BatmansWife Posted February 13, 2017 Share Posted February 13, 2017 (edited) I'm putting together a reading list for next school year. My daughter will turn 14 this October. These are not the only books she will be reading....we use BookShark Reading with History, so there's a lot of books she reads with that. These are just strictly "fun" books for her to read. I posted about my "surprise book" idea I had this year....so check that out, if you'd like (that post also includes some books my daughter recommends). In searching for books to get, I don't usually know where to begin...unless a book she's read is a hit and I know there is a sequel. Other than that, I find a book that looks good on Amazon and then that takes me to what other buyers have bought, which takes me to another list, etc. It's quite time consuming. I've also google searched for book lists for this age. The problem is, I have never read any of these books. There will probably be some of these books that I will end up pre-reading before giving them to her, if I'm a little unsure about them,. Kindly look at this list and let me know if there are any that you know are really good and shouldn't be missed. Also, if you see a book listed that you do not recommend, please let me know. Feel free to share other book ideas as well. Here are my stipulations though: I'm really trying to avoid books with teen boy/girl crushes, flirting, dating, etc. I see no reason for her to be reading books like that right now. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against someone in the book falling in love....I just don't want teen dating books. This is a difficult age to find wholesome books, because the YA type books usually have the crushes and dating going on....buy younger books don't always hold her interest. I also am trying to avoid overly magical books and I don't want anything supernatural. This is a big list so far....she tells me to get at least 30 books for next year, but we'll see. These first two are the sequel and the prequel to her favorite book The Green Ember: Ember Falls The Black Star of Kingston The Case of the Counterfeit Criminals Wollstonecraft Detective Agency book 3 (this is a continuation of a series she has) Flavia de Luce books (these look right up her alley....kind of spy/sleuth, sciencey, suspenseful...I think I might want to read them too...but I don't know, are they inappropriate??): The Sweetness at the Bottom of the PieThe Weed That Strings the Hangman's BagA Red Herring Without MustardI Am Half-Sick of ShadowsSpeaking from Among the BonesThe Dead in Their Vaulted Arches As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust Thrice the Brinded CAt Hath Mew'd Perfume Princess Island Girl by Sandra Byrd Catching Raindrops by Crystal Hoblit Princess Academy The Detective's Assistant The Great Wide Sea Far North Downriver Go Big or Go Home A Long Way From Chicago A Year Down Yonder These next 5 are by Richard Peck....the first two I'm a little uncertain about, but reviewers seemed to like them. The last one might be more adult, not sure: The Teacher's Funeral Here Lies the Librarian Secrets at Sea The Mouse with the Question Mark Tail Amanda/Miranda Girl of the Limberlost I Capture the Castle The Princess Bride (I have actually read this one, years ago) The Neverending Story Little Women The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Lucky Strikes As Brave as You Scar Island Some Kind of Courage When the Sea Turned to Silver These two sound kind of sci-fi/futuristic: Dark Life Rip Tide The Poet's Dog Wish by Barbara O'Connor Pax Hour of the Bees Once Was a Time Beautiful Blue World Eight Keys Love, Aubrey Red Ruby Heart in a Cold Blue Sea Wingfeather Saga books (there are 5 in the series....not sure if these are too scary and/or too magical??) Rain Reign All the Answers The Double Cross The Inside Job Edited February 13, 2017 by BatmansWife Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted February 13, 2017 Share Posted February 13, 2017 (edited) ...Kindly look at this list and let me know if there are any that you know are really good and shouldn't be missed. Also, if you see a book listed that you do not recommend, please let me know. Feel free to share other book ideas as well... ... I'm really trying to avoid books with teen boy/girl crushes, flirting, dating, etc... ... I also am trying to avoid overly magical books and I don't want anything supernatural. I'm unfamiliar with the vast majority of your titles -- never heard of most of them, in fact. Comments on the few I do know of: - Flavia de Luce series I haven't read it, BUT, on a very recent Book A Week thread over on the WTM Chat board, several adults were taken aback by the most recent book in the series (Thrice the Brindled Cat Hath Mewed) at an unexpected death of Flavia's rather abusive father and lack of opportunity for a last visit/reconciliation for Flavia with him before his death. So, just a heads-up on that, if your DD would be upset about a major character dying off a long ways into the series. Maybe try the first book or two and see if it is a good fit or not. - Richard Peck personally, I think a little Peck goes a LONG WAY; I personally would go with the 2 connected books of A Long Way from Chicago, and A Year Down Yonder, and leave it at that -- and only do more Peck if he is an author your DD ends up loving - I Capture the Castle I think this will connect much more with an older teen girl (age 17-18), as it is much more about coming of age with the main character at about that age - The Princess Bride The fairytale part of the story is inter-mixed with the first-person modern-day narrative of the middle aged man who remembered his immigrant father reading him this story, and the first-person middle-aged man trying to find the book for his son -- lots of middle-aged man "disappointed expectations with life" throughout the narrative that are likely to not be very interesting or engaging to a young teen girl reader... Perhaps do this as a read-aloud and skip the modern-day narrative portions?? - The Never Ending Story I really enjoyed this one, but it didn't seem to go over as well as I had hoped with my gr. 7-12 students 2 years ago when I was doing a classic Fantasy & Sci-Fi Lit. class. (???) Don't know why. It may just depend on the student... Other background on this one: the author was very interested in Japan, and in Buddhism, so you have an interesting mix of Christian images and ideas (from his European/German heritage), as well as Buddhist images and ideas -- honestly, all of which is subtle and likely go right over a young teen's head. Or, you could use it as discussion points, if you feel it's a good time for comparative religions... - Little Women Will probably be fine. If it seems too long or difficult, you might substitute Anne of Green Gables (by Montgomery), or Christy (by Marshall). - Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian No personal experience, but I understand that there is quite a lot of language in this one. You might read the 1-star Amazon reviews for more details. Some titles I am familiar with and can recommend that fit your parameters: animals The Black Stallion (Farley) -- and sequels The Incredible Journey (Burnford) Owls in the Family (Mowat) Gentle Ben (Morey) Big Red (Kjelgaard) Summer of the Monkeys (Rawls) Native Americans Walk Two Moons (Creech) The Birchbark House (Erdrich) Naya Nuki: The Shoshone Girl Who Ran (Thomasma) survival adventure Island of the Blue Dolphins (O'Dell) The Cay (Taylor) My Side of the Mountain (George) Julie of the Wolves (George) Daughter of the Mountains (Raskin) historical settings I Rode A Horse of Milk White Jade (Wilson) -- no personal experience with this one The Midwife's Apprentice (Cushman) -- Medieval Europe The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg (Philbrick) The Master Puppeteer (Paterson) -- 1700s, Japan Calico Bush (Field) -- Colonial US Sarah Plain and Tall -- and sequels (MacLachlan) -- US pioneer The War That Saved My Life (Bradley) -- WW2, England The Great Wheel (Lawson) -- 1893 World's Fair and first Ferris Wheel The Great Brain (Fitzgerald) -- turn of the century rural town boy hijinx realistic From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (Konigsberg) The View From Saturday (Konigsberg) The Wednesday Wars (Schmidt) Maniac Magee (Spinnelli) The Toothpaste Millionaire (Merrill) Wonder (Palacio) The Year of Miss Agnes (Fitzpatrick) The School Story (Clements) The Little White Horse (Goudge) -- tinge of almost fantasy -- a special/hidden estate Wolves of Willoughby Chase (Aiken) -- 19th century Charles Dickens-like tale with an evil governess talking animals The Rescuers, Miss Bianca, The Turret, Miss Bianca in the Salt Mines, Miss Bianca in the Orient (Sharp) One Hundred and One Dalmatians (Smith) Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (O'Brien) Black Beauty (Sewell) fairy tale The Ordinary Princess (Kaye) The Reluctant Dragon (Grahame) fantastical The Phantom Tollbooth (Juster) -- lots of puns and math-y ideas of a boy's adventures in a math-land Twenty One Balloons (du Bois) -- tall-tale-like; 19th century setting with Jules Verne-like inventions Tuck Everlasting (Babbitt) -- turn of century girl stumbles on the possibility of immortality Enchantress from the Stars (Engdahl) -- fantasy/sci-fi; in the future, a girl and her anthropologist father travel by spaceship to a planet with a Medieval culture, where her knowledge makes her seem like an "enchantress" to local teens magic (no supernatural) Half Magic, Magic By the Lake, Knight's Castle, The Time Garden, Seven Day Magic (Eager) The Candy Shop War (Mull) detective/mystery Case of the Baker Street Irregulars (Newman) Shakespeare Stealer -- and sequels (Blackwood) Enola Holmes mystery series (Springer) -- no personal experience with this one classics King of the Wind (Henry) Around the World in Eighty Days (Verne) White Fang (London) Anne of Green Gable (Montgomery) Christy (Marshall) Mama's Bank Account (Forbes) A Little Princess; The Secret Garden (Burnett) -- may be a bit young for your DD Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Carroll) -- fantasy The Martian Chronicles (Bradbury) -- sci-fi short story collection loosely linked together I Robot (Asimove) -- sci-fi short story collection loosely linked together authors to check out Wendy Mass (The Candymakers; Pi in the Sky; 11 Birthdays; Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life; etc) Edited February 13, 2017 by Lori D. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BatmansWife Posted February 13, 2017 Author Share Posted February 13, 2017 (edited) Lori, this was very helpful...thank you so much! I'm glad to find out more information about those books. Thanks for your list....I will definitely take a look at them. I was glad to see a few we've already read, so I added a couple of comments. Some titles I am familiar with and can recommend that fit your parameters: animals The Black Stallion (Farley) -- and sequels The Incredible Journey (Burnford) Owls in the Family (Mowat) Gentle Ben (Morey) Big Red (Kjelgaard) Summer of the Monkeys (Rawls) Native Americans Walk Two Moons (Creech) The Birchbark House (Erdrich) Naya Nuki: The Shoshone Girl Who Ran (Thomasma) survival adventure Island of the Blue Dolphins (O'Dell) The Cay (Taylor) My Side of the Mountain (George) She just finished this one, and then we watched the movie. I'll probably get the sequel for her. Julie of the Wolves (George) Daughter of the Mountains (Raskin) historical settings I Rode A Horse of Milk White Jade (Wilson) -- no personal experience with this one. I read this aloud last year as a reader in BkSk. Pretty good, but a few things I didn't care for. I think she liked it better than I did. The Midwife's Apprentice (Cushman) -- Medieval Europe The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg (Philbrick) The Master Puppeteer (Paterson) -- 1700s, Japan. She LOVED this book. Another reader I read to her last year. It's on her favorites shelf. I guess I didn't add it to the list because I read it. There would be probably twice as many books on her list if I added what I've read to her that she loved. Calico Bush (Field) -- Colonial US Sarah Plain and Tall -- and sequels (MacLachlan) -- US pioneer The War That Saved My Life (Bradley) -- WW2, England The Great Wheel (Lawson) -- 1893 World's Fair and first Ferris Wheel. I read last year as well (or maybe the year before)...it is good. The Great Brain (Fitzgerald) -- turn of the century rural town boy hijinx realistic From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (Konigsberg) The View From Saturday (Konigsberg) The Wednesday Wars (Schmidt) Maniac Magee (Spinnelli) The Toothpaste Millionaire (Merrill) Wonder (Palacio) The Year of Miss Agnes (Fitzpatrick) The School Story (Clements) The Little White Horse (Goudge) -- tinge of almost fantasy -- a special/hidden estate Wolves of Willoughby Chase (Aiken) -- 19th century Charles Dickens-like tale with an evil governess. I definitely should have added this t the list of books she'd recommend. This was my all time favorite book as a kid. It was our first chapter read aloud (she was sure she wouldn't like it because of the lack of pictures). It's the book that turned her on to chapter books. I found the movie on youtube and we are going to watch it soon. talking animals The Rescuers, Miss Bianca, The Turret, Miss Bianca in the Salt Mines, Miss Bianca in the Orient (Sharp) One Hundred and One Dalmatians (Smith) Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (O'Brien) Black Beauty (Sewell) fairy tale The Ordinary Princess (Kaye) The Reluctant Dragon (Grahame) fantastical The Phantom Tollbooth (Juster) -- lots of puns and math-y ideas of a boy's adventures in a math-land Twenty One Balloons (du Bois) -- tall-tale-like; 19th century setting with Jules Verne-like inventions Tuck Everlasting (Babbitt) -- turn of century girl stumbles on the possibility of immortality Enchantress from the Stars (Engdahl) -- fantasy/sci-fi; in the future, a girl and her anthropologist father travel by spaceship to a planet with a Medieval culture, where her knowledge makes her seem like an "enchantress" to local teens magic (no supernatural) Half Magic, Magic By the Lake, Knight's Castle, The Time Garden, Seven Day Magic (Eager) The Candy Shop War (Mull) detective/mystery Case of the Baker Street Irregulars (Newman) Shakespeare Stealer -- and sequels (Blackwood) Enola Holmes mystery series (Springer) -- no personal experience with this one classics King of the Wind (Henry) Around the World in Eighty Days (Verne) White Fang (London) Anne of Green Gable (Montgomery) Christy (Marshall) Mama's Bank Account (Forbes) A Little Princess; The Secret Garden (Burnett) -- may be a bit young for your DD Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Carroll) -- fantasy The Martian Chronicles (Bradbury) -- sci-fi short story collection loosely linked together I Robot (Asimove) -- sci-fi short story collection loosely linked together authors to check out Wendy Mass (The Candymakers; Pi in the Sky; 11 Birthdays; Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life; etc) Your list is sooo good. Now what am I going to do!? There's going to be way more than 30 books that I'll want her to read! :001_smile: Edited February 13, 2017 by BatmansWife Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted February 13, 2017 Share Posted February 13, 2017 (edited) lol. Glad I was able to "help" -- as in, help you into more titles to choose from. ;) My Side of the Mountain -- yes, go for the sequels if she liked this one :) Wolves of Willoughby Chase -- if she liked that one, she might really like The Little White Horse, and also the two Burnett books: A Little Princess, and, The Secret Garden I actually came back to your thread to throw in 2 quick "caveats", which might help you as you decide on which books to get: 1. Julie of the Wolves A great book that your DD would probably love -- HOWEVER, there is just one very brief non-graphic scene in which the reason why the Alaskan Native teen girl is off in the wilderness surviving is that against her wishes, Julie is engaged (married off??) to a developmentally disabled cousin, who pushes her down with the intention of consumating the marriage, and Julie runs off before anything can happen. Like I said: it's short and non-graphic, but it is there, so perhaps preview first. 2. The War That Saved My Life A lot like how there are abusive adults in The Master Puppeteer, the main character's unmarried mom is very abusive towards the main character for being born with a club foot. It is also inferred or subtly suggested (not at all graphic), that the abusive mom neglects her kids to spend time with men. The bulk of the book is about the main character and her brother making a new life for themselves in relief from the abusive mom and the restrictive London slums as foster children out in the country (away from the bombings in London, as so many children were shipped out to the countryside during WW2). There is a completely unnecessary revelation at the end of the book that the older unmarried woman foster mom loved another woman who is now deceased (so, the foster mom is either lesbian or bi-sexual), but it doesn't go in to any details of any kind. So, as I say, just unnecessary because the "surprise reveal" adds nothing to the story or to how the character was developed. For me, those elements were minor, as I found overall that it was so nice to read a well-written work of YA fiction with a different type of setting. But, don't know where your family is regarding slightly edgy subjects... Edited February 13, 2017 by Lori D. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted February 13, 2017 Share Posted February 13, 2017 Lori - Doesn't Christy have dating? Mine like Wings of Fire by Sutherland. Big Series not quite finished. Dragons, but not magical. Also, The False Prince (trilogy) by Jennifer Nielsen (not sure if I spelled that name correctly). I don't know if you would consider the Wingfeather Saga too supernatural. There were weird parts and I wasn't fond of the ending. Some parts are disturbing (child labor, abuse, poverty, disfiguration, violence, lust for revenge). I'm going to mine these lists for my eldest who thinks she has run out of books to read. :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanaqui Posted February 14, 2017 Share Posted February 14, 2017 I've read many of those books. Dark Life is great, but it seems to set up a trilogy and there's no third book, which is frustrating. I hate when that happens. The Peck books are all winners, though you're right, Amanda/Miranda is a very bit more "grown-up" than the others. And IIRC, there's definitely some magic. I found Pax to be a bit overwrought. It's the sort of book that wins awards, but that I'm never quite sure if real children actually like. (I'm sure now that many people will tell you their real children loved that book. YMMV.) Absolutely True Diary is a great book, but it has some explicit racist language and jokes (building to a point, not just gratuitously) and realistic talk of masturbation, as teenagers will do. If you don't want dating in your books, you might not want this either. As an autistic individual, I would not recommend Rain Reign. Ann M. Martin cannot be trusted to write books with autistic characters. Just avoid it. As far as Lori's suggestions, I would avoid The Candy Shop War as well. Brandon Mull writes that book with a lot of creepy exoticizing of race. It is not something I was comfortable with my biracial kids reading. (And I have an extremely open policy towards books.) I would also be cautious about Island of the Blue Dolphins, for the reasons explained here. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klmama Posted February 14, 2017 Share Posted February 14, 2017 The Flavia de Luce books - the books are well-written - sometimes even laugh-out-loud funny - but I'm pretty sure they are not what you are looking for. Flavia's not really a nice character. She's brilliant and imaginative and resourceful... but also quite snarky and even a bit malicious. It seems there might be some occasional language concerns or brief adult situations or something; I remember that I wanted to be sure my younger dc didn't get ahold of it when an older dc read one of them, but it's been several years and I don't remember the details. If you consider these, definitely read them first to see if you think they are okay or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EndOfOrdinary Posted February 14, 2017 Share Posted February 14, 2017 The Absolutely True Diary is also rather brutal at points. A pet dog gets shot because they cannot feed it. Like, hardcore. There is nothing fun or light. To stack it next to The Princess Bride seems awkward. It is fantastic, but brutal. I am Native though, so it might just be how close it is emotionally to my heritage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LindaOz Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 (edited) My 14yo dd absolutely LOVES both the Ranger's Apprentice and Brotherband series by John Flanagan. Edited February 15, 2017 by LindaOz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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