Books for precocious reader

[Fuschia]

Hi, DS1 is 8 but is a very good reader and has gobbled up Harry Potter and the like.. Wayward School...How to train your dragon.. Charlie Bone... and more other sets than I can recall!

Anyone got any suggestions for books he might like? Series are good as once he reads one he wants to read more ...

[Clazza]

if he's ok on Harry Potter you could look at the Maximum ride series by James Patterson.

[Yak]

I can't remember what age I started reading them, but the Swallows and Amazons books by Arthur Ransome and the Hal and Roger adventure series by Willard Price were firm favourites in our house.

[Ondine]

Anthony Horowitz is great - there's a crime series that might be good for his age - think my DD was 8 when she got into them.

[Fuschia]

Thanks. Will try those. We have the Swallows and Amazons series already I just remembered.

[Yak]

Also CS Lewis' Narnia series might be worth a try...

[gwod]

Ted Hughes - The Iron man

Varjak Paw series by SF Said (quite an easy read, it even has some pictures, but deals with good issues for kids)

Philip Pulman - I was a rat

Stig of the Dump

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase

Incidentally I was trying to get my kids to read Swallows and Amazons last year as I had enjoyed it so much as a kid, but I think it reads quite turgidly these days - my kids didnt like it much - and now I've looked at it more closely I can see why...have alook at the text before you recommend it to him. Not true of Stig who reads as well now as he ever did!!

[BeccaL]

The Percy Jackson series, and poss Skullduggery Pleasant?

[ladyruskin]

My nephew enjoyed Eoin Colfer/Artimis Fowle (sp?) books and the Eragon series (not sure who that's by though...) at that age.

[Fuschia]

Yak Wrote:

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> Also CS Lewis' Narnia series might be worth a

> try...

dp recently read him the whole series but he might like to repeat them, alone...

[Fuschia]

gwod Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Ted Hughes - The Iron man

> Varjak Paw series by SF Said (quite an easy read,

> it even has some pictures, but deals with good

> issues for kids)

> Philip Pulman - I was a rat

> Stig of the Dump

> The Wolves of Willoughby Chase

>

> Incidentally I was trying to get my kids to read

> Swallows and Amazons last year as I had enjoyed it

> so much as a kid, but I think it reads quite

> turgidly these days - my kids didnt like it much

> - and now I've looked at it more closely I can see

> why...have alook at the text before you recommend

> it to him. Not true of Stig who reads as well now

> as he ever did!!

Agreed re S &A I started reading Pigeon Post to him and the text is quite longwinded. We have a version of S*A on Cd which is brilliant though

[Fuschia]

He has just read all the Percy Jackson.. oddly I ordered Stig and Iron Man last night, he has read some Eoin Colfer, i will get more of that and some of the other ideas.

Thanks all, more ideas welcome

[ryedalema]

Have you done the Philip Pullman ones yet? Or are they a bit old?. I loved them all and am a big kid (loved HP too!)

[Fuschia]

I got them on CD RD, but some other mums said they might be a bit dark .. is an issue when you read ahead of your age I think.

[ryedalema]

Totally agree - are they any darker than HP though? I got pretty scared by Mister Potter's antics in places (well not that scared, but then Scooby doo scares me):-$

[Keef]

I loved the Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander. Much better than Narnia in my opinion. Would really recommend them if he likes that sort of thing, which it sounds like he does. Others that spring to mind would be "A tale of time city" and "Howl's moving castle", both by Diana Wynne Jones.

[Fuschia]

Great, lots to be going on with there!

[BeccaL]

It might be worth a trip to Tales on Moon Lane in Herne Hill - they have a great section at the back with lots of choices to browse, and are probably pretty good at suggesting (don't know this for a fact, as haven't asked, but they are a good well-informed book shop)

[alieh]

Something a bit different, but I loved Gordon Korman (Canadian) around that age. It appears that he has written tons since I last read him (back in the early 80s) and I don't know anything about his new stuff, but from the list at the attached link I remember the MacDonald Hall series and lots of the older books in the "Novels" section, especially "No Coins Please":

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/k/gordon-korman/

[alieh]

I also just had a flashback remembering how much I loved this book around that age:

http://www.amazon.com/Banner-Sky-James-Ramsey-Ullman/dp/0064470482

[Polly D]

He sounds like my nephew (aged 10 but English not his first language). He loves The Famous Five. Any good?

[Fuschia]

Polly D Wrote:

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> He sounds like my nephew (aged 10 but English not

> his first language). He loves The Famous Five. Any

> good?

He has worked his way through a few though he refers the Wishing tree etc

I forget what other Enid Blyton is about magic...

[ryedalema]

Aww - I loved Enid Blyton. The Magic Faraway Tree was my favourite.

What about Roald Dahl??

(Wish i was a kid again!!)

[Polly D]

I loved the Faraway Tree series! There was a series about a magic chair too:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wishing_Chair_%28series%29

Or he could try the Borrowers? or Emil and the Detectives?

[Fuschia]

Hmm, I conflated the faraway tree series (which he has def read in its entirety) and the Wishing Tree (not sure if he has read all 3)

Any more Blyton magic stories?