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what to read to my kids?

Big Wig

New Member
My daughter is 10 and my son is 7. I've read them lots of books all through their lives and right now I'm reading Eragon to them. This is the first book I've read to both of them at once and it's going really well... we're about 3/4 of the way through and they are really enjoying it - well, so am I but I've aready read it ;)

Anyway, I'd really like some suggestions on what to read to them next. I might get to the other books in this trilogy - I already have Eldest - but I'd like to move onto something different first. I suggested Harry Potter but we've seen 5 of the movies and they don't want me to read them the book,even though I told them the book is usually much better.

Eragon is a great adventure, I'd like us to experience another adventure if possible.

Any ideas?

Thanks
 
I've read a couple of Eva Ibbotson's books to my kids. The Secret of Platform Thirteen, and The Island of Aunts are both great reads. She has several other titles that look promising if your kids like fantasy.

Some other good ones to consider are Peter and The Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, The Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer, Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett and Brett Helquist (very interesting!), Castaways of the Flying Dutchman by Brian Jacques, Seven Strange and Ghostly Tales-B. Jacques(I LOVE the audio version), Redwall series-B.Jacques.... I could go on...
 
I actually think reading fairly advanced writing for children as my parents did when I was younger - I learnt a lot of new words from adult novels and it actually improved my reading to read alongside my mum or dad. One that sprang to mind was the Prisoner of Zelda, and also a bit of poetry - Edward Lear maybe? They don't have adult themes but are written well enough to make it very interesting for the children. It's up to you of course!
 
I don't have any suggestions but I loved the movie they made for Eragon.
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I work in a library and Lemony Snicket is quite popular as is everything by Anthony Horowitz - he's the Roald Dahl of our time. For the girls, Jacqueline Wilson is a very good bet, she is very popular.
 
For 7 and 10 yrs old, how about The Phantom Tollbooth? This book has many wordplays that would be helpful if elaborated to children.

If your kids can take something a bit spooky, children's books by Neil Gaiman is recommended.

It seems that Pinocchio would be for younger children, but when we read it recently, we found out that the story was so much different than Disney's version, the kids really loved it. I have kids in very similar ages.

That reminds me of Peter and Starcatchers. Although I enjoyed it very much it is for kids.
 
A book I read in grade school called Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH always fascinated me. The ending leaves one asking, "what happened to the rats?" and the author's daughter wrote 2 sequels which fit very well with the original book. I recently read Mrs. Frisby, and then the first sequel, Rasco and the Rats of NIMH, to my 9 year old daughter and she was as fascinated as me. The first book was published in around 1974 and the 2nd around '86. Though many years old, they are still timeless in the minds of children.
 
A book I read in grade school called Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH always fascinated me. The ending leaves one asking, "what happened to the rats?" and the author's daughter wrote 2 sequels which fit very well with the original book. I recently read Mrs. Frisby, and then the first sequel, Rasco and the Rats of NIMH, to my 9 year old daughter and she was as fascinated as me. The first book was published in around 1974 and the 2nd around '86. Though many years old, they are still timeless in the minds of children.

I remember that story! I LOVED it. Good story to read to kids, I'm pretty sure our teacher read it to my class.

We watched a cartoon version of it later in the year and I hated it, it didn't match up to my imagined version very well. It was my first introduction to the fact that books are always better than their movie versions!
 
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