Fiction for 6 year old boy

iammumtoone

have you asked him of thought about why he prefers non-fiction?

My son reads both, the reason he likes non-fiction is not just because he likes reading facts, its the way the books are laid out, lots of pictures and short sections of text.

A fiction book tends to be less pictures (not in colour) and bigger blocks of texts, it can put a child off.

I suggest books to start with are diary of the wimpy kid or Tom gates, theses books have lots of pictures / different font styles per page so are not so 'scary' looking.

Smodlet

I can't believe it has taken me so long to remember this: The Land of Green Ginger by Noel Langley. I have just quoted from it in another post! There is some serious wisdom in there, imho and somewhat of a subtext for adults - nothing iffy at all, I promise you. I can still remember our grandad reading that to my sister and myself when we were that kind of age, she was six (I think) so I would have been eight. He put on different voices for each of the wicked princes... I feel old.

maman

iammumtoone wrote: »

have you asked him of thought about why he prefers non-fiction?

My son reads both, the reason he likes non-fiction is not just because he likes reading facts, its the way the books are laid out, lots of pictures and short sections of text.

A fiction book tends to be less pictures (not in colour) and bigger blocks of texts, it can put a child off.

I suggest books to start with are diary of the wimpy kid or Tom gates, theses books have lots of pictures / different font styles per page so are not so 'scary' looking.

I suspect his teacher wants him to read fiction to give him a model for writing in Key Stage 2. At his current level he'll have been focusing on spelling, grammar and sentence construction. As he gets older he'll need to recognise the techniques and devices that authors use and try to use them himself in his writing. It's a generalisation, but boys often find this sort of imaginative writing difficult and it can affect their test results. If he's really good at everything else, it makes sense for him to focus on what he needs to develop.

Savvy_Sue

We ran a book table at a Jumble Trail earlier today, which has led to a lot of 'oh gosh, remember this?' moments ...

I'm not sure what age they're appropriate for, but 'The Magician's House' series by William Corlett might be worth looking out for. They were serialised for BBC some time ago.

Then there was the Redwall series by Brian Jacques, possibly for an older age group. DS1 enjoyed these: I found them slightly predictable and with a clear division between 'good' and 'bad' animals, which basically boiled down to whether or not they ate meat ...

Also, it's worth doing a google for 'children's fiction' plus whatever subject you think might appeal. I just did that for astronomy, and found a fantastic looking list here. It says for third grade so I'm not sure what that is in English money! It also brought up Julia Jarman with some about a time travelling cat, don't know what age that would be good for.

And another suggestion is that if either he or you have a half-decent library nearby, then it's always worth making friends with the librarian and asking what they might have on the shelves.

lindens

iammumtoone wrote: »

have you asked him of thought about why he prefers non-fiction?

My son reads both, the reason he likes non-fiction is not just because he likes reading facts, its the way the books are laid out, lots of pictures and short sections of text.

A fiction book tends to be less pictures (not in colour) and bigger blocks of texts, it can put a child off.

I suggest books to start with are diary of the wimpy kid or Tom gates, theses books have lots of pictures / different font styles per page so are not so 'scary' looking.

I think you hit the nail on the head. I gave him a horrid henry book, 5 mins after being glued to it on the tv, and he just baulked at the vastness of the text in front of him saying he couldn't do it.
I just got hold of some wimpy kid and I think he'll really like that layout
thanks

lindens

maman wrote: »

I suspect his teacher wants him to read fiction to give him a model for writing in Key Stage 2. At his current level he'll have been focusing on spelling, grammar and sentence construction. As he gets older he'll need to recognise the techniques and devices that authors use and try to use them himself in his writing. It's a generalisation, but boys often find this sort of imaginative writing difficult and it can affect their test results. If he's really good at everything else, it makes sense for him to focus on what he needs to develop.

this is what his school report said. and I discussed this with him. I told him he will be writing his own stories next year but it would be good for him to read other people's stories to get ideas etc and for him to learn new words.

lindens

We joined the library and the BFR. he took away 2 books, 1 fiction and 1 non-fiction. he has read the non fiction book twice already.

Savvy_Sue

I'm sure they've been suggested, but both TinTin and Asterix books have words, but also pictures, and the subjects are not typical fiction. Asterix is full of history, and TinTin covers travel, science fiction etc.