Dd2 is apparently ahead of her age for reading, has anyone any godod book suggestions please ?

[nutcracker]

Dd2 is 8 and has always been a good reader.

Tonight at parents evening, her teacher said that she was not far short of the level they expect yr 6 to have achieved by the time they leave primary.

I have always really just let her read what she likes and have never directed her towards any particular age range, but I wondered if anyone had any reccomendation of anything she could read which was slightly more advanced than her age group ??

Further to my post of 20:20, I've just remembered the name of the flipping book - The Machine Gunners.

Back to Telegraph - it is also very strange to put Alice (in Wonderland/Through Looking-Glass) into "early teens" when Alice is explicitly (and in the second book, so presumably yet younger in the first) aged exactly 7-and-a-half. (As spotted by my exactly 7-and-a-quarter (today!) dd, who is enjoying them so much she's sort of inhabiting them.)

But possibly there are some deliberate journalistic squibs in there - to stir up reactions & coverage & circulation ...

I couldn't work out why "Charlotte's Web" was in Early Years, whereas the Mr. Majeika books are listed as Middle Years. CW is much more complex, in terms of plot and language and length, than Mr. M.

Lots of suggestions in this thread, but no one has mentioned the author, aimed at 10+ and fantastic reading, Michael Morpurgo.
The Book People had a good MP deal on a set of his childrens books before Christmas.
DD8 has read most of the set since then. Also Harry Potter, they start off relating the book to the films but as they progress beyond the film stage the reading is more challenging but very exciting with familar characters.

DDs reading addiction also allows me to buy her reference books and we have covered Tudors & Stuarts, Romans, Victorians and a History of London...

RosaLux mentioned him, K20 - not sure if all of his are appropriate for an 8-yr-old though? The Butterfly Lion made a great impression on DS1, who was previously stuck on Goosebumps!

DD2, who was never a great reader, adored Charlotte's Web aged 7-8 and because of that went on to read The Trumpet of the Swan and Stuart Little, also by E B White.

Rumer Godden has some good stories for children - the Story of Holly and Ivy, the Doll's House, Miss Happiness and Miss Flower, the Diddakoi, the Fairy Doll.

Frances Hodgson Burnett - The Secret Garden, A Little Princess, Little Lord Fauntleroy.

Jacqueline Wilson
Harry Potter
Michael Morpurgo (some of his are certainly for younger readers, my DS1 who is 8 has read a couple)

Yes classics like Noel Streatfeild, Narnia (bit harder than Harry Potter I find), What Katy Did, Little Women, The Borrowers, ooh I loved all those. Some a bit old-fashioned but they were for me too (I'm not that old lol) and I still loved them.

Get em out the library if you're not sure.

Bozza I agree about Jane Eyre and W Heights, I was a good reader but I was 13-14 at least before I tackled them.

You probably all know this website already and I am behind the times, but I find this website really useful for age specific suggestions. For some of the books listed you can print off an extract to see if it would be appropriate in terms of level.

We are reading Muddle Earth with DS1 at the moment (we read a bit at bedtime then he reads some before lights out) which I am finding quite fun, regardless of what DS thinks. I haven't enjoyed one of his books so much for a long time!

Also, having seen the thread about the name Hepzibah and been reminded of it, Carrie's War is a lovely book which I enjoyed as a child.

I got DS The Phoenix and the Carpet for Christmas but we haven't read it yet but I also remember enjoying that one too.

Some great suggestions on here, thank you.

I'm going to print the thread off and take it to the library LOL.

That link is great Niecie.

My 7 and 6 year old dds have justvery much enjoyed a Michael Morpurgo - The amazing story of Adolphus Tips. It was quite simple in length and language but they enjoyed the theme - it was set in the 2nd world war in a Devon village with a forced evacuation of the whole vilage - as they live in a Devon village they appreciated that.

Has anyone mentioned Anne Fine, she writes at varied levels for all ages from about 5 up to adult. My dds like her books.

Jacqueline Wilson, already mentioned, is popular here too.

E Nesbit - The treasure seekers has been very popular with my girls "Oh do buck up Albert and stop snivelling..."

the Carbonel trilogy is lovely, it was one of my favourites as a child.

I am SO happy that 2 of my 3 children have moved on from picture books, I am loving finding old favourites from my childhood and discovering new ones.

Paddington bear - too simple maybe?

Chalet school...His Dark Materials....Roddy Doyle's books[the giggler treatment etc]Jacqueline Wilson.
Our ds is 8 and it can be tricky finding books that are suitable emotionally[ifyswim]I think leting her choose like you have done is the best way.

Niecie's link mentioned Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce - lots of others by her here, including the Battle of Bubble and Squeak and a Dog so Small, both of which are lovely

I'm quite interested in what people think is unsuitable emotionally. I was a voracious child reader and used to read all sorts, but stop if I found the theme boring or too scary.

Personally I think rainbow fairy and similar crap - anything by disney or barbie without a proper author - is totally emotionally unsuitable for any age but apart from that I wouldn't particularly censor what a child reads.

My dd1 is just 8 with a reading age of 11 - it's difficult to find things that are a challenge but with content and themes that are not too old for her, IYSWIM. She loves Roald Dahl, the Beano (!), Guinness Book of Records and any fact books, and also a book I bought her at Christmas by Cornelia Funke called Igraine the Brave about a young girl who wants to be a knight. It's a great adventure with a strong girl in it and I think there are others by the same author. A lot of the Jacqueline Wilson stuff is too old for her in terms of topics ( we have a lot of books handed down to us by a girl who is now 15).

She likes Michael Morpurgo, but again you have to be careful with the content there. To be honest I'm steering clear of "classics" and things I read 35 years ago because when we've tried The Borrowers or similar they've been so dated it takes longer to explain some of the references than it does for her to read it, and that interrupts the flow.

Frankly just at the moment I would be prepared to let my seven year old read Enid Blyton if it meant she'd work her way through a whole sodding chapter book. Am feeling slightly low about his, and castigating self as Bad Mother who has Failed Her And Let Her Just Veg In Front Of Telly And Irrevocably Stunted Her Attention Span.

Not least because she actually reads relatively complicated stuff if it comes in picture-book format, but appears completely unwilling to read the whole way through something.

just posting so i can read properly later without having to look for it

Emotional suitability ...

boring, no problem, child stops

scary - depends on child, & nightmare-vulnerability

"shocker" stuff - at the crap end those detail-of-abuse ghastly-childhood books, Stephen King etc. & at the morally-justifiable end things like When the Wind Blows & Maus - I would absolutely censor, without apology.

It is so hard to judge. DD2 is seven and I have read her both Goodnight Mr Tom and War Horse as she is very keen on history, especially the World Wars. DD1 at seven would have been capable of reading them by herself (she was flying through E Nesbit and Noel Streatfeild at that age which are still too hard for DD2) but she would not have touched them because she didn't like anything scary or sad.

I think when you have a child who self-censors then it's probably rather easier. So I guess it does depend on the child ... (incidentally, perhaps a self-censoring child is already a bit more mature emotionally ("I'm not going to like this, and I needn't put myself through it") than one who doesn't?)

I'm influenced by my own (non-self-censoring) experiences, which involved far far too many ghost stories (probably a bit older - maybe from 10 onwards) and it really did have some effects I could have managed without. Particularly one nasty little volume of True Hauntings.

And if I'd been able to get hold of Stephen King or similar it could have been quite damaging. (Sorry to sound melodramatic!)

Alex Rider series big hit with DD1 (8) - ran to school with one of the books in her school bag the other day just so that she could have 5 minutes with it before the register.

Series of Unfortunate Events which has already been mentioned was also very popular.

Plus any of the Horrible Science/histories etc.

That's interesting Bink, all those you mentions are books I wouldn't recommend even for an adult - all that deliberate gross horror stuff, and maudlin sensationalist sentimentality.

I read the occasional book like that as a child but tended not to enjoy them, maybe I have a very good self-censor

But I get the impression from some of these threads that people aren't concerned about horror stories or Miserylit, but about literature which is aimed at children but at older children than their child.

Like e.g. the Michael Morpurgo book my 6 and 7 year old dds enjoyed recently had themes about war (included the mass torpedoing of an American ship), race and a 12 year old's (very innocently described) crush. It was clearly aimed at children older than mine but I didn't find it unsuitable and they found it very interesting.

That is interesting Fennel - so, leaving out of the equation stuff that is deliberately prurient (Stephen King etc.) & so inappropriate & nastily seductive in a blatant sort of way - do we need to censor material that is non-seductively inappropriate - so, eg, the stuff about crushes before you've experienced one, or gritty realism? And there I agree with you, we don't.

I remember a book called Bilgewater, which was about bullying and self-image and teenage social alienation (by, incidentally, someone - Jane Gardam - I now think speaks directly to me) - which I read at about 11 and simply could not connect with. It just didn't express a reality I recognised in any way - and so, though it wasn't very appropriate, no-one needed to shield me from it.

So I have boiled myself down to the obvious: we need only protect our children from depraving crap. Otherwise they can look after themselves. The End.