Hi everyone! I found this community while searching for books for my niece. She’s turning 8 in a month and her reading level is above the 6th grade, I’m so proud of her and want to find new series I can buy as gifts.
Even though she’s an advanced reader, she’s still only 8 and can be sensitive to certain themes (like family loss/death or scary and dark storylines).
She have read and enjoyed Dork Diaries, Magic Tree House, The New Girl, The Baby-Sitters Club, Baby-Sitters Little Sister, Dog Man, and Dragon Masters.
For Christmas, I’m buying her The Land of Stories, The Wild Robot, and Mr. Lemoncello’s Library.
I’d love more recommendations.
I would love to challenge her, but also not introduce her to something she's not ready for. I heard "Wings of Fire" but not sure if its appropriate for her yet.
Thank you so much in advance!
by PutridEngineering111
24 Comments
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. It’s only a single book though.
The Psammead trilogy by E Nesbit. It’s older and the language is old fashioned.
Encyclopedia Brown by Donald J. Sobol!!!
I love those books when I was that age. They play like mysteries and at the end you get a chance to try to solve the mystery before you read what the actual solution is. They were so much fun!!!
Would The Hobbit interest her?
Red wall by Brian Jacques
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente. I genuinely enjoyed this one as an adult and wished I read it when I was younger. This is the first book of the Fairyland series btw.
Bunnicula, an oldie but a goodie because who doesn’t love suspected vampire rabbits?
the One and Only Ivan and series. No deaths, a little sad but ends happily. Anything by Applegate is wonderful
The Woofmore and sequels
The Menagerie by Tui T Sutherland. A lonely kid finds a secret zoo of magical creatures and gets to work there.
This is by the same author as Wings of Fire. You’d be fine with those ones, too. My kid started reading them in grade 1 or 2 and coped with the content with no issues
My kid started reading the Wings Of Fire graphic novels at age 8 and was hooked. You could check one out from your library and see if she likes it!
Ooh maybe try The Princess Academy by Shannon Hale!
The Hobbit!!!
The Vanderbeekers series is great! Siblings get into all kinds of shenanigans trying to keep their family from being evicted from their apartment home.
Emily Windsnap is a fun series about a girl who discovers she’s half mermaid.
Books by Katherine Applegate and Kate DiCamillo are all great!
My kids also loved the 13 Story Treehouse books. They are FUN.
Nevermoor series, one & only Ivan series, the girl who drank the moon, secret keepers, mysterious Benedict society series
Susan Cooper’s “The Dark Is Rising” (Arthurian Legend), Lloyd Alexander’s Vesper Holly and his Westmark Series, The Westing Game, and Le Guin’s Earthseas.
I always recommend Jonathan Stroud!
Moomins, Pippi Longstocking, The Magical Faraway Tree, the Green Knowe books, The Box of Delights and The Midnight Folk, the Anne of Green Gables books…
Lucky her to have you in her life! HOpe you enjoy the books together.
if she likes horses The Black Stallion series is fantastic. a little scary at times (they’re shipwrecked in the first book)
Charlotte’s Web
Ginger Pye
Jenny Linsky books
Clementine book series by Sara Pennypacker
Keepers of the Lost Cities has kept my avid reader’s attention for years.
The Boxcar Children!
Greenglass House
The Very, Very Far North
The Eyes and the Impossible
At that age I loved Anne of Green Gables -maybe Wrinkle In Time for her too?
Amari books by Alston are good. My 8 yo is reading them now and while there are some words he struggles with, he loves the story. He’s a level M or N if I recall. But it starts out with her searching for her missing brother.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – my son read them too and he found them pretty easy.
I also agree with the person who said The Hobbit. I was about that age when I first read it, then went into LotR.
On a similar reading level as Dragon Masters is Eerie Elementary – the school is alive (iirc, but maybe haunted) so could be a little scary.