“But they’re reading, aren’t they?”
I’ve said this more than once to parents or colleagues over the years. Usually after someone had picked up a book that’s too silly, or is full of pictures or has ‘no depth’.
And I have to say it always made me a little sad.
Not because they were wrong for having those opinions. We’re all entitled to have an opinion about the books we like to read or enjoy.
But that is so subjective. And if a child has independently picked up a book without any prompt from an adult to do so, that’s such a win in my book.
But if that selection is immediately followed up with a sense of judgement, it can really knock a child’s confidence.
So, I’ve always subscribed to the belief that if a child has chosen to read instead of one of the many millions of pleasure seeking, dopamine inducing activities that they could be doing, then encourage it and be thrilled about it.
Even if it is filled with bogeys, bums and crass drawings.
If anything, these kinds of books used to be a good reminder for me to be a bit more silly. And to recognise that life (or books) doesn’t have to be that serious. And (shock, horror) reading could actually be fun…
So this is a list of the books teachers are sniffy about. Not all teachers. But the ones I’m thinking of might recognise themselves, and so would the 9 year olds who might have been put off because of their reaction…
These are five books from our age 9 shelf that our readers are currently loving.
You’ll find a vampire-hunting squad, a doll franchise, a self-published body swap, a book made of text messages, and a boarding school with nine books (and counting).
Where the sniffiness comes from
I would like to start by saying that it’s really not the teachers’ fault that they hold some kind of judgement for these kinds of books.
And often it’s because as English teachers, it’s ingrained in us throughout our careers to promote texts with “depth”.
And when a child is halfway through their fourth Horrid Henry it can be really easy to wonder when they should be moved on to something with a bit more to it.
I get it. I trained in the same places. BUT.
My last three years of teaching were at a school for children with complex needs. That job made me reevaluate a lot of things. I should caveat that by saying that’s because I didn’t have the pressure of a strict curriculum or assessment points looming every 6 weeks.
However, whilst I was there none of the kids who were obsessed with Horrid Henry were going to have to sit a comprehension test on it.
So we read the same one for months if that’s what a child wanted. I did Mr Gum in the silly voices. And David Walliams got a full performance.
What I saw was children who genuinely enjoyed reading. They loved the stories and the characters and the playfulness of it all. That was all that ever mattered to me.
What I’d say to my younger self (there’s a bit of a theme here…) is this. When you tell a child the book they chose is too easy, what they hear is that their reading doesn’t count. Reading for pleasure and learning to read are two different things. One is a skill and the other is a relationship, and a relationship needs freedom of choice to grow.
How I picked these five
I went through our age 9 shelf looking for the books nobody with a column has bothered to review. Nothing from the Guardian, the Times or BookTrust that I could find. Then I checked what actual readers thought of them, and every one of these was sitting at over four stars on Goodreads when I looked.
Some are licensed, one is self-published and one is made of screenshots, and I’m telling you that up front on purpose. A 9 year old reading them is a 9 year old reading.
Five books teachers are sniffy about (that 9 year olds love)
The Vanquishers by Kalynn Bayron
The Vanquishers
This is the most-read book on our whole age 9 shelf, and it’s free too which is a bonus.
Boog Wilson and her best friends grew up idolising the Vanquishers, the vampire hunters who wiped out the last of the undead decades ago. Nobody bothers with garlic wreaths and early curfews any more. Except Boog’s parents, much to her embarrassment. Then a friend goes missing, the school counsellor is definitely hiding something, and Boog starts to wonder whether vampires were ever really vanquished at all.
It’s a proper mystery and there’s a sequel (Secret of the Reaping).
Ever After High: The Storybook of Legends by Shannon Hale
Ever After High – The Storybook of Legends
Yes, the dolls. Stay with me.
At Ever After High, the children of fairytale legends are getting ready to become the next Snow Whites, Prince Charmings and Evil Queens, whether they want to or not. Every year on Legacy Day they sign the Storybook of Legends to seal their fates. Raven Queen is the Evil Queen’s daughter, and evil is so not her style. Apple White’s happy ever after depends on Raven feeding her a poison apple one day. What if Raven doesn’t sign?
It’s a toy tie-in written by an author with a Newbery Honor to her name, and it’s about a girl refusing to accept the cards that have been dealt to her. Which is a great reminder for a lot of 9 year olds.
Body Swap by Katrina Kahler
Body Swap
Jack Stevenson is 12. He wakes up after a freak accident and finds himself in his dad’s body, and his life becomes one huge disaster after another. Then he realises his dad is going to have to go to school in his place. Football captaincy, his friends, everything, all in the hands of a grown man who has no idea what he’s doing.
The Tapper Twins Run for President by Geoff Rodkey
The Tapper Twins Run for President
A book made of screenshots and text messages. Perish the thought…
Claudia Tapper is class president and fully expects to be re-elected. Her twin Reese could not care less about student government, until he finds out that becoming class president is his best shot at overturning a rule he hates. And so the greatest political rivalry in Culvert Prep history begins, told through interviews, screenshots, texts and social media bursts, with evil-genius advisers, meddling best friends and some outrageously bad decisions.
This is the format that gets filed under “not a real book”. It’s also a format a 9 year old will pick up without being asked. If they like it, The Tapper Twins Tear Up New York is the same twins, a citywide scavenger hunt, and the same chaos.
Alice-Miranda Takes the Lead by Jacqueline Harvey
Alice-Miranda Takes the Lead
Alice-Miranda is back at school, where the girls are putting on a play with the neighbouring boys’ school. But it’s not all glitter and stage lights. There are rumours of a witch in the woods, Jacinta and Millie are clashing with a rude new girl called Sloane, and Sloane’s pushy mother has a scheme to win her family the fortune she’s sure it deserves.
It’s definitely got a vibe of Malory Towers. There are nine of them on our shelf at age 9 (Alice-Miranda In New York is a good one).
The one I was sniffy about myself
So, if you’ve been here before you probably already know that I wasn’t a natural reader as a child.
But what got me going was the Judy Moody books. Loads of pictures, playful fonts, not a book anyone would have said had ‘depth’.
Judy Moody led to Jacqueline Wilson, which led to Harry Potter, which led (eventually) to ten years of teaching English. So when I catch myself being sniffy about a book a 9 year old is loving, I try to remember what a stack of “easy” books did for me.
If you’re wondering whether they should push through a book they’re not enjoying, I’ve written about what I saw in should my child finish every book they start. And if they’ve read the same one six times, when your child re-reads the same book over and over is the honest version of that. (Horrid Henry gets his own page too, if you want to know what age Horrid Henry is for.)
Just so you know…
All five of these are in Little Reads, the library app I run with my husband. 3,000+ hand-picked books (picked by me, sniffy ones included), £7.99 a month after a 7-day free trial. Cancel anytime. There are 100+ free books on a free account too, The Vanquishers among them.
We’re a library and not a classroom. Nothing in it is levelled and nothing gets marked as too easy. If the reading itself is the job right now, that’s a different app, and a good one will say so. For a 9 year old who reads for fun and wants the next one, we’ve got shelves of them.