Lets Read

My oldest son Henry is ten. He was reading from age four, but it took years for him to become a passionate reader.

Does your son struggle to really find the joy of falling into a book? There are super books for the slightly younger child such as Battle Boy and Beast Quest, but for something less cliche boy and more mature or quirky, we have some suggestions.

This is Henry's list.
In his words.

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S Lewis - This series of stories makes you curious. The adventure is really cool as its basically our world without anything we have. My favourite is book 5 'The Dawn treader' because it is adventure on the seas with twisted reality and lots of different islands where strange things happen.

The Alchemist  by Michael Scott - This first book has half man half cat people who can climb trees during the battle to protect the book of Abraham The Mage. The story is fascinating and has magic which makes it really cool ( ?! ).

Harry Potter Jk Rowling (you couldn't have a reading list without these!)-  Ok. Well basically I liked this for the same reasons you did mum. Its awesome. Totes.

The Mysterious Benedict Society by T.L. Stewart - This is about a secret society where four children have been chosen to bring down a person is trying to control the world. There is a kidnapping and a really cool maze. The children have to get through a series of tests to prove themselves before they can go on the mission.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney - Funny! Lifelike, sarcastic. He's a school kid who is just like you reading the book. Its a quick read and you laugh out loud.

Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick - Lots of adventure, clocks and mystery. Its sad when his Dad dies but Hugo's adventure becomes mysterious and exciting when he finds the automaton. He makes a really good friend who lives in front of a graveyard and Hugo lives in a clock.

Tintin by Herge - Funny, awesome and adventurous. My favourite book is Crab With The Golden Claws. Destination Moon is pretty funny and I love that they say funny things in the stories like "acting the goat" and "great snakes".


The Thirteen Story Tree House by Andy Griffins - This book is full of crazy stuff! One morning one of the characters actually paints the cat. The book is made up of lots of different stories and some of them actually happened in Andy's real life.

The Key To Rondo by Emily Rodda - This starts off with a jewellery box and a key. They turn the key and go straight to another world. There are medieval markets and freaky forests with twisty trees.

Just Henry by Michelle Magorian -  I really liked this one because its about a boy during the war who loves movies and cameras and becomes a cameraman. Like dad. And I like learning about the war too. Its a bit sad but in the end its really good.

The Saint Of Dragons by Jason Hightman - The boy in this book meets his dad, who is a dragon hunter. From his dad, he learns about the disguises of the dragons living among us as humans. The boy joins his father and they search for the dragons to save the humans.

Last Dragon Chronicles by Nick d'Lacy - Really cool! This is about a writer who has crazy amazing things happen to him as he tries to come up with his stories. Lots of dragons and adventure.

Henry loves books with dragons. This is the one genre that has never wavered with him. If you go after dragon books there are many to choose from. For the younger kids you could introduce them to the series by Cressida Powel-How To Train Your Dragon. When they get older they might enjoy Dragon Dawn by Carol Wilkinson or the book of short stories The Dragon Book edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois.


If your child loves some fun facts, the series from Buster Books is brilliant - 
*Off With Their Heads - British History. Gruesome and awesome
*Thirty Days Has September - great ways to learn to remember certain things
*Where On Earth - Geography without the boring bits
*I Wish I Knew That - Science, history, languages. Lots of different things


I hope you have found something here that might prompt some bookish enthusiasm from your child.
If you have something to add to the list please let me know. The more books on our list the more kids finding their reading groove!

Email me at inalfiesroom@gmail.com