Hello 🙂
My daughter is 8, though school has said she reads at a 10 year old level, and absolutely eats books. She reads so fast and reading is her favourite hobby. I really liked the Harry Potter series as a kid, but nowadays I do agree with many saying that the representation of various different groups wasn’t good, JK has gone of the deep end and I don’t want to give her a book which presents an autistic coded character (Luna Lovegood) and labels them a weirdo.
I would love to give her a big book which she can get her teeth stuck into, not worryingly problematic, fun, British if possible as she’s still learning to spell. Perhaps a series even. She finishes a book designed for her age group in an afternoon. I just want something which might last her a bit longer, but also not be scary/inappropriate for her age.
She has read so many books of different genres, but particularly likes anything which has cats. She has already read the worst witch series.
Thank you for your time.
by Bluebeetlebug
21 Comments
A Series of Unfortunate Events series might be a little scary but is a big series, thick books and the characters are smart, capable and definitely quite offbeat. You could also try The Hobbit, or other classic kids books (Chronicles of Narnia, The Phantom Tollbooth) which tend to be longer and have more complex language.
Try the Murder Most Unladylike series by Robin Stevens.
Not at all problematic, British, plenty of books to enjoy.
Warriors series by Erin Hunter. It’s about cats. I haven’t read it, but when I was teaching, it was very popular with upper elementary kids (ages 10-12)
I read the Bartimaeus Trilogy as a 7 or 8 year old reading a bit ahead of my age group. It’s about an alternate history where Britain is run by magicians who summon spirits à la King Solomon. If you’re religious some of the terminology around demons and such might bother you but it’s not that bad. Each book is on the thicker side and I think the whole series is a couple thousand pages. Best of luck!
Maybe His Dadk Materials? Though I haven’t read it myself so would be great if someone else could confirm it’s not too scary!
She might enjoy the Molly Moon books. No cats but there is a pet pug called Petula. I read the first 4 books as a kid but I think there are more.
John Flanagan,
Sherwood Smith,
Tamora Pierce,
How about The Circle of Magic series by Tamora Pierce. It’s her series for younger readers. If she likes it, there are many other books by Pierce to read as well including her Song of the Lioness Quartet.
You want the Tiffany Aching series by Terry Pratchett. Start with The Wee Free Men. Is she likes those then as she gets older she can progress into the other Discworld books. There’s over 40 so plenty to keep going with.
Some series to consider:
The Marvellers
The Worst Witch
Strangeworlds Travel Agency
Rick Riordan Presents …
Dragon’s Green
Murder Most Unladylike
Artezans
Amari and the Night Brothers
The Chrestomanci Chronocles by Diana Wynne Jones
The Charlie Bone series by Jenny Nimmo. Also her Magician series but those are shorter books and fewer.
Redwall. There are loads in the series. I adored it.
Phantom tollbooth, charlottes web, lion the witch and the wardrobe, Alice in wonderland
Alkatraz vs The Evil Librarians might fit. Not horribly long but there are a few of them.
(Following, I have a similar kiddo.)
Anne of Green Gables
Maybe “A Wrinkle in Time,” by Madeline L’engal? I can’t remember my age when I read it, but I read it 12 times in the same year. Magic.
My autistic kiddo started with the Warriors books at about that age – there’s like 100+ of them and we just bought them in big bundles on Kindle. Basically any library will have them as well. Once he finished those we started him on Terry Pratchett and he LOVED them. He also enjoyed the Oz books, which you can get all together as literally one single giant ebook! Took him some time to get through those. Now he’s doing the Otherland series by Tad Williams.
The Neverending Story is quite long and great. It will be a challenging read for an 8 year old and it does have some scary bits and sad bits. Look into a bit, if you don’t think she’s quite ready, hold onto it for when she is.
Miss peregrines home for peculiar children. So good and it’s a series.