Your (children's) Recent reading recommendations for 9s-14s please? (boys or unisex not girly)

[roisin]

I'm about to place an Amazon order, and am wondering if there are any recent big hits which have slipped under my radar?

The Roman Mysteries are popular with ds( just 9) atm.

noughts and crosses - all Malory Chapman
Benjamin Zacharia

Have you looked at the Carnegie shortlist? I've read Road of Bones which I found a bit depressing tbh.

DS is into Dickens atm

Great Expectations is his present book on the go

But I doubt that will have slipped under your radar as you may have heard of it!!!

ROFL at RTK and Dickens!

That's an interesting list SueW: I know several of the authors, but the only one I've read is The Beast - which is great btw.

I love Marcus Sedgwick, but ds1 doesn't.

Lizs - watch Blue Peter on 3rd May. Caroline Lawrence is going to be on, and they will be announcing when the five 1-hr long TV adaptations are going to be on the BBC: next month I believe.

invisible

Sorry - I didn't mean to ignore you Beety
I love Malory Blackman, superb: very powerful stuff. If asked me top recommendation for 12-16 yr-old I think most days I would say Noughts and Crosses.

Swallows and Amazons, Willard Price

Can't remember the titles but they are by Stuart Hill. About a fantasy world where there is a sort of Norsish country fighting a huge Empire that seems suspiciously like the Romans. And there are talking snow leopards and witches and the like. The main protaganist is a warrior Princess. DS and I loved them - me more than DH if truth be told.

Published last year I think.

Philip Pullmans possibly?

I've seen Benjamin Zephaniah perform (is that you who mean), but haven't read anything else by him.
What do you recommend?

OrmIrian - ds1 loves the Cry of the Icemark (two out so far), but far too bloodthirsty for me. Far too many pages spent describing the battles

Philip Pullman we like obviously. I'm just reading Ruby in the Smoke, which I hadn't come across before: but we looked at with the reading group to analyse the beginning of a book. It has a couple of sequels too.

I got ds1 some Willard Price for Christmas: I think dh read them when he was young. Ds1 read them, but without particular comment. Good adventures I think, but that's as far as it went - didn't particularly hit the mark with him.

I have to go now, as ds1 has brought me a book to read - one he's written this time; apparently some of it is in code Oh joy!

I will be back!

roisin - thankyou Was still wracking my brains for the name of the book. Yes bloodhthirsty but hey...we can take it..

my son (just 10) is really enjoying this series of books atm. In fact he cant put them down!

HTH

Anthony Horowitz - Groosham Grange, Return to Groosham Grange and Granny - all with autobiographical elements. Extremely entertaining. DD1 keeps re-reading them.

Pullman - Clockwork is fab, var sinister, macarbre fairytale. Foreworkmaker's Daughter too.

The Susan Hill series - Dark is Rising - not really dd's cup of tea but would appeal to those more into sci-fantasy.

Snickett obv.

it very much depends on the boy really. My DS when 9 enjoyed these:

Shakespeare books

and these

my story books

and of course Roald Dahl

Jeremy Strong seems a popular choice

HTH

shouldbedoingsomethingelse - thanks for those suggestions, we have all of those already (Book People fans!), but those sort of things are a bit young for what I'm looking for really.

PointyDog - I'm going to order the first of the Susan Hill ones: we read the Shakespeare one by her (King of Shadows) and both loved it.

I'm trying to work out from Amazon which is the first one? Is it Over sea, under stone?

I can't remember the names of the books but amazon has them. Ii think about 3 or 4.

Any more before I place my order?

over sea unders tone, yes

Lion noy and the sequels

lionboy

roisin - has your ds read Susan Hill's Victory?