"My child is [age] and doesn't really like reading. What do you recommend?"

I get asked this more than anything else in the shop.

Those age band recommendations you see? Marketing tools. They're not about your child. They exist so bookshops and libraries can sort stock, nothing more.

What matters is what your kid wants to read. Full stop.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid is technically recommended for 8 to 12 year olds. I know of at least two high school libraries in Hamilton where it's the most checked out book in the building, by quite some margin, every single year. Fifteen year olds are picking it up and not caring one bit that it's "too young" for them. I've also watched nine and ten year olds tear through Pizza and Taco, recommended for 5+, grinning the whole way because it's silly and it's easy and it's exactly what they needed that week.

So forget the age band. Forget what their mates are reading. These are the ten series I reach for first when a reluctant reader walks into the shop.