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Need reading suggestions for 9yo girl


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I'm running out of ideas for dd9. In the last two weeks, she finished the Little House series, the Martha Years, and the 3 Charlotte Years books I have. (Sorry, dd, but I'm not paying $50 for an OOP paperback!). She hates The Saturdays, she read the first 3 Anne of Green Gables books but lost interest after Anne grew up, she's read Little Women and all sequels multiple times, she lost interest in Narnia after LWW and Prince Caspian, she's read every Oz book, every Lang's Fairy Tale book, Hans Christian Andersen, Jacobs' Fairy Tales, The Hobbit, started LotR but burned out mid-Two Towers.

 

I don't know what to give her to read next. To make it harder, she's going through a phase of being really sensitive and can't handle reading about situations that are upsetting or gruesome or sad or unjust. She had to quit reading the "You Wouldn't Want to Be..." books because the gross stuff would stick in her head.

 

Book suggestions?

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Impressive! I wish my 9 dd would read like that. She prefers to be read to and craft as she listens. *sigh*

But what she has enjoyed listening to lately are

 

Wind in the Willows

Peter Pan

Nicholas Benedict series

 

She read Half Magic and Magic or Not (Eager) recently and enjoyed them both. Also Pippi and Tuck Everlasting.

 

On my list (for her to read, not me) for the coming weeks are Mixe up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler, Penderwicks, Five Children and It, What Katy Did.

 

She's asked to hear Call of the Wild (maybe not delicate enough for what you're searching for).

 

I don't know if any of those are what you're looking for.

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Here's our list (some we have read, some are to-read):  Heidi, Black Beauty, The Borrowers, The Littles, A Little Princess, The Secret Garden, The Trumpet of the Swan, Stuart Little, Ribsy, Ramona the Pest, the Mouse and the Motorcycle, The Boxcar Children, the Railway Children, Peter Pan (edit), Misty of Chincoteague, Doctor Dolittle (edit)

 

My son really liked the Stink books - about the brother of Judy Moody.  Maybe she would like the Judy Moody books?

 

My co op class liked Dahl books and Silverstein poetry, also.

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She might like the Betsy-Tacy books.

Ginger Pye

How to Eat Fried Worms

I loved the Cherry Ames nurse books as a kid, although they are out of print now.  

My dd loved Junie B. Jones books even though they are pretty easy reading, as are Magic Tree House and Ready Freddie books.

 

Sonlight and Heart of Dakota used to have really good, gentle book lists for that age.  You might look at their suggestions.

 

 

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Seconding the Borrowers series, The Secret Garden, and all the Edward Eager books. She might also enjoy E. Nesbit or The Children of Green Knowe.

 

For more modern suggestions, I'll toss in... 

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

The Penderwicks

The View from Saturday

 

 

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Books my 9yo likes:

Just So Stories

The Jungle Book

The Chronicles of Prydain

if she likes Misty of Chincoteague, Marguerite Henry wrote many other books!

The Ordinary Princess

The Wheel on the School and Along Came A Dog

The Princess and Curdie

Caddie Woodlawn

seconding Ellie's suggestion for Understood Betsy and The Rescuers

The Witch of Blackbird Pond

Johnny Tremain

Adam of the Road

The Door in the Wall

Despereaux or anything else by Kate DiCamillo

if she likes history, most things by Jean Fritz, Childhood of Famous Americans series, Little Maid of ... series

Rabbit Hill

if she likes dog stories, Big Red, Silver Chief and other older dog books.

The Great Brain

My Side of the Mountain

Owls in the Family

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Jane of Lantern Hill -- it's one book and she doesn't grow up.... if you can locate a copy

Alcott's Old Fashioned Girl and Eight Cousins

 

My daughter sounds somewhat similar to yours especially with the exhaustive background in fairy tales, although mine liked the Saturdays; I will gather some more suggestions from her and return to the thread.

 

But we liked almost everything by Eleanor Estes and I'd love to know which camp you or she is in (love or hate).

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I second the suggestions for the Betsy-Tacy books and the All of a Kind Family series.  Has she tried the American Girl mysteries?  They are much more complex than the American Girl books, and while they are not as complex as other books your DD has read, my 10 year old DD really enjoys them and they at least take her a couple hours to finish. ;-)  The Lemonade War series is something else my DD really likes...not sure they are very similar to the other books your DD enjoyed, but they might be worth checking out.

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Yes on the AG mysteries, I think she's read all the ones in the library. She read the first 3 Betsy-Tacys I think, and sadly didn't love them as much as I did. It might be time for her to read All of a Kind Family again, she was pretty young the first time. I can try to track down the sequels too.

 

I'm going to have to bite the bullet and pay for a card for the city library and make a trip there once a month. Our little town's library just isn't working for her book habit.

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Some of my daughter's favorites:

 

 

The Search for Delicious - Natalie Babbit

A Barrel of Laughs, A Vale of Tears - Jules Feiffer

A Wrinkle in Time - Madeline L'Engle

 

Strawberry Girl - Lois Lenski

The Saturdays - Elizabeth Enright

Ellen Tebbits - Beverly Clearly

 

The Moffats   - Eleanor Estes

Caddie Woodlawn - Carol Ryrie Brink

All-Of-A-Kind Family -  Sidney Taylor

 

Regarding the Fountain - Kate Klise

Little Women - Louisa M Alcott

Mrs. Piggle Wiggle - Betty MacDonald

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Just to sum up a response to everyone's suggestions...

 

She has read and liked:

 

Mysterious Benedict Society

Caddie Woodlawn - Carol Ryrie Brink

 

Little Women - Louisa M Alcott

Mrs. Piggle Wiggle - Betty MacDonald

The 100 Dresses -- Eleanor Estes

Just So Stories 
The Jungle Book

The Wheel on the School and Along Came A Dog

Understood Betsy

The Door in the Wall

Desperaux

Wind in the Willows
Peter Pan

Five Children and It

Heidi

A Little Princess, The Secret Garden,

The Boxcar Children

Doctor Dolittle

 

 

She has read and kind of liked:

 

Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler

Marguerite Henry books

 

 

 

She did not like:

 

The Saturdays - Elizabeth Enright

 the Railway Children

Paddington

 

She has read but I don't remember if she liked or not:

 

All of a Kind Family

Ginger Pye

The Moffats

Strawberry Girl

Twig

 

 

I went to the big library and got these:

 

Caroline Years series

What Katy Did

The Borrowers

The Trumpet of the Swan

Stuart Little

Wolves of Willoughby Chase

The Penderwicks

An Old-Fashioned Girl

the first Nancy Drew book (original)

 

plus she picked out a Royal Diaries book that the local library didn't have

 

Let's see how long it takes for her to go through these.  She did her tutorial homework for the week in 30 minutes yesterday, so she has lots of reading time!

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Most of our favorites have been mentioned, but haven't seen the Sisters Grimm books mentioned yet--been read multiple times here. If she likes The Penderwicks there are two more in that series. My big reader also enjoyed DK biographies at that age for a non fiction alternative. We started out with Laura Ingalls Wilder because I had never read a bio on her, then we got a whole bunch more. All have lots of photographs.

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Bambi

Bambi's Children

Gone-Away Lake

Mary Poppins

Nurse Matilda

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making

Arabel's Raven

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Treasure Island

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate

The Magical Monarch of Mo (L. Frank Baum - not an Oz book, but similar)

Momo

The Neverending Story

Seven Little Australians

The Light Princess

The Princess and the Goblin

Laddie: A True Blue Story

Charlotte Sometimes

Ronia, the Robber's Daughter

Mio, My Son

I Rode a Horse of Milk White Jade

The City of Ember

The Night Fairy

The House Above the Trees

The Wind Boy

The Railway Children

Five Little Peppers and How They Grew

The Story Girl

The Moorchild

The Mennyms

Howl's Moving Castle

Comet in Moominland

The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles

No Flying in the House

The Penderwicks

Ballet Shoes

The Search for WondLa

The Children of Green Knowe

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