Recommendations for books for 9 year old boy

The Flat Stanley books. Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

Roald Dahl

Our bookshop recently recommended the books by Julian Clary for my 9 year old grandson's birthday.

These are all fun books which should foster a love of reading, but not sure if that is what the 11+ exam is all about.

My grandson loves Tom Gates books. His reading age is 8+.

Thank you both. The 11+ is a test taken to see if the child is suitable to go to Grammar School. We all used to sit it when we were younger (in the UK) but it is only in some areas now.

My daughter approves of Roald Dahl but my GS is not too keen. I've not heard of Flat Stanley or Tom Gates. Time to do my homework and maybe download some of their books from the library to my Kobo. He may be better with an electronic reader than paper!

There is a fabulous series of books, Murderous Maths, The power of Ten, written by Kjartan Poskitt which would be ideal. My daughter started reading theses at around that age and wore them out, we had to buy replacements. They are funny, contain cheeky jokes and are all about mathematics but written in such a way as to engage the child.
There is a lot of reading in these books, my daughter began with one about arithmetic. I cannot recommend them highly enough. Have a look at this link

www.amazon.co.uk/Murderous-Maths-Box-Set/dp/140713194X/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=kjartan+poskitt&tag=gransnetforum-21&ie=UTF8&qid=1531661877&sr=8-1

The Goosebumps series RL Stein my boys loved them.
Harry Potter Series J K Rowling is fun for boys, particularly the first one The Philosophers Stone.

Thank you all. I have just been chatting to my daughter and he has not yet read any Julian Clary but has read some Tom Gates. I will make notes ready for when I am staying at their house in the holidays and take him to their local library. My daughter said 'good luck with that one, he just sits in a chair staring into space while his sister is choosing her books'. He does sometimes behave differently with me, especially if my OH is there too.

Sting of the Dump - will probably be easy to get now as the author has just died.

My son was addicted to the Hundred and One Dalmations for years and read it again and again. The first Harry Potter book is an easy read. I don't think there's anything wrong with David Walliams' writing, my GS has read a lot of his.

If you go online you can access a list of books a boy ( or girl) should read before they are 10, or eleven , or twelve etc. My DGD thought the list was amazing when she was 9, Loved tick ing them off.

Agree Tom Gates - GS was a fan, and also of the Alex Rider books. The five books in the Percy Jackson series were a big favourite as he likes Greek mythology.

Greyduster I forgot about the Percy Jackson series, they are brilliant.

Another endorsement for Alex Rider from me. Our 11 year old gs is a very competent reader, usually will only reads factual books but these caught his imagination and he loved them.

What about Just William books by Richmal Crompton? I know they are about a boy during the 1930's but I think they might be suitable for your grandson as there are many of them so, if he likes them, there will be a large supply.

Also, they are well written. They were originally printed in a magazine for women during the 1930's so, although they are now considered children's books, I'd say they won't be too babyish.

I always enjoyed these books as a child but don't know whether you'd consider that a recommendation.

My oldest son was, and still is, an avid reader, he devoured anything by Michael Morpurgo and thoroughly enjoyed the Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz. My younger son always read, but slowly, and preferred fact to fiction. We crossed the divide by buying him factual books, but also fiction in the form of audio books.

I think it would be better for him to read something he enjoys.

That's where I was trying to go MissAdventure. His mother works very hard (daddy had a midlife crisis and has gone) and she needs all the help she can get. My daughter has a very good job but that comes with problems if you are the only parent.

My DGS (10) was a very late starter in reading, he is still behind in his English at school but his reading has come on tremendously this year. He has always been surrounded by books and loved being read to, just couldn't seem to make sense of the words himself. Anyway I have been trying to get him reading more to himself and recently he brought one of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books home from the school library for him and his mum to read at bedtime. A few days ago he said to his mum "I was too hot to sleep so I finished that book by myself. Please can I have some more of those?". So I bought the set of 12 for £14.99 from The Book People and he is now working his way through them by himself. A great step forward for him!

Anyway my message is another vote for Diary of a Wimpy Kid and also for www.thebookpeople.co.uk. They are very reasonable prices and they set things out in age groups.

My DGS is 9. He has ASD and is a rather indifferent reader. He loves the Beast Quest books by Adam Blade. There are several series of them, he's trying to get them all.

For anyone with DGCs who are dyslexic or reluctant readers do point them in the direction of the Barrington Stoke publishers who have many great books from mainstream authors but adapted for this market.

He might enjoy the Magic Treehouse series or the Geronimo Stilton series.

It doesn’t matter what he reads so long as he is reading. If David Wallians is his choice then so be it. All mine have been through a DW stage and survived it.

The Horrible Histories by Terry Deary might catch his interest too. Very popular.

My 9 year old GD has read most of those mentioned above, I find it a completely ridiculous idea that there are girls and boys books, or clothes come to that, as long as they are reading it doesn’t matter. Fortunately we have long done away with grammar schools here, poor child being judged at 11.

I would endorse the Alex Rider series. Our boys loved them. There is something about owning your own new physical copies though in my opinion.

MiniMoon I had forgotten about Beast Quest. GS read those too and enjoyed them. I bought David Walliams ‘Grampa’s Great Escape’ for him and, most unusually, he never finished it. I don’t think there is anything wrong with David Walliams writing either, but it didn’t seem to be his thing.