Books for 8 to 10 year olds?
I know this is an odd place to ask but a granny friend of mine was a little horrified to find her granddaughter has to read a school book which has torture of horses, quite a few swearies, and some naked flirting between the characters. She asked the school if that was appropriate for 8 to 10 year olds and was told there are very few books which ARE suitable. The old standbys she and I grew up with are too out of touch in today's world and most of the modern books for kids have witchcraft, imaginary creatures, or other unreal stuff, and the school doesn't hold with that sort of stuff.
(torturing animals, no worries. Dragons or hobbits, EEK) (got it)
So that's the question. Those with kids (or grandkids) in this age range - come across any good books, set in more-or-less modern times and more-or-less real life, which are fun to read?
She wants to go back to the school with some suggestions rather than just saying she's not happy with the book they chose.
Comments (20)
I did also run the question through the Authors group I belong to and even they are finding it difficult to come up with stuff the school would think suitable - something as 'fantastical' as Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, puhleeze, flying cars
By the way the teacher has now (!) read the book and it has been withdrawn.
I'm sure with your intelligent and great story writing, YOU could come up with a children's story. I know I could come up with one in just a few minutes, but it wouldn't be as good as something you could create.
I know you've got it in you. You're a great writer.
Good luck to your friend and her granddaughter.
And may you have a nice happy day.
The best option is to let the kids decide, they know what they want, we cant expect Grannies and grandads to choose these days.
Teachers do have to give them books and make them read them, and that's where the problem came in. Pretty much any book any of us remembers enjoying for sure didn't have TV, mobile phones, playstations, don't-talk-to-strangers. But books can't just be full of warnings, that would be the pits, so the trick is to get them to stop living through electronic devices and exploring and motivated ...
No pressure
Reading is in real danger of becoming a forgotten art but when people DO have to read - like an instruction booklet - they need to have the ability fixed in place.
Or, of course, they could just watch a how-to video.
Captain underpants also has a very funny premise..
as for something with a very classical and timeless theme, there is a series of books called
"Percy Jackson & the Olympians" my boys loved these and after reading them were drawing and talking about all manner of historical and cultural references. As would be expected as these books are a fantastic retelling of the pinnacle of story telling that is Greek mythology ..
Hope this helped Biff,
Go check em out for yourself
Welcome back, Non
Who the hell is Perry Jackson.
Never read the goosebump books,
but I loved the movie which I believe contains all the bad guys from the series
Ducking auto-correct
Dan Dare pilot of the future, The Secret Garden.. I think that is timeless. Just came into my head.
Red, yay, yes have a look please and be CAREFUL I think Lord of the Flies had kids around that age
Un, the Goosebumps series is a good call, added to list
Non, hi! and long time no kid for me, these are all new to me. Adding to the list!