[BrianC]

I'm after some recommendations for some good books for my five year old daughter to read as she has nearly exhausted my limited children friendly library of Roald Dahl, Famous Five, The Dark Materials and Terry Prachetts children's books. She has also read and enjoyed Charlotte's Web.

I'm after recommendations to keep her from wasting her pocket money on Daisy Meadows Fairy books that can be read in thirty minutes yet cost £4 each. Obviously needs to be appropriate to her age content wise (rules out most adult Prachett for example) but should still be stretching her a little.

[Mac Man]

If she's read philip pullman's dark materials (respect!... considering her years) then Harry Potter is an obvious choice.

My 2 kids also enoyed the Darren Shan series (possibly a touch vampire - might be worth checking them out yourself first). But my 2 were a bit older when they started reading these.

Jaqueline Wilson's books are brilliant - and plenty of choice for quick reads

I should ask my Lizzie what else she likes

Originally Posted by BrianC

I'm after some recommendations for some good books for my five year old daughter to read as she has nearly exhausted my limited children friendly library of Roald Dahl, Famous Five, The Dark Materials and Terry Prachetts children's books. She has also read and enjoyed Charlotte's Web.

I'm after recommendations to keep her from wasting her pocket money on Daisy Meadows Fairy books that can be read in thirty minutes yet cost £4 each. Obviously needs to be appropriate to her age content wise (rules out most adult Prachett for example) but should still be stretching her a little.

[Knyght_byte]

try some of Enid Blytons other series if they are still in print such as Malory Towers....

or if she has any sci-fi leanings, there are a few Star Wars novels designed for younger children.....i'd imagine they concentrate more on emotion than sci-fi being written for kids...

trying hard to think of stuff i read when i was young...lol.....such a long time ago :/

[Chox1988]

Not quite sure how she is on reading but if shes reading dark materials this should be alright. Anthony Horowitz - the Alex rider series of books, Point Blanc etc. About a child spy, would be hard reading at that age but I enjoyed it .

[BrianC]

I suggested the Harry Potter books but she wasn't keen, I suspect she either sees them as boys books or she has picked up on disparaging remarks I've made about them to the wife. She might see the Darren Shan books as too boyish as well, and Star Wars and Alex Rider books definitely will be (as her twin brother has some of those), but I'll see what she says.

The Jaqueline Wilson books look right up her street, they aren't too short are they (a famous five will last her an afternoon and about as short as I like to go as she gets through so many books)? any recommendations for a starter one?

Same for Malory Towers as well, I'll pick up some of those too.

Shes pretty good at reading, the other night I got her to read a few pages of the Garden of Rama for a bet, the Misses accused me of cheating.

[Yandros]

I've just consulted my girlfriend, (lit graduate,who's turned our 3rd bedroom into a library!)

The Hobbit is an obvious choice (save LOTR for a year or two)
Chronicles of Narnia
Alice in Wonderland/Alice through the Looking Glass

She also suggested Old Possums Book of Practical Cats (if she fancies some poetry!) She said Harry Potter as well btw.

I certainly read The Hobbit at about 7, and The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe at 8-9ish.

[Pbryanw]

Beatrix Potter or is that for a younger audience? Unfortunately my mum got rid of my childhood library and my memory's failing me. Also the Neverending story by Michael Ende - quite big but easy to read - and much better then the eponymous film.

[Knyght_byte]

of course, The Narnia books! completely forgot about them...heh

lovely series of books.....and it works to read from LW&W first through them all, then go back and read the first book which is set before LW&W...forget its title now...

OH OH OH OH OH OH!!!!! 101 Dalmations and its sequel, The Starlight Barking....absolutely amazing books....

oh and in a couple years, Watership Down and The Plague Dogs.....

[FruitBat]

I think my daughter was about 7 before she started reading Harry Potter by herself. Certainly older than that with His Dark Materials. So rather than a recommendation for a 5 year old, I'll list some of the stuff my daughter read at around the same time as Rowling/Pullman (primary school age basically).

- Harry Potter: I would guess that she would enjoy this. I haven't met a child that didn't.

- Jacqueline Wilson: As stated above, plenty of choice.

- Lemony Snicket: (Series of Unfortunate Events series). I have read these as well and quite enjoyed them. Not to be judged by the film.

- Doomspell Trilogy by Cliff McNeish. I don't know much about this, but my daughter liked it.

- Michael Lawrence (Jiggy McCue stories) semed to be popular.

- Susan Gates (e.g. Killer Mushrooms Ate My Gran)

- Varjak Paw by S F Said.

She went through a phase of reading a lot of fantasy/sword and sorcery type things. Eragon was a favourite, but the "classic" stuff that she read (Hobbit, Narnia, Earthsea), I don't think she enjoyed as much.

There's probably loads more. Once they get into books, you spend your whole time putting up shelves.

As for Darren Shan, I've read these as well. I'm not sure about them for a young child. I would recommend that you read the first couple of chapters of Lord Loss and decide for yourself.

[BrianC]

I'd forgotten about poetry, she loved the poems in the reading books school used to give her when she was younger, I'll have to get her to try out Old Possums Book of Practical Cats, anything else similar to that?

I'd also forgotten about Alice in Wonderland, Narnia and the Earthsea books, the Earthsea books in particular should be a hit as we are all waiting for the UK release of the film. The Hobbit is on my to-do list for her, its one of my all time favourite books so I really want to read it together, I did this with the Twits (another book with a lot of good memories from my childhood) and we all really enjoyed it.

The Potter, Milne books and Wind in the Willows we read through when the twins were younger, they see them as a bit babyish now and they only come out when they want to read a story to younger children of our friends. Sad how they go through that stage. I'll have to make do with them reading Treasure Island, Robinson Crusoe, and Moby Dick although as I have leather backed versions I haven't been able to tempt them just yet.

Thanks for the other recommendations FruitBat, I'll be picking some of them up. I know what you mean about shelves, we recently moved the dinning room furniture into another room and turned the old dinning room into a library complete with five billy bookcases, all are now getting very full having spent a fortune on extra shelves. I dread to think how people store some of the really large collections on Librarything as I've only ~600 books.

[Mac Man]

Originally Posted by BrianC

I suggested the Harry Potter books but she wasn't keen, I suspect she either sees them as boys books or she has picked up on disparaging remarks I've made about them to the wife. She might see the Darren Shan books as too boyish as well, and Star Wars and Alex Rider books definitely will be (as her twin brother has some of those), but I'll see what she says.

My daughter is a mad keen Potter fan and has been since she was about 7. She's read all of them at least 6 times (probably more) and even now, at 14, she can't wait for the final instalment.

Have to say that JKR gets top marks in our house

Shame on you for being so disparaging about them

[PoochJD]

Hi,

You could always get your to give War And Peace a go. Should keep her nice and quiet for a while.

But in all seriousness, what about "Finn Family Moomintroll" by Tove Jannsen, which has just been reprinted by Puffin Books... and which I bought a copy for myself just a fortnight ago. A great kids book, and a nice reminder of the old kids TV show from the 1980's.

Elisabeth Beresford's "The Wombles" series, should also be a nice choice for her, as would any of Michael Bond's "Paddington Bear" titles. Admittedly, some may not be enough to really stretch her imagaination or brain, but might be worth borrowing from the local library.

Don't forget the Asterix books. They may be comic strips, but the name puns and humour should be fun for her to work out, e.g. Vitalstatistix, Getafix, etc.


Pooch

[jodenice]

I agree with the Narnia suggestion and am completely biased towards all Enid Blyton (Secret Seven, famous five) as these were what i grew up on.

Also though, for a bit of childish escape and mystery - what about Artemis Fowl (by Eoin Colfer) and also there are some fantastic ones by jenny Nimmo - a good one is a series about Charlie Bone - a boy who when he looks at photographs he can hear what they are saying!

Its fab to hear of children reading and enjoying it - even now I'd rather sit curled up with a book than watch TV!

[Ed Selley]

If she liked Charlotte's Web, I am sure that Dick King Smith would go down well.

[ash]

Just want to say congratulations!
5 Year old reading that well!
She must be really clever, so keep a keen eye on her studies, she might be a really clever person... who might be brainy.... thus find the cure for cancer.

LOL! Hope you don't think I'm dictating, I'm being positive.


Anyway..... I have a younger sister similar age, and she loves books. Gets through sooo many of them a week, gets tiring when we have to go library every week LOL!

Jacqueline Wilson is a very "girly" author, so she might like that, some illustrations in that as well.

Narnia books from C.S. Lewis I would reccomend, they are easier to read than Tolkien IMHO. There are tons of Narnia books maybe try one from the library, then if she likes it buy a nice boxset of all of them?

Alex Rider books are a bit boy-ish... but I did read them growing up
And Darren Shan, I've got all that collection signed by Darren himself, but never got round to reading them....

And why not sign up to a local library? If you are not already, they are amazing. Hundreds of books the choose from, and help your girl to be independent if she can choose her own books (but then she is 5) so might be hard.

Andother book is The Borrowers by Mary Norton.
There is also the books by Roald Dahl he wrote for older children, like The Tale of Henry Sugar (collection of 5or6 short stories I think), but some words are quite hard to understand, I don't even know the meaning of some myself. LOL!

I'll get some more later, but my opinion go to a library and borrow books. If you want to buy books, go library, find the ones you like, get the ISBN or something and buy them
Check out eBay as well

And there is the trilogy by Lian Hearn: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tales-Otori-.../dp/0330440608
Set in Far East in ancient times, great book. But has one "sex scene" but obviously it is not described. Not sure if you would want a 5 year old reading that, and has a lot of killing etc. like honour killings etc.

And there is the Horrible History series which is really good. Shows history in easy to manage chunks, like WWI, WWII, Romans, Ancient Greeks, Ancient Egyptians etc.
Also a Horrible Science from the same people, if she is into that.
These are non-fiction, but nothing wrong with learning about the past.


EDIT: Ahh... bless. Brings back soooo many memories... I stopped reading books now, only read 5-6 a year. Too much work and DVDs to find time to read books.

[Zeeks]

My son read and enjoyed the whole "Spiderwick Chronicles" set which are books about 3 youg kids who move into an old house and discover faieries and goblins and all sorts roaming around. Pretty good they are.

Theres a website here which would tell you more about them:

http://www.spiderwick.com/

[Amenemhat]

Have you tried the Artemis Fowl books

[BrianC]

Not tried any of the Artemis Fowl books, will add them to my list - any recommendations for a starting point?

Also added the Spiderwick Chronicles, they look right up her street.

The Borrowers is another one I'd forgotten about.

Not really keen on my local library, it doesn't have a big selection and they charge even the children for book orders, and then they take ages to turn up so you end up having a few on the go. I'd rather go to one of the second hand bookshops in the town and pick them up from there as it costs near enough the same and you get it straight away.

[Mac Man]

Here's a list of the Artemis fowl books

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis_Fowl

Fun stories (well I enjoy reading them)

[Amenemhat]

Here's Artemis

http://www.artemisfowl.com/

[ash]

If she really enjoys the Artemis Fowl books, you could propably pick up the special Artemis Fowl book made for World Book Day costing £1 or use the book voucher on eBay cheap.

[jodenice]

another suggestion - I used to love the Greek Mythology Tales (I still prefer the greek gods to any other) and when I was very young my mum bought me a fantastic book of Aesops Fables, very colourful, all with their moral twists! (I used to particularly love my mum reading the dog in the manger and sour grapes tales!)

[PoochJD]

HI,

I would recommend a copy of the Complete Grimms' Fairytales, of which this here is the version I own.

The only problem is, a lot of the stories have some quite dark and adult content, which may shock or upset your daughter. E.g. stories like Cinderella, Snow White, Hansel and Gretel, are not as child-friendly as many people think they are. In Cinderella, for example, she gets some of her fingers cut off, by the Ugly Sisters; in Snow White, there's a beheading, and in Hansel and Gretel, the old witch in the Gingerbread House is actually a woman who cannibalises kids, by burning them in her oven, and eating their flesh!

It's shocking, actually, how many of these stories people think they know, via the old Ladybird books or the Disney films, and then when you read the original short stories, they're actually very grim and horrifying! And the authors surname, Grimm, is not related to the tone of the stories, despite what you may think.


Pooch

[Mep]

Has she read the Wishing Chair books by Enid Blyton?......i remember enjoying them as a littlun.

[BrianC]

I'm not against the proper Grimm version of the stories assuming you can make the child understand what was wrong with the "bad guy" in the story. The only thing I definitely wouldn't want to expose five year olds to is sex, everything else should be ok in moderation and in proper frames of reference such as the easy to spot bad guy getting his just deserts. I'm strongly against the sexualisation of children, obviously I'm pro sex education, but thats getting way OT.

[BrianC]

Originally Posted by Mep

Has she read the Wishing Chair books by Enid Blyton?......i remember enjoying them as a littlun.

No, she hasn't read much Blyton other than a few Noddys (babyish now apparently) and most of the Famous Five.

[technoman28]

Have you tried any Anne Fine? A friend of ours works in a national bookstore chain and highly recommends her as an author. She writes for all ages, and her website www.annefine.co.uk has sections for the different classes of reader, from beginner to adult.

[FruitBat]

A couple more thoughts:

The Redwall series by Brian Jacques (www.redwall.org).

The Faraway Tree stories by Enid Blyton (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mag...ay_Tree_series)


Also, as someone mentioned Asterix, how about Tintin. We found it more popular than Asterix.

In fact, I've just remebered that I put loads of these into librarything some time ago. It's at http://www.librarything.com/catalog/Fruitbat_Kids. Reminded me of David Almond (Skellig) and Malorie Blackman.

[BrianC]

Heres the family library on librarything, I'm too tight to pay again for the kids to have their own ID.

Anne Fine looks class, I might need to read through some of the older books first.

How many books did Blyton actually write? I think she was a pseudonym for a syndicate of writers.

[FruitBat]

Originally Posted by BrianC

I'm too tight to pay again for the kids to have their own ID.

I'm too tight to pay full stop. I have several accounts all with less than 200 books.