Darren Shan?

[annie0000]

I have a 10 year old son who loves reading - goes through books at a rate of knots. Whilst this is fantastic, he has worked his way through most of the school library and the local library. They happily order stuff in for him from other libraries, and we buy buy him loads too. I am just looking for new series of books for him and spotted the Darren Shan books.

Has anyone read these and do you think the content would be suitable for a 10 coming up 11 year old? Not worried about the level of reading as he has a reading age of 3.5 years above his actual age. That said, he may read at a high level and be bright, but he is still interested in things that 10 year olds are and is emotionally still that age so I don't like him to have books that are too old for him.

I would also be interested in any other recommendations. Before anyone says it, I know that the classics. Tom Sayer/Swiss Family Robinson etc would be perfect for our purposes, but I just cannot get him interested in them - he'll read a page or two and that's it. I think modern books must get into the story quicker for him.

Thanks for any info.

[dotty.]

The beast quest series by Adam Blade would be ideal, it's a series of about 48 titles in the set and not too old for him, the Darren Shan circ du freaque series are teenage,. that is 11+, you could try him with the Spooks Apprentice series by Joseph Delaney or there are some Anthony Horrowitz for 8 - 11 year olds. Then there is the Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer, they are very good, a little more towards the 11-12 age group than the others,

[annie0000]

Thanks Dot, he enjoyed the beast quest ones, but he can read through about 4 of an evening. That's really the only reason that I get him older books....they last longer! He's also had the Artemis Fowl ones and enjoyed those too. I'll have a look at the Spooks Apprentice series, I've not heard of those. He is reading the Tunnels series at the moment but is on book 3 of 4 so that wont last him long. He enjoyed the Skulduggery Pleasant books and the Hero.com, Villain.net books and the Alex Rider series and has read all the Harry Potters too.

Thanks again, if you think of any more, please fire away. I can't really list down all the ones he has read, mainly because I can't remember them until they are mentioned so apologies. :o)

[annie0000]

Dot, just looked at the Spooks Apprentice books, those look ideal - i'll see if the library can get them in when I'm there on Thursday and if not might buy one to try. Thanks

[Ellipsis]

My son really enjoyed the Alex Rider books at that age (with that reading age) ...

[annie0000]

Hi Ellipses - yes, he loved those, also the H.I.V.E series which is a similar type of book but from the Villains side. Same with the Hero.com and Villain.net books - those are really clever in that each book in the series tells a similar story to the opposite book in the other series but from a different perspective so you really need to read them in pairs.

[Ellipsis]

Just checked with son (he's 15 now) and he informs me that Darren Shan's Cirque du Freak series is also good and suitable ...

[Ellipsis]

Ah, cross-posted annie ...

[joko]

DS is quite dark actually...they in some ways are quite horrible...id try to check online for excerpts an see for yourself

im not sure theyd be ok for a 10...the film was tamer...

[joko]

bear in mind i have no kids or even know any 10 year old so probably not the best judge

[annie0000]

Great thanks Ellipses - it's quite difficult to get books they enjoy that are reasonably challenging that aren't full of stuff that I'd rather my 10 year old wasn't reading! Having never been a young boy I find it a bit of a hit or a miss and although his Dad likes reading now, he wasn't a reader as a child so is pretty useless other than recommending classics which he just wont read. He also wouldn't read the Famous 5 or Secret 7 books either although his best friend was obsessed with them when they were younger.

[annie0000]

ok joko - i'll see if I can get a hold of one in the library for a read through first. I generally have to plough through the first book in most series before I hand it over anyway - I think I now know way to much about teenage spies and wizards for a grown woman!

[DaisyNonna]

Has he tried the Biggles books?

[Ellipsis]

annie, possibly too young for your son now, but undoubtedly among the best books for younger kids (boys and girls) are Roald Dahl, including my favourite, Matilda.

Also your son is probably just right for The Hobbit now, which although a classic is absolutely fantastic and much more accessible than some of the older classics. All the chapters are roughly the same length and are exciting short stories in themselves. A chapter a night just before bed takes about 20-30 minutes. It's just perfect ...

[annie0000]

Hi again - he hates Roald dahl - that is his words - the class were given Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as their school reading book and in his teachers words "he looked disgusted, as if I had handed him a bag of dog poo!" lol - poor Roald - the rest of the class were thrilled with it.

He has read The Hobbit......and the lord of the rings trilogy too - that was his Dad's recommendation. I told you he was prolific! He got a Scream Street book given out at the library junior book club - they were fairly short books probably suitable for the 8+ age group. he loved it though and ordered the rest into the library - We went to pick up the first half dozen and the librarian on duty (who was fairly new) said "that'll keep you going a while" - that was the Tuesday after school - we had to take them back for the next 6 on Thursday!!

[annie0000]

Daisy, haven't tried Biggles but couldn't get him past the first few pages of the Just William books - is Biggles the same kind of Genre?

[Ellipsis]

If he has read, followed and enjoyed Lord of the Rings then Darren Shan should be fine ...

[bednobs]

what about the power of 5 series by A horowitz if he liked his style?
i found them a little bit scary, but im not a rufty tufty 10 year old boy!

[DaisyNonna]

Not really. Biggles starts as a world war one flier. Adventure seies with a Royal Flying Corps then RAF background. My own grandson loves them(another voracious reader). Armada paperbacks as well as hardbacks.

[joko]

there is a trilogy by robin jarvis called the whitby witches, a warlock in whitby, whitby child, that hed probably like

[alexanderd]

Has he tried the "Keys to the Kingdom" series by Garth Nix