This is the moment when your childhood reading and that of your own children's meet and meld as you introduce them to E. As every parent with children in this age range knows, a thorough grounding in the rules of quidditch is essential if you are to have any meaningful conversation with your children.

Short Stories for Children 9-12: The Hidden Doors

A word of warning. Take care when trying to introduce the books you loved or think you loved as a child to your own. Often your memory will be hazy as to exactly what age you were when you read it - you were almost certainly older than you think. There is sometimes a density to the writing of many of the older classics, which can be very satisfying, but which can also be a turn-off to a generation raised on the Oxford Reading Tree and Ginn.

They will probably be appreciated in time, but read them The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in the cradle and they'll firmly slam the door shut on you. Every child is different in their reading ability and their interests, and parents need to take their cue from the child. Remember, a book which sports the label "classic" isn't intrinsically better for your children than one which does not. Books are not medicine to be forced down; they should be fun, exciting doorways into other worlds and different feelings and points of view.

The best books for this age group do not inform children about the world, but present it to them as a transformation. What does that mean?


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Between there is no such thing as a bad book, it is the habit of reading that counts. Don't get prissy and ban Enid Blyton. The child who thrills to the adventure of The Secret of Killimoon is only a step away from the excitement of Philip Ridley's Kasper in the Glitter. For some children this is also the age when books become friends, the same one consumed over and over in the same way that a teenager will play the same track on a new CD over and over.

Assume, if this is the case, that the child is getting something crucial from it in the same way that the child who demands cheese three times a day for a week is probably unconsciously seeking some essential nutrient. At this age, books can be the most satisfying food in the world. A very modern "Alice" for the modern child that dusts off the Victorian fustiness of the book.

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Some adults will regret this approach and the passing of the dark Tenniel drawings but this is a perfect introduction to the story for younger readers and while Oxenbury's fresh as a daisy illustrations make the story completely accessible they certainly don't Disneyfy it in any way. They are bare, spare, and stripped down to the bone so that the story itself stands out like a skeleton. It was Duffy's versions of the tales that were used by the Young Vic for its outstanding Grimm Tales.

Reading the stories makes you aware how much the theatrical style sprung from Duffy's gleaming, hard words. On his ninth birthday, Omri receives many gifts including a much-wanted skateboard. Less desired are the old cupboard given to him by his brother and the three-inch tall plastic Indian given to him by his friend Patrick. But it is the latter two gifts that prove best of all for when the Indian is put in the cupboard and the key is turned he comes to life.

Little Bull turns out to be everything you could wish from an Indian - proud, fearless and defiant. But as Omri soon discovers being responsible for another person isn't easy, particularly when they don't always behave as you might expect or wish. This is a wonderful, very readable book in which our responsibilities to each other are explored through an entertaining story. Tolly's great grandmother's house is full of a very special kind of magic. There are other children living there, children who were happy there many centuries before. Boston's novel really does conjure up all the magic of childhood for a new generation in this smart reissue of the Carnegie winner.

Essential for reading out loud as a family, TS Eliot's felines are a wonderfully mysterious capricious and amusing group of must-have moggies.

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Cult American artist Edward Gorey adds more mischief with his illustrations. Just when you're feeling down, the homework is piling up and life seems a grind and not fun, you need a dose of Pippi Longstocking, the irrepressible little girl who doesn't live by the rules and creates a wonderful fantasy world for herself and her friends. This is a marvellous, stimulating book that is brilliant for children who've had the individuality bashed out of them by school. Of course it is stiff and old-fashioned, but there is also a kind of enchantment about it that survives changes in life and attitudes.

A child's school day told in verse through from going to school to bedtime.

Free Online Short Stories: Ages 9-11

That doesn't make it sound all that interesting, but Ahlberg's easy-to-read poems are funny, sad and absolutely accurate when it comes to emotion. From the title poem about a teacher at the end of her tether, through the pinickety parent complaining about her son's lost possessions to the quietly devastating Small Quarrel, this is a brilliant collection that not only makes children love poetry but gets them writing their own.

Carnegie award-winning novel about Barney who one "ordinary Wednesday" finds that "the world tilted and ran downhill in all directions. And why do his sisters' attempts to unravel the mystery lead to a crisis that almost topples the entire family? Mahy's attractively simple storytelling style will attract even the most reluctant readers and creates a convincing portrait of a family tipped out of kilter by the keeping of secrets. Victor was the oddest boy Andrew had ever met.

How could he be so dim in school, and yet know so much about aeroplanes? But then, as Andrew starts to slowly appreciate, appearances can be very deceptive indeed and we all have our own strategies for survival. Smartly written, very enjoyable story about friendship and the differences between us all. Particularly good for boys. Gwyn's granny gives him five strange birthday gifts including a twisted metal brooch. Gywn gives the brooch to the wind and in return is sent the snow spider who weaves a silken web.

Inside the web sits a girl who Gwyn knows but cannot place. Nimmo's book deftly mixes magic and mourning, the ordinary and the other-worldly in this story of a lost sister, a battle of good against evil and the value of knowing the place where you belong. Elboz is one of the best writers around at the moment, crafting his stories with amazing depth and using words with wit and brilliance.

This Smarties Award winner tells of four children who suddenly find their safe life disappearing as the mysterious house where they are living is taken over and wolves howl outside. Only when they meet one of the "Rats" do they find a way to escape. It is , life on the Scilly Isles is bleak and difficult and it seems likely that Laura and her father will be forced to retreat to the mainland. Even the cow stops milking. Morpurgo's book is written with his customary quiet authority as it charts the battle between man and nature and the cruelties and beauties of the sea and its creatures.

The longing, the sadness, the sense of otherness and the exhilaration of childhood are brought vividly to life in this story of Ben, a boy who so much wants a dog he conjures one up out of his imagination. Russell Hoban's book is a brilliant modern fairytale about a father and son toy mouse who dance under a Christmas tree until they break the ancient clockwork rules and are themselves broken.

Discarded, they are rescued from a dustbin and repaired by a tramp before setting out on a dangerous quest to find a home of their own. A crackling read, full of Hoban's sly humour and his belief in the importance of having a place of your own and being happy. Walking across the park one morning, Rosie encounters a frail old man who asks her to post a package for him. Little does our heroine know that it contains the Djinn star whose evil magic threatens to take her over. Only the Finders can help her. Hinton's book, a pacy, well-plotted novel is a really good introduction to more adult reading for nine year olds and above.

Wilson's best book to date is a no-holds bar account of the mental breakdown of Marigold, mother to Star and Dolphin and covered from head to toe in tattoos. For years the girls have persuaded themselves that life with mum is a gas except when she goes weird but now they are growing up and looking at the world and mum with new eyes.

This is a wonderful, perceptive and disturbing book about mental illness, irresponsible parenthood and the falling out of love of children with their parents. Wilson holds true to the very end, offering no happy-ever-afters but plenty of possibilities instead. Shakespeare's London is brought vividly to life in cleverly written novel that sees young actor Nat Field slipping back years in time to find himself playing Puck at the Globe Theatre in Playing opposite him is the King of the Shadows himself, William Shakespeare.

Worth a hundred history lessons, Cooper's novel combines thriller-like suspense with a story of theatrical and personal transformations. Think the Arabian Nights. Think Alice in Wonderland. You can think a lot about Rushdie's story about a boy's quest to restore the gift of storytelling to his father, but you'll probably be too busy enjoying it. This is a dense, fantastical book, in which the comic rubs shoulders with evil and the savage with the lyrical.


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The first book in Le Guin's deep, dense and utterly brilliant Earthsea series, a fantasy sequence that is to Terry Prachett what double cream is to skim milk. Le Guin writes with a calm authority, almost a stillness, as she charts the story of the young wizard Sparrowhawk who misuses magic and unleashes an evil shadow-beast who threatens his land. Only Sparrowhawk can destroy it, but the journey is long and difficult and takes him to the farthest corner of Earthsea. Eliot is finding it hard to come to terms with his mother's death.

But then he finds a ghost in his bedroom who has her own grief to deal with. Nimmo's beautifully written and understated novel is about the way the past makes its imprint upon the present and the subtle interconnections of both history and family relationships. Francois Place is an artist, an author, a dreamer and the inventor of strange, fantastical countries and legends that he realises through fly-away prose and exquisite pen pictures.

It is like being taken on an amazing off-beat adventure by a 19th century explorer. This is a must-have book for the dreamer in every child, a book to awaken curiosity and the imagination. Imagine a country where night lasted an entire winter and where in the darkness danger stalks. Price conjures a world of magic and danger to tell this modern, mythic fairytale about a boy imprisoned in a tower whose cries for help are heard by the witch-girl, Chingis.

If they like this try the equally enthralling Ghost Dance and Ghost Song. A culture clash of epic proportions ensues in this classic novel that sees two privileged English kids abandoned in the Australian outback and forced to fend for themselves. Truly scrumptious tale of a boy called Charlie Bucket who wins a golden ticket, entitling him to a day out at Willy Wonka's miraculous chocolate factory.

The real question about this book is how long you'll be able to hold off before reading it to your kids. Dahl's wonderfully evil sense of humour makes what could simply be a modern version of the cautionary tale into something exceptional. The writing sizzles, foams, spits and bubbles over.

Read it to them from six; read it alone from eight. As a great storm rages around their house, Amy and Peter hear a terrible noise like a dying giant. Amy knows that the sound is an ancient oak tree half a mile away being ripped from the ground. Trapped among its roots is a secret that only she can uncover. Beautifully wrought story about the way secrets bring you together and tear you apart, and about the competitive relationship between a brother and sister from a fine writer best known for his brilliant books for teenagers.

Highly entertaining book about Eric, a perfectly ordinary boy, who feels his nose becoming cold and wet and his ears becoming floppy as he is transformed into a dog. In its own schoolboyish way Eric's transformation is just as interesting and surreal as that of poor Gregor Samsa into a beetle. The Roald Dahl must-read for this age-group; they'll find it impossible to resist even if they are hooked on the Danny Devito film version.

In fact, seeing the film leads naturally into wanting to read the story of the remarkable Matilda, ignored and derided by her parents and bullied by the odious teacher Miss Trunchbull, who not only has a brilliant mind but strange kinetic powers.


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A brilliant, empowering book that shows children that they don't have to be helpless even in the face of the most bullying of adults. A Pet for Sugar. Repairing Fences and Friendships. Heights Elementary Cupcake Wars. The House on Maple Street. These online short stories are a wonderful way to teach life lessons, reinforce good choices, model positive morals and open the door to talk about life's difficulties such as sickness or death. Institute a short story night in your home this week, and if your older children roll their eyes at you just smile, they will learn to love that special time with you.

Let your child be your guide, but continue to read out loud to them as well as making sure they are reading on their own. Indian in the Cupboard. Because of Winn Dixie. It's a little edgier, about a boy trying to solve his father's murder and always getting into life threatening predicaments. Boys this age seems to love it, my son did.

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