Books for 7 year old boy

[scousedave]

Hello I was wondering if anyone could help?
My son has just read the Flat Stanley Series of books and Im wondering what to buy for him next (local library don't seem to have much)
I have just bought Mr Stink by David Walliams but the size of the book scares him. Mr Stink has 250 pages compared to Flat Stanley having about 60.
I am looking for recommendations with a good story as he has just found the love of books which I am trying to encourage but something with no more than 150 pages. Thank you very much

[cornflakegirl]

Lots of Dick King Smith books are quite short, but are well written.

Astrosaurs are short and have friendly covers.

Captain Underpants books are good - they have little comic strip bits in which help to break them up.

I've just read Fortunately The Milk by Neil Gaiman - very funny, big print (always comforting) and excellent illustrations by Chris Riddell.

Opal Moonbaby books are funny and not too long.

Maisie Hitchens detective stories are also not too threatening and well written.

Maybe the shorter Roald Dahl books, like Esio Trot and George's Marvellous Medicine.

Mr Gum books are slightly longer but also very engaging.

Also, I hesitate to recommend, but the Beast Quest series were the books that really helped my DS to transition from competent reader to bookworm. They're horribly formulaic but they really built his confidence.

It's a shame your library isn't good - I would be significantly poorer without ours! Although the Book People are great for sets of books like Beast Quest.

[EmpressOfTheWellOfLostPlots]

Jeremy Strong's My Brother's Famous Bottom series, starting with My Dad's got an Alligator. 100-120 pages and absolutely brilliant.

[Indith]

My 7 year old loves the Roald Dahl books. Ones like The Min Pins, The Giraffe and The Pelly and Me or The Enormous Crocodile are short, you can happily do those in one longish sitting or split over 2 nights. I think for us when we started moving on to chapter books it was the idea of not finishing in one night and then remembering what had happened the night before that got him bothered. If you like those then The BFG, George's MArvellous Medicine, Fantastic Mr Fox are a bit longer and then stuff like The Twits or The Witches.

Mr Gum is fab, Ds1 adores Mr Gum. He reads a lot of factual books by himself but tends to want us to read stories with him. Mr Gum he sits and reads by himself, begs to be allowed to read a bit in bed before lights out and just generally devours.

My ds1 has enjoyed some Dick King Smith but isn't generally all that keen. He liked The Hodgeheg and really likes George Speaks. Dd seems to like those better really. She likes books like The Penguin who wanted to find out and The Cat who wanted to Go home, Plop The Owl who was afraid of the dark etc. They are shortish and nice to read. Just depends on his taste. You could look at the Railway Cat series too. With my dcs dd (5) seems to like the books I used ot read as a child but ds1 doesn't get on with them apart from Roald Dahl, he didn't like Enid Blyton etc either. I think it is a language thing. Ds1 is straight to the point, dd goes in for description in a big way!

Does your library allow you to order books in? Our local is small but you can search all the libraries in the area on the computer and then for around 50p order books in. It can be a good way to try out different authors.

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Fortunately the milk is good isn't it. My DS loved it.

[Oubliette0292]

We just got DS some really cheap 'classic' books from the local cheap book shop (name of shop currently escapes me). They have quite a bit of text with pictures opposite. He loves them - especially Robin Hood. Think we got 4 books for £5 - total bargain!

[edandmadsmum]

My almost 7 year old is currently loving Dr Seuss, and the Horrid Henry books......you can pick up box sets of both pretty cheap from the book people - I did!!

[cornflakegirl]

Oh yes, I'd forgotten Horrid Henry. How could I forget Horrid Henry! We also got the box set. Once your DS's confidence is built, Francesca Simon has also written some books for slightly older readers based on Norse mythology. The first one is called The Sleeping Army. DS1 really liked them.

JJJ - I borrowed it because we listened to Neverwhere over Christmas so I was in a Gaiman zone. It's much less weird than I was expecting. Very funny. And I loved the illustrations. Although DH had to point out to me the uncanny similarity between the dad and Gaiman...

[feetheart]

The 'How to Train Your Dragon' books are brilliant, great fun to read out loud and the illustrations are great. DS was completely hooked last year (when he was 7)

[EmpressOfTheWellOfLostPlots]

Yes, How To Train Your Dragon books are brilliant (and NOTHING like the film).

[cornflakegirl]

And the David Tennant audiobooks of them!

Actually, audiobooks where another thing that helped DS1 overcome the fear of long books. They weren't scary to read if he'd already listened to them.

[Rooble]

The Spydogs books are great - bit longer than Flat Stanley but really gripping stories

[Quangle]

Emil and the Detectives is a great story for this age. I actually read it to DD rather than her reading it but it is fun.

Also some of the Ladybird traditional tales ones are good - Robin Hood (we have one called the Silver Arrow) and King Arthur ones are exciting.

Ones that DD reads herself: Maisie Hitchens series, Judy Moody series, Roald Dahl, Michael Morpurgo, the Mr Majeika stories, Enid Blyton.

[alma123]

My DS is 6 and he loves Demon Dentist, Billionaire Boy and Gangsta Granny by David Walliams (the TV programme of the latter was fab btw if you missed it). Roald Dahl always good.

Mr Gum was not a hit in our house. He likes to read the Magic Tree House by himself.

[cornflakegirl]

I bought Emil and the Detectives for DS1. He still hasn't read it. I may possibly buy him too many books...

alma - agree that David Walliams books are brilliant, but they are a bit daunting when they've only just started on chapter books. (The audiobooks are also fab and good value from Book People).

[cornflakegirl]

Ooh, Robin Hood has just reminded me - we got a set of Marcia Williams books that were classic tales told in comic strip form, that DS really liked. And Star Wars graphic novels also went down well.

[BornToFolk]

DS really enjoyed the first Dinosaur Cove book and he got some more for Christmas that we've not got round to yet. They are nice and short. We were reading a chaper a night (me reading to him) and got through it in about a week.

[Quangle]

Also have had success with Lynn Reid Banks' children's books - esp Bad Cat Good Cat and Harry the Poisonous Centipede (slightly weird but quite fun).

[UniS]

Getting a big thumbs up as not tooo big according to my 7 year old
Horrid henry
Asterix
Football academy
Edge " dream to win" series of sports biogs
Beast Quest


He likes how to train your dragon but its a bit "big"

[UniS]

oh and
Secret Seven.

[littleredsquirrel]

Atticus claw books are very popular in our house right now.

Be wary of the demon dentist it dispels the tooth fairy myth. Ds1 8 was quite shocked by it and told me not to let DS2 read it until he's at least ten

[MrsRuffdiamond]

Ds devoured the 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' series. 7 may be a bit young, as he was 8/9 when he got going on them, but depends on dc, of course. Transformed him into a bookworm!

[BlueChampagne]

Dino FC?

[Blackcathaireverywhere]

Both of my sons enjoyed the Alexander McCall Smith children's books when they were around seven. They are all short and pretty much all good (and funny). Teacher Trouble and the Joke Machine are two good ones.

[lostintoys]

My seven-year-old adored the Spy Dog and Spy Pups series, and is now loving Lemony Snicket.