Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Please or to access all these features

Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

Reading list for 11 year old please

14 replies

katelyle · 24/07/2007 20:26

dd is 11. We are a reading family and she loves books. But I would like her to cut her teeth on a few more grown up books over the summer, and she is very keen on the idea. We have a lot of very long journeys coming up which would be perfect. Suggestions, please? She's currently three quarters through the new HP. She loves Karen Mccombie, pony books school stories - all the usual sort of thing. What will stretch her a little?

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Hallgerda · 24/07/2007 20:27

She's probably in for a fairly serious programme of reading in Year 7 if my DS1's experience is anything to go by - I'd leave it!

MrsWeasley · 24/07/2007 20:29

when my DD (also a keen reader) went to senior school she was encouraged to try reading books by Mary Hooper.

She also likes these authors: Cathy Hopkins, Hilary McKay, Jacqueline Wilson.

HTH

katelyle · 24/07/2007 20:37

Do you think so Hallgerda? I was thinking it'd make it easier for her if she tried some meatier books before she went. But I would be delighted to be convinced otherwise! She loves Hilary McKay, MrsWeasley, and had a serious Jacqueline wilson habit for a while. Haven't tried the otehr two - will have a look!

OP posts:
MrsWeasley · 24/07/2007 20:39

apparently Mary Hooper is considered then next step up from J.Wilson, according to DD's teachers

Hallgerda · 24/07/2007 20:42

Really. DS1 had a genre league table project in which he had to read 30 books/articles/poems in the year - I've seen something similar in another school, so it's not just his school. You could fiddle it to be "won" by sports reports and cut the number of novels/biographies/autobiographies/books about the natural world etc, but you'd still have to read a fair few books even then.

CalifrauniusFudge · 24/07/2007 20:44

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Hallgerda · 24/07/2007 21:18

Carnegie shortlist - may be a little hard-hitting in terms of subject matter, but is aimed at about the right age group.

christywhisty · 24/07/2007 22:05

DS 11 has a reading long reading list of suggested books from his new school. He is supposed to read 2 over the summer holiday and write about it befire he starts secondary.He can chose his own books if he wants to.
I will dig it out tomorrow and post the list.

portonovo · 25/07/2007 09:09

Depends on the secondary school. Our Year 7s have read things in class but there has been no reading list or real requirement to ready anything else, although teachers do try to encourage independent reading and they have regular reading lessons as part of English.

How about trying your daughter on some more old-fashioned stuff if you haven't already. Things like the Anne of Green Gables series, Little House on the Prairie, Pollyanna etc.
Or Susan Cooper's Dark is Rising series or Ursula Le Guin's books if she likes fantasy. Not more grown-up as such, but just a different approach if she mainly reads modern stuff. Still on the fantasy type, there is Eoin Colfer - the Artemis Fowl books are good, while The Supernaturalists is probably an 'older' read. Or how about Philip Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy, excellent stuff that an 11-year-old who reads well and enjoys reading should be able to tackle.

How about something by Lynne Reid Banks - some are definitely for older teenagers, but some would suit an 11 year old. Or Judith Kerr's 'When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit' and the other 2 in the series - really great stories (based on real life) about a Jewish girl escaping Nazi Germany and eventually coming to the UK.

There are Caroline Lawrence's Roman Mysteries books - they are now being televised, so she might have seen them. Or Jostein Gaarder's books, some are a bit older, but she could probably cope with the Solitaire Mystery and some of the others. Some are fantasy or mysterious, some are philosophical.

Most girls of that age would also like anything by Ruth Thomas or Eva Ibbotson. Or how about Sylvia Waugh's Mennyms series - a great set of books about a family of life-size dolls who are 'alive'. Or just about anything by Leon Garfield or Joan Aiken Hodge.

How about Anthony Horowitz - the Alex Rider books are quite a decent read, but a bit gadget-full and high-speed-chase for my liking sometimes. Even better are his 'Power of Five' books, starting with 'Ravensgate'. Really cracking stories, well told and good characterisation. A bit 'dark' but if she's reading and liking the later Harry Potter books she should be fine.

Or there's the Flambards books by K.M Peyton - even got some horses in there!

Or if you want real teenage lightweight trash, try the Princess Diaries series. Real rubbish but girls of that age and above like them!

I'll have a think of some more, but why not have a look in your library? Ours has a big folder with lots of different suggestions for the various age-groups.

Leati · 25/07/2007 09:33

This is my 11yr olds reading list. However, I would use some caution since I have noticed that certain types of materials are introduced later in the UK. Mostly those these are great books and there are many classics on this list.

Henry Huggins
Romona Quimby
Charlottes Web
The Sign of the Beaver
Tuck Everlasting
A Lion to Guard Us
Shiloh
Call it Courage
Sarah, Plain and Tall
The Hundred Dresses
Little House on the Prairie
The Cricket in Times Square
Pippi Longstockings
Caddie Woodlawn
In the Year of the Boar
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Mrs. Frisby adn the Rats
My Side of the
Li, Lun, Lad of Courage
Stone Fox
The Door in the Wall
Ben and Me
Annd of Green Gables
The Book of Three
A Wrinkle in Time
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
Old Yeller
The Incredible Journey
The Swiss Family Robinson
Catherine, Called Birdy
Jacob Have I Loved (i would use caution with this one)
The Dark is Rising
The Bronze Bow
The Martian Chronicles
Walk Two Moons
The Outsiders
Bud, Not Buddy
Dragonwings
The War of the Worlds
White Fang
Across Five April
Island of the Blue Dolphins
The Cay
The Fellow Ship of the Ring
War Comes to Willy Freeman
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Johnny Tremain

Majorca · 25/07/2007 18:36

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Wisteria · 25/07/2007 18:39

Hi - My dd2 is reading the

Series of Unfortunate Events (13 books in all)- Lemony Snickett

books which she adores and has also recently finished

The Magicians House (4 books in all) - William Corbett. I picked the first one up and the next thing I knew it was that night and I'd read all four books, they're fabulous!

christywhisty · 25/07/2007 20:02

ks3 reading list provided to us by DS 11 secondary school.

lemony snicket
billy the kid - michael Murpurgo
Double Act -JW
Dreamweaver- Louise Lawrence
Fire Bed and Board - Henrietta Branford
Forever X -Geraldine McCaughrean
Granny The Pag - Nina Bawden
Gulf - Robert Westall
Johnny the Dead - Terry Pratchet
Kensuke's Kingdom - Mupurgo
Kiss The Dust - Elisabeth Laird
Little Soldier - Bernard Ashley
Maphead and Maphead 2 Lesley Howarth
Mr Spaceman Lesley Howarth
Nightjohn - Gary Paulson
Pig Heart Boy - Malorie Blackman
Red White and Blue Robert Leeson
Scribbleboy - Philip Ridley
Shadow of the Minotaur - Alan Gibbons
Space Race Sylvia Waugh
Skellig David Almond
The Doomspell Cliff Mcnish
The Echoing Green Mary Raynor
Spring Heeled Jack Philip Pullman
The Illustrated Mum- JW
The Kite Rider Geraldine McCaugrean
The Mennyms Sylvia Waugh
The Midwifes Apprentice Karen Cushman
The Phantom Tollbooth Norton Juster
The Seeing Stone & the Crossing Place - Kevin Crossley Holland
The Tulip torch - Anne Fine
The Wind Singer _William Nicholson
Theres a Boy in the Girls Toilet - Louis Sacher
Truckers(diggers and wings) Terry Patchet
Two Weeks With the Queen - Morris Gleitzman
Weirdo's War Michael Coleman
Whispers in the Graveyard - Theresa Breslin
Why Weeps the Brogan - Hugh Scott
Worry Wart - Morris Gleitzman

katelyle · 25/07/2007 20:54

Thank you for all your suggestions - leati, I was amazed to see some of my childhood favourites on your list - haven't seen Johnny Tremain for ages!
I'll make her a list , then we'll take it to the book shop and the library and choose a few. Thanks again!

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page