Do your 9-12 year olds read for fun?

[swordofgelatin]

I am dipping my toes into possibly writing a fantasy novel for children/teens/young adults and I remember most of my favourite books being ones I read when I was in primary school. The media has me thinking that kids don't actually read anymore and just play on tablets & phones etc and supposedly children's interest in reading has gone down in the last few years. Do your children read books? What kind of books?

DD (10) reads masses. She particularly likes books which are adventurous with a gripping and pacy plot, mysteries, and things involving spies. Has enjoyed recently:

Murder mystery series by Robin Stevens
Rick Riordian books
Wolf Wilder
Cogheart series
Harry Potter
Philip Pullman’s Dark Materials series

Also just getting in to boarding school series (Mallory Towers at the moment), and used to love Famous Five.

stats for you about time children spend reading vs other activities [[https://www.scholastic.co.uk/readingreport/the-state-of-kids-and-reading]]

DD does, but won't read the same book twice.

Working link here!

She likes the Warriors books at the moment.

Yes they do - go sit in a library near the children's YA bit. I think most people would be pleasantly surprised!

My 9 year old favourite books are all funny ones.

We can't afford new books all the time, but go to the library a lot. They've done meet the author events which have been fab for getting kids more into particular books. So, if you do write a book, I thoroughly recommend becoming best mates with your closest libraries (and book shops often do similar things)

My nearly 10 yr old reads everyday and quite often all day! She buys books whenever she can!

Ds(14), would always choose to do something other than read but I ask him to spend between 30mins to an hour reading before bed on school nights and although he wouldn't choose to read he does enjoy it when he finds a book be can engage with.

He enjoys longer novels and is currently on the 2nd Lord of the Rings book, he is enjoying it but I think would prefer something similar but with more modern language.

9yr old DD yes, 11yr old DD no.

younger one loves animal stories mostly, she likes a good series. also enjoys mysteries but she is a scaredy cat so they have to be non threatening ones and she only likes animal stories where nothing dies/must have a happy ending.

older one is just an all round battle. she does like detective books and greatly enjoyed a couple about a secret cooking club or something - think they were lauren Rimmington but i might be mixing my books. I haven't read them so I have no idea what style of book they are really but she is desperate for more like them.

Both my 10 and 12 year olds love reading, but they are quite fussy about what they read - especially the 10 year old. DS1 mainly likes fantasy, hero and action books. I bought When Hitler stole pink rabbit the other day for him and he wasn't interested. DS2 mainly likes comedy and Classic novels so David Walliams, Roald Dahl, Dairy of a Wimpey kid etc.

Both would stil rather play on the iPad though given the choice.

Two of my three 10 year olds read masses of books for fun. The other doesn't like reading so much but loves travel guides at the moment so is getting 2 a week from the library
During term time, they also go to bed half an hour earlier and I read to them. The deal is, when they read their own books it's their choice (tacky cheesy diary type things at the moment) but bedtime stories are my choice. I try to choose things they wouldn't and so far it's been pretty successful and I've managed to get them to choose to read other books by the authors, that they wouldn't usually read.
I love fantasy books and have quite a stash of ones that I've read recently that I want my kids to read

Dd is 10. She loves reading. She enjoys mysteries such as the Roman Mysteries by Caroline Lawrence and the Laura Marlin books by Lauren St John. She was also hooked on the Chrestomanci books and her favourite author is Jenny nimmo. She will not read Jacqueline Wilson or Harry potter...Has tried them but was not impressed!!!