Book for an 8 year old boy

[tabitha]

I'm thinking of Christmas here
Ds has read all the Horrid Henry books (and is probably growing out of them tbh) and all the Roald Dahl books. Doesn't like Harry Potter (don't know why) or anything like that. Question is, what would he like to read? Any suggestions?
TIA.

Those Artemis Fowle books? Although may be a bit Potterish (bit less goody goody though!) sorry can't remember name of author. What about the Series of Unfortunate events books?

What about Alex Rider books? by Anthony Horowitz. A teenage spy. DS1 loved them.

Have looked Alex Rider and Artemis Fowl up on amazon to get an idea of what they're about. both sound good, so thanks for that dizzymama and Marslady
Any more suggestions would be grateful received.
Wish I had a library near us so that he could 'try without having to buy'

\link{http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0064471837/002-8213142-0420000?v=glance&n=283155&v=glance\Garth Nix's trilogy... he might like this)

Garth Nix

Lemony Snicket is excellent.

Captain Underpants is very American, but really really good fun. DS1 (4) is mad for it at the moment, although I'm sure he doesn't understand it really.

Both of these are ones that are fairly tolerable to read as an adult, IYSWIM.

The Michael Murpurgo books are good

Philip Pullman 'I was a rat'? Narnia collection?

I second Morpurgo too - his books are brilliant although some of them make me cry. See if thebookpeople.co.uk are still doing their 10 Morpurgo books collection.

famous five?
or maybe the jeremy strong ones?
s really recommend "cliuffhanger" but jacqueline wilson - abotu ther funniest book for boys
also are reading tthe werepuppy by her

loadsa jeremy strong

yaya look at this amzo list for boys aged 7- 10 by a " real boy"!

here

thanks for that list wallopycod! I'll use it too.

BTW are you cod or someone else?

Can't keep up

Definitely recommend any children's book by Roddy Doyle (eg The Giggler Treatment on that Amazon list). I think there are at least 2 others by him for children and my ds1 loved them when he was about 7-8.

moi je suis le fish

ah, oui!

Marslady - I'd have thought Garth Nix's Lirael/Sabriel too dark for an 8 yr-old? Have you/yours read them? I love them, but I won't let ds1 near them yet.

Garth Nix's Mister Monday etc. are better for this age.

DS1 (8) in agony/ecstasy in bookshop this week to find sequels (in expensive hardback editions) out for several of his current fave authors/series:

Molly Moon - this is the first of three so far

Wolf Brother - the sequel has just been published

The Roman Mysteries series The 10th of these has just been published, and 8 more are planned!

Just thought of another:
Elizabeth Kay's The Divide and Back to the Divide. Ds1 adored this one.

The two hardback books are available in Bookends from the Book People for just £5. (Normal price £24).

The basic concept is a boy is transported into a parallel universe where our mythical creatures (elves, pixies, griffins, etc.) are their real creatures, and vice versa. So to them he - a boy - is a mythical creature.

Spiderwick Chronicles?

My DS is almost seven and he recently adored a book called Dragon Rider by Cornela Funcke. It really is wonderful and gives old JKR a run for her money in terms of fabulous characters and imaginative plot. I read it to him because his taste is a bit ahead of his own capabilities in reading. He goes all dewey-eyed at the very mention of that book, he loved it so much!

Thank you all for your suggestions.
The 8 year old in question is now even more in need of good books, as he has broken his wrist and will be laid low for a few weeks

Really sorry to hear that, Tabitha. Maybe some talking books might be a good idea?
Hope it isn't too knackering for you.

I would recommend Eddie Dickens or other books by Philip Ardagh, like this . He sounds very much like ds at that age. Hope his wrist gets better soon.

He's not too bad now - actually he's kicking a football around in the living room, being attacked by his little sister but we've been told that he'll be in plaster for about 6 weeks so yes, talking books might be a good idea although he can just about manage to turn pages with his right hand (he's left handed and that's the wrist he broke unfortunately).
Bought a Michael Murpurgo book for him yesterday, which he seems to like.
Eddie Dickens and Philip Ardagh sound good too, tamum, thanks.

Ann Coburn's Glint is fab. Ds1 read it last week - he read a chapter in the shop and was hooked. He told me it was so good I should read it, so I thought I'd read 50 pages or so ... I was up til 2 am last night finishing it because I couldn't put it down A real page-turner.

It's a modern day life story intertwined with a science fiction story, involving dragons and things. Fab read!