Category Archives: 7 years and up

A children’s series that ages with its audience: Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill captures 10 year old life well

Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill is the third in Maud Hart Lovelace’s Betsy-Tacy series. The girls are now 10 years old and the largely standalone chapters of the first two books smoothly transition into larger story arcs … Continue reading

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Adventure for kids, humour for grown-ups: Dragon Boy by Dick King-Smith

Dragon Boy by Dick King-Smith is another classic dragon story from my childhood by one of my favourite children’s authors (he also wrote The Sheep-pig aka Babe). Orphaned John is found crying in the forest by a dragon, Montague Bunsen-Burner. … Continue reading

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The Dragon of Mith by Kate Walker

The Dragon of Mith is an Australian kids book by Kate Walker. It’s the story of a vegetarian dragon, a ridiculous number of dragon-slayers, a community of hermits and a blood-thirsty butcher (amongst others). I have vague memories of the … Continue reading

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The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White

E.B. White is better known for Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little, but my favourite of his books is The Trumpet of the Swan. It tells the story of Louis, a trumpeter swan who can’t trumpet, which has grave implications for … Continue reading

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The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis

The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis is the 6th Chronicle of Narnia. As a child it was my least favourite Narnia book, despite containing a favourite character and a favourite scene. The drawbacks are that the main human characters spend … Continue reading

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The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis was my favourite Narnia book as a child – an exciting ocean journey discovering new lands in a quest to find seven missing lords of Narnia. It again features King Caspian … Continue reading

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When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr

When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr is a semi-autobiographical account of her family’s flight from Germany in 1933 because of her father’s opposition to the Nazi party. They move to Switzerland, then Paris and finally England. The story … Continue reading

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The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder

The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder is the 5th of the Little House series about Laura’s pioneering childhood on the American prairies. It tells of the winter when the blizzards are so early, long and severe that the trains … Continue reading

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Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis

Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis is the fourth book set in Narnia. Caspian, the true king of Narnia has been usurped by his uncle, Miraz. Caspian longs for the olden days of Narnia when animals spoke, fawns danced, and two … Continue reading

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Don’t judge this book by its Disney: The 101 Dalmatians by Dodie Smith

The 101 Dalmatians by Dodie Smith is so much richer than the movie! The story is basically the same, telling of two married people and two married dalmatians attempting to rescue their puppies from a woman who wants a dalmatian … Continue reading

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