I have a friend with a 10-year-old son who would like to read more but is NOT interested in sci-fi/fantasy/spy novels at all, which seems to be 99% of the books targeted at his age range. He has enjoyed some Michael Morpurgo and loves factual books, eg Egyptians, science. Can you recommend some suitable authors and novels which he may enjoy?
Thank you,
Carol
From the books that get most attention it would be easy to think that the general view is that all ten year old boys want to be junior spies or off on some fantasy adventure. Of course, there are a great many other kinds of novels published all the time. Any ten year old who enjoys factual books would surely love Michelle Paver's Wolf Brother which is so factual that you could actually live aspects of the story as the author did when she was researching and writing it. Geraldine McCaughrean also has an exceptional ability to capture other times and other places. Both Gold Dust and The Kite Rider describe new worlds and ways of life which are as different and librating as any fantasy world but without so much 'make believe'. He could also try Eleanor Updale's Montmorency and Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines sequence.
