Posts: 2003 |
AbsGinger Posted Wed 07 Apr, 2010 10:16 PM |
mili wrote: Just read "Birthday Present" by Barbara Vine (aka Ruth Rendell). Pretty good.
And for laughs Sue Townsend's Adrian Mole: The Prostrate Years.
Adrian Mole's are classis. I'll have to get this one. |
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Turtleneck Posted Wed 07 Apr, 2010 11:51 PM |
dee wrote: Turtleneck wrote: deebee wrote:
Ok Helen, I'm calling on your expertise......
What can you recommend for an 11 yr old boy who has a reading age of 8 in English ? (it's his second language so he finds it harder than reading in French) I don't want to get him books which are too baby-ish for him and I'm at a loss as to what to buy! Any ideas????
I'm not Helen, but I have a kid who's 8. Right now she's into mystery stories. Those would be good for a boy. The ones she likes now are the A to Z Mysteries by Ron Roy. I doubt they're available where you are, but mystery stories are good for boys and not too baby-ish. (Though most of the mysteries at that reading level will be easily solved by a boy of 11!)
i teach kids of 8-10. they are all in love with Diary of a wimpy kid series which is very snappily written.even the weakest readers of the group are obsessed with the series
Ah, yes, good one! This book is extremely popular in my daughter's class. |
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Posts: 789 |
Helen *the original* Posted Thu 08 Apr, 2010 9:09 AM |
Diary of a Wimpy Kid is a great one to choose.
Others i would recommend are:
The Horrid Henry series by Francesca Simon (also on tv)
Any Roald Dahl (always funny!)
Jeremy Strong books (also funny)
Beast Quest series by Adam Blade
Astrosaurs series by Stephen Cole (about Dinosaurs in space)
If he's into adventure/spy stories:
Find the Fox by Ali Sparkes (this is a great book about a boy who can turn into a Fox and discovers others who have different powers too. It's a series but they're really easy to read and well written. Anything by Ali Sparkes is the same)
The Young Bond series by Charlie Higson are good, the first book is called "Silverfin". They're aimed at about 10/11 year olds though.
The Anthony Horowitz "Alex Rider" series, the first book is "Storm Breaker".
It was also a film, a lot of kids are interested in books that are films so the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan are going down well at the moment.
If you want anymore recommendations just let me know!
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Posts: 1892 |
deebee Posted Thu 08 Apr, 2010 12:27 PM |
Thanks Guys for all the suggestions !!! There's loads to choose from :-D
I quite like the idea of Horrid Henry and the Diary of the Wimpy Kid. I think they'll probably appeal to him quite a bit. I just wish I could find them in a library instead of having to buy them - he's costing me a fortune, lol !! |
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Posts: 1892 |
deebee Posted Thu 08 Apr, 2010 12:31 PM |
Turtleneck wrote: deebee wrote:
Dumb question, what age is 3rd grade?
It's not a dumb question. In the U.S., most children in 3rd grade are 8 or 9 years old. My daughter is 8 all the way through because she has a summer birthday.
Most kids start Kindergarten at 5 (depending on how their birthday falls) and graduate high school (12th grade) at 17 or 18.
So what grade does that make Louis then? 5th/6th grade? He's in the first year of secondary school (normally the year of their 12th birthday) |
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Posts: 7404 |
Turtleneck Posted Thu 08 Apr, 2010 2:29 PM |
deebee wrote: Turtleneck wrote: deebee wrote:
Dumb question, what age is 3rd grade?
It's not a dumb question. In the U.S., most children in 3rd grade are 8 or 9 years old. My daughter is 8 all the way through because she has a summer birthday.
Most kids start Kindergarten at 5 (depending on how their birthday falls) and graduate high school (12th grade) at 17 or 18.
So what grade does that make Louis then? 5th/6th grade? He's in the first year of secondary school (normally the year of their 12th birthday)
That sounds about right, probably 6th grade. Where I live, we have elementary school that runs from Kindergarten to 5th grade, middle school which is 6th, 7th, and 8th, and then high school which is 9th grade through 12th grade.
Some smaller schools may run K-8 and then 9-12. Or the old fashioned way was K-6 for elementary, 7&8 was "junior high"
(some even included 9th grade) and then high school. |
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Posts: 1892 |
deebee Posted Thu 08 Apr, 2010 5:07 PM |
| aaah so I got confused and thought that High school was the same as our Secondary school when in fact it's much later. It's more like Junior High then. Blimey it'd be a lot easier if every country did the same thing but then I suppose it wouldn't be half as much fun when you have to move countries and don't know which class to put them in (our problem a few years ago!!) |
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Posts: 789 |
Helen *the original* Posted Thu 08 Apr, 2010 5:21 PM |
| Yes! Use your library!! Ha (i'm biased!) |
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Posts: 1892 |
deebee Posted Thu 08 Apr, 2010 5:39 PM |
| I would love nothing more than to get the books from the library but the choice of English language books is really poor so I have to buy them especially if I'm looking for specific titles. Thank goodness for Amazon :-) |
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mili Posted Thu 08 Apr, 2010 5:59 PM |
deebee wrote: I would love nothing more than to get the books from the library but the choice of English language books is really poor so I have to buy them especially if I'm looking for specific titles. Thank goodness for Amazon :-)
I'm really lucky that we have a good library system in the capital area, and all of the branches have some English books (I prefer reading in English). And if your branch hasn't got the one you want it can be ordered from another library for a fee of 50 cents. A central library in Helsinki has a huge British Council collection. My husband likes reading as much as I do, and keeps bringing good books for both of us. Today I got William Trevor's Death in Summer. |
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Posts: 3778 |
megg_inc Posted Thu 08 Apr, 2010 6:07 PM |
deebee wrote: I would love nothing more than to get the books from the library but the choice of English language books is really poor so I have to buy them especially if I'm looking for specific titles. Thank goodness for Amazon :-)
I'm in love with my uni library here in Denmark. They have everything! There are so many books I only managed to read here as they're impossible to get in Poland. I will miss it a lot. |
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Posts: 1892 |
deebee Posted Thu 08 Apr, 2010 6:25 PM |
aaagh you lucky people! Thing is, you live in countries where people actually appreciate the English language - that's not my case !!
Maybe I'm pouring oil on a fire but Fréd what do you think?
Megg, I'm not sure they'd let me in the Uni library at my age, lol. |
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megg_inc Posted Thu 08 Apr, 2010 7:22 PM |
| I don't know, here and in Warsaw as well you can use university libraries even if you're not a student. So don't make false excuses! ;) |
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Peewee Posted Fri 09 Apr, 2010 12:07 AM |
I also recommend any of Dav Pilkey's books - Captain Underpants all the way!!! All the non-readers are now reading these, eps the boys!!! ;)
Dav Pilkey |
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Posts: 1018 |
Sunny Posted Fri 22 Apr, 2011 10:07 PM |
thought i'd resurrect this thread ...
been stuck at home a lot so have had a book on the go all the time:
The Help - Kathryn Stockett Not the sort of thing I usually read but I enjoyed it. Good pace, believable characters, but I thought the end lacked something.
The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger Loved this and after all the hype around it I didn't think I would! I read it in about 8 hours. I recommend Her Fearful Symmetry too but it's not a patch on TTTW.
Pig Island - Mo Hayder I'm never usually scared by books but this did creep me out a bit! It gets dodgy reviews because it's a bit 'out there' and cliched in places but it was on ok read.
The Book Thief - Markus Zusak Another good, fast read. It's broken down into manageable chunks which for me (with the attention span of a flea) is always a good thing. I enjoyed the narration by 'death'. Very clever.
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