What did you read?

dumpy

I've thought of another one.

The King of the Copper Mountain. Animals coming in to tell stories to a king to keep his heart ticking till the Doctor can get back.

Sneezy

The Hobbit
(The prequal to LOTR and easier to read as its aimed at 8-13 yo I think)

Not sure if its too young but Jacqueline Wilson book or old goosebumps, point horror (pick carefully as could cause nightmares!)

msb5262

Brilliant, brilliant suggestions from lots of people here!

Just remembered two more great books: Carbonel, and The Kingdom of Carbonel, by Barbara Sleigh.
Dated but very good indeed - funny and exciting. I'd also recommend anything Michelle Magorian has written. She's great.

Another dramatic one is Children on the Oregon Trail by A. Rutgers Van Der Loeff - based on a true story.

I personally don't rate Horrid Henry books at all; they are so formulaic, it hurts.
Similarly, Sweet Valley High, Babysitters Club, fairy series, Lucy Daniels animal series...
...but whatever does it for your child is not to be scorned.

Bear in mind that if a book is a bit too hard for your child to read, it may well be perfect for you to read aloud to your child (and that way you can explain any hard words and discuss any issues which might arise naturally from the story).

I have really enjoyed reading this thread and seeing how many others love my favourite books. It's great!

I'm hoping everyone who wants to find some of these will start at their local library, requesting books. If you don't have any luck, you can usually get them second hand online - I'd much rather have a well-worn hardback than a cheap new paperback. If it's for a present, you could always put a pretty paper cover on a tatty hardback...very vintage-looking!

Happy reading to all!

MsB

Nephthys

I think I read anything I could get my hands on -

all Enid Blyton (Malory Towers, St Clare's, Naughtiest Girl, Toyland, Secret 7, Famous 5, 5 Find-Outers and Dog, Eight Cousins, Six Cousins at Mistletoe Farm and its sequel, and anything else I could find)
The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett - think I read a couple others of hers as well
Tom's Midnight Garden
Goodnight Mister Tom
All the Laura Ingalls Wilder books
The Peppermint pig - Nina Bawden
Blue Misty Monsters
Moondial
What Katy Did, What Katy Did At School, What Katy Did Next, Clover (also rediscovered on Kindle!)
Robinson Crusoe
Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer
Gulliver's Travels
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Alice's Adventures In Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass - think this was part of a big Lewis Carroll Set
All the Louisa May Alcott books
Heidi
All the Anne of Green Gables books (think there were about 8)
All the CS Lewis books - Lion, Witch, Wardrobe etc
Black Beauty
Treasure Island
Call Of The WIld - Jack London
Anything by Roald Dahl
All Beatrix Potter books (Peter Rabbit etc)
The Wind in the Willows
Charlotte's Web
Stig of the Dump
Five Children and It
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase
Watership Down
The Little Vampire books - Angela Sommer-Bodenburg

There were loads of others but I can't remember them all. I couldn't put books down! Still can't! Lol!

Hope your daughter enjoys whatever you get for her!

lostinrates

Nephthys wrote: »

I think I read anything I could get my hands on -

all Enid Blyton (Malory Towers, St Clare's, Naughtiest Girl, Toyland, Secret 7, Famous 5, 5 Find-Outers and Dog, Eight Cousins, Six Cousins at Mistletoe Farm and its sequel, and anything else I could find)
The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett - think I read a couple others of hers as well
Tom's Midnight Garden
Goodnight Mister Tom
All the Laura Ingalls Wilder books
The Peppermint pig - Nina Bawden
Blue Misty Monsters
Moondial
What Katy Did, What Katy Did At School, What Katy Did Next, Clover (also rediscovered on Kindle!)
Robinson Crusoe
Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer
Gulliver's Travels
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Alice's Adventures In Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass - think this was part of a big Lewis Carroll Set
All the Louisa May Alcott books
Heidi
All the Anne of Green Gables books (think there were about 8)
All the CS Lewis books - Lion, Witch, Wardrobe etc
Black Beauty
Treasure Island
Call Of The WIld - Jack London
Anything by Roald Dahl
All Beatrix Potter books (Peter Rabbit etc)
The Wind in the Willows
Charlotte's Web
Stig of the Dump
Five Children and It
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase
Watership Down
The Little Vampire books - Angela Sommer-Bodenburg

There were loads of others but I can't remember them all. I couldn't put books down! Still can't! Lol!

Hope your daughter enjoys whatever you get for her!

I'd forgotten all about Moondial. The Laura Ingalls Wilder books are wonderful, and IMO, Anne of Green Gables, but the later ones in Anne's life when she's a mother and her children are the main characters are loveier, and better still -IMO- by LM Montgomery are the ''Emily'' books...but they seem quite hard to get hold of. These books have given me a life long desire to visit Prince Edward Island!

re the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, I think all the others in the series are better:o but read sequencially they give a much better and wonderful world to appreciate and draw metaphorical inference from.

stiltwalker

Pretty much all of the above (provided they were published pre 89) I read copious quantities and still do. It was not unusual to go to the library twice a week as I could only have 3 books on my junior card plus two from the school library. Favourites were Arthur Ransom - I knew the theory of sailing long before I set foot in a boat. All the Anne books, Nancy Drew and the Hardy boys. I was desperate to go to boarding school as I thought it must be like Mallory Towers. The Borrowers, all the E Nesbits, Something called the Minipins which I loved and read over and over. The Moomintrolls, Lewis and Carroll and when I had read the children's shelves dry (by about 10) my mum set me off on Agatha Christie on the grounds there was no sex or gory bits but it may explain my present day crime fiction addiction!

There are so many more wonderful kids and young teen books now - I'm so looking forward to my two getting to that age. If you're not familiar with the recent stuff I bet a librarian or a good independent book seller would be able to point you in the right direction.

snit_girl

I loved reading at that age too. The ones I remember are Goodnight Mister Tom, the Goosebumps series, the Worst Witch but they might have been from when I was a little older. At around 8 I think I had loads of Brer Rabbit books, couldn't get enought of them as they're full of small individual stories, and the Little Vampire series of books.

neverdespairgirl

lostinrates wrote: »

OTOH I can't stand most Dickenls, and I'm sure that was from trying too kmuch too young and being somewhat bored. Maybe in serialisation it might have been more enjoyable to a young but enthusiastic reader!

I've never liked Dickens much. His female characters are all pretty awful, and the whole lot would benefit from some enthusiastic red-penning.

Ditto Middlemarch. I did that for A level, and loathed it.

neverdespairgirl

milliebear00001 wrote: »

I enjoyed all those books immensely in my mid-teens, but they really aren't suitable for an eight year old!

I don't think they require an older audience. All of those I read and enjoyed before I left primary school, and re-read and enjoyed them all over again later.

neverdespairgirl

lostinrates wrote: »

I'd forgotten all about Moondial. The Laura Ingalls Wilder books are wonderful

I read and enjoyed them as a child. Then I re-read them all a few years ago, and while enjoying them again, found I had quite a different view. The romantic "Pa" I'd seen as a child now seemed like a pretty selfish git.