Exactly that I need suggestions for my son.
He has always enjoyed book but never really had the confidence to read a chapter book until recently. As you can imagine I want to encourage that as much as possible!
He’s easily overwhelmed so I want to start easy and simple, I’ve been considering Diary of a wimpy kid books and slowly growing to Roald Dahl.
He likes super heroes and fantasy. Any good series would be great 👍 any suggestions at all will be appreciated 🙏
TIA
by LauraMagoo
17 Comments
The Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander are medium-sized, and well worth the effort.
I hate the Diary of the Wimpy kids bc all the main character does is complain about school and his family. Highly recommend the Magic Tree house series, my son is also big into the “I Survived” series which is all about fantasy stories from past historical events, such as the Titantic. I read the Box Car Children and the Hardy Boys with him too. The language in that is a bit old fashion so I do need to explain to him that some words we don’t use anymore.
He might like The Secrets of Droon series by Tony Abbot. Pretty fast reads , the plots are not too complicated, and there are quite a few of them. Has he read Magic Tree House? Ranger in Time series was a big hit with my third graders back in the day, and grade six loved them, too.
Stuff my sons liked when they were the same age as yours:
* Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey
* The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff
* The Thieves of Ostia by Caroline Lawrence
* The Case of the Deadly Desperadoes by Caroline Lawrence
* Stig of the Dump by Clive King
* The White Mountains by John Christopher
* Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper
* The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
* The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
* Gentle Ben by Walt Morey
* Biggles Learns To Fly by Captain W. E. Johns
* The World According to Humphrey by Betty G. Birney
* The Hollow Land by Jane Gardam
* The Family At One End Street by Eve Garnett
* Goodnight Mr Tom by Michelle Magorian
* The Boy With The Bronze Axe by Kathleen Fiddler
* Coming Home by Jim Elridge
* The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford
* The Machine Gunners by Robert Westall
He’s read things like captain underpants, dogman and is interested in the Harry Potter series. He has said he would rather a series of books.
Thank you for the suggestions, I will write all these down and take it down to Waterstones.
When he’s happy to read longer books, the *Alex Rider* series go down really well at that age. Likewise, *Percy Jackson* is often a firm favourite.
If that’s a bit much for him at the moment, someone like Roald Dahl really is a solid place to start. David Walliams books, I’m thinking *Gangsta Granny* also go down well, though I’m not a huge fan myself.
These might be a bit too long right now, but the Septimus Heap books, starting with “Magyk”. I loved those as a kid. Very fun fantasy series.
Minor Mage by T Kingfisher (note that she also writes novels for adults, but if he likes Minor Mage then “Nine Goblins” and “A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking” by T Kingfisher would also be god for him)
You might also check out Diane Wynn Jones, she wrote a ton of fantasy for younger readers
How about classic sci-fi written for young boys in the ‘50-60s.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinlein_juveniles.
Have space suit will travel & Tunnel in the sky are old favorites
My brother got really into books around that age because he read Redwall by Brian Jacques. We ended up reading probably 15 books in the series.
This is an old one, but perfect for his age:
The View from the Cherry Tree by Willow Davis Roberts
Wings of Fire series
Books by Gordon Korman
Holes
Bunnicula
Goosebumps
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K Le Guin. Perfect for that age and reading level. Short but not shallow. As a bonus it is a strong influence on the Harry Potter books.
https://www.readbrightly.com/50-best-books-9-10-year-olds/
The Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan
He might enjoy the Edge Chronicles by Paul Stewart and Chris Ridell
And the Redwall series by Brian Jaques
Captian underpants is a good choice to look at over a dozen books and fun poop humor. Dav pilkey does a few good series.
Alien next door has a few books in the series.
My boys, age 8 and 10, love these two series called Escape From a Video Game and Trapped in A Video Game. By Dustin Brady.
Another series they enjoyed recently was Geronimo Stilton.