Books for a 9 yr old girl?

[Amy loves Bud]

My daughter is a very reluctant reader. She can read just fine, she just doesn't want to. At all.

 

The only books she's every really enjoyed have been the Ramona books. Otherwise it's just an assignment to get through for her.

 

Any great suggestions?

[tinkgumby]

My 9-year-old son has been the same way. He also really enjoyed the Ramona books. Have you tried other Beverly Cleary books, such as Ralph S. Mouse, or the Henry ones? Knowing it was the same author as the one he enjoyed helped.

 

Other than that, I just keep trying to find books that pique his interest. I also have mandatory reading time every day, with a whole shelf full of books he can choose from.

[EarleneW]

My 9 year old loves the American Girl books.

[Jugglin'5]

Mine loves Hank the Cowdog, Homer Price, Princess Diaries, and Magic Treehouse. She's a reluctant reader, too, just like her older sister was at that age. The older sister became a real reader around 11/12, so I'm hoping she does too.

[TN Mama]

What about "B" is for Betsy and others by Carolyn Haywood? Others that have been popular here, A to Z Mysteries and Magic Treehouse. If she is into animals, maybe find books that are about dogs, cats, horses, etc.

[Skadi]

The Unicorn Chronicles by Bruce Coville (link to Book 1)

The Wolves Chronicles by Joan Aiken (link to Book 1)

The Night Fairy by Laura Schiltz

Watership Down by Richard Adams

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodges Burnett

Stardust by Neil Gaiman

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by O'Brien

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

 

Best of luck! :)

[TCB]

Just wanted to add The Boxcar Children series. They seem to be good for a fairly wide age range. My 10 year old still likes them and my six year old is just getting in to them. There are lots of books in the series so if they like them it's great. Also, surprisingly, my daughter really got into the Hardy Boys books, not so much Nancy Drew, but really enjoyed the Hardy Boys. You just need to find something to pique their interest sometimes and then they're off.

[dcjlkplus3]

My almost 9 year daughter has been making her way through the Percy Jackson and the Olympians books.

 

American Girl and American Girl Mysteries are also a big hit.

 

So is pretty much any version of Nancy Drew.

 

She also really liked the Fairy Realm books.

 

I find that series books are good, my dd doesn't always like to try new things.

 

You might want to try something that is a movie also, that might serve as an incentive for finishing a book (for example when my daughter is done witht he book she is reading, we'll probably try to watch the Lightning Thief)

[NanceXToo]

My daughter finished a series not that long ago that she really loved, in part because the main character is homeschooled :)

 

It's called the "Monster Of The Month Club" series. Maybe you could check that out!

 

There's another series featuring homeschooled characters, too, called "Wright On Time"- I think there are only 2 or 3 books out so far- we have the first two but haven't yet read them ourselves.

 

My daughter has also enjoyed Encyclopedia Brown, Pippi Longstocking, Magic Treehouse, Avalon, A-Z Mysteries, and loves to pick out books of myths, legends or fables from various countries/ethnic groups and read those. Fairy tales, too. Oh, and "choose your own adventure" books.

 

I tend to let her pick out whatever she wants at the library for her independent reading. If there's a book I'm going to "assign," we read it together. Sometimes taking turns reading aloud, sometimes me just reading to her, sometimes her reading to me, etc. I kind of let her choose which way she wants to do it rather than forcing the issue at this stage.

 

Fortunately, though, she likes to read in general.

[TN Mama]

You might want to try something that is a movie also, that might serve as an incentive for finishing a book (for example when my daughter is done witht he book she is reading, we'll probably try to watch the Lightning Thief)

 

You may already be aware of this, but thought I'd throw it out there in case... My 9 year old has loved reading the Percy Jackson books and really wanted to see the movie, however a thread here cautioned me and we've since decided to skip.

 

ETA: Here's the thread I mentioned: http://welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=157108

[Punchie]

My mom gave me Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey to read when I was about 8/9 yrs old. That book was the turning point for me and I have been a reading nut since.

 

How about the Bunnicula series? (Mystery / Vampire bunny eats veggies)

[TN Mama]

Other favorites:

 

Ingraine the Brave

Thief Lord

Dragon Rider

All by Cornelia Funke - Just purchased Inkspell but she hasn't read that one yet.

 

Harry Potter series

 

39 Clues series

 

The Secret Garden

Little House on the Prairie

Charlie & the Chocolate Factory

Riding Freedom

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

The Voyage of Patience Goodspeed

 

And for my daughter, any books of folk stories/myths are favorites. She loved reading the D'Aularies Book of Greek Myths and the DK Illustrated Book of Myths. She also loves the Lang Fairy books.

[Ellie]

Understood Betsy, Betsy-Tacy, Marguerite Henry's horse books, the original Rescuers series by Margery Sharp if you can find them.

[Create Your Ritual]

I asked my nine year old daughter this morning what she would recommend to a reluctant reader and she said anything by E.B. White (Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, The Trumpet of the Swan). They are very engaging. She also recently enjoyed Classic Start's "Dr. Doolittle". As you can see she LOVES animals. She recently did Beautiful Feet's "History of the Horse" and since she loves horses, working her way through Marguerite Henry's books was a pleasure to her. She learned about Morocco, France, England & The Grand Canyon in the process. I would say find something that they already like and get books on it.

 

My 7 year old has also been reading light chapter books this summer, and his favorite series right now is "Andrew Lost". Which is funny, because knowing my daughter LOVED Magic Treeehouse series, and Cam Jansen Series, things like that I just expected him to gravitate towards those books already on the shelf. But, truthfully, he wanted to learn about science and how things worked in a format that HE chose himself.

 

This came about this summer when I took SWB's advice (or maybe her mom's in the opening to the WTM book) and took them both to the library and had them pick out one science book, one math book (Sir Cumference), one history book, one craft book, one whatever book. It made them search the library a little more closely than perhaps they had done in the past.

 

I will say that my 9 year old daughter also thoroughly enjoyed The Percy Jackson series, I know there is always questionable content in anything where there are battles, etc. That being said, it was sort of like the "Twilight" series was to older teens... it got her reading... A LOT. She also devoured Harry Potter and is now onto "Leven Thumps"... which I found at the christian book store, so that might be an alternative with regards to acceptable content??

 

We also read to them for 30 minutes each night... (alright... I confess, my HUSBAND reads to them every night). The Rats of NIMH is a good outloud book. Then when she got to watch the movie afterwards, she was blown away by how much it had left out and how much she would have missed if she hadn't read the book first.

 

Truthfully, I think each child has their particular early strengths... although my daughter is a wonderful reader with a big vocabulary, she still struggles with writing. My son (7) just recently has taken to reading more than picture books, but he articulates himself quite well on paper. I am learning if I just find the thing that "hooks" them, how they learn best, what they like to learn about... then it makes the process soooooo much easier and more enjoyable.

Edited July 23, 2010 by SaDonna

[ShelzNH]

My daughter, who loves Ramona books also really likes the Amber Brown series.

[Faithr]

Books my late blooming readers like/d at the age of 9: Bunnicula series, Wayside School Series, Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, Boxcar Children series, Encyclopedia Brown books, The Toothpaste Millionaire, My Father's Dragon, Raoul Dahl books, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle books, Mr. Popper's Penguins, Homer Price, plus lots of Calvin and Hobbes and Peanuts cartoons.

[Punchie]

Diana Wynne Jones?

Eva Ibbotson?

[Farrar]

Some of the books people have suggested are great books, but seem like they might be too hard or just have lengths that are too daunting for a 9 year old reluctant reader. I would want to go with shorter books or series books, at least as a gateway to get to other stuff.

 

In addition to some of the other suggestions, if she liked Ramona, I would say try Judy Moody or Ivy and Bean.

[Alphabetika]

The first few Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace. :001_smile:

[vonfirmath]

All-of-a-King family is similar to the Betsy-Tacy

 

I also enjoyed the "Great Brain" series by John Dennis Fitzgerald (where each chapter is usually 1 story as well as part of the bigger book) but this may be more of a boy book

[helena]

My 8yo (9 in Sep.) has gravitated towards all of the shorter books in our summer reading program. ;)

Here are some of the titles:

My Fathers Dragon

Little Rascal

Raggedy Ann and Andy stories

The Littles

The Elevator Family

Ellen Tebbits

Catwings

The Trouble With Magic

George's Marvelous Medicine

Owls in the Family

Worst Witch

 

Homer Price is the longest book she's read this summer, and she loved it.

 

I started a little reading thing this summer, because I wanted my girls to see that they can in fact read more that 3 books a year. I put a collection of books together, (many of which are on reading lists, and I didn't want them to miss the opportunity before they got to old to enjoy them) from what we have here at home. For each book they read, they add a link to their reading chain (with title and author written on it). Someone here gave me the idea, and it's working very well! Each girl has a long colorful chain hanging over their bed. I also took a little treasure chest, and filled it with little inexpensive prizes wrapped in cute origami paper. They only get to open the box when the new link is added.

I had to have a talk with them in the beginning about how the real prize of reading is the adventure of the story, there would be no prizes in the fall when school starts. It our fun summer reading program. (I know they're thinking "yeah, yeah give me that sweet little prize. :rolleyes:)

 

My 8yo reads fine, but she isn't ready to take on the longer books, which is fine.. but you still have to keep reading. I'm hoping that this will jump start her reading pace.

Tonight she found The Whipping Boy, and asked if that could count. She's thinking "hurrah, it's short!" I'm thinking "Hurrah, she's reading for at least an hour every day now!!"

 

ps She also LOVES Ramona. :)

Edited July 24, 2010 by helena

[nd293]

My dd9 loves the Roman Mysteries series by Catherine Lawrence.

 

Also The Minivers (think there are also a couple of books) by Natalie Jane Prior.

 

There is another series that has been likened to Ramona. It is by Judy Delton and is about a girl named Angel (Angel spreads her wings, Angel's mother's wedding, Angel bites the bullet). We've only read one, but really enjoyed it.

[kwg]

Ronald Dahl- Fantastic Mr. Fox, Magic Finger, The Enormous Crocodile.

[Amy loves Bud]

Thanks to all of you for your great suggestions. Now to the library website!

[zaichiki]

 

 

 

 

 

Dd LOVED Understood Betsy last week. This week the book she loves is A Year with Miss Agnes by Kirkpatrick Hill.

 

After reading the Ramona series, she read several books about Henry by the same author.

 

Boxcar Children, Encyclopedia Brown, and Nancy Drew have taken turns as dd's "series of the month."

 

E.B. White and Robert McClosky (Homer Price books) are some of her favorite authors.

 

I'm sure you'll find some great ones! Don't give up. :)

 

 

[Peaceful Isle]

My 8 year old has enjoyed:

Encylopedia Brown series

Mandie book series

Katie Hooper series

The Littles series

Boxcar Kids

Beverly Cleary

American Girl

Lighthouse Detectives

Hope this helps!:)

[zaichiki]

The only books she's every really enjoyed have been the Ramona books.

 

Look for Emily's Runaway Imagination, also by Cleary. Dd really enjoyed the main character.

[runamuk]

In addition to the previously mentioned books, my daughter (now 10) really enjoyed The Sisters Grimm series.

[MamaJo]

Ivy and Bean (series)

[justasque]

Babysitter Club. There are bazillions of them, they are not hard to read, and they are interesting to kids of that age. Not great literature but gets 'em reading.

 

I would NOT suggest Princess Diaries (suggested by a previous poster) for a 9 year old. Some of the content is YA - it's NOT the same level as the movie series.

[Katie.Louise]

My 9 yr old says she doesn't care for reading much, but she does say she loved:

Pinocchio - by Collodi

Understood Betsy - Dorothy Canfield Fisher

 

Katie

[Wee Pip]

My 9yo dd has odd tastes. Never liked Magic Treehouse (*gasp of disbelief*). The best I can do for her is order a bazillion books from the library and then cross my fingers that something catches her interests. Once she finds a series she likes, though, she's off and running, and it's a beautiful thing. Here's some she's liked:

 

Rainbow Magic Fairies series (there's over 60 of 'em and counting)

Tiara Club (these went over OK, only read a few)

Kate McMullan's series: Dragon Slayer Academy books and also her Myth-o-mania books (she love love loved these)

Babysitter's Little Sister books (these are the little sister to the Babysitter's Club. I was worried that BSC would be too grown-up). I have to say "blech" about this series, but she really likes them.

She's also launched into Percy Jackson and Rick Riordan's newest one: The Red Pyramid. But these are long, and I was very fortunate to get her started on these (she refused to touch a longish book before this, and will only touch a longish book now if it happens to be Percy Jackson or The Red Pyramid, lol)

 

Going on vacation always helps increase reading. I insist that we are not going to take 30 short books with us and the kids will just have to pick 1 or 2 long books to read:)