Book suggestions for my bookworm daughter, please!

[Denise in PA]

My ninth grade daughter loves to read! She primarily enjoys Jane Austen, historical fiction, biographies, and quality fictional novels. Most of the John Newbury Award titles and junior-high age historical fiction books have already been read in my household. Unfortunately, most of the book titles found in Young Adult sections of libraries and stores are not so appropriate in subject matter. As her mother I question why writers of teen literature often focus on cults, immorality (boy/girl relationships), and misaligned parent/teen relationships. She does enjoy Christian fictional novels, but not a steady diet. Our home school studies will provide a plethora of excellent classic titles (Tapestry of Grace), but I am seeking book suggestions to augment my daughter's insatiable biblio desire. Christmas is around the corner - any book suggestions?

[MBH]

Hi Denise,

 

Have you seen the list of 1000 great books on Classical Christian Education Support Loop?

 

http://www.classical-homeschooling.org/celoop/1000.html

 

Also Jan Bloom has a reference book called:

 

Who Should We Then Read?

 

I hope this helps.

[Kareni]

You might find Honey for a Teen's Heart by Gladys Hunt to be of value in selecting more books. It is written from a Christian perspective.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Carol in Cal.]

I'm talking about Rose in Bloom or An Old Fashioned Girl. Those give a lot of interesting food for thought about relationships, from a generally old-fashioned but warm point of view, and are well written entrees to Boston-area life during the late 1800's.

 

LOTR, of course--I don't think it's possible to read that too many times!

 

Gone with the Wind

 

Christy

 

Ishii, Last of His Tribe

 

Girl Meets God

 

The Ladies' Auxilliary

[PamJH]

How about "Does My Head Look Big in This?" It's a story about a Muslim girl who decides to wear her head-covering. My daughter has read this several times and loves it. The story is done with humor and grace.

 

My daughter also likes the Alexander McCall Smith Series "Ladies Detective Agency." I've enjoyed these, as well. You'll find these in the adult section, but the most offensive thing I can remember in them is that the ladies sometimes have to investigate a spouse cheating on his wife. Nothing graphic, however.

[Nan in Mass]

And the more obscure L.M.Montgomery's. She might like books by D.E.Stevens, too. They are meant for adults, but very nice books. I reread them for comfort, especially the Mrs. Tim books. She might like I Capture the Castle, Round the Corner in Gay Street, Daddy Longlegs, and Candlemas Bay, too. I love Jane Austin, and I love these. They aren't exactly classics, but they are nice light literature.

Happy reading!

-Nan

[Nissi]

"Christy" and "Julie" by Catherine Marshall

Katherine by Anya Seton

Girl of Limberlost, Freckles, and other novels by Gene Stratton Porter

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

[Guest Lorna]

I loved Susan Ferrier's 'Marriage' at this age. It is very like Jane Austen with a great sense of wit. It is set in Edinburgh when New Town was still new and she will learn a great deal about Edinburgh and London as well as being entertained.

Here is a review from Amazon because it has been a while since I read it:

What can I do with a girl who has been educated in Scotland?'

Marriage (1818) is the shrewdly observant tale of a young woman's struggles with parental authority and courtship. Twin sisters of an unhappy and impolitic marriage, London-raised Adelaide resembles her rash and imprudent mother, while Mary, brought up quietly by an aunt in Scotland, has the capacity to learn from experience and use her own judgement. Like her contemporaries, Maria Edgeworth and Jane Austen, Susan Ferrier adopts an ideal of rational domesticity, illustrating the

virtues of a reasonable heroine who learns act for herself. By giving her novel a Scottish heroine who leaves her domestic haven in the Highlands to brave the perils of faraway London, Ferrier reversed the usual trajectory of the female coming-of-age fiction. Challenging the conventions of romance narrative, the novel also serves to expose English prejudice towards the Scots as itself a form of provincialism.

 

[Guest Katia]

My dd's favorite Louisa May Alcott book is "Under the Lilacs". Most people we talk to have never heard of it!

 

Their favorite Lucy Maud Montgomery book is "Jane of Lantern Hill". Another rather obscure book when compared to "Anne of Green Gables".

 

"Those Miller Girls", "The Motoring Millers", and "What About Lou Emma Miller" by Alberta Wilson Constant are wonderful stories about two sisters at the turn of the century (1900). If it were me, I'd just read the first two.

 

Any of the Betsy/Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace. They follow Betsy and her friends from when they are 5yo all the way through when Betsy gets married. These are some of *my* favorite books.

 

Also by Maud Hart Lovelace is "Emily of Deep Valley". I try to read this book once a year as it reminds me that I can find exactly what I need wherever I'm at. It's about a high school graduate finding her place in the world in the early 1900s. May be a bit old for what you're looking for, but nothing inappropriate at all in here. Just good, good stuff.

[Nan in Mass]

I almost recommended this! It is on my shelf next to my Austins. She might like Trollop, too.

[Nan in Mass]

I love Jane of Lantern HIll. I think my favourite is My Blue Castle, though. Have you read the Graustark novels? Pretty dated, but I still enjoy them, although not as much as Round the Corner in Gay Street. I remember liking the later Pepper books, too, although I haven't read them for years. And have you read any Angela Thirkell?

[Mrs. Readsalot]

I read one this summer and it was delightful.

[melhouse]

Janice Holt Giles wrote several books that I remember reading at that age. They are mostly historical fiction. Hannah Fowler is the first of the series about the Fowler family. Several of hers are available at Amazon so you can see if they would appeal to her.

 

I agree with the lesser-known L.M. Montgomery books. Try putting them in your cart at Amazon, and then see what their recommendations are. I've found a few jewels using their recommendations.

 

HTH,

Melissa

[Denise in PA]

You are all AWESOME! Thank you dearly for the tremendously helpful book suggestions for my lovely daughter. Oh, will her eyes feast upon these terrific titles!

With much gratitude!!!!!!:001_smile:

[SheWhoWaits]

I just finished Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton. It is a beautiful book. I remember reading his Too Late the Phalarope in high school and enjoying it, so I think I'd recommend any of his books. Also Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe and What is the What by Dave Eggers. (In case you can't tell, we're studying Africa in school right now.

If you can find Elizabeth Goudge's books, those are wonderful. I especially recommend her Eliots of Damerosehay trilogy (The Bird in the Tree, Pilgrim's Innaka The Herb of Grace, and The Heart of the Family) or Green Dolphin Street.

Anything by Miss Read is good. Her books are light and charming, not great literature, but enjoyable and squeaky clean and written for adults. Also Jan Karon, for a similar read but set in the U.S. instead of Britain.

My current favorite book is The Hawk and the Dove by Penelope Wilcock. There's a trilogy all available in one book. Unfortunately out of print, but not hard to find used. It's a frame story about a teenaged girl in England whose mother tells her stories about a long-ago relative who was a monk. The stories really teach what love is and what following Jesus means. Not too didactic to be enjoyable, but with deep meaning.

For historical fiction, try Jill Paton Walsh's books The Emperor's Winding Sheet (about the end of the Byzantine empire), or A Parcel of Patterns (about the plague in 17 century (I think) England.)

You could also go the the Sonlight website and/or order their catalog. I especially enjoy browsing the paper catalog. So far I've enjoyed every book they recommend.

[Guest Lorna]

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe quote]

 

Fantastic suggestions. I would pre-read Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe first though. It is an incredible book, being one of the few books written about Africa from the African perspective. It will and should stay with the reader for life and is the classic of African written literature; however, it is very brutal by necessity. Pre-read it to check your daughter is ready for it - I am not sure I was as an adult.

I will make sure my daughter reads it before she leaves home but I think I will be waiting until she is 16 or 17.

[NancyL]

My daughter (same age) loves Agatha Christie-(and there's a lot of them), Sherlock Holmes, Jean Kerr (Penny Candy) and (Please Don't Eat The Daisies)(she reads these over and over). She's now about 1/2 through the John Grishams (not always the nicest stories) and I was thinking of starting her on the Michael Crichton's. The only Balducci I would recommend is Wish you Well- and I really liked that--it was set in Virginia in the 40's about 2 teens on a farm. (times were tough and it's quite realistic)

 

Agatha C. uses some words that she hadn't heard before, and I like that.

 

I'm reading Dr. Zhivago right now- to see if it would work for a teen ager. I love this thread--my daughter is a serious reader also. Her dream and favorite present is a little rolling milk crate cart that she uses at the library. (the librarians always ask where is her little red cart if they don't see it!):)