys to the Kingdom books.

Also Eoin Colfer's Artimis Fowl series
Horowitz's Alex Rider series
Any Jeremy Strong and Roald Dahl if he likes a bit of humour.

Ooh just remembered - the Just William books were a huge hit with my DS

You know there are about 8394387487163875 Beast Quest novels? They're really good library stalwarts. I've read a couple of them and while the plots are ripped off from various sources (last one I saw was a direct retelling of Jaws, only with a magic token instead of an oxygen canister) the vocabulary is pretty stretching, there's a good female character or two, and on the whole I think they're probably a good thing.

DS (9) reads them in about that time as well. They are short/big print/he's a fast reader. They're more of a snack read. I think he finds them quite comforting. I was the same at his age.

Otherwise I totally recommend the How To Train Your Dragon books, they've been a huge hit.

I find ds is so so easily put off books and will not say why. I've tried a lot fo things on this list (eg Percy Jackson, The Dark Is Rising) and he just won't do it. I used to worry that he wasn't developing but really I think it's just a combination of bloody-mindedness and really using reading as relaxation not betterment.

DS1 has just got into Beast Quest aged 7 and he will read one over a course of a couple of evenings. I have read one too and think they are well written and are very engaging. DS1 has said that next he will try Roald Dahl and Harry Potter although I think we have a few Beast Quests to go before that!

I am in the camp of letting them read whatever they love, and if BQ is it, then so be it. I'd be dashing up to library for lots more BQ, if he were mine.

After 60+ volumes of BQ my 8yo moved onto Magic Tree House series and simpler Michael Morpugo books (MM is the MNer's fave). Maybe try Warrior Cats if you want something like BQ but meatier.

I would never describe Beast Quest as well written They are badly written to a lousy formula. I've read the first 50 out loud and would rather gouge my eyes out with a rusty spork than ever go near another one.

Roald Dahl, Enid Blyton, Mr Gum, Guinness Book of Records, Spy Dog, Mr Majekia, Dick King Smith, Wimpy Kid, David Walliams.

oh well I think they are well written Formulaic I agree and I wouldn't want to read more than one, but great engaging stories for children. Suppose it depends on your definition of well written

Well-written is stretching it a bit, but they don't skimp on vocab. I would rather read those out loud than Enid Blyton. Roald Dahl is ace, naturally and a total pleasure.

What I want to know is: who is Adam Blade? This shadowy yet surprisingly productive wordsmith?

I think there is now a Beast Quest series for older children. Something about a boy on a Phoenix. I'm with the rusty spork comment, but it probably catches up on you when you have read more than 10 of them and you are reading them to your kids, rather than them reading. "While there's blood in my veins..." Argh! Luckily my son has now fallen in love with the Little House series of books (bizarrely), so am on number 4 of those.

There is a follow on series from Beast Quest for 9+ year olds called The Chronicles of Avantia

Book people are doing 4 books for £4.99.

Haven't read them yet as ds(9) is only on Beast Quest book 42!!

god, yes I haven read any of them to him. He much prefers to read to himself

Adam blade is a trade name, a lot of different people write the beast quest line.

DS is not too bothered about Beast Quest - read a few then got bored of them. But he loves Jack Stalwart, the Charlie books by Hilary McKay, Secret Seven, the easier Roald Dahls, Astrosaurs, Jeremy Strong, the Harry & Dinosaurs chapter books and most things with monsters. He also adores a book about a time-travelling toilet which Grandma gave him, but possibly more because he know how much I detest it. It has mysteriously disappeared... DH is desperate for him to try the Hobbit, but has put poor DS off a bit with his endless carping on about how great it is. Could be a goer though in a household without a Tolkien-evangelist?

On the whole DS loves to read his own thing and can smell a worthy or parent-friendly book from 10 miles away. If your son loves Beast Quest, then let him get on with it. I doubt he will still be glued to them at 30, and surely the main thing is that he enjoys reading?