h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

So, any ideas for books for a 7-year old who reads at a Grade 7 or 8 level? (i.e. books with advanced language, but "young" stories)

She has read alot already: Narnia serries (although not all, as they are a little hard for her yet and the story a bit old for her), Boxcar children serries, Little House books (and all of the new ones that follow other family members), lots of Animal Ark books, lots of classics (Secret Garden, um, and others) and more. Any suggestions would be welcome.

I'm being given some expert advice here from Moonlight (here as ELFIN). She'll have a think about what she loved to read, but has a few authors for you to try.
Have you heard of ALAN GARNER? Books include 'The Owl Service' 'Elidor' 'The weirdstone of Brisingamen' 'The moon of Gomrath' They are rated here as being on a par with some of the Narnia stories.
ARTHUR RANSOME wrote a good series of books about the 'Swallows and Amazons' which are set in the Lake District of England in the 1930's, but really are anywhere in the world at any time. eg: In the first book they send a telegram to their dad to see if they can go on the first adventure in a boat. He sends back "Better drowned than duffers. If not duffers, won't drown" which I think is such a great way to let children go!
NOEL STREATFIELD wrote srories which are once again from a few years ago, but my girls have read them over and over.
Wind In the Willows?
Maybe it's the stories that are classics (ie from the 30's 40's etc) that are the best for this type of children. The language is suitable and the themes are not too adult.
We've read the Little House whole series, including Almanzo's story. Brilliant stuff!
More another time.

Well thank you very much!

Have heard of the Owl Service, but never read any of his books. We'll try them.

Arthur Ransome was one of my wife's favourite authors when she was a kid and she used to have the whole set. We purged all but the first one or two in a clear-out some years ago and regret it now. We'll have to dig up those last ones for Natalie (my daughter).

Haven't heard of Streatfield. Good.

She's read wind in the willows.

If you liked the little house books, there are a whole pile more just coming onto the market. They aren't written by Laura, but they are still pretty good (acording to Natalie, who has bought them all!). There are serries for Rose (Laura's daughter), Ma, Ma's ma, and Ma's grandma. Some of the serries are complete now, but some are just starting (I think the one for Ma's ma is just starting, the one for Rose is finished. I think. ). I can get you authors names, etc. tomorrow.

We have the first one by Rose, but didn't know about the rest. And of course there is the Harry Potter books. I read about this before the books got big, so my girls were the first in their classes to read the first one. I recommend them to the teens I teach too.

Oh, they are great books. My wife and I loved them, but my daughter is a bit young for them - although she said she liked the first book, she hasn't been too keen on reading the others. When asked about it, she said she didn't understand some of it and didn't like other parts. I think she is just too young yet.

The other little house books aren't written by any of Lauras relatives. I know that Rose did write some books, but my wife says they were pretty dry - not like Laura's style at all. Which is funny, because Rose was a writer before Laura was and encouraged Laura to begin writing. No, the new books are by other authors, but are still very good, according to my daughter.

Harry is growing up as well, so perhaps she is a bit young, but she will enjoy them soon - perhaps when the film comes out.
For a long time the most popular author with children in UK has been Roald Dahl. They are not to everyone's taste, but kids love them. MATILDA might be a good place to start.
Girls of that age here also love ENID BLYTON books, as indeed I did as a child. Once again it is England of the 1930's, and once again, children go off and have adventures without adult intervention. I'm afraid the girls in these stories do tend to be a bit stereotypical and the boys do all the 'tough stuff', but children love them. I had a student do an analysis of one of these books and compare it to the portrayal of boys and girls in Harry Potter.

Just remembered Joan Aitkin. She has written quite a lot, and its quite a varied lot too. "A necklace of raindrops" would be an excellent introduction as it is short stories. Our copy is so loved it's battered and well read. It's also listed on the UK National Curriculum as being suitable to stretch and extend good readers at this age. I'm looking for my copy of this list as it will have some other suggestions. Do you have a similar list there?

Not that I have heard of. Sounds like a useful resource.

I know I have heard of Enid Blighton, just can't place where (was thinking she might have written the Borrowers books, then remembered that was Nesbitt). I'm sure my wife or daughter could enlighten me

Haven't heard of Joan Aitkin - will try her.

Thanks for all the good tips. We appreciate it.

Glad to help, but really it's Sunshine and Moonlight who keep remembering what they liked. I should still have the list somewhere, but it may be online. As a teacher, I know some of the sites to look. I'll do this at work so that it will look legit! (h2g2 on in the background though )
Joan Aitkin "The Moon's revenge"
Sylvia Waugh "The Menyms". I loved these too.
Jenny Nimmo "The Snow spider" "The Chestnut Soldier"
Edith Nesbit did not write the Borrowers, but did write "The Railway Children" "Five Children and It" "The Phoenix and the Carpet"
The Borrowers was Norton (Mary) I think.

Yes, I realized I had gotten that wrong when I got home that day and looked on my daughter's shelves.

My wife is a teacher too, but stopped teaching when we had our daughter. We now home school her.

Do you get books by Beverly Cleary over there? My daughter loves her books.

Thanks for all of the book suggestions. We will definately try them. We just finished reading a book suggested by another h2g2 researcher, Ioreth: Caddie Woodlawn. It's in a similar vein to the Little House books and was very good. We are now reading the sequel.

I'm very jealous! I always wanted to home school my girls, but could never find the money tree to finance it. However, I did not work for 6 years, and was a very full time mum. I taught them a lot before they went to school. I know it has paid off when I see them now. I have still not worked full time since Sunshine was born and she is 13.
Yes, both my girls have read some Beverly Cleary. We will check out the Caddie Woodlawn. I order books through my local library, they can get anything if it is around.
2 for you now!
Dorothy Butler "Five to Eight" which is a follow up to "Babies need Books" It's a whole book full of suggestions with personal recommendations for each age. It's from NZ not UK but should be available.
Jim Trelease "The Read Aloud Handbook"

A belated thank-you. This thread seems to have slipped off my forums list and I just noticed it languishing in the second page of "older forums".

Your reaction to home schooling is great and is becoming more common. Usually, people feel a little uneasy about it, because it is outside the normal schooling paradigm, but it seems to be becoming more commonplace now. (or perhaps we just notice it more ). Anyway, we wouldn't have it any other way - it is simply the best way.

Not to worry - I enjoyed languishing.
Whenever I have suggested home schooling people have said "but what about the social interaction" as if it means that the child would be locked away!
In the UK there is a national network of thousands of parents who home school. Our law states that a child MUST be educated, but that this can either be at school or "Otherwise". Therefore the organisation is called "Education Otherwise". Local support groups meet and plan occasional group activities such as trips etc. (You've probably heard of them, but if not, I'll put their URL here, with some others. Just ask ). There is no Government opposition to home schooling (although no support either!)
I know it would not suit all children, but it is the best way for others. It would have suited Moonlight perfectly, but as I said - can't find the money tree! As it is, she has never been educated in State schools, although Sunshine has. I don't believe they should be treated the same if they are not.

The question "But what about socialization?" is usually the first one that people ask about. I usually reply something like: "Yes, I'm glad Natalie will be away from the negative socialization that schools provide." This usually gets blank looks at first, until they are reminded of the cliques, bullies, name-calling, herd mentality, etc that is the norm at schools. I also ask them if the best way to learn something is to emerse yourself in a large group of people who know nothing about what you want to learn. Kinda silly when you think about it.

Homeschooling is somewhat supported here, in that the principal of the local school is supposed to meet with the parents periodically (once per year or so) to make sure the kid is getting some sort of education and to offer whatever support they can. We find that there isn't really anything that we want from them, at least not yet. Perhaps access to labs and shops might be nice in the future, but even that will probably be unnecessary - Natalie learns from real life experiences, that matter to her. The more we read and do, the more we are moving towards unschooling, where Natalie learns about what she wants to learn about, when she wants to. After all, it is just arrogance on our part to presume to know what she should know and think. Our job is to expose her to lots of cool stuff and answer her questions and help her learn what she wants to know (if she wants our help). It's hard to do, though - the letting go of the ideas about what she *should* know.

It sound like you are doing exactly the right things with her, so how could the local school be the judge anyway?
Once again, I envy you. However, we are nearly entering a 2 month break from school, and my girls keep summer diaries of all the places we go. It's good to look back at the ones they did when very small, with just 1 or 2 wobbly words.
We all change schools for September, and will have 18 weeks of annual breaks, which is just about as much as you can get at any school here (eg 6 weeks more than most schools).