11 Plus Exams Forum

Hi all,

Could you please recommend some good books/ reading material for an 8 year old boy.

Thanks

Philip Pullman - His Dark Materials
Derek Landy - Skulduggery Pleasant
Louis Sachar - Holes
Simon Mayo - Itch

Sd

The books above are great but would have been beyond my 8 year old son, mainly because of content but partly because of style. He loved the Grk series by Josh Lacey, the Mission Survival series by Bear Grylls, the Trapped series by Enid Blyton and the Harry Potter books at this sort of age. The Tumtum and Nutmeg books by Emily Bearn are great too.
For me the most important thing was encouraging his love of reading past the tiresome Beast Quest stage - which meant finding books that were fast paced and exciting to him.

A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemoney Snicket kept mine amused and as a bonus there's a film to watch after.
Agree Itch is great too especially if they love science.
Skulduggery Pleasant was also enjoyed.

Thank you all

Definitely Lemony Snicket at that age. I hated them but my children loved them & it got them reading regularly. We also had CDs that they listened to in the car.

Let him choose his own - mine always preferred factual books.

Rick Riordan ....Percy Jackson series was good...based on Greek mythology
39 clues series
Angie Sage Septimus Heap Magyk
Eva Ibbotsen The secret of platform 13, Monster mission, One dog and his boy.
Michael Morpurgo

Can I put in a word for Anthony Horowitz books? The Alex Rider series is very good but that might be more appropriate in a year or two.

All good suggestions, but let him read what he wants too. By all means, suggest books he might like, but a love of reading is the main thing. Libraries are amazing.

My son loved Beast Quest, so much do that he got me to read them. He also read Animorphs, Harry Potter, Darren Shan books, hated Lemony Snicket. If anybody suggested that he ‘should’ read something, he wouldn’t out of principle!

He is 25 now and an avid reader still.
Let him try all sorts of books.