Tried and Tested: Books the 8, 9 and 10 Year-Olds We Know Are Loving Right Now

Need some tried-and-tested reads for your 8, 9 or 10 year old? Here are some of the books the kids we know are reading and loving right now. (Click on the cover images below for more information about each book.)

When we surveyed our young friends and their mums, two themes kept cropping up: how much these kids love book series, and how many of them are ‘re-reading’ books for a second or third time.

We’ve written before about how book series can motivate and reassure young readers, and there are so many wonderful series options on the shelves right now.

As an adult you might well have a couple of favourite books you re-read regularly (or perhaps you watch a special film again and again), but re-reading is much more common among kids.

The familiarity of a favourite book can be reassuring for kids for whom reading itself can carry a huge weight of expectation. It’s comforting and relaxing (good for bedtime). And kids are likely to discover new details and depths in a story each time they read, especially as they grow older and their perspectives on characters and situations change.

Roald Dahl, the Geronimo Stilton series and the Shamini Flint ‘Diary of …’ series were all popular re-reads for our young friends.

Between the ages of 8 and 10 boys especially (but girls too) are often fascinated by weird and amazing facts like those found in the Guinness and Ripley books. With their short chunks of text these books can also be less daunting for young readers. Kids with a taste for non-fiction will often also gravitate to Terry Deary’s humorous take on the world, especially his Horrible Histories (which have been adapted for TV).

Need more suggestions? Try our list of more sports reads like Kaboom Kid, Izzy Folau and the Shamini Flint series,  our list of humorous illustrated fiction like Tom Gates and WeirDo or our very popular list of great books about friendship for primary school readers.

We’d love to hear which books YOUR 8,9 and 10 year olds are reading – please tell us in comments. And if you like this list, please consider sharing it using the social buttons.