Books for 7yo girl who doesn't like princesses, fairies, unicorns or anything remotely scary?

[isabellea]

Every day, my kids need to read 30 minutes in French and 30 minutes in English. My oldest is set. She reads Harry Potter in French and the series Upside Down Magic in English. I also bought the Kingdom Keepers books to read next.

My problem is my youngest. She's impossible to buy for. In French, one of her pastime is to read the animal encyclopedia we have and I finally convinced her to read one of her sister old series (Fanny) but she refuses to read the kids books we have in English other than the Charlie the Ranch Dog and Wild Kratts books. I need suggestions of a fun series for her to read. Unfortunately, she doesn't like anything girly (princesses, fairies, unicorns, etc.) or magical and is afraid of anything remotely scary like Disney villains (she still only watch Disney Junior series on Disney + because they are not scary), monsters or ghosts. Her passion are animals! She loves animals and has watched the Wild Kratts on Netflix and TVO multiple times. She also read all their books multiple times but since they aim for a young public, they are now too easy for her. She's in second grade and has a good reading level. I am looking at chapter books with big fonts, with or without graphics.

Thank you for your help!

 

[bababear_50]

We have been getting great responses from kids here
Epic Books
30 day free trial
https://www.getepic.com/
Hugs
Mel

 

[Mathmagicland]

The Babar the Elephant books - originally written in French and available in English as well.

 

[isabellea]

We have been getting great responses from kids here
Epic Books
30 day free trial
https://www.getepic.com/
Hugs
Mel

Thank you Mel! I didn't know this platform existed. I will ask her tomorrow if she would like to read from her iPad instead of a real book.

The Babar the Elephant books - originally written in French and available in English as well.

I didn't know it was French! lol. I remember watching Babar on tv as a kid.

 

[marchingstar]

This is formatted like a comic book, and was much-loved by my niece on her 8th birthday. The description on amazon says it’s a bit of an older audience, though, so it might be a slow read...

 

[bababear_50]

I am currently supporting grade 2/3 kids online in our Google classroom and the kids seem to love reading on Epic.
I have a medically fragile child stuck in India right now and he frequently sends me new choices to read up on,,lol. (Big Nate).

Storyline online is a favorite before bed site.
https://www.storylineonline.net/
For nature enthusiast I recommend
https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/
Hugs
Mel

 

[FigmentSpark]

Why not start her on the Magic Tree House series?

https://www.amazon.ca/s?k=magic+tree+house
If that's a little too advanced, I would recommend this series. It teaches math along the way.

https://www.amazon.ca/Sir-Cumferenc...qid=1589854398&sprefix=sir+cum,aps,297&sr=8-2

 

[bababear_50]

I also have heard back from a few kids regarding Funbrain website for reading.
They seem to think it's a great site and parents like it too.
It has a browse by grade feature.

https://www.funbrain.com/books

 

[Shsmith341]

My children are into the choose your own adventure books. I've been getting them on Amazon. We are currently reading, pick your own quest trapped in a fairy tale. They like deciding what will happen next every few pages.

 

[Shsmith341]

My children are into the choose your own adventure books. I've been getting them on Amazon. We are currently reading, pick your own quest trapped in a fairy tale. They like deciding what will happen next every few pages.

 

[BLAZEY]

DD11 now in grade 5 French immersion, read the Mechant Minou aka "Bad Kitty" book series and the Ramona series in second grade.

 

[isabellea]

View attachment 495537
This is formatted like a comic book, and was much-loved by my niece on her 8th birthday. The description on amazon says it’s a bit of an older audience, though, so it might be a slow read...

Looks like a fun book! If it's too advanced for her, I'll tell my oldest to read it first or I'll read it with her. She decided not to get a long board like her sister as her 'end of school year' present and to wait until she can go in a store and buy roller skates instead so the book could be a good fit!

I am currently supporting grade 2/3 kids online in our Google classroom and the kids seem to love reading on Epic.
I have a medically fragile child stuck in India right now and he frequently sends me new choices to read up on,,lol. (Big Nate).

Storyline online is a favorite before bed site.
https://www.storylineonline.net/
For nature enthusiast I recommend
https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/
Hugs
Mel

National Geographic is the first thing that caught my eyes when I checked Epic. I almost subscribed her to the magazine the other day when I thought there was a Groupon offer for it but it was only for US residents. She's definitely a nature enthusiast and I'm sure she would love to read more on animals even though she already knows more facts on animals than her biologist mother! lol. At a party last year (she was 6yo) I heard her explaining the differences between African and American porcupines to DH's aunt and her dream is to work at Disney's Animal Kingdom, her favourite place on Earth right now (close second is AKL). She once told us her dream trip would be to go to Madagascar because they have so many unique species. Unfortunately, it's very unsafe to visit so we are looking at alternatives like Costa Rica or the Galapagos Islands (sooo expensive!!!) for when she's a little older.

Why not start her on the Magic Tree House series?

https://www.amazon.ca/s?k=magic+tree+house
If that's a little too advanced, I would recommend this series. It teaches math along the way.

https://www.amazon.ca/Sir-Cumferenc...qid=1589854398&sprefix=sir+cum,aps,297&sr=8-2

Not sure it's for her but I would have LOVED that series growing up! I might still try one to see if she would like the style as we never know! Thanks for the suggestion!

I also have heard back from a few kids regarding Funbrain website for reading.
They seem to think it's a great site and parents like it too.
It has a browse by grade feature.

https://www.funbrain.com/books

I will check it out! Thanks!

My children are into the choose your own adventure books. I've been getting them on Amazon. We are currently reading, pick your own quest trapped in a fairy tale. They like deciding what will happen next every few pages.

I remember those from my childhood! I had forgotten about them and will check Amazon to see what they have. Thanks for the suggestion!

DD11 now in grade 5 French immersion, read the Mechant Minou aka "Bad Kitty" book series and the Ramona series in second grade.

Bad Kitty looks just like her style! She loves that kind of humour. Ramona looks interesting too. Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[BLAZEY]

Bad Kitty looks just like her style! She loves that kind of humour. Ramona looks interesting too. Thanks for the suggestions!

My daughter is not a Princess, fairy type anymore, she didn't outright dislike them they just couldn't hold her interest long.

 

[tcufrog]

DS9's school uses the Magic Treehouse series to teach social studies during 1st grade. It's a huge hit. They're chapter books but they are short and have some illustrations. Another series she might like is Owl Diaries. They're very sweet graphic novels about owls.

I used to be a librarian and some options I'd suggest to parents of reluctant readers are: muting favorite shows and turning on the closed captions, listening to audiobooks while reading, and reading to a favorite pet or stuffed animal. I also suggest making the child a special reading hidey-hole.

 

[amw]

Your daughters sound like mine (who are now 18 and 20)! The older one was a born reader — is still in love with Harry Potter. The younger one was harder. She did go for books with humour. And small pics. She was more creative. She loved the bad kitty books in grade 1/2. She really liked Judy Moody in grades 2/3. A little older, she read the Big Nate books, Timmy failure, and by grade 6/7 she liked the James Patterson kids books — treasure hunter, I funny, middle school, etc. She preferred books with doodles, visual cues, puzzles, and humour. And would not touch anything her sister liked!

 

[hdrolfe]

My son loved the Magic Treehouse books at that age. We also read some Beverly Cleary books. My younger neice who never liked reading much loved the Geronimo Stilton books, I think there is also a set with his neice? My kiddo does not like them at all, but every kid is different We also read the Boxcar Children, which is such a classic. And the Humphrey books (he's a class hamster) are cute but perhaps too above her grade? Not sure when we started reading those.

Scholastics (are they available in Quebec?) has free delivery to homes since schools are closed, but even if you don't want to buy from them it may give some ideas on different books to try. We would often get a set with 6 or 8 different books which let us try new authors.

 

[alohamom]

I love all your answers, it is taking me back to when my kids were small. They LOVED the Magic Treehouse series and I feel it helped them become co operative as siblings when it came to problem solving in real life.

Some of my suggestions for your daughter

Baby Mouse graphic novels

Geronimo Stilton series, they are really fun!

What about something like Stuart Little by EB White or the Cricket in Times Square or even the Mouse and the Motorcycle


When she is a little older there is a series about feral cats called Warriors

 

[pigletto]

Junie B Jones ! We had so many of these books. Junie is not at all girlie and such a strong and fun character for girls. I loved reading them with my daughter !

http://juniebjones.com/

 

[ButterbearUK]

These are some really good books, hopefully available in Canada:
Prince Cinders (for kids who don’t do princesses this is fun) and anything else by Babette Cole
Flat Stanley
The Mossflower books (may be a little advanced, depends how well she reads)
Terry Pratchett’s children’s books Truckers, Diggers, Wings (may also be for reading with you rather than alone) and Maurice and his educated rodents
I concur that Babur is a good choice
The Little Prince (Le Petit Prince)
Any Winnie the Pooh book by AA Milne
Any Beatrix Potter book
Any Julia Donaldson book

 

[Kaadk]

My DD (9) is also all about animals, and not about princesses, or fairies or any of that. She's moved onto the Warriors, Survivors, etc series from Erin Hunter, but a couple of years ago, she was mostly reading Magic Puppy and The Puppy Place books. She's also in French Immersion and I know we've been able to get some of them in French from Indigo.