Books for Australian Boys Aged 6 – 8 Years
Fun and Engaging Stories for Boys in Infants School
Mar 30, 2009
The common opinion seems to be that boys are less likely to enjoy reading than girls. There are some great fun early readers, first chapter books and confident reader books available that will particularly appeal to boys. If a child has a hobby or favourite activity, finding stories that incorporate that can be helpful in cultivating an interest in books.
Books About Animals
Jack Russell: Dog Detective by Darrel and Sally Odgers – These fun who-dunnit stories are approximately 70 pages long and include a glossary of unfamiliar terms. The latest book in the series is #10: The Blue Stealer (Scholastic, 2009)
Pet Vet by Darrel and Sally Odgers – Set in a veterinary clinic, these 90 page stories include pronunciation guides and definitions for unfamiliar words and pet care fact boxes. The most recent story, Motorbike Bob (Scholastic, 2009) features a border collie that rides on the back of a motorcycle.
Books About Knights and Castles
Roland Wright series by Tony Davis, illustrated by Gregory Rogers (Publisher: Random House) – Roland is the newest page at Twofold Castle. These easy to read adventures are 100+ pages.
Victor’s Quest (Walker Books, 2008) and Victor’s Challenge (Walker Books, 2009) by Pamela Freeman, illustrated by Kim Gamble – Follow the adventures of the not so bright Prince Victor and his horse Quince as he attempts princely acts of great bravery and daring. Approximately 80 pages.
Mysteries, Adventures and Secret Agents
Geronimo Stilton series by Geronimo Stilton (Scholastic) – This mouse reporter has a nose for a good story. These 115+ page stories feature colourful, dynamic text that holds a reader’s attention and fun adventure storylines. Originally published in Italy, they have been published in English by Scholastic since 2004.
Zac Power series by H I Larry (Hardie Grant Egmont) This series includes stand-alone books, a Mega Mission series of four interlinked books and a new young reader Test Drive series. 12-year old secret agent Zac must complete his GIB missions while maintaining his cover as an ordinary boy.
Fun With Words
It is hard to go past Dr Seuss for reading entertainment. As confidence grows, children can move on to stories that have a more complex vocabulary. These are often green or yellow back books in the latest reprints by Collins. Great titles to try include:
- The Lorax
- And to Think that I saw it on Mulberry Street
- Horton Hears a Who!
- I had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew
- Fox in Socks
- Did I ever Tell you how Lucky you are?
The Cat on the Mat is Flat (Pan Macmillan Australia, 2006) and The Big Fat Cow that Goes Kapow (Pan Macmillan Australia, 2008) by Andy Griffiths, illustrated by Terry Denton. These very Seuss-ish books contain a series of silly rhymes and short stories that will delight both children and adults.
Find Fun Books to Encourage Boys to Read
The Puffin series Aussie Nibbles, Aussie Bites and Aussie Chomps contain more than 75 titles, many of which are written by well-known Australian authors. They are graded by difficulty and readers can progress from one series to the next as they gain confidence.
The Boyz Rule series (MacMillan) by Felice Arena and Phil Kettle feature a different sport with each title and are a great way of tempting boys with an interest in sport to read.
While many of the books recommended above are by Australian authors, most are also available in the US and UK. Some of the books would continue to appeal to readers up to the age of 10.
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