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Turned off books aged only 8? Our Reading Agony from podcast 1 has certainly struck a chord with some listeners, so here it is by itself.
As an addition to this mini podcast, I’ve popped together a few specific authors and books that I think a child, around this age, turned off reading might like to have read to them, or might want to try reading themselves (go gently and don’t force it, folks). All these books have been read and loved at Library Love HQ:
Books to read to them / audiobooks:
- Tom Gates series by Liz Pichon
- Captain Underpants series by Dav Pilkey
- Origami Yoda series by Tom Angleberger
- My hamster is a … series by Dave Lowe
- Danger books by Noel Zone
- Dragonsitter’s series by Josh Lacey
- Sammy Feral’s Diaries of Weird series by Eleanor Hawken
- Anything by Jeremy Strong
- Action Dogs series by Steve Barlow
- Astrosaurs series by Stephen Cole (and pretty much anything by him, although the Young Bond series might be a bit too thrilling for younger children)
- The Betsey series by Malorie Blackman
- The Porridge the Tartan Cat series by Alan Dapre
Comics / Graphic Novels:
- Adventure Time
- The Simpsons
- Asterix
- Tintin
- Anything in the children’s graphic novel section – enjoy
Stealth books:
- The Guinness World Records
- Ripley’s Believe it or not
- Minecraft books
- Pokemon books, such as the Pokemon: deluxe essential handbook or The Official Pokemon Encyclopedia
- Atlas
- Books about pets, sport, dance, martial arts, art, how to draw manga or whatever they enjoy
- Cookbooks with delicious cakes and great pictures
- Joke books
Hi there, can I be cheeky and suggest my ‘Porridge the Tartan Cat’ series? Five books published so far. Each one is full of fast-paced plotting, wacky wordplay, suPURR-cool kids and a dollop of Porridge (aka a tartan cat).
In Brawsome Bagpipes, he tries to help Gadget Grandad defeat Fergus McFungus who wants to destroy the world and volacnoes and fishy biscuits and…elephants!
The latest book has Ross turning into a Scarewolf thanks to the pesky actions of fiendish Fangus McFungus. Can Porridge ride to the rescue at the Unfair Funfair?
I write my books to appeal to all children (age 7 to 9) – with the lead characters being go-getting, resourceful boy & girl twins. The series is set in Scotland and uses lots of Scottish words. Braw!
You are so right, Alan – Porridge would be brill in this list. The series is also mentioned in our recently recorded (online in 2 or 3 wks) podcast 4 all about picture books and chapter books for little ones. My 8 yr old loves the books and they make me laugh too
That’s great to know. Your 8 year old is a PURRfect age to get the groan-inducing puns and wacky wordplay. I deliberately put things in for adults too – the huge oven onstage for Groovy Gran’s big gig in Bash-Crsh-Ding! goes up to 11. (A wee ‘Spinal Tap’ reference)…