He's read all the Captain Underpants and Horrid Henry. What can we try next?

[Easy]

DS is 6, and a great reader, loves to read to himself at night (and when he wakes up TOO Early).

But now looking for ideas.

We're reading Terry Pratchetts 'Truckers' together at bedtime, but thats too difficult for him by himself. Any suggestions please?

if he likes the horrid henry series there is anew book out by the same author, saving hercules / fighting hercules something along those lines. ds1 got it for christamsa nd has already read it three times as he says it is his favourite.

other than that the roald dahl books or cs lewis (what witht eh hype over the film ds1 suddnely decided to read his collection even though it had been on his shelf untouched for 2 years) oh and the lemony snickett series is a winner too!

Thanks everyone, I'm keeping a careful eye on this.

I had discounted Harry Potter and the Narnia series yet, surely they are a bit advanced (in terms of underlying content as much as vocabulary used) ?

I've already ordered some of your recommendations from Amazon tho'. Ta Very Much

The "Beaver Towers" series by Nigel Hinton were recommended by my local (fantastic, independent) bookshop. They were a real hit with my 6 year old.

I remember ds liking the Ginger Ninja books at that age. I can't remember how they compare though- I think probably easier than Horrid Henry IIRC.

Just expressing some but in a supportive way. . .both dh and I were early readers who got a lot of pleasure from reading at age 6 (and filled lots of bored moments!) but my ds really just doesn't like to read at all. . .and I often think how great it'd be if he liked reading as your ds does.

Did you do anything special to encourage it, or did he just naturally take to reading?

We're being quite passive. . .we insist he does his reading homework, but beyond that we don't really express an opinion, except to encourage him when he reads well/of his volition.

Medea,

All can say about ds's love of reading is that we always read with him. Even from 2 or 3 weeks old I had board books which we used to look at together, and when he was really tiny whenever I read to him I always sat beside him, moving my finger under the words, so he just learned to read by osmosis. By the time he started nursery at 3 he was reading key stage 1 books, and by the time he started reception he was reading out the newspaper headline to me every morning (The Times).

I did this because it's how I learned to read. I had a sister 4 years older, and when she was doing reading with my mum, I was sitting the other side of my mum, and I learnt as she did, just 4 years earlier!

I assume you have checked that your ds doesn't have problems with his eyesight, or dyslexsia (why is that such a difficult word to spell?).

I would just suggest you show him that reading is a nice thing to do. Get him to read out roadsigns/shopnames etc when your travelling, if he gets a new toy or game, get him to help you read the instructions, that sort of thing.

Sorry that should read "when you're travelling"

Sorry that should read "when you're travelling"

Sorry that should read "when you're travelling"

Medea, I know where you are coming from as my ds2 (8) won't read, despite once being a very advanced reader for his age. If he does read, it is non-fiction, which is OK as far as it goes, but I believe reading fiction is very important for a child's development.

Anyway, perhaps you could try my trick which has recently worked a treat: I started reading Danny the Champion of the World to him, got well into the plot, but then, as I knew would happen as I am not very good at reading stories at bedtime, I started missing nights. Then he started asking me to read it to him and I invented reasons why I couldn't tonight. Finally, he picked up the book himself and started reading it for himself, simply to have the story continued. The other night, he was found at 10:30 still awake and reading... I wasn't too pleased that he was awake so late, but it was for the best possible reason IMO.

Medea

Both DD and DS are keen readers. reading to them for 15 minutes a night for 11 years (so far) must have helped. Also they see dp and me reading all the time.

DS went through a non-fiction phase from age 6 - 10, but now reads anything (currently on The Man who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks the other day, when he had run out of his own books).

Lonelymum

I don't think it matters that your ds doesn't read fiction. Reading at all is important, whether it's fiction or not.

I wouldn't worry if I were you.

roald dahl and enid blyton. but why aren't enid blyton books pc?

My DS1, also six, loves the Marvin Redpost books, by Louis Sacher.

He's also reading the Mrs Pepperpot stories at the moment (can't remember who author is ).

Oh Easy, i know it sounds like I am fussing, but firstly, he hardly reads non-fiction either (only in school when they have silent reading), and secondly, I think it matters so much that he is missing out on childhood classics, or just the experience of getting lost in the world of a book IYSWIM.

I wasn't what you would call an obsessive reader as a child, but I always had a book on the go - same now - and I can't bear to see my son failing to have that same experience.

Juat thought of another favourite of ds1 when he was about 6 which I don't think has been mentioned here: Paddington Bear.

Lonelymum, I don't know how to get your son to read classics, but mine reads lots of non-fiction. He is obsessed with Star Wars and reads all the books connected with the films (there is an annual reduced to 99p atm which he is currently reading). He also loves the horrid history books. Other boys at school read football annuals.

Sorry, bad use of word. I don't mean Classics, eg Alice in Wonderland, I mean, classics, as in good books all children should read if they possibly can, like the Roald Dahls and Paddington and something by Dick King Smith. Anyway, as I said earlier, I seem to have got him to read Danny the Champion of the World so maybe the flood gates will open - hmm.

Lonelymum I didn't read any of those sort of "classics" when I was little, and I went on to do English Language and Literature at Oxford, so don't despair!

Bet you read though Dinosaur. It is OK I am resigned to the fact that ds2 is going to be a scientist, or an engineer like his father.

I did read anything I could get my hands on, yes.

Pig Breeders Monthly, the Readers Digest Encyclopaedia of Gardening, Woman's Own and lots of religious tracts..

Message withdrawn

Hehe!