Recommended books for Yr 6 child

[Bomper]

Ds is currently in Yr 6, he is currently a 5B in his reading, but has been told he would benefit from reading a wider variety of authors, including 'children's classics'. He loves Charlie Bone books, but recently read Black Beauty and really enjoyed it. Can anyone suggest any other good books for him to get stuck in to?

Arthur Ransom
Willard Price (son't know if still publish but a bit of boys own adverntures
The Roman Mysteries
Famous Five

The Alex Rider books
Famous Five
Artemis Fowl
The Sally Lockheart books by Philip Pullman
Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve
Skellig
Private Peaceful

Five Children And It
Stig Of The Dump
Tom's Midnight Garden
Goodnight Mr Tom

Ahhhh,now I have been given a trilogy of Philip Reeves books, I am sure one of them is 'Mortal Engines', so that's a good start!! Thanks for your suggestions!!

Joan Aitken

(with my year 6 teacher hat on)
will think of some more

5b reader - very good reader - needs a challenge

and the last 4 that janeite said ;

swallows ands amazons??

Biggles

has he got good reading stamina?
has he read jrr tolkein yet?

TBH it amazes me that he is such a good reader, as never actively chooses to read his books, only does so when prompted !!

Not sure if they are still in print but how about 'Just William' and the 'Jennings' series. i loved them as a kid

Philip Pullman- His Dark Materials
Michael Morpurgo has some great ones. One of my Y6 boys read Kensuke's Kingdom in 2 days at school just in his breaks and reading time.Fab adventure.

5B a very good reader non?

Narnia
Famous 5/Secret 7 (bit easy)
Robert Louis Stevenson
Yes Just William tho the ethos is rather dated

What about stuff like Lord of the Flies, Kes, To Kill a Mockingbird?

I recently read Holes by Louis Sachar and it was FAB.

Anthony Horovitz diamond brothers series:

• South by South East etc

Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce (and Millions, and Framed)

The Skull of Truth: A Magic Shop Book by Bruce Coville (and other Bruce Coville books)

Lionboy and sequels by Zizou Corder.

My DS has really enjoyed Eragon and the follow on books. Some of the writing is a bit pretentious (sub Tolkien attempts) but the story has him gripped even if he doesn't understand every word. Also what about the young James Bond series by Charlie Higson? Not classic but fun.

Really depends what he's 'into'. My Year 6 DS has recently enjoyed reading:

Anthony Horowitz - Alex Rider series
Eoin Colfer - Artemis Fowl
Lemony Snicket - Series of Unfortunate Events
Robert Muchamore - Cherub series
Chris Ryan - Alpha Force series
Mark Walden - HIVE
Philip Pullman - His Dark Materials

Unfortunately he won't touch what I consider to be 'classics' but prefers action packed spy-type books (although didn't like young James Bond at all). I just tend to go with what he's interested in to keep him reading rather than worry too much about them being 'classics' After all who's to say that what he's reading won't become a classic in the future
We've also managed to persuade him on a couple of good biographies recently (not celeb ones!!), although they were both people he had met, which made it easier to motivate him. He really enjoyed both of them.

What is a 5B reader, by the way - how do you know what level your child is at?

It doesn't matter if some of the books are too "easy" in terms of being easy to decode: he will probably still enjoy reading them. DD2 has had a reading age of 13 since she was very young (the scale doesn't go past 13 iirc) but she still, at 11, enjoys The Famous Five etc. Sometimes it's nice just to have a non-challenging book with an exciting story to chill with. I read Steven King as well as jane Austen for example!!

5b at primary is one level above the "average" level expected at the end of Yr 6.

bLACK sTALLION BOoKS, by Walter Farley, IF HE LIKEs boys having adventures with horses (sorry ABOUT caPS)
Anything by Diana Wynne Jones