Sorry, just noticed the deadline on this! Hope you found some good books to recommend.

If she liked the mystery and adventure aspects of Chasing Vermeer, she might like The Mysterious Benedict Society and its follow up book The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart. They are probably technically more for fourth or fifth grade kids, but my daughter read them when she was 14 and couldn't stop talking about them. I also recently read The Neddiad by Daniel Pinkwater, which is a hilarious and adventurous adaptation of the Iliad. There's a follow up book to that one that I haven't read yet called the Yggyssey. I love anything Pinkwater, so I might be biased. And yeah, The Westing Game and Mixed Up Files are both great choices.

For the Clique stuff, you might want to turn her on to the excellent Sarah Dessen, who writes about romance and the like in a much more realistic way than most teen books manage. For a more Brit take on the chicklit stuff, Cherry Whytock writes a great series with food, romance, friendship, teen insecurity, etc; that started with My Cup Runneth Over. One more- I really loved The Gospel According to Larry by Janet Tashjian, which also has two follow up books.

Thank, Nicole! I just finished reading the first Clique book last night and I definitely think Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is a good fit. The girls from Clique are like the Mean Girls versions of the Sisterhood girls :)

what about Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants? contemporary, deals with friendships between 4 girls, elements of drama, romance and comedy.

Hi there,

I'm a librarian requesting assistance from any readers of Clique or Chasing Vermeer!

I was recently assigned to help a girl find some books she might like. All I know about her is that she:

- is in 6th grade
- likes Clique and Chasing Vermeer
- enjoys stories about present-day girls as main characters

The deadline to hand in my recommendations is 2 weeks from now. I've borrowed both in order to get a feel for what they're like, but I'm not familiar with non-YA romances and mysteries. Could anybody help point me in the right direction?

Some ideas I've got so far:
- "From the Mixed-Up Files ..."
- The Westing Game
- Lauren Myracle's books

Thanks in advance,
klara.


* Interesting mix of favorites, no? :)