Seconding the suggestions of The Wizard of Oz books (how I loved them at that age!) and Joan Aiken. I loved The Wolves of Wiloughby Chase, and I think she wrote several sequels to it.

I got Charlotte's Web for my eighth birthday, and loved it.

I also loved the Little House books at that age.

I have no idea if the Henry Reed books are still in print. I loved those, too. I also liked The Mad Scientist's Club.

It has a holiday theme, but I loved The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.

Never read The Wishing Chair, but I grew up on Enid Blyton's Famous Five books. Think the first one is Five on a Treasure Island.

Loved all three of the Pippi Longstocking books I had.

Steph, I totally agree that there isn't much for kids. Especially boys! My son loves to read, but when we try to find him something, we have such a hard time. I finally decided to write him one; he absolutely loved it. I read it to his class--they and the teacher couldn't stop laughing and very much enjoyed it.

If your daughter enjoys funny stories, here are my suggestions:

Junie B Jones (always a hit)
Diary of a Whimpy Kid (me and my son couldn't put this down!)

I should have my book done (self publishing) within 3 more weeks if all goes good. If she's interested in funny and doesn't mind boogers, poop, and farts (it was written for a boy after all), I think she'll enjoy my book. I'll be posting in the "Promote your Work" file when done...watch for it!

I think every kid should read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. Of course, she's probably read them already if she has all the Roald Dahl's.

Other books I don't see mentioned (unless I missed them) are Charlotte's Web, A Wrinkle in Time, and A Little Princess.

Maybe a list of children's classics and award winners (Newberry and Caldecott) would help you weed out the good from the bad as well.

Hayes wrote: "vicki_girl wrote: "Well, I cannot recommend enough times Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling. I just finished reading these to my sons (7 & 9 years old) and they complained when there ..."

Wow, Number the Stars is another one that I remember as being one of my favourite books as a child.

Besides the ones that I have already been suggestion, what about these:

Little House on the Prairie
Black Beauty
Island of the Blue Dolphins
Wayside School series
Number the Stars
anything by Lois Lowry
anything by Jane Yolen
poetry books by Shel Silverstein
Pipi Longstocking

I was a horse lover at that age (and still am) so Black Beauty and Misty of Chincoteague were two of my favorites. I also devoured The Saddle Club books. They're fairly fluffy, but have very horsey plots.

vicki_girl wrote: "Well, I cannot recommend enough times Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling. I just finished reading these to my sons (7 & 9 years old) and they complained when there weren't any more!
..."

My mom read them to me when I was little and I complained when she finished too!! I love those stories! Quick, go nominate them for the group read, cat. 2!! (I already nominated one, otherwise I would!)

I didn't mean to insult anyone or BSC or SVH. I really loved those books back then, and still have a lot of affection for them. (The content of my blog notwithstanding......) I just mean that they aren't good in the way that some other YA/Juvenile books are good, like Maniac Magee (Oh, there's one I highly recommend), Bridge to Terabithia, etc. They're just kind of fluff....

Oh I hate those glittery covers. I was checking out the younger kids books (I do not have a kid I was just being curious as to what they have nowadays) and they were all pink. Pink, pink, pink.

I HATED pink as a kid. I still do. Blech.

Allison wrote: "I agree Becky, I loved Baby Sitters Club and Sweet Valley, those are probably the two series that made me fall in love with reading. If that is what kids enjoy--the important thing is that they are..."

Ok just to clarify, I don't think that BSB or SVU are bad book series at a all. Ok, they're a little cheesy but I too read many of them as a kid, and they did usually have an ok plot, which made them good to read. The books I don't like for kids are a newer type of kids books- glittery colorful covers with no plot at all. I don't know if my cousin would be interested in BSB or SVU but I know she has a lot of Saddle Club books.

Some other books with substance for kids:
Harriet the Spy
The Neverending Story
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
The Last Unicorn

I agree with the Wizard of Oz books. There are several, and not all just about Dorothy either which, for me, made the world even more fantastic.

I agree Becky, I loved Baby Sitters Club and Sweet Valley, those are probably the two series that made me fall in love with reading. If that is what kids enjoy--the important thing is that they are reading, and there are always responsibility or moral lessons hidden in the plots, so I don't consider them crap at all! I don't think I would enjoy them now, but I think they're great for kids.

My all time favorite is James and the Giant Peach

Nikki wrote: "Well, you've been given lots of ideas, and I can't think of any to add. I just want to let you know that I read some really REALLY crappy juvenile/YA fiction books when I was a kid. I was so in l..."

Awww, I feel kind of insulted by this. I read and enjoyed both of those series as a kid. And I grew up to be a well-rounded reader too. I think that kids should read what THEY like, not what we think they would or should like.

Well, I cannot recommend enough times Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling. I just finished reading these to my sons (7 & 9 years old) and they complained when there weren't any more!

Also, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and the numerous sequels.

Another good one, popular in the fall, is The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury.

Also, does she have any E.B. White, i.e. Charlotte's Web or Stuart Little?

At that age, I also liked Lynn Reid Banks.

Some other good ones are The Black Stallion and sequels.

Some of my other favorites were Henry Reed, Inc. and its sequels, though I'm not sure if these are currently in print.

Nikki, I think I read a lot of crap too! I wish my mum had helped me more finding good books.

I forgot one - I can't believe I forgot this one -

Good Night, Mr. Tom by Michelle Magorian

I haven't read any of her other stuff but I really want to.

Well, you've been given lots of ideas, and I can't think of any to add. I just want to let you know that I read some really REALLY crappy juvenile/YA fiction books when I was a kid. I was so in love with the Baby Sitters Club and Sweet Valley. But I grew up to be a well-rounded reader. So don't despair at all the crap out there for kids! Even if they are reading crap, it doesn't mean they are only going to read crap as adults!!!!

I just finished the The Sisters Grimm Book 1 The Fairy-Tale Detectives series (there are 7 right now). It's about 2 girls ages 7 and 11 who discover, after something happened to their parents, that they are descendants of the Grimm brothers. They end up living with their grandmother in a town where all the old fairy tale characters live and investigating weird crimes while trying to save their parents. It's such a funny series especially if you've read any fairy tales.

Anything Joan Aiken - Arabel's Raven I think I read at around that age and I just love her as an author. And like DWJ she has written books for a wider range so you don't always grow out of her. She wrote The Wolves of Willoughby Chase which is a classic and very good - would like to read these again myself.

Have these on my shelf here in front of me and forgot them. Loved Joan Aiken as a kid!! maybe just a little older, but not too much.

How to Steal a Dog by Barbara O'Connor and Surprises according to Humphrey by Betty G. Birney are excellent choices.

I would also recommend the Percy Jackson series, which are very mythologically oriented, but modernized to appeal to kids. Very fun. I am reading it now, and I am on the second to last book and love it. :)

The books are:
The Lightning Thief
The Sea of Monsters
The Titan's Curse
The Battle of the Labyrinth
The Last Olympian

The Rowan of Rin series by Emily Rodda (starting with Rowan of Rin) is a great series for younger readers.
Also:
The Runaway Princess by Kate Coombs
Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George
Princess Academy by Shannon Hale
and then there's older classics like:
Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce
The Railway Children by Edith Nesbit
The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge
The Princess and Curdie by George MacDonald
Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild
The Ordinary Princess by M. M. Kaye
or anything by Enid Blyton...

Ok.. this is the first time I have ever had anyone actually post something new into the Long Dead Thread Folder..... its actually quite comical....

Im relocating it to recommendations, since that is what it appears to be :)

Try the Junie B. Jones books, the Magic Treehouse books, anything by Jenny Nimmo, The Guardians of G'Hoole series, books by Bruce Coville or Emily Rodda, Circle of Magic series by Tamora Pierce, Warriors series by Erin Hunter, the Borrowers series by Mary Norton. Many good books can be purchased through Scholastic Book Clubs, if her school does those, or you can look them up online. Just avoid anything based on current television!
OH! and don't forget the Wrinkle in Time set by Madeline L'Engle!

p.s why is this in the dead threads folder?

Steph I think you have to look REALLY hard nowadays to find good stuff. I've noticed it too, there are good books out there but bookshops would rather stock the latest fad irrelevant of quality and much of the really good stuff is rarely found on the shelves.

For 7-10 year olds - I'd recommend anything Diana Wynne Jones - in particular (as she writes for children to young adult) -

Dogsbody
Charmed Life & sequels
Howls Moving Castle and sequels
The Game

(these I haven't read but should be suitable) The Ogre Downstairs, Archers Goon.

There are many others too but I think they're more aimed at 12+ sort of readers to mid teens and older.

Also - Redwall by Brian Jacques I started those at 10 and they're so good.

Anything Eoin Colfer especially the Artemis Fowl series.

Anything Joan Aiken - Arabel's Raven I think I read at around that age and I just love her as an author. And like DWJ she has written books for a wider range so you don't always grow out of her. She wrote The Wolves of Willoughby Chase which is a classic and very good - would like to read these again myself.

The 101 Dalmations - Dodie Smith it is a bit dated but young children will probably still like it.

Shadow of the Wall and Beyond the Wall by Christa Laird for some very well written ww2/hollocaust stuff but definitely aimed at the age 10 range. I was 10 when I first read Beyond the Wall.

She also wrote The Forgotten Son - set during the medieval era about Helpise and Abelard's son.

Also try out Michael Morpurgo who writes a lot of very good children's stuff, much set during the world wars.

Also, for when your children get a bit older:

The Seeing Stone by Kevin Crossley Holland is a medieval historical YA.

And the older DWJ books like Fire and Hemlock and the Dalemark Quarter.

List of books I've mentioned:

Dogsbody - Diana Wynne Jones
The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, Volume 1 Charmed Life / The Lives of Christopher Chant - Diana Wynne Jones
Howl's Moving Castle - Diana Wynne Jones
The Ogre Downstairs - Diana Wynne Jones
Archer's Goon - Diana Wynne Jones
Martin the Warrior/Redwall (Redwall was the first published, Martin the Warrior is the first one in chronological order) - Brian Jacques
Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer
The 101 Dalmatians - Dodie Smith
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase - Joan Aiken
Arabel's Raven - Joan Aiken
Shadow of the Wall - Christa Laird
Beyond the Wall - Christa Laird
The Forgotten Son - Christa Laird
Books by Michael Morpurgo

Older books:

The Seeing Stone - Kevin Crossley Holland (as 3 sequels)

sorry I had it in edit and didn't post before you answered.... sorry, cousin, not daughter.

Books about horses are great, my cousin really likes animals, especially horses.

An old favorite of mine, The Secret Garden. Some of the Roddy Doyle ones, Rover Adventures The Giggler Treatment, Rover Saves Christmas, The Meanwhile Adventures, or Marguerite Henry (books about horses, although she might be a little young for some of these. I know they are dated, but then again... so am I!!

and I know what you mean about kids books... But really I don't complain too much. If that's what it takes to get some kids reading, so be it. My son reads other things and your daughter does too. Just ignore the other stuff!

I love going into my local bookstores, but they often get on my nerves because they both have a limited range of books compared to other bookstores, and when I look at the children's section. I know this is probably in all book stores, but when did fiction for children and young adults become so... crappy?

I mean, don't get me started on the purple prose pustule that is Twilight, but all the new kids books that I see, especially for ages 7-10, have glittery, blindingly colorful covers without much plot and substance in between. Yes I know kids books obviously aren't going to be as detailed as more adult books but as I when I read as a child I liked reading books with a decent 'story', and good books made me think.

So, sorry about this long-winded rant. Have you noticed this at your local bookstore? And does anyone have any ideas for books for a 7 year old girl? She loves reading and has most of the popular books (all the Rohald Dahls, etc. and of her two sisters old books and I wanted to get her a good book for her birthday.

Thanks everyone for your great ideas and suggestions. You reminded me of some really great books that I read as a kid that she might not have already.

Possible books:
The Secret Garden
Harriet The Spy (Just remembered this one! I loved this book as a kid!)
The 101 Dalmations
Charlie & The Great Glass Elevator
Non-fiction horse or animal books
The Black Stallion
Dogsbody
The Railway Children (Just remembered this one too..)
Enid Blyton (She has both Wishing Chair books and loves these, so I might look for some other Enid Byton books)

Thanks again for your great suggestions.