Books for 8 year olds: ten to keep them reading

Something often shifts at eight. The decoding that took such effort at six has mostly become automatic, and a child starts to become a reader of their own. What matters now is finding books good enough that they keep going without you: at bedtime, on a long car journey, under the covers with a torch.

Eight is also when some children drift away. The effort is no longer new, and the fun has not quite arrived yet. The right book at the right moment is what tips it. Here are ten real favourites that have done exactly that for a great many eight year olds.

Funny books that make reading feel like a treat

You’re a Bad Man, Mr Gum! by Andy Stanton. A horrible old man, a butcher with a grudge, and a girl called Polly who stands up to them both. It is gloriously silly, a joke arrives every few lines, and there are few better books for a child who has decided reading is boring.

The Twits by Roald Dahl. Mr and Mrs Twit play disgusting tricks on each other until the animals they have trapped finally take their revenge. Short, revolting in exactly the way eight year olds love, and Quentin Blake’s pictures do half the work.

The Diary of a Killer Cat by Anne Fine. Tuffy the cat tells his side of things, and he honestly cannot see what the fuss is about over a dead bird, a mouse and a rabbit. A very short book with a sly sense of humour, good for a child who wants to finish something quickly.

Dog Man by Dav Pilkey. Part dog, part policeman, entirely ridiculous. These comic-strip novels are hugely popular with children, and rightly so: a child who loves comics is still a reader, and many go on from here to longer books.

Stories with a bit of spook and magic

The Worst Witch by Jill Murphy. Mildred Hubble is the clumsiest pupil at Miss Cackle’s Academy for Witches, and her broomstick never goes where she means it to. This was the magic school long before the others, and it is still a brilliant first boarding-school story.

Amelia Fang and the Barbaric Ball by Laura Ellen Anderson. Amelia is a vampire who would far rather spend time with her friends and her pet pumpkin than go to her parents’ grand ball. Gothic, funny and full of pictures, it makes a lovely bridge from illustrated early readers to longer novels.

Isadora Moon Goes to School by Harriet Muncaster. Isadora is half fairy, half vampire, and her parents cannot agree whether she belongs at fairy school or vampire school. The pink, black and silver pictures are a big part of the appeal, and the series is long enough to carry a child through months of reading.

Ottoline and the Yellow Cat by Chris Riddell. Ottoline and her hairy friend Mr Munroe get to the bottom of a run of burglaries in the Big City. Every page is crammed with Chris Riddell’s drawings, maps and tiny details, so it rewards a child who likes to pore over a book as much as read it.

Something to grow into

Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White. A pig called Wilbur, a spider called Charlotte, and a friendship that saves his life. It is longer and gentler than the books above, and one to share aloud before they try it alone. Keep tissues handy for the ending.

The Iron Man by Ted Hughes. A giant made of iron appears on a clifftop, and a boy called Hogarth is the only one willing to talk to him. It is told over five nights, which makes it perfect for a chapter at bedtime, and the language is a poet’s. We wrote about it in our September bookshelf post.

Keeping an eight year old reading

Make it theirs. Their own library card, their own shelf, and the freedom to give up on a book they do not like. Reading by choice is the kind that lasts.

Let series do the work. Most of the books above are the first in a series. A child who loves one already has the next waiting, and that pull is worth more than any reading chart.

Count comics and audiobooks. A graphic novel is reading. An audiobook in the car is a story. Both keep a child in the habit, and the habit is what carries them on to longer books.

Keep reading aloud. At eight, a child can usually understand far more than they can comfortably read. Sharing a harder book aloud, like Charlotte’s Web, lets them enjoy it now rather than later. Our guide to helping a reluctant reader has more on this.

And one thing that is not a book

For a child who likes a story to keep going, here is one more idea. Journee posts a story to your child in letters, a chapter at a time, written for their age, with them as the hero and their family in it, and each letter can end on a choice that is theirs to make. At eight, most children read their letters on their own, then come and tell you what happened. You can see how it works on our personalised letters page.