Must-read classics for a 12yo girl

[happypamama]

With DD being a sixth grader next year, I kind of want to have one last childhood year before she turns 12 and moves to the upper grades. So I want to take next year and have her read whatever classics she might not yet have read.

 

What would you consider to be classics that every girl should have read by age 12? I'm thinking things like Little House books, Little Women, The Secret Garden, Anne of Green Gables, etc. Things not to be missed, if they haven't been read already.

[CupOCoffee]

:bigear:

[Erica in OR]

Some of my favorites beyond what you're already mentioned:

 

Black Beauty

Harriet the Spy

Heidi

The Little Princess

Chronicles of Narnia

From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

My Side of the Mountain

The Dark Is Rising series

 

Erica in OR

[happypamama]

Some of my favorites beyond what you're already mentioned:

 

Black Beauty

Harriet the Spy

Heidi

The Little Princess

Chronicles of Narnia

From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

My Side of the Mountain

The Dark Is Rising series

 

Erica in OR

 

 

That's perfect -- thank you so much! She's read some of those but not all, and that's exactly the kind of thing I was looking for!

[momma2three]

Caddie Woodlawn (and the sequel Magical Melons), The Noel Streatfield "Shoes" series, Mary Poppins (very different from the movie), The Roald Dahl books (particularly Matilda), most of the E Nesbit Books (particularly the Railway Children, the 5 Children and It series, and the Wouldbegood series), What Katy Did (and there are two sequels), the Betsy-Tacy books, A Wrinkle in Time.

 

I'll try to think of more...

[hunterhomeschool]

Laura Ingalls Wilder (if she hasn't already read them), The Black Stallion series by Walter Farley, any of M. Henry's books about horses (horses are usually popular with girls this age), The Shepherd of the Hills, Harry Potter, books by Judy Blume... just a few off the top of my head. At this age I also loved a book about a mustang horse (A Horse Called Dragon), can't remember the name of the author now.

[Ellie]

Caddie Woodlawn (and the sequel Magical Melons), The Noel Streatfield "Shoes" series, Mary Poppins (very different from the movie), The Roald Dahl books (particularly Matilda), most of the E Nesbit Books (particularly the Railway Children, the 5 Children and It series, and the Wouldbegood series), What Katy Did (and there are two sequels), the Betsy-Tacy books, A Wrinkle in Time.

 

I'll try to think of more...

 

 

To expand a little bit, Mary Poppins is a series. The first one has some ignorant racial stuff in it, but it's good for discussion...Anyway, there are four, maybe five books in the series.

 

A Wrinkle in Time is also part of a series. Your dd can stop after AWIT, but it would be fun to read them all.

 

I'd add Understood Betsy, although really, you're never too old to read it. And if you can find my other two favorites--The Chestry Oak and The Little White Horse--then she'll have read the best. :-)

 

My dds (and I!) enjoyed The Borrowers (series).

 

Also, every child should read the original 101 Dalmations (NOT Disney). :-)

[momtoamiracle]

Little britches series by Ralph moody

 

The Yearling.

 

If you can find the Beany Malone books she would enjoy those.

 

Don't forget Little Men after Little Women

 

 

All of a kind family by Sydney Taylor

 

Calico Bush, and Hitty both by Rachel Field

[Kfamily]

Maybe...

 

The Hobbit and then The Lord of the Rings set

The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle

Emily of New Moon by L. M. Montgomery (and the rest of the series) (My older dd loved these books as much as Anne of Green Gables.)

Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott

Thimble Summer by Elizabeth Enright (and other Elizabeth Enright books...The Saturdays, Gone-Away Lake, etc.)

Rebecca of Sunnyfield Farm by Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin

Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter

Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome

 

And I have to 2nd Ellie's favorites....The Little White Horse and Understood Betsy

[momma2three]

 

To expand a little bit, Mary Poppins is a series. The first one has some ignorant racial stuff in it, but it's good for discussion...Anyway, there are four, maybe five books in the series.

 

A Wrinkle in Time is also part of a series. Your dd can stop after AWIT, but it would be fun to read them all.

 

I'd add Understood Betsy, although really, you're never too old to read it. And if you can find my other two favorites--The Chestry Oak and The Little White Horse--then she'll have read the best. :-)

 

My dds (and I!) enjoyed The Borrowers (series).

 

Also, every child should read the original 101 Dalmations (NOT Disney). :-)

 

 

Ooh, Understood Betsey is one of my favorite books! How could I forget about that?

 

Someone else mentioned All-Of-A-Kind Family, and that's another great series. I loved those when I was a kid! The first has been republished, but the others are hard to find.

[happypamama]

Thank you so much! Many of these are already favorites of hers (Little House, All of a Kind Family -- we've worn out multiple sets of those ones, LOL, because they are *my* favorites too), but I was hoping this would serve as a list for others who might be searching too. I'd never heard of some of them (like The Chestry Oak), and I was reminded of a few that I had forgotten about (like Hitty). Especially since DD and I are surrounded by boys, we get a kick out of reading girly books, so hopefully I will get to read some of them along with her.

 

I don't think I saw Alice in Wonderland on the list yet, so I'm adding that one. :)

 

[Ellie]

I have never understood why The Chestry Oak is not required reading for every person in the entire known world. It's a model of integrity, honor, self-sacrifice, true love. And it has a horse! :lol: I know not everyone reacts they same way, and I cannot explain it, but I start crying in chapter 1, and cry all the way through it. I was able to read it to each of my dds...with a big cloth napkin in hand. "Dd, Mommy's going to cry in this chapter." "Dd, Mommy's going to cry A BUNCH in this chapter." :lol:

[happypamama]

I have never understood why The Chestry Oak is not required reading for every person in the entire known world. It's a model of integrity, honor, self-sacrifice, true love. And it has a horse! :lol: I know not everyone reacts they same way, and I cannot explain it, but I start crying in chapter 1, and cry all the way through it. I was able to read it to each of my dds...with a big cloth napkin in hand. "Dd, Mommy's going to cry in this chapter." "Dd, Mommy's going to cry A BUNCH in this chapter." :lol:

 

Aww, it sounds lovely! I love tear-jerker books myself. Unfortunately, while I have access to three county library systems, NONE of them have it! However, it looks like a few other libraries in my state have it, and my main library is pretty good about doing inter-library loans, so hopefully I should be able to get it. :) Thanks for the suggestion!

[AMJ]

Two books I especially loved as a girl that are not heard of often are A Patchwork Child and The Ship That Flew. I also heartily recommend any Kipling and Emily Dickinson. I really liked veterinarian James Herriot's books (All Things Bright and Beautiful and the rest), but I recommend waiting on The Lord God Made Them All until she's a little older (some details (hilarious for adults) on an animal husbandry task). These, and many more already mentioned above, are books I am working my way through with my own DDs (ages 11/almost 12/"I'll be 13 next year" and 8/"I'll be 9 before you are 12").

[happypamama]

Two books I especially loved as a girl that are not heard of often are A Patchwork Child and The Ship That Flew. I also heartily recommend any Kipling and Emily Dickinson. I really liked veterinarian James Herriot's books (All Things Bright and Beautiful and the rest), but I recommend waiting on The Lord God Made Them All until she's a little older (some details (hilarious for adults) on an animal husbandry task). These, and many more already mentioned above, are books I am working my way through with my own DDs (ages 11/almost 12/"I'll be 13 next year" and 8/"I'll be 9 before you are 12").

 

I've never heard of those first two either -- great, thank you! I had forgotten about Herriot also; she loved the children's version of those stories, so I could probably try her on ATBaB and see how it goes.

 

I have to confess that we tried Just So Stories a few years ago, and it was not a hit. Are there other Kipling works you'd recommend trying instead? Also, the same with Emily Dickinson -- anything in particular we should try?

[North Coast School]

I will add:

Island of the Blue Dolphins

Are you there, God? It's me, Margaret.

[AMJ]

I've never heard of those first two either -- great, thank you! I had forgotten about Herriot also; she loved the children's version of those stories, so I could probably try her on ATBaB and see how it goes.

 

I have to confess that we tried Just So Stories a few years ago, and it was not a hit. Are there other Kipling works you'd recommend trying instead? Also, the same with Emily Dickinson -- anything in particular we should try?

 

 

I found that books my little sister didn't like at the time I was reading them she liked just fine after a few more years, so if you tried something a while back give your child the opportunity to rediscover them. As we grow and mature things we once found uninteresting take on new meaning or significance.

 

Kipling's Just So Stories hold special significance for me (Elephant's child, married to a Camel, children as yet undetermined). Kim is another good book, and you might want to try Jungle Book. When she's reading these, however, be sure to talk about the time and culture in which Kipling lived -- it helps to understand his writings more, and knowing who he was writing for helps understand the silliness of the Just So Stories.

 

If you do find a copy of A Patchwork Child to read it would be a good match for when you study the great United Kingdom's empire at it's fullest spread.

 

For Emily, search out a poem about revery (not sure if it's titled "Revery" or "Prairie" or something else) -- it's my favorite, and a very good introduction to her poems.

 

My two DDs are currently in private school, but we will start homeschooling at the end of this school year. These are some of the old favorites I will be reading with them. We also have Heidi, Little House books, Paul Bunyan, Garfield, Snoopy, and Calvin and Hobbes (and many more old, not-so-old, and new favorites).

[Hunter]

I spent some time in Bermuda when I was 12 and 13. The Famous Five series was hot, hot, hot down there with us. The library only let us take out one book in the series at a time and actually kept track.

[Aurelia]

Another vote for Understood Betsy. I also loved Charlotte Sometimes, Baby Island, and Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales when I was that age. I still love HCA's stories and Understood Betsy. Other excellent books: Bambi, The Wind in the Willows, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Princess and the Goblin, At the Back of the West Wind, Five Little Peppers and How They Grew, The Railway Children,The Ordinary Princess, A Little Princess, Pippi Longstocking, Comet in Moominland (series), Ozma of Oz, Mio, My Son, Little House on the Prairie (series), Heidi, Pollyanna, Misty of Chincoteague, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, The House Above the Trees.

[hsmom2011]

:lurk5: These are wonderful suggestions!

[mommymilkies]

 

:lurk5:

[lisabees]

So many great suggestions. Most of my faves have been listed.

 

I will add Mandy by Julie Edwards, though. :)

[mom@shiloh]

:thumbup: So many good suggestions that I can't think of any to add, but I'm listening in.....

[Shmead]

They aren't "classics", but Robin McKinley's The Hero and the Crown and The Blue Sword are SO good at that age: not just because they have horses and a strong female protagonist, but because the prose is beautiful. Her other books are also excellent, but those two are amazing.

 

The Rats of Nymh is compelling, as is Watership Down. Tom Sawyer. People disagree with me here, but I think Old Yeller is fantastic. Swiss Family Robinson, though you want to find the right translation/abridgment. Possibly Jane Eyre, if she reads well: I read and adored it when it was really well above my reading level simply because it was so soppy. I just ignored the bits I didn't understand. The Wizard of Oz.