AEC Posted October 18, 2015 Share Posted October 18, 2015 Hello- DD11 reads voraciously. We're looking for suggestions for what's next, otherwise she'll just go back over stuff she's already read. She LOVES LOVES Harry Potter. She liked the EmilyWindsnap books, Kingdom Keepers, Princess Diary series, the Gallagher Girls, the Cupcake Diaries, and nearly everything we can find that's similar. She love anything to do with spys, mystery, princesses, fantasy, etc. She's a pretty happy-go-lucky person and doesn't enjoy a lot of darkness (though, HP 4&5 are her fav's <shrug>). I might like to push towards stuff that's slightly older, if possible. thoughts and suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurelia Posted October 18, 2015 Share Posted October 18, 2015 The City of Ember series Un Lun Dun A Wizard of Earthsea quartet The Hobbit Anne of Green Gables series Emily of New Moon Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes Ronia, the Robber's Daughter Tuck Everlasting The Westing Game The Chronicles of Prydain The Light Princess and Other Stories The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making and sequels The Sword in the Stone Momo Sherlock Holmes mysteries The Neverending Story The Penderwicks and sequels Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself Swallows and Amazons series 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirstenhill Posted October 18, 2015 Share Posted October 18, 2015 Some my DD11 has enjoyed recently: Land of Stories series Mysterious Benedict Society (and its sequels) Wollstonecraft Detective Agency (first of a planned series) The Detective's Assistant Half Upon a Time (I think this is a series as well) Mr. Lemooncello's Library (this has a sequel too but I can't think of the title) The Secret Series by Pseudonymous Bosch (First one in the series is called "The Name of a This Book is Secret"...lol) These are all along the mystery, spy, or fairy tale theme. On a different note, my DD who seems to have similar tastes also likes the Percy Jackson series and others by Rick Riordan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted October 19, 2015 Share Posted October 19, 2015 For the mysteries since I didn't see as many on the above lists for that... * Enola Holmes series (imaginary Sherlock Holmes's sister... cute) * Echo Falls series (YA, but the protagonist is a middle schooler, the mysteries are real murder mysteries and there's some real danger, but there's nothing really gruesome or inappropriate) * Gilda Joyce (upper end middle grades psychic detective series... very middle school angsty... fun books) * Chasing Vermeer (excellent art mystery series that's perfect for this age group) * The London Eye Mystery (YA but fine for younger readers) * Shakespeare's Secret (and others by Elise Broach, like Masterpiece - great books) * The Puzzling World of Winston Breen (puzzle-themed mystery series - fun and engaging) Since she likes the Gallagher Girls books, she might enjoy Alex Rider, which is sort of the boy equivalent. Also YA, but has a similar tone to Gallagher Girls. Ally Condie's YA heist books are also okay, but a bit more risque - they may or may not be okay by you. I'll add to the fantasy list as well. In addition to the ones above... * The Enchanted Forest Chronicles (all girls who like fantasy should read these silly, slightly satirical fantasy books) * Tuesdays at the Castle (and all the other Jessica Day George books... very good for girly fantasy lovers) * The Sisters Grimm (light, funny fantasy, girl-centric) * The Dark is Rising series (along with the Prydain books and the Earthsea books mentioned above, these are more serious, classic children's fantasy) * The Thief series by Megan Turner (YA, definitely more grown up themes and a little darker, but more appropriate for this age) * The Belgariad (these are adult fantasy, but often read by YA readers these days - there are references to s*x and drinking, but nothing graphic and the protagonist is a young boy) * The Hero and the Crown/The Blue Sword (great middle grades/YA fantasy - very well-written) * Shannon Hale's Bayern series (YA, but reads like upper middle grades - very sweet fantasy books) * Tamora Pierce (since she likes fantasy and Princess Diaries, I can't imagine she wouldn't adore these... they are YA, they do mention s*x as the characters age... if you want to keep her reading only more chaste stuff, the first Circle of Magic series is completely fine... one of the things I like about Pierce's Tortall young women is that they all make different decisions about relationships as they grow up) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanaqui Posted October 19, 2015 Share Posted October 19, 2015 How about (drumroll please) The Spy Princess! The only thing it's missing from her list of likes is fantasy :) Other choices she might like include, but are not limited to: The Wide Awake Princess (a little young) The Bliss Trilogy Scumble (and the other books) Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit Out Of Many Waters Un Lun Dun Earthsea One Crazy Summer Zahrah the Windseeker The Inquisitor's Apprentice (a little darker) The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm (ditto) Jar of Dreams The Truth About Twinkie Pie The Dalemark Quartet Akata Witch The Birchbark House The King of Mulberry Street Al Capone Shines My Shoes Princess Academy (ignore the ridiculous title) Book of a Thousand Days (Shannon Hale considers this her best book, and who am I to argue?) Kiki Strike Breadcrumbs The Real Boy Face Like Glass The Lost Conspiracy Year of the Dog So You Want to Be a Wizard The Grand Plan to Fix Everything Randoms The Conch Bearer trilogy Nine Pound Hammer Hammer of Witches The Mighty Miss Malone and the companion novel, Bud, Not Buddy Celeste's Harlem Renaissance Dave at Night The Pickpocket's Tale Journey to America Orvis Journey Down the River Sea Salvage (maaaaybe? The premise is a bit "dark", I suppose) Ruby Iyer (another maybe) The Blossoming Universe of Violet Diamond Quest for a Maid Monster Blood Tattoo (another "maybe") Bayou Magic Heart of a Samurai The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate Moorchild The Dark Is Rising series Dragonwings She might also like the books Stranger and Hostage, by Rachel Manija, but they might be a bit too mature for her. Eleven is a tough age to recommend books for! You're never sure if you're picking books that are "too babyish" or "too easy" or "too hard" or what! As always, I suggest you pre-read. My list is heavy on the fantasy and sci-fi, so I went ahead and italicized everything that is NOT one of those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanaqui Posted October 19, 2015 Share Posted October 19, 2015 Farrar, I don't know if I've explicitly said this (though I'm sure you can guess from the upvotes), but you make very good book suggestions. On the subject of mysteries, if we can do heists, The Great Greene Heist is excellent, as is Pickle by Kim Baker. On the girls' behest I actually just read both of those this week :) I'm going to specifically second the Enchanted Forest Chronicles, the Books of Bayern, and the Thief series. I am, of course, a big fan of Tamora Pierce's books since childhood, but in adulthood I realize that most of her earlier Tortall books were seriously hit with the Mary Sue wand. (Purple eyes? Really?) So I always feel a little embarrassed to recommend them, though I suspect that most young girls today will feel the same way I did as a child, rather than the way I do as an adult. The Tortall books *do* mention, um, adult activities, this is a perennial complaint on Amazon reviews. Frankly, I think they overstate the case, but.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted October 19, 2015 Share Posted October 19, 2015 Farrar, I don't know if I've explicitly said this (though I'm sure you can guess from the upvotes), but you make very good book suggestions. On the subject of mysteries, if we can do heists, The Great Greene Heist is excellent, as is Pickle by Kim Baker. On the girls' behest I actually just read both of those this week :) I'm going to specifically second the Enchanted Forest Chronicles, the Books of Bayern, and the Thief series. I am, of course, a big fan of Tamora Pierce's books since childhood, but in adulthood I realize that most of her earlier Tortall books were seriously hit with the Mary Sue wand. (Purple eyes? Really?) So I always feel a little embarrassed to recommend them, though I suspect that most young girls today will feel the same way I did as a child, rather than the way I do as an adult. The Tortall books *do* mention, um, adult activities, this is a perennial complaint on Amazon reviews. Frankly, I think they overstate the case, but.... As do you! I don't know Pickle or a couple of the others you mentioned. I never know how much to warn parents against (or argue for) the Tortall books. They are super Mary Sue - especially Alana and the Wild Magic series. And I get that a lot of parents won't approve of Alana's... um... casual attitude toward coupling or Daine falling for her teacher basically. But there's seriously nothing graphic in the books. And I love the way Pierce makes her later heroines make other decisions about romance so that she has this world where women make all these different decisions about what's right for them. And they really capture something that I think girls into fantasy really like. And they're so girl-positive. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanaqui Posted October 19, 2015 Share Posted October 19, 2015 As do you! I don't know Pickle or a couple of the others you mentioned. Aw, thanks :) I make an effort to list newer books (Pickle is from 2012) because otherwise a lot of people more or less default to books their granny or favorite teacher read to them when they were knee-high to a grasshopper. Or should I say, "a half pint of cider half drunk up". And no comments from the peanut gallery, you all know it's true. And you know, all the books we read as kids are great books (except This Place Has No Atmosphere, which has really not aged well), but I like to shake things up. The downside of this is that very few people second my books. Oh, woe is me. re: Alanna, I know the feeling. Of course, as all us old Tammy fans know, the first quartet was originally written as one novel for grown-ups, not as four books for teens and pre-teens. That little fact explains both the pacing issues and also the implied... well, you know (honestly, there isn't that much of it - three guys in three years, the last of whom she marries, is not exactly something to write home about), although nothing explains away the purple eyes. As far as Daine goes, I always just mentally age her up and him down and then skim. Edit: Oh, and back on topic, I thought of another one by one of my favoritest authors ever, Hilari Bell: The Goblin Wood trilogy. The book does open up with the protagonist's mother's death, and then she sets out seeking revenge, but on the whole it's a lot less intense than HP5. Definitely, OP, give it a whirl. (The latter two books are better than the first. Same goes for Megan Whalen Turner's Thief series, which was also mentioned upthread.) Oh, and another series I adored as a child, Dragon's Milk. (Skip the 4th book.) And how about another new book for lagniappe, Mars Evacuees. All the fun of Blitz evacuees, but with more aliens and fewer Nazis and nobody's parents die. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted October 19, 2015 Share Posted October 19, 2015 ... The downside of this is that very few people second my books. Oh, woe is me. I'll second your suggestions of Hilari Bell, Megan Whalen Turner's Thief series, and the Dragon's Milk books -- all of these were much enjoyed by my daughter. Other favorites: Un Lun Dun The Scarlet Pimpernel and a half dozen of its sequels. The Golden Compass and its sequels Chuck and Danielle by Peter Dickinson The Fairy Rebel by Lynne Reid Banks David and the Phoenix by Edward Ormondroyd (there's a free Kindle version) Regards, Kareni 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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