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Uplifting Teen Girl Book/Gift Recs


displace
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Please don't quote.  

My friend's daughter (young teen) is currently hospitalized due to mental health issues.  I'm looking for uplifting, positive book recommendations (or gift recommendations) for her.  Mine aren't teens yet and I don't think I'll have the time to pre-read for appropriateness.  No heavy topics (loss, depression, anxiety, death, sex, drugs), probably fiction.  I don't know if this will limit me to boring escapist/pulp fiction.  But if any good recommendations are out there, I'm all ears.  Thanks!

ETA - her likes are science fiction/Harry Potter/Percy Jackson

Edited by displace
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Maybe Wonder, by R.J. Palacio? It’s very uplifting, I think. There are some sad things, though. Family dog dies, there’s bullying and changing friendships, but also learning to rise above and forgive, and the ending is very positive.

maybe read a synopsis or something to help you decide if it would work.

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I wouldn't do Wonder for a teen, just because it's a bit younger.

Since she likes fantasy, I think there's nothing wrong with escapist fantasy. How about some Shannon Hale - powerful female characters, clean fantasy books, happy but real feeling endings.

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4 hours ago, Farrar said:

I wouldn't do Wonder for a teen, just because it's a bit younger.

Since she likes fantasy, I think there's nothing wrong with escapist fantasy. How about some Shannon Hale - powerful female characters, clean fantasy books, happy but real feeling endings.

I guess it depends on how young the “younger teen” is. DD and a friend read it at 13 and 14 and enjoyed it. But also both of these kids don’t mind reading books at a lower level occasionally.

For OP - i think the main characters are 5th grade on Wonder. 

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These are really out there for what you've described, but they take you into a totally different world (the early 1900's :)), and are just fun, innocent stories of teens.  My girls happened to love them.

Cheaper by the Dozen  (Stick with the first book;  the second one has a family death.  It's about the entire family, but emphasis is often on the teen girls in the family.)

Betsy-Tacy series (These were my young teen girls' all-time favorites.  You'll want to skip the early ones in the series.  They follow the main character -- Betsy -- and her friends growing up in the early 1900's.  The reading level advances as the characters grow older, so the first ones in the series would be too young.  We started with "Heaven to Betsy" which is when she was around 12, so maybe a little young still but it's a good introduction.  After that, you get into her teen years, then college and traveling around the world, then marriage. They are all just so sweet and uplifting, but do deal with some typical teen life events, feelings, growing up, all in a healthy, wholesome way.

https://www.amazon.com/Cheaper-Dozen-Perennial-Classics-Gilbreth/dp/006008460X

https://www.amazon.com/Heaven-Betsy-Herself-Lovelace-2009-09-29/dp/B01FGKSMGC/ref=sr_1_7?keywords=heaven+to+betsy&qid=1553574397&s=books&sr=1-7

(The above "Heaven to Betsy" and "Betsy In Spite of Herself" are the 5th and 6th in the series, I think, but would be good ones to start with for a young teen.  I think on that link you can also see the books that come after that in the series.  It looks like this particular publisher is lumping two-four books in the series together into one book.  You could get the next book, "Betsey is a Junior" and "Betsy and Joe" too.  And of course if she likes them, you could get the last one -- that includes the last two books in the series.  They'd all be fine for a young teen.  They're all based on the author's own life.)

Edited by J-rap
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