ErinSo Posted July 18, 2020 Share Posted July 18, 2020 My dd is starting 7th grade and I need some book suggestions for her. I have a hard time finding books for her to read that she enjoys. She is so sensitive. She loved the Clementine series, Baby Sitter's Club, and Dork Diaries. Reading at grade level is not a problem, but I struggle with finding content she can handle emotionally that is written at grade level. I am not even worried about keeping her challenged with grade level material at this point. I just want to keep her reading & enjoying it. I need books with very, very little "bad guy" content or sadness and no death. Any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted July 18, 2020 Share Posted July 18, 2020 I use https://hub.lexile.com/ can limit by genre, grade, lexile, etc. Maybe try some categories like humor or animals... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WahM Posted July 19, 2020 Share Posted July 19, 2020 How about the Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place Manor series? Or The Wollstonecraft Detective series? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junie Posted July 20, 2020 Share Posted July 20, 2020 I'm also currently trying to find books for my sensitive rising 7th grader. I just pulled some new books off the shelf for her, including: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory James and The Giant Peach The Secret Garden (death at the beginning of the book) The 101 Dalmatians (so much better than the movie, but there are bad guys) Misty of Chincoteague The Trumpet of the Swan The Cabin Faced West Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HazelAnne Posted July 22, 2020 Share Posted July 22, 2020 I hesitate to post, as I haven't read all the books I'm about to recommend, but wanted to give you some additional suggestions. I also have a sensitive reader around that age, and an older kid who will tell me if books will be appropriate for that dc or not...here are some that might fit what you are looking for: All-of-a-Kind Family By the Great Horn Spoon (I'm told it does have some "bad guys", but is a comical book) The Fledgling Grandma's Attic series Understood Betsy (my sensitive one really loved this book, as the main character is a sensitive girl herself) Pippi Longstocking Homer Price Little House on the Prairie Series Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKT Posted July 22, 2020 Share Posted July 22, 2020 Mother-Daughter Book Club series by Heather Vogel Frederick? (Note: I have not read them all, but my 13-year-old daughter read most of them last year and really enjoyed them. Seems like something your daughter might like if she was a fan of Baby-Sitter's Club! And there are several books in the series--I think 8 or 9--so it could keep her busy for a long while!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted July 22, 2020 Share Posted July 22, 2020 (edited) Nonfiction? -- especially titles about non-stressful science topics, travel/geography, arts, sports, dance, cooking...Inspiring biographies? -- that could help her become a little less overly sensitive, seeing that others overcame hardships and succeededa poetry unit? -- that might help her find ways of seeing that her big emotions can be expressed (and made less stressful) in beautiful words and metaphorsA few fiction ideas: older language/sentence structure Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Carroll) Just-So Stories (Kipling)Farmer Giles of Ham (Tolkien) -- once you get over the hump of the older language in the first few pages, it's a lot of funBook of Dragons (Nesbit) -- 7 short storiesThe Reluctant Dragon (Grahame)Shakespeare Star Wars (Doescher) fantastical The Ordinary Princess (Kaye) -- you could discuss how expectations are turned upside down Edward Eager magic books: Half Magic; Magic By the Lake; Knight's Castle; The Time Garden; Seven Day Magic The Rumpelstiltskin Problem (Velde) -- and you could discuss point of view The Twenty-One Balloons (du Bois) -- a sort-of Jules Verne-like fantastical tale with inventions and hot air balloons; some peril, but a light tone throughout The Phantom Tollbooth (Juster) books by Wendy Mass animal My Side of the Mountain (George) The Incredible Journey (Burnford) -- some peril as 3 pets travel hundreds of miles to be rejoined successfully with their family older setting / gentle real life Two Are Better Than One (Brink) The Great Wheel (Lawson) The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate -- and sequel (Kelly) gentle real-life The Toothpaste Millionaire (Merrill) The School Story (Clements) Slacker (Korman) The View From Saturday (Konigsberg) The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street (Glaser) Wonder (Palacio) -- middle school boy with physical deformity faces some challenges in starting at school, but overall is extremely positive and affirming From the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess (Cabot) -- girl-turned-princess goes to a royalty school in Europe while her family plans the sister's wedding gentle mystery From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (Konigsberg)lighter or humorous short stories:Christmas Every Day (Howells) -- I have tears I laugh so hard when I read this one every ChristmasThe Open Window (Saki)A Story Without An End (Twain)Lamb to the Slaughter (Dahl) -- "black humor"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (Thurber)The Ransom of Red Chief (Henry)The Red-Headed League, The Blue Carbuncle, The Speckled Band, A Scandal in Bohemia (Doyle) -- Sherlock Holmes mysteries (note: some Sherlock Holmes stories are more creepy or intense than others -- I listed ones that are much lighter or less suspenseful) Edited July 22, 2020 by Lori D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErinSo Posted July 22, 2020 Author Share Posted July 22, 2020 Wow! Thank you for all the ideas so far!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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