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Adventure/fantasy books for 8 yr old


Annie Laurie
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My 8 yr old keeps rereading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator over and over. They've been his favorite books for about a year and I'd like him to read some others things.

 

I gave him Gentle Ben and he wasn't very interested. He did like the Winston Breen books. I just gave him The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and he was willing to try it.

 

Any ideas for him?

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You must try The Mysterious Benedict Society series! There are three books in the series, plus the prequel (so four total). All of us really love these books, me included!

:iagree:

 

I will have to ask DD later, but I am sure she would recommend

The Narnia Series

A Wrinkle in Time

The Rats of NIMH

... I am drawing a blank... :(

 

Also, she has enjoyed several books by Dan Gutman and Andrew Clement (Frindle, etc).

 

HTH!

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Have you tried any of the other Dahl books, like The BFG, The Witches, or James and the Giant Peach? DD has also loved A Bear Called Paddington and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (though I probably won't let her read past book 3 or so at this age, the series gets pretty dark). For a step up readingwise, there's the Redwall series or the Prydain chronicles.

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My 8 yo isnt reading chapter books independently yet, but his favorite read-alouds recently were alice in wonderland and The Golden Acorn - the Golden Acorn is a british fantasy book written recently by a retired grade school teacher, and apparently uses a lot of traditional European fantasy creatures.

 

I actually got it because it was free on the kindle (I have the free kindle app on my ipad), but there are 3 books in the series (we only read 2). But you could always download the free kindle app and pre-read it and then consider buying the books.

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I think one of the best fantasy adventure series written for kids is, "The Enchanted Forest"

 

1. Dealing with Dragons

2. Searching for Dragons

3. Calling on Dragons

4. Talking to Dragons

 

(I think I have the order of number 2 and 3 correct). My son is reading the series right now and is on his third book. The books have also been made into a awesome audio recording with nice voice acting for all the characters.

 

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You can also try the "Freddy the Pig" series. I think he would like "Freddy goes North". His third book, "Freddy the Detective" is also very popular, I think even more so then the first book in the series.

 

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A modern series he might like is "Dimwood Forest" by Avi.

 

Ragweed

Poppy

Poppy and Rye

Ereth's Birthday

Poppy's Return

Poppy and Ereth

 

Note "Ragweed" is a prequel. It can be read first to go in order. But the main character of that book dies at the beginning of "Poppy". Poppy is the main character in the rest of the books.

 

 

This series is very high on the adventure, not so much fantasy. (As long as you accept the fact the animals all can talk and reason.)

 

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Nothing says Adventure and Fantasy as much as the Wizard of Oz series. My boys personal favorite is book 3 "Ozma of Oz".

 

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If you want something by a famous Canadian author go with, "The Secret world of Og" by Pierre Burton

 

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Adventure, Fantasy, and chocolate brownies - in other words, "Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang".

 

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If you want something that can tie into ancient history studies go for:

 

"Thor's Wedding Day" by Bruce Coville

This one has been read out loud by Myself, my husband, and we got the audio recording of it which the boys have listened to more then once

 

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Well, the number of middle grades fantasy books for boys is out the roof... Harry Potter, thanks. But you could try Percy Jackson, Eragon, Keys to the Kingdom, etc. etc.

 

But if he likes Dahl but didn't take to Narnia, you might want to look at fantastic but zany books... Benedict Society maybe, but it's a lot longer than Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and with a lot more plot twists. It's possible it will be too much (or not).

 

How about Sideways Stories from Wayside School? Or The Homework Machine?

 

Or how about Artemis Fowl?

 

Or The Incorrigible Children of Aston Place? Or Lemony Snicket?

 

Or maybe Savvy? Though that's got a girl protagonist.

Edited by farrarwilliams
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