I have a 7 yo Horrid Henry addict. What other books might he enjoy?

[whatdayisit]

DS1 devours Horrid Henry books, but won't entertain any other chapter books. He enjoys simple informations books and will read any number of picture books, but won't consider anything else of a similar difficulty level to HH. Any ideas?

I would agree with Roald Dahl, my DD also an avid HH fan is devouring witches at the moment, we have just done the twits and James and the giant peach they went down equally well.

DS liked Cliffhangar by Jacqueline WIlson at that age.

Is it worth getting a book with cassette so he can listen & read? DS loved story tapes and made him want to read longer stories - including the first Harry Potter at around 8 (now 12)

DS2 - a big HH fan = has recently really enjoyed:

The Legend of Spud Murphy

The Giraffe, the Pelly and Me (and lots of other Roald Dahl)

The Worst Witch

All the Marvin Redpost books

If I think of any others I'll come back and post more.

DS2 also likes Enid Blyton school stories e.g. The Naughtiest Girl stories, but I have a feeling that these may be a bit of a minority interest (at least for boys!).

Spydog - a bit longer than HH.
DS1 really liked the Mr Majeika books by Humphrey Carpenter at the same age, though DS2 hasn't got into them.
We would really recommend the Roddy Doyle ones and the Mr Gum ones - they're both very funny and even my 9 year old enjoyed Mr Gum in February when we took them on holiday.
There's also a series about a school hamster called Humphrey by Betty Birney that DS2 quite likes - they are also a bit longer and are very American, set in an American school.

How To Train Your Dragon?

Sir Gadabout series - very silly but DSs love them.

Silly Stories and Flat Stanley are a big hit with DS1 aged 8!

Another vote for Captain Underpants. Ds (nearly 7) also really enjoys the Zac Power and Jack Stalwart books - both about 10 year old boys (or thereabouts) who are spies. Totally implausible, but he finds them very entertaining.

Ah MB I havbe just bought the first Beast Quest as a pressie for a 5yo - but he's the best 5yo reader I have ever come across.

I was hoping he wouldn't have it and it might start him on a series so that's encouraging to hear from you. I think it will be too hard for him but didn't want to get him sthg too easy IYSWIM.

We like Jeremy Strong here too.

I second the Superpowers series - they were the first chapter books my 5yr old ds would read and he loves them. Have also just found a series called Dinosaur Cove which he says are even better!

He quite likes Captain Underpants too, but eschews the Astrosaurs, Cows Go Moo, SpyDog series.

Anyone read the GRK series - they sound OK?

I will look at Beast Quest too

Hmmm have just looked at Beast Quest on Amazon - doubt ds will entertain it as he is really not into all that magic type stuff.

Will lurk for more ideas

seconding Sir Gadabout, How to train your viking etc, roald dahl and jeremy strong - ds2 is also devouring lion boy and sequels at the moment

I do think there is a huge gap in the market for boys - the pink and glittery stuff marketted at girls is grim, but does keep girls on board while they make the jump to proper books. If, like me, you can't bear Horrid Henry, there is very little truely gripping boys stuff to keep them interested until they can tackle Artemis Fowl.

Captain Underpants - my ds2 was a Horrid Henry fanatic and wouldn't look at any other books, until he discovered Captain Underpants. But now he has gone through most of these, so I am on the hunt for replacements - the Dirty Bertie books sound good.

But why is all the boy stuff so foul? Is it because boys are actually made out of snips and snails and puppy dogs tails?

I wondered that as well Seeker. I looked at a Horrid Henry and just really didn't like it, it all seemed a bit uncouth .

We are totally smitten with "The Giraffe, the Pelly and Me" by Roald Dahl at the moment. If you have the chance also to hear the audio book read by Hugh Laurie you must do so - it is very nearly perfect.

Yes to giraffe the pelly and me
And...

I've found audiobooks are fantastic for introducing literature that's a just beyond my kids' reading ability. (currently 5 and 8) They won't read them in a book but both absolutely love original and unabridged versions of Just William, Alice in wonderland, all the roald dahls, dick king smith, the railway children, 5 children and it, the wind in the willows and original whinnie the pooh. All the classics that I wish they would read, they are devoted to in audio and can even recite verbatim.

I'm confident that this is encouraging a love of decent literature that will mature as they develop their reading skills.
My view is that it's better that my dc experience the good stuff than they limp along with mean-spirited badly written crap like Horrid Henry. (They love HH books too though )

Makes me laugh when old threads are resurrected! I saw the date being the mid of Aug and thought I had lost 2 weeks!

2008 thread!

DS loves Astrosaurs, Jack Stalwart, Wildlife Rescue.

hmm think my last message sounds a bit smug, makes my kids sound like little stephen frys and they not...
I just desperate to get them off Horrid Henry!

My eldest one having problems with the younger and Horrid Henry really seems to provide the DS1 with all the words and justification to bully DS2, calling him worm, nappy pants etc, pinching and pushing and saying he wants to kill him, when challenged he told me Horrid Henry did it and its not fair that we should stop him.

Yes I'm sure DS1 wants to bully DS2 anyway, but Horrid Henry certainly gave him a cool bully to model himself on.

Happy - you're not alone in thinking HH has a direct, bad influence. I banned them for a while, as have loads of other mums I know, because the kids behaved so vilely after reading them. The worst times were when they listened to them on audio in the car and the journeys were hellish. As soon as we switched to Harry Potter or Malorie Blackman the car journeys were civil again. I hate Horrid Henry. Just William is better by miles.

Zac Power series by H I Larry.

Akimbo and the Lions by Alexander McCall Smith. These are superb, (IMO) and there are another 4 or 5 in the set. The Egmont edition has lovely line drawings for the illustrations, not overwheming, and the stories are very exciting, about a boy living on a game reserve where his father is the head ranger.

Girls like them too!

I have a 7 yr DS who loves reading. He's done Horrid Henry (with much sighing from me) and has thankfully moved on via Roald Dahl and Flat Stanley to Beast Quest (not much better IMO) and Harry Potter and Asterix. Loves non-fiction too, especially horrid history type.. What I find lacking in boys books is the empathy which you get tons of in girls stories. Harry Potter bit better for that. Have given up though on him reading my old Chalet School books which I have kept, lovingly and hopefully