Book suggestions for a 7 year old free reader (boy)

[SingleMum01]

My DS has just finished oxford reading tree stage 6/7 and has now started reading proper books. The books he's getting at school aren't very exciting and he's losing interest.

Any ideas what I could get for him - ideally with some pictures still in and not too difficult words.

He has a great imagination and I remember reading Enid Blyton Faraway tree/Famous Five etc but I'm not sure if they may be a bit old for him yet.

Don't know if I'm keen on trying Horrid Henry - don't want to pick up bad habits! He wouldn't like anything scary.

Any suggestions?

Secret Seven
Jack Stalwart
Astrosaurs

Oh and Horrid Henry, especially the joke book .

These books are very popular with 7 year old boys in my school library, and not too tricky.

And these too - again, not too difficult.

Oh, and [http://www.amazon.co.uk/Talent-Showdown-Pokemon-Chapter-Books/dp/0439200903/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=bo oks&qid=1257972702&sr=1-1 these]] are constantly taken out over and over again.

Rats, I'll try that again:

here

DS2 devoured Charlie Small.

almost anything by Jeremy Strong
or by Hilda Offen here

Corgi Pups are a good range here

I think Secret Seven are a bit more complicated perhaps - got one out for DD and DS who have been free reading for a couple of years, and they balked at the language. Very much agree with Jack Stalwart.

Thanks all, the sherlock hounds one look good as a started.

Has anyone any suggestions as how my DS and I should read books? We've always read a book a night - while they were only 20 pages with not too many words on! I would read a page, then he would read a page. The next night we would alternate pages.

Now I'm finding we get 2 books a week from the school, we don't manage to finish a book in a half a week as its too much! My DS also likes me to read to him as well as him read to me.

Do you think its a good idea to read a few pages alternatively, then for me to read a few to him before sleeptime?

yes, I think that's a good way to do it. It's harder work for him to read out loud to you than to read to himself, so be ready for you to read say 2 pages in 3, and then finish the book by reading to him so he knows how it ends!

Little by little I found that my DC started reading on ahead as they enjoyed it more, and gradually we got to the point where there are 2 lots of books - some which I read to them and some which they read themselves from front to back.

Beast Quest. Beast Quest. Oh, and some more Beast Quest.

Then he'll be ready for Mr Gum and Hiccup Horrendous Haddock 111 - then there'll be no stopping him!

Bypass Horrid Henry completely - he's awful.

i disinguishbetween books ds reads himslef and ones we read together

tbh if he is a good reader you need to fine him his OWN books and leave more complex ones for you at story time

lol at horrid henry bad but Mr gum ok!

The stories underline the fact the Mr Gum is a pretty grim unappealing character. Horrid Henry is the hero, and Perfect Peter, who tries to do the right thing is seen as a pathetic nerd who deserves everything that's coming to him.

I wish there was a po-faced emoticon - but I deo feel very strongly about this - we want our boys to grow up kind and thoughtful and prepared to get on with their work - Horrid Henry is a rubbish role model.

Seeker, even my kids can see that the right place to be is somewhere between the two (Perfect Peter and Horrid Henry I mean).

We've just discovered Beast Quest. There are about 100 books!

I shall be guiding DS1 in the direction of Alex Rider after the lovely web chat with the gorgeous Mr Horowitz.

we are on beast quest book twenty seven

anyone who wants to buy any of the rest needs to cat me

Interrupting, I would like all your beast quest from 9 onwards please. Will CAT you. DS1 is obsessed with them. (Do they still have the cards in the back though? He has to have the cards

now that DS is a free reader, does that mean he's outgrown all the Oxford Reading tree levels or are there any free reading ones? The school don't give them out any more. The last ones we had were level 6/7

he got bored of cards after book 7 iirc

wil look
sold £1 a book

my boys loved laurence anholt's spoof fairy tales, cinderboy, rumpy pumpy stinky pin and more, and the man who wore all his clothes seies by allan ahlberg + the easier Roald Dahls such as the magic finger. We read the faraway tree to them at 7

DS1 loves the Magic Treehouse series. Also, Dick King-Smith is good for early readers.

DS likes:

Anything by Dick King-Smith (there are some easier ones to start with)
Mr Gumm (apparently they are hilarious if you are 7)
Jack Stalwart (don't read them yourself - they are not great literature by a long chalk)
Astrosaurs and whatever the time-travelling cows ones by the same author are called

Have to mention Captain Underpants as they got my DS2 into reading on his own with no prompting from me. He LOVED them and they have lots of pictures and jokes that little boys love.

see I think stopping ORT at stage 6/7 is very very early.
I really think you should keep him going.
Is school saying he's a free reader or you?
my ds2 is 8 and is still reading ORT but level 15 which are full length chapter books without pics.
ds1 stopped earlier than that about level 12 I think, but doesn't have the vocab ds2 has.
If I remember correctly 6 /7 only has a few sentences a page. It's a big jump even to Magic Treehouse and you don't want to put him off.

if you want books for home, I'd recommend banana series

Seeker, I LOVE Hiccup. I seize them from my children and insist on being allowed to read them as bedtime stories. In fact, I might have to change my name to Big-Boobied Bertha ('one blow from her chest could stun a reindeer, and small animals had suffocated in their stern depths'). My daughter is currently modelling herself on Camicazi, the girl with the tangliest hair in the Archipelago.

Maybe a little advanced for a new free reader, though.

Lancelottie - have you heard the audio books? They are read by David Tennant - they are completely wonderful!

I've just read the thread properly and it seems that the OP's son is a free reader after ORT level 7. That does seem quite early - at our school you're not a free reader til much further on than that. So Hiccup would be too difficult for him. Nothing stopping her reading them aloud though!

!