Looking for quality books for 7 year old

Rachel_Mac

Most books written for children of 6/7/8 are written with simple language, for the child to read for herself. My daughter is 7 and just starting to learn to read and I'm looking for books where the content is appropriate for that age, but with more imaginative language that I can read to her. We've loved Milly Molly Mandy and Mrs Pepperpot, and collections of short stories by Isabel Wyatt. Can anyone recommend some others.

I have already ruled out Harry Potter etc as too old for now. I'm sure that she will enjoy these when she's reading by herself at about 9. It has occured to me that there might be more 'european/scandinavian options, as their children also start to read later. Does anyone have any gems from their own childhood that have been out of fashion and forgotten?

ailuro2

Secret Unicorn is easy to read, but long enough to share a chapter a night.

Crazychik

My neighbour is full of fantastic ideas, she told me about a puzzle/adventure book called Usbourne. they start of as a story, and you chose which path to follow, everytime you read the book, you end up with a different ending. My DD will be 7 next week, and she enjoys them.

They have different age catorgories also. I got mine from e-bay
HTH

hardpressed

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett is a lovely story, I read it as a child and still read it now, it's a good story for helping a child to use her imagination, as the descriptions help you to build a picture in your mind. The Narnia series, The lion, the witch and the wardrobe etc. are also good to read out loud. Do you take your daughter to the library, it's a great way of encouraging a love of reading, it's like going to a good bookshop and choosing books for free, very MSE.

Rachel_Mac

hardpressed wrote:

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Thanks hardpressed, I'd forgotten about this one! I've just remembered The Borrowers as well, I loved those when I was younger.

Revenge_of_the_Red_Devil

What about the BabySitters club?

Nicki

My son (nearly 7) is a big fan of Horrid Henry (loads of books in the series by Francesca Simon). The stories are all about a naughty boy, who lives with his brother, Perfect Peter, and gets into lots of scrapes. They are well written and language is all very varied - we often go through the story looking for all the different words which the author has used to describe the way people are walking or talking for example, and try to act out what she meant. They also raise interesting issues for discussion - eg parents who favour one child over another, sibling rivalry, etc. He is an advanced reader and can read the stories for himself, but also loves having them read to him.

Still on naughty children, he also likes the Amelia Jane stories by Enid Blyton. I find them a bit twee myself, but again the use of language is quite interesting and descriptive, and because they are quite old now, it's interesting to discuss the differences between how people lived then and now.

Jacqueline Wilson has written a few books for this age group, which are also good, though I think a lot of her stuff is aimed at a slightly older market.

I often come across new finds by looking on either the Book people website or redhouse online, both of whom classify their books according to the age at which they are targeted, and do mixed bundles of books at heavily discounted prices. Its not unheard of for us to buy a mixed collection of about 20 or so books for under a tenner from here, and pass off any which don't suit to friends as presents.

lil_me

Have you tried taking her to the library and choosing some to see what she likes first, try before you buy the MSE way

hobo28

At that age, my daughter's reading was good too. She liked quite a few of the Enid Blyton one's. There was one about a magic tree, name escapes me but she loved that one.

Like me she enjoyed Secret 7 better than Famous 5.

Rachel_Mac

Some interesting ideas here, thanks everyone.

We used to use the library a lot, but we've got out of the habit. It was fine when we were at the picture book stage, but I don't want to get into any 'reading programs' or easy readers or whatever. The Babysitters Club and J Wilson still look a little old for my DD, but I'll be keeping them in mind for later!

The Faraway Tree, hobo! Moonface and friends - they've changed some of the names you know.

What did you all read as children? Any classics I need to know about?

AnnieH

My dd loves Roald Dahl books. They're fantastic for that age to read independently. Also Jacqueline Wilson and Enid Blyton books are great for that age. I'm just starting on A Series of Unfortunate events for my dd who's just turned 8. They have simple language and easy to read text. Although it is American so the spellings are sometimes a bit different.