I've got an 8-year-old pupil who's approaching Grade 4 standard. We didn't bother with the Grade 3 exam and might skip this one, although we've used/are using some of the repertoire from both.

I've avoided some of the pieces I normally use around this stage, such as ones from Jazz, Blues and Ragtime, because I don't want her to feel that she's just repeating everything her elder brother did. However, I've not had many pupils reach this stage at such an early age, and so not everything I normally use will be engaging for her. I don't want to get stuck in a rut, slogging through things which don't really make much sense to her as pieces of music.

What books/pieces do people use with younger pupils around this level? We've covered positions 1-4, using Sprinters and Got Those Position Blues, so it would be good to consolidate this work further (we're using Ambleside and Congratulations To The Bridegroom... from the Grade 4 book for this reason), especially as she's about to move onto a larger instrument.

Rhythmic and engaging pieces which don't outstay their welcome, and some more familiar melodies, would be helpful - she started working on The Pink Panther out of First Repertoire For Violin without being asked, for instance

Ideas?

How much music has she played by 'real' composers away from tutor books? There are some nice pieces in the Mary Cohen book you mentioned. There is also the Young Violinists Repertoire books 3&4 (Waterman) that have short but 'real' pieces. The First Violin and Second Violin books are a graded series of varied pieces from AB, plus their Baroque series. And also the Reiding Concerto and Seitz etc from the Easy Concertos series - slightly pricey but you can use them as a longer project alongside a book of shorter pieces. I've used all these books successfully with that age group.

This is perhaps part of what I'm unsure of: how to present 'real music' as being something different to tutor books to a pupil of this age. I definitely find that transition to be a big motivator with slightly olde pupils.

Thanks for reminding me about the Reiding, although IIRC it's all first position? I'm keen to get an equality of positions established, via pieces that work entirely in one other position, rather than first being 'first among equals'!

My daughter enjoyed Gypsy Jazz Volume 1 at this stage/age and also the Reels and Hornpipes.

I think you'll find the suggestion of 'real' composers even more of a motivator for a young one, makes them feel grown up. Tell they are doing great for eight years old and you think it's time they moved into the big league! I personally move them off tutor material (apart from studies and technique, which they do for EVER ) a book before grade 1. Even though the Reiding Concerto is only in 1st position, it's great for consolidating other aspects of technique and musical style such as tone, vibrato etc. and if they are unsure as to it's validity in the violin repertoire just play them Perlman's recording - usually gets them hooked!
The AB books I mentioned use positions from bk2, the YV rep books from vol 3, but you can slip them in yourself on any of these pieces, of course..

Seitz, Reiding & Kuchler wrote lots of student concertos (all published in the same series) and they're by means all in 1st position. One of the Reiding movements was an alternative grade 5 piece until recently and certainly went pretty high. I used to love the Seitz concertos at that age - really had that 'proper music' feel!

Another nice piece that used to be on the gr4 syllabus is Josephine Trott's 'Puppet Show', although that can be all in 1st pos thinking about it. As well as being published separately, you can also find it in a collection edited by Barbara Barber. Can't remember the book's title now, but I know it as 'the purple book'.

There's always the Classic Experience books, which I'm not totally convinced by, but they do have a lot of well known pieces to help with your pupils general musical awareness.

How nice to have such a bright pupil to deal with!

They say on the front which positions they use, which is handy!