Boys books 7 year olds

[yesokthen]

Struggling to engage my son with reading. He can read fine just not interested in reading each day. All the books I pick up aimed at his age range - horrid Henry, David Williams, diary of a wimpy kid etc seem to long and silly for him. What would you recommend? He's 7.

The Beano?

My 8yo DS loves diary of a wimpy kid. Boys that age are silly, they love books like that.

has he tried michael morpurgo? kensukes Kingdom is good. R L Stine scary stories? Is your local library open yet.,great for browsing and discovering authors

Mine lived the beast quest books at that age

Thirteen story treehouse series is good but that might class as silly. We also really enjoyed the boy who grew dragons. That's a 5 book set.

has he actually tried the books you've mentioned? my dd loved the wimpy kid books.....also Roald Dahl?

Beast Quest, no idea what is the appeal, but my reluctant reader goes through a book a day. It was recommended by his English teacher and it’s amazing how his vocabulary, love of reading and want of writing himself improved. He will now prefer to read than sit on iPad.
How to train your dragon books are really good too, but vocabulary and humour more for older kids.
We tried all the once you mentioned above, with very similar results.

The Beast Quest books look awful to me; the male equivalent of the Rainbow Fairy Magic books but when I taught year 3, I had several boys in my class who were obsessed with them.

Horrid Henry, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Treehouse, Captain Underpants and Jack Stalwart were also very popular.

Dog Man? Comic style, quite popular with that age.

The Beano, Captain Underpants, Dog Man, Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam.

DS likes Dogman. But if your DS finds the fiction aimed at his age group silly, you might try non fiction.

My DS likes the Magic Tree House Fact Checker books (not the books with stories though). These are basic but informative chapter books about eg Tornados, Rainforests, Pirates, Ghosts. You can borrow them from the library (including online) for free.

Tom Gates, 13 Storey Treehouse series. My son was a reluctant reader at that age, he was hooked in by any book involving football, the Frankie's Magic Football series, non-fiction Ultimate Football Heroes series. Does your son have any interests that might get him to read a book about it? Remember it doesn't have to be fiction. My DD2 devoured the Horrible Histories books. I think there's Horrible Science and Horrible Geography as well now.

I’d let him try as broad a range of books as you can. Head for the library and borrow as much as you’re allowed and let him dip into everything without the pressure to finish things.
If silly isn’t what he enjoys then there’s not much point getting yet more silly books. Get some non-fiction on any subject at all that he’s shown an interest in, and some curiosity books (eg Why? Encyclopaedia or Timelines of Everything) which might spark new interests he hasn’t found yet. Try some short stories, some graphic novels, some history, some mysteries, something about gaming or YouTube if that’s where his interests lie.
Don’t focus on what you think he ‘should’ be reading (for his age or his ability or his gender), just give him the chance to find things he’ll love.

Non fiction can be a great choice, particularly books with strong visuals, small snippets of information in a bigger font and then a paragraph in a smaller font, if you can picture what I mean.

It allows the reader to engage at their own pace.

Another good choice are the choose your own adventure books where you make a choice at the end of each page (the precursor to video games)

Don’t discount graphic novels. The Disney literature classics are very popular at that age (retelling of classics with Donald Duck as the main character)

If you really want him reading chapter books check out the Grindlewood series. It’s an easy read but definitely not silly and very compelling.
The Jack Stalwart secret agent series is pretty good too.

The Dragonsitter
Worst Witch
Flat Stanley
Flying Fergus

All series.

How about the Asterix books? The graphic format really appeals to some kids.

Yes definitely beast quest! Mine has done them all! Others would be :
Roald Dahl
Flat Stanley
Borrowers
Narnia series
Atticus Claw
Shifty McGifty
The Boy who Grew Dragons
Also kids' encyclopedias - they'll always find stuff they're interested in.

We had a dog man book from school but this is an example of books just being too off the wall for him.

He will look at non-fiction books but it would be nice for him to read a fiction story he enjoys but the text and pictures always look too manic and silly for him to digest and hold his interest,

I know not everyone seems to approve of Enid Blyton, but DS8 loves the Faraway Tree series. They are full of fun and adventure, without all the zaniness. DS loves zany books too (Mr Gum is a favourite, and Barry Loser) but the three Faraway books are his favourites.

What are the ketchup face books like? (Having said he hates anything silly!)

If he doesn't like silliness, I'd echo the recommendation of Enid Blyton and suggest the Secret Seven books.

DS doesn't like silly stories about people either.

What sort of reading level is he - how much text can he handle on a page, do there still need to be pictures?

Does your DS like fantasy if its mixed with elements of non fiction - the Magic treehouse series might go down well. If he likes animals, what about mudpuddle farm or Zoe's rescue zoo?

We were in the same position - bought the series "Secret Agent, Jack Stalwart" by Elizabeth Singer Hunt. A great series that provided the hook to transform our son into a keen reader.
Good Luck!

cariadlet

The Beast Quest books look awful to me; the male equivalent of the Rainbow Fairy Magic books but when I taught year 3, I had several boys in my class who were obsessed with them.

They may not be great literature but they ignited a love of reading. At 11 he now reads a variety of books and often reads for pleasure.