Interact: Discussions: Children's Book Clubs

Oh she did Quest Seekers last summer - loved it :)

I'll have to have a look with her when I get home.  Thanks so much.

Sonia Porter

Currently reading: The Secret Speech
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Location: London

She might try Stories from the Web (http://www.storiesfromtheweb.org/) which is a member-only site, but if she is a member of your local public library service they may well be paying for an annual subscription, and if so they will give her the library's login and password so she can use it for free. You can write stories, read book reviews, author blogs, play book-related games etc. Also, each summer there is a Summer Reading Challenge website (this year the theme is space, and the name of the challenge is 'Space Hop'). The Space Hop website will be launched some time around June, and will feature lots of games, author blogs, book recommendations etc. Last year's Summer Reading Challenge was Quest Seekers and the website is still live (www.questseekers.org). Hope she finds these useful.

Sue Matthews

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I love that!!  My daughter's staying with her gran at the moment, but when she comes back tomorrow, I'll be showing her.  I recognised a couple of her books in Ethan's list.  I love the food thing - although how any child can think Findus Crispy Pancakes are revolting is beyond me!

Sonia Porter

Currently reading: The Secret Speech
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Location: London

Just saw this on Twitter this morning and thought you'd enjoy it. A book blogger we follow, Scott Pack at Me and My Big Mouth has allowed his two children Martha and Ethan to take over his book blog during half term week. Very sweet and some good ideas for young readers on one of Ethan's posts. Take a look at: Ethan and Martha Take Over.

Sarah Prior

Currently reading: Your Presence is...
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Location: Henley-on-Thames
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I didn't actually know about The Red House, but I'll certainly go through it with my daughter :)

Sonia Porter

Currently reading: The Secret Speech
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Location: London

You could check out The Reading Room at the Red House www.redhouse.co.uk. This is for under 16's although under 13's do need parental permission for some parts of it. You might have heard of The Red House anyway, they sell childrens books only via a monthly newsletter and on-line? They often feature young peoples reviews in their monthly magazine/newsletter. I'm just looking at the Nov 09 issue, it had a review of Scat by Carl Hiassen and Stuff That Scares Your Pants Off by Glenn Murphy both in the 9+ category. The 12+ books had a review of The Gates by John Connelly and The Death Defying Pepper Roux by Geraldine McCaughrean was reviewed on the back page. They usually have a focus point and/or interview with an author or illustrator too. Even books that are not reviewed by the children have a nice bit of blurb, it does feel as though the books selected because they are liked by the editors and not just marketed for the sake of it.

Another good site for kids is www.lovereading4kids.co.uk Not as much in the way of participation on-line there, but you can download free extracts before you decide if you want to buy or not. They too choose books rather than just market them. They have a very good tool where if your daughter has say read everything by Jenny Nimmo and wants more, you can put Jenny Nimmo into the search tool and it will recommend authors who write in a similar style that she might like to try. They also have lots of features with authors, illustrators etc and I think they run competitions too.

Good luck, hope you find something that she enjoys.

Karen Sykes

Currently reading: The Black Dahlia
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Location: Bristol

This is something we've discussed a lot here at BookRabbit HQ, and we may well look into a more dedicated area or something for children and teens, but in the meantime it's worth looking at some of the bigger publisher websites. I know Penguin has Spinebreakers, and Puffin has a lot of stuff on its site for younger children. Walker Books is another one to check out. We've put your query out on Twitter this afternoon, so perhaps some of our friendly Twitter followers will offer some suggestions too! We'll keep you posted.

Sarah Prior

Currently reading: Your Presence is...
Friends (34)
Location: Henley-on-Thames
Read blog

My daughter is 10 1/2 (the 1/2 is apparently VERY important) and she is an avid book reader.  I was wondering if anyone knew of any online sites like this that would be good for a kid her age.

She needs a lot of stimulation, otherwise she tends to read the same books over and over.

It took her months to actually get around to reading The Graveyard Book that she'd had, but as soon as she saw it had won a prize, she sped through it.

Likewise, I recently managed to get a review copy of a book from Waterstones, and she's speeding through that as it has the publication date of 1 April 2010 on it and she knows she needs to write a review for their website.

So - any ideas?

Sonia Porter

Currently reading: The Secret Speech
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Location: London