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Some Recommended Books for 9 - 11 Year Olds

Primary schools
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In 2015 Booktrust, the UK`s largest reading charity, compiled a list of the one hundred best children`s books written over the last century. In previous articles books selected for earlier age groups have been reviewed, but the list below details some chosen for the 9 -11 age category.

Flour Babies - Anne Fine

The class of 4C eagerly await to be told which exciting location they will be assigned for the annual school science fair. Will they be travelling to the Maggot Farm? the Soap Factory? or will they go to the food factory, and get to work making exploding custard tins? To their great disappointment each child is presented with a `flour baby,` a simple sack of flour, and given the strict instructions they must take great care of it, as if it were a newborn baby, for three whole weeks. Though the teenagers of class 4C bemoan the task, which they think will be both simple and dull, the novel shows how each of them comes to find the responsibility of caring for the inanimate baby an enlightening, and also a cautionary one. To make sure the sack is clean, cared for, and within sight for three weeks is difficult - but how much more difficult would it be if it were a real baby? The novel tackles important issues with great delicacy, while at the time being very funny.

Journey to the river sea - Eva Ibbotson

The orphan girl Maia gets sent from London to live with distant relatives who own a rubber plantation on the Amazon River. Cut off from the life she once knew, Maia gets little support from her new family, with the unconcerned adults and xenophobic cousins having little interest in the new arrival; they even go so far as to use bug spray on Maia, while virtually keeping her a prisoner in their home. At her new school the pupils scare her with stories about feral, murderous Indians, and man-eating alligators. The arrival of her governess from London makes life a little easier for Maia, but it soon transpires the governess has an ulterior motive for coming to join her.
This is a delightful novel, set in the early part of the 20th century, and readers will soon come to love Maia, empathizing with her as she faces a number of challenges with great courage and integrity.

Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer

The eponymous character is many things: 12 year old prodigy, millionaire, criminal mastermind, and leader of the Fowl Criminal Empire. The extensive surveillance facilities of this illicit family have uncovered proof of the existence of fairies. Planning to kidnap one of these elusive winged creatures, and raise a huge ransom of gold, Artemis Fowl finally meets his match when he faces Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon Unit. A number of wacky characters are encountered by Artemis Fowl, such as the kleptomaniac dwarf Mulch Diggums, while a series of perilous disasters have to be averted, including the dreaded `blue rinse` a biological bomb that has the potential to kill all organic life.
The character Artemis Fowl now features in more than 8 books, and as of 2020 has his own Hollywood movie, produced by Kenneth Branagh, and starring Colin Farrell and Judi Dench.

Carrie`s War - Nina Bawden

This classic historical novel introduces us to eleven year old Carrie and her younger brother Nick, both evacuated from war torn London and relocated to Wales. Taking residence with the fearsome shopkeeper Mr Evans and his submissive sister Louise, they initially find their new life a daunting one, but things soon improve when they visit a fellow evacuee living with Mr Evans` older sister in a crumbling house called Druid`s Bottom. Albert Sandwich soon becomes a good friend, with Carrie and Nick spending as much time as they can with him, the three of them enthralled by the housekeepers stories about fairy tales and curses.
The story is told by Carrie as an adult, some thirty years later, looking back on these formative years when she was evacuated from London.

The Hobbit

Featuring the most unlikely of heroes, namely one Bilbo Baggins, a short, plump, inoffensive `hobbit` living in a realm called Middle Earth, who lives a happy and safe and sedentary life in The Shire. All this changes however when the wizard Gandalf arrives, and without quite knowing how, Bilbo finds himself embarking on an adventure, having joined Gandalf and a troop of thirteen dwarves, who seek to recover a treasure trove of gold and jewels, guarded by Smaug the dragon.
This novel is one of the most perfectly written adventure stories, with goblins and elves, a mysterious creature called Gollum, who is seeking his magic ring, a giant fire breathing dragon, and a mountain of treasure. The book was written in 1937, and has never been out of print - indeed the last few decades have only seen an increase in its popularity, with a number of films having being made based on the adventures of Bilbo Baggins, and his cousin Frodo, who is the central character of The Lord of the Rings, a trilogy of books that cover events after those described the Hobbit.

3 years ago
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