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I have an 8 yr old friend who is a reluctant reader. She is a tomboy & just hasn’t gotten interested in any books yet. Any book suggestions? TIA?

I have an 8 yr old friend who is a reluctant reader. She is a tomboy & just hasn’t gotten interested in any books yet. Any book suggestions? TIA?

Robin #recommend

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66 Answers

Maria

Have you looked at The Sisters Grimm? My kids liked them.

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Emma

I was a tomboy at that age and I used to love the Point Horror books. I don’t know if you can still get them but worth a look online x

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Lace

Bailey School kid adventures. Monsters and ghosts in school. Not as dark as goosebumps, but not super frilly girly.

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Kaitlyn

39 clues!

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Marcela

@Kaitlyn I second this one…I really loved them. It has very interesting real stuff and the main girl character is pretty awesome ?

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Ruth

Books by RR Knudsen, Zanboomer etc. about a girl who loves sports!

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Lynn

Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome. I can’t remember what age I was when I read this one but it’s a good old fashioned adventure!

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Leanne

Nancy Drew

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Diane

Warrior books by Erin Hunter.

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Lena

I second these books. I loved them as a kid

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Justine

The Legend of Ghost Dog Island by Rita Monette is about a tomboy and her dog investigating the truth behind the legends of the bayou. It’s a series.

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Kat

The owl who was afraid of the dark

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Amber

I thought Patricia Brigg’s Mercy Thompson was tomboy-ish with a kickass female character. Probably a little above her reading level now, but something to aspire to. The Golden Compass, Harry Potter, Artemis Fowl, East, and Percy Jackson are probably a good place to start now.

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Christina

I was a tomboy and at that age I loved the following:
Berenstain Bears series
The Secret Garden
The Boxcar Children
Nancy Drew series
Ellen Tebbits by Beverly Cleary
Curious George series
Charlotte’s Web

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Erin

Sisters Grimm

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Rebecca

How about comic books to get her started? They’re very popular here in France. Things like Tintin or Asterix. My 14 year old is not a reader but enjoys comic books and graphic novels

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Anita

Great idea. That was how I started. We have lots of graphic novels here in the U.S.

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Allyson

Moon over Manifest, Dead End in Norvelt, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Anything by Beverly Cleary and of course Goosebumps.

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Shane

Holes by Louis Sachar

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Suzy

The daisy books (the trouble with…) and horrid Henry and anything by Chris riddell ?

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Suzy

Clarice bean! Those books are brilliant and there’s ones with lots of pictures ?

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Yuki

I climbed trees, did gymnastics and loads of sports when I was a kid. I would have loved reading Anne of Green Gables back then! A more recent rec would be The House of the Scorpion (2002) by Nancy Farmer – coming of age story from POV of human clone (boy).

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Amelia

The Magic Treehouse books helped me get into reading

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Gail

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

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Christina

What about trying some graphic novels? My 9 year old loves them a lot.

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Christina

This author has some really good ones.

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Emily

@Christina my daughter is 10 and loves loves this author

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Christina

Is she anxiously waiting for Guts to be out? They really are cute books. We ended up buying them because she reads them over and over. ?

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Marija

Famous Five, perhaps ?

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Laura

Flavia De Luce mysteries by Allen Bradley.

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Jenny

Captain Underpants
DogMan
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Because of Winn Dixie
Dork Diaries

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Nik

Goosebumps
Baily School Kids
Captain Underpants

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Nik

Ivy and Bean

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Bert

pippi longstockings

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Tabitha

Another idea is try to find a book which one of her favorite movies are based?

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Chirsten

My sister was a big tomboy and she LOVED Hank the Cowdog, Goosebumps, the Boxcar Children, and the I survived books

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Andrea

Harriet the Spy for sure!

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Ashley

The dog man series, diary of a wimpy kid, captain underpants, creeper diaries if they like Minecraft, lots of marvel gráphic novels are AR which is a bonus if they do AR.

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Hannah

Goosebumps or Animorphs – they’re both older series but they’re more for the young male market.

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Laura

Anything by Rick Riordan is awesome, writes all the Percy Jackson series and other books on the Gods of Asgard as well. My daughter loved them all, and has re-read many of them she can’t put them down. She started reading them at about 10 though… I just noticed the age, sorry. Goosebumps are always great too!

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Kelly

Encyclopedia Brown. They were fun and so was the Goosebumps choose your ending.

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Nancy

Dory Fantasmagory or Galaxy Zach

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Cinnamon

I know they are not to some considered books but I would suggest Comic books, age appropriate ones of course they can help transition reluctant readers into full tilt readers ? also maybe try books on unusual facts or on hobbies or activities she is interested in. But good luck I hope you find just the seeds to plant the love of reading in her life

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Fern

Beezus and Ramona?

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Lisa

Comics!

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Michele

Fantasy and adventure books that don’t entail romance!

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Allison

Goosebumps books by R. L. Stein, Mu Teacher is an Alien series by Brice Coville, and Choose Your Own Adventure books

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Heleen

some fantasy series, like The Tunnel series, maybe divergent or the hunger games :p

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Katherine

Ranger’s Apprentice and the Protector of the Small series by Tamora Pierce.

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Kassi

An amazing Graphic Novel series: AMULET

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Kenyatta

Baby Sitters Club Series
Nancy Drew Series

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Kate

Nevermore…..

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Rohen

Geronimo Stilton books, Asterix series

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Rohen

Enid Blyton books

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Julia

Try a graphics novel, there are many of then out and there very popular w that age group. Also if u have a bookstore in your area. I say visit the kids section and see what is popular there, a good sales lady should know, I read a ton of ya but mostly middle school books so I am not sure if the topics might be too advanced for an 8-year-old. I just happen to I enjoy ya but I am not a parent or someone who works w kids. My other though is Harry Potter.

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Julia

Below is a list of all the books I read in college English class. All of which are great, the first one was my favorite and I highly recommend that. The rest u may want to look into but I really only? Birthmarked and the Book Theif, which deals w the holocaust, but that my take.

— Mrs Frisby and the Rats of Nimh….by OBrien
— Out of the Dust…by Hesse l
— Chocolate…by Cormier
— Looking for Alaska…. by Green
— Wrinkle in Time…. by Len
— Giver…by Lowry
— Birthmarked…by O’Brien
— Pigman… by Zindel
— Book Thief… by Zusak
— Tuck Everlasting…. by Babbit

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Kay

Trust me: https://amzn.to/2TFvY4h

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Sharon

The Junie B Jones series is easy and hilarious. Read to her and enjoy them with her!

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Toby

My granddaughter is an excellent reader but prefers to play / she and her mom just read Tuck Everlasting/ then watched movie/ she loved it/3rd grade/

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Amy

My tomboy loves graphic novels. She has read all of the TinTin collection, the Pokemon series, Wonder Woman, Super Girl to name but a few. She also loves David Walliams, not an author I am massively keen on but I can see the appeal to the kids.

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Jaime

Dragon Masters series by Tracey West

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Karen

I teach 8 year olds and the best way to get a love of reading is read the aloud always stopping at the interesting/suspenseful parts.
Try Jack and the Geniuses series by Bill Nye for a science adventure or the Wild Robot by Peter Brown.
At 8 kids are ready to explore and learn what genre they enjoy so try animal books like the survivors series

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Amber

Would she be interested in a fantasy short story written by a fellow tomboy? lol a 10yo friend of mine hates reading but her parents said she hung onto every word.

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Pat

Buy her a copy of Treasure Island with the N.C. Wyeth illustrations. Love at first sight, I bet. Yar!!!

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Ashley

My 9yo used to be a somewhat reluctant reader, too, and she loved/loves Scooby Doo comics, graphic novels, those National Geographic weird but true books, Goosebumps, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Wonder, Harry Potter (we’d watch the corresponding movie after reading and discuss how they were different).

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Jenny

The Boxcar Children, Redwall, and any of Tamora Pierce’s children’s series would be great adventures for a tomboyish little girl.

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