Book suggestions for 7 year old.

[Lothlorien]

Missy's on a reading frenzy lately. I can barely keep up with the library. I got her 7 books on Monday. She's finished them already. She's into Junie B. Jones and the Magic Treehouse series. She couldn't get into the Cam Jansen books, yet. Since she has almost finished all of the Junie B. Jones books, we are running out of books. I'm not sure what else is out there. What do/did your seven year olds like to read?

 

[totoro]

I loved the Beverly Cleary books at that age, all of them.

 

[tiredmommy]

Charlotte's Web, Where the Sidewalk Ends, Little House, American Girl & Judy Blume all get checked out regularly at our school library. :smile:

 

[DazedandConfused]

Here are some series to check into:

Judy Moody

Geronimo Stilton

Katie Kazoo Switcheroo

Franny K. Stein

Dear Dumb Diary

With the exception of Geronimo Stilton (he's a mouse), all have a female as the main character. Also, lots of books in the series.

 

[DazedandConfused]

Just thought of some more...

Way Side School series by Sacher

Disney Faire series

Also ANY picture book by Laurie Keller, especially Scrambled States of America. Yes, they are picture books, but there is lots of vobabulary and small hilarious captions. My kids love them and they are ALWAYS checked out. They never see the shelf.

 

[JJJ]

Nancy Drew series (might be a little hard, but then it'd slow her down :smile:

 

[DammitJanet]

Is Trixie Beldon still around? She was a younger version of Nancy Drew. And of course there is the Bobsey twins. Cant remember the ages on them. Been years since my kids were little.

 

[Lothlorien]

Well, we just got back from the library. Yes, Janet I did see Trixie Beldon on the shelves. They looked a little intimidating for Missy, so I didn't get any, Since she didn't get into Cam Jansen, another detective-type series.

Thank you for all your suggestions. I looked up all the authors and we ended up getting several suggestions that you made. We got 9 books today. Maybe that will last her until the weekend.

 

[DazedandConfused]

Here's another that comes to mind:

Just another for the list.

My Weird School series by Dan Gutman

The first one is called "Miss Daisy is Crazy".

Lots of books in that series too.

 

[Lothlorien]

I think I saw a couple of those on the shelves, too. thanks.

 

[Marguerite]

Is "Babysitter's Little Sister" series around? it was a spin-off of the "Babysitters Club" series, same author but written for younger readers. Good stuff.

I always make a point of reading what the kids read - I can whip through a little kid's book in a fraction of the time they take and once I've read it I can discuss it with them, ask them what they think of what this character said or did, basically workshop it with them.

If you get to the stage where she'd read everything apparently available, go read your own way through the childrens' shelves.

Classics that come to mind - Dr Dolittle (Hugh Lofting). "My Family and Other Animals" by Gerald Durrell (a lot of fun, maybe a bit challenging but within the range of a bright, well-read 7 year old).
And my absolute favourite author - Terry Pratchett. He's written the "Discworld" series of books for adult/older readers, they've been described as "Tolkien on acid", it's fantasy satire. But he's written some lovely stuff for kids. I would strongly recommend "Wee Free Men" which difficult child 3 is close to finishing (difficult child 3 finds reading ANY fiction book a challenge). Read this book aloud to her, you will enjoy it too. It's about a young girl whose baby brother gets kidnapped by the Queen of the fairies (who is NOT a nice person) and who has to go to rescue him, even though she doesn't like him very much. On the way she is helped by some "Pict-sies" who are like a band of miniature Billy Connollys. It is safe topics for children, although you might worry, with the Pictsies as they're a rough lot, who got thrown out of Fairyland for being drunk & disorderly. Tiffany lives on a farm and wants to grow up to be a witch, like her Granny. In this 'universe' witches are more like the Wise Women of folklore, the ones who help at the coalface of humanity.

There are another two books in the Tiffany Aching series - "Hat Full of Sky" and "Wintersmith". They are funny and thought-provoking books.

Another suggestion - see if you can find "I, Robot" by Isaac Asimov. They are short stories and should be readable as much by a child as an adult.

I'll keep thinking, see if I can come up with more.

Marg

 

[LittleDudesMom]

My easy child absolutely loved the Bailey School Kids series. It's stuff like "My Gym Teacher is a Werewolf", "My Bus Driver is An Angel", crazy stuff. She used to ready in the morning while eating her cereal she loved those books so much. There were tons and tons of them.

Sharon

 

[SRL]

A lot of the series books are detective/mystery stuff.

Trixie is geared for starting around 5th grade.

Boxcar Children! My oldest spent an entire summer reading and rereading!

Little House beginners chapter books (not sure if they're still in print)

Horribly Harry

There's a newer series out by Random House about fairies--The Trouble with Tink, Beck and the Great Berry Battle, etc. These are longer but the girls like them. If you head to the bookstore you'll find a number of other fairy series in recent print but I've not read any of them. Ditto with fantasy if she likes that.

Also a little longer but you might try the Animal Ark series. My 8 year old really likes them.

 

[SRL]

My resident 8 year old daughter/book lover/advanced reader just woke up.

She said to add A to Z Mysteries, poetry by Jack Prelutsky to the list, and the My America series.

Mrs. Piggle Wiggle is fun but not always the easiest to read.

Also Loth, at this age I think it's ideal to expose them to books at all three levels: read-a-louds that are just beyond their reach, stage level books, plus easier picture books for light reading.

 

[Lothlorien]

I think you're right SRL. The books that she can't seem to get into...like Cam Jansen and we got her a geronimo stilton book, that she couldn't "get into" so husband started reading that to her last night. I suggested that he read the books that she couldn't get into. The Gernonimo Stilton book looked adorable and funny, but it was over her head, I think, unless an adult reads it, the way it's supposed to be read.

She likes her chapter books. She finished one of the Franny K. Stein books last night. She also likes the Anholt/Robbins books that are filled with artwork through the book. They are about 70 pages and she finishes them in about 45 minutes. They are spoofs on typical storybook stuff....like Jack and the BeanStack or Snow White and the 7 Aliens. There are about 8 books, she's read them all now.

She also has to bring books home from school. They have different levels. She's reading the highest level in her class, but many of them are really easy picture books.

 

[Marguerite]

Beatrix Potter books? Stories like Squirrel Nutkin, Jemima Puddleduck, Tom Kitten, Mrs Tiggywinkle, Jeremy Fisher, A tale of Two Bad Mice, Peter Rabbit, Benjamin Bunny, The Tailor of Gloucester and many others. They were made small for little hands and are a delightful read. There is also an animated TV series with Niamh Cusack as Beatrix Potter, in the introductory bits. Lovely stuff. But very 1910 England.

I'm afraid a lot of my suggestions will be very Australian/English because that still is a strong cultural influence for us.

An Aussie book for you to try to get (maybe from the library) is "Possum Magic" by Mem Fox. It may be slightly young for her, I don't know, it's a lovely picture book about Hush the possum who has a granny possum who is magic. She can make Hush invisible to keep her safe from predators, but one day she forgets the ingredients for the spell to make Hush visible again. So they set off around Australia to find the magic ingredients - and it's a walk through Australian cities and food with Hush gradually becoming more visible.
A lovely story about identity, family love and never giving up. It's quite short, but the sort you can read over and over. I know it's been published in the US.

I'll keep thinking.

Marg

 

[Kjs]

lemony snicket series. (sp??) difficult child loved them. She may be to young for that though. No pictures.