Help me fill my son's bookcase up without it costing a fortune.

Spendless

My 8yo informed me last night that he has read every book on his book-shelf and needs some new stuff to read. Am not totally convinced he's read every single book, as I think there may be some on there he dislikes and intend going thru them more thoroughly, but am certainly after ideas of what to get. I want to buy the books, as I wish him to be able to dip in and out of them, re-read whenever he fancies it. Mainly story books I'm after but a few non-fiction book suggestions he'd like too.

This is what he's got/read already.

Complete works of Roald Dahl
The majority of Francesca Simon (Horrid Henry books)
The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe
Charlotte's web.
Jeremy Strong's books (not convinced he has read the books he has, I need to check)
Enid Blyton (doesn't like them)
Horrid History books

Harry Potter is too hard, he tried it in the holidays. However this wasn't helped by the fact that he insisted he could go straight to book 3, cos he'd seen the first 2 films:rolleyes: and the combined effort of me and librarian couldn't convince him otherwise - he found out the hard way instead.;)

He is a lively active child, whose interests are in science, football.

Can anyone suggest anything?

SuzySu

He/you obviously use your library, so why not just get as many books out as you can each time you go. That way he can explore different authors/genres without it costing anything.

Mine all liked the Lemony Snickett 'Series of Unfortunate Events'.

clairec79

If he liked the lion the witch and the wardrobe then the rest of the Narnia books are open to him.

My daughter, a tad younger, has the same sort of books but loves Enid Blyton so that's keeping her going at the moment -

other suggestions would be the Young Indiana Jones books, do they still do three investigator books or the Hardy boys?

natbags

A friend recommended Dilly the Dinosaur (a series I think!) to my 7 yr old who has read a few and loves them, in fact keeps re-reading. A bit like Horrid Henry only nicer

ginvzt

Have you thought of getting Brothers Grimm, or Hans Andersen stories? They are fantastic and I loved when I was a kid and still do!

Pepe Longstocking? (not sure of spelling)

Both Lemony Snicket and Narnia books are great!

And for good prices don't forget to check 'The Works' - I got all Lemony Snicket books for £5!

fannyannie_2

My 8yo ds loves all the horrid henry books. His teacher has all of them and he borrows one every weekend

Edinburghlass_2

Re Harry Potter, I'd try the sound books or whatever they call them from the library as listening to it is easier than reading them. I think its Stephen Fry who is the narrator.

pukkamum

I get my sons books from the second hand shop or try freecycle i give my sons away on it as i would never throw books away.

richardw

Perhaps get some new ones and remove the ones you think he hasn't read without him noticing and then they can make an appearance at a later date as new ones, or is he old enough to notice?

Gingernutmeg

The Book People have lots of sets of children's books that are fairly cheap. If you look in the 'book ends' section they often have some real bargains I'd also recommend the Lemony Snicket books, they're great fun (although they might be a bit 'wordy' for him if he's reluctant to try 'hard' books - it might be worth just getting the first one and seeing how he goes )

Also, I can't remember where I found it now but a few months ago I was googling for a literacy project and I found a 'books for boys' booklist - I think it was published by the School Library Association (edit: found it here ). I'm sure if you google 'books for boys' you'd find it, or something similar. Lots of schools (usually private ones lol) also put book lists up on their websites, that can be a great way to find age-appropriate books for boys. Just google 'school reading list' and you'll find a few.

ginvzt

Ohh, school lists!!!!! Back home, when I was at school, we used to get lists of 50 odd books to read every year, and then we had to do discussions and repost on them in literature classes.... Hated this part, but I loved reading!