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plot- and character-driven stories for a 12 yr old girl
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There's not a ton of explicit adult content going on in Middlesex, but I think the themes at some points might be a little too mature, though it is at that age people do start to confront their own sexuality (dealing with the incest might be another story).Has she read Tuck Everlasting? It may very well fall below her reading level, but I myself still find it to be a rather enjoyable read. The characters are interesting and the story, while a little fantastic, does not venture into fantasy.
She may like The Hunger Games - there is no sex, only some violence. It's a great read! As far as historical fiction, I'm personally a big fan of Wilbur A. Smith- I loved his fiction about ancient Egypt when I was younger.
Katie, thank you - I think you are right about Middlesex. I'll hold off on that one. I'm not sure about Tuck for her - but I'll find out if she's read it.Stacy - I have The Hunger Games on the shelf - my only concern there is the dystopian element, but then again, I am trying to give her some variety as I'm not sure what's really grabbing her right now.
Is there a Wilbur A. Smith that you'd recommend to start?
Sparrow, TKAM is a stroke of genius. Thanks!!!
How about Farley Mowat's Lost in the Barrens, or Curse of the Viking Grave?
oh - nice! Canadiana, love it. :-) Thank you!
Agatha Christie's Miss Marple seriesThe Education of Little Tree
The Book Thief
The Spellman Files
Big Stone Gap
The Grass Dancer
I have a friend who reminds me of the reading style you're describing, and she loves all J. D. Salinger, so I really agree with adding Catcher in the Rye to the list. Another she loves is Breakfast at Tiffany's. Both of those were later high school reads for her, though, so I don't know if she would have liked them as much at a younger age.She loved the Anne Rice Interview with a Vampire series when she was younger, but that might have been an anomaly.
Thank you, Elizabeth! The Book Thief is definitely on the list; and I will look the rest of those up.Sparrow, yeah - I'm definitely going to give her Catcher in the Rye (although I realize I'm going heavy on stuff she is going to probably "have" to read - still, they're classics for a reason, right?). Breakfast at Tiffany's is an interesting choice. Lemme think about that.
Jane Eyre was the single-most important book I read as an early teen - I'm almost afraid to give it to her, lest she not love it as I do.
Also, this kid is not really angst-ridden or capital-R romantic. She's more adventure oriented. She loves horseback riding, staying fit, she plays the piano, her fave subjects are math/science.
I'm also trying to think of biographies that might grab her -- like Amelia Earhardt or Marie Curie or something. Adventurous, trailblazing, iconic female role models. Not that disappearing into thin air or dying of radiation poisoning is all that inspirational - you know, what happened BEFORE that. :-p
West with the Night is interesting in a trailblazing way. Memoir of the first woman to fly west across the Atlantic. Half Broke Horses is set in a similar time, but in the U.S., and it's based on a true story about a girl facing all kinds of adventures - trekking across the desert with her horse, living in Chicago, running a ranch. One of my favorites. Yeah, I'm with you on not recommending favorites. It's tough. I always think of Jane Eyre as more of an adventure than a romance, but maybe you were more generally talking about her tastes.
I haven't read middlesex but The Virgin Suicides if it isn't too hard for her is a really great book and appropriate for young adults, as long as death is okay. Johnny Tremain
is a book "for boys" but it's a historical novel about the american revolution, I loved it as a kid.
Go Ask Alice
again there is adult content but she might like it.
I second to kill a mockingbird (I see it on the shelf) and maybe some of the shorter steinbeck Of Mice and Men
The other thing she might like (I did as a kid) are the classic novels that were written for children like Hans Brinker.
How To Steal A Car
is one of the better real life YA I've read recently.
ok, just returned from Chapters (think Barnes & Noble, but Canadian-based), and I've got quite a good selection for her.But ... I am freakin' appalled at the dearth of selection. This is a major bookstore, albeit a chain, in a major Canadian city. I was standing there absolutely spitting with fury in the "teen" section.
Row after row; shelf after shelf; secton after section of Twilight and Twilight rip-offs. I am talking about no less than 75% of the entire teen section being vampiric.
No offense to anyone here who loves Twilight - but I mean REALLY?!? Really, this is all there is for teen girls? (Never mind teen boys - you are *completely* out of luck.) THIS is the extent of choice there is to open up young girls' minds to the joys of reading!?!
REALLY???!!!!??????!!!!!
I am FROTHINGLY angry. I had a true moment of batshit-crazy-lady-muttering-and-swearing-outloud as I searched HIGH AND FREAKIN' LOW for some of the books - classics - on my list.
And I can't even blame the store - because they are book marketers and they are merely selling what people want.
REALLY?!?!?!?!?!?! THIS IS WHAT PEOPLE WANT? This is ALL people want?!?
I managed to FINALLY find The Book Thief and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian in the teen section - right beside one another (A and Z - huh???) Shelved way away in the far corner, on the top shelf, not in any kind of alphabetical order and not featured in any way. It was totally accidental that I found them, and only because I knew what I was looking for. Teens would never find these two books if they even made it that far into the store, what with being weak and unable to raise their heads after having clawed their way through the sparkling blood-suckers.
To Kill A Mockingbird and Jane Eyre were nowhere to be found in the teen section - sob!! - I found TKAM on an end display in the so-called 'adult' section; I'm going to give her my copy of JE.
I am so disheartened, but also I am personally going to see that this child knows about way more of what's out there than flippin' Chapters would have her know.
I feel like it's more that Chapters is not great - isn't it owned by Borders? Who are not wonderful at business management IMO.I hope she likes Jane Eyre!! It is so nice of you to take the risk with that!
True, Chapters may not be great - it's owned by Indigo Books & Music, not Borders. I think it's still 100% Canadian.If it's Chapters' merchandising to blame here, I'll be even more pissed and might consider ditching them entirely solely because of this. It would be the final straw - I frequently come up short on books I want to read, but it's pretty much the only game in town. There are so few independent booksellers left. :-(
to kill a mockingbird and jane eyre are classified as adult books here too. and TKaM is still in copy wright I believe so there are only like a couple editions.
Yeah, so true. We still have a few pretty good independents in Eugene. Your branch of Chapters might just have a bad manager for the YA section. Maybe they will find someone good and remember that TKAM and Jane Eyre are best read on a YA stomach!
At that age I was eating up classic science fiction like all of Asimov's Robot stories. I also loved Ray Bradbury (The Martian Chronicles, Dandelion Wine, etc.) but you'd have to find the ones with the covers that don't give you the impression it's fantasy. I also loved James Herriot's four-book set All Creatures Great and Small and all the horse books by Marguerite Henry, especially Justin Morgan Had a Horse and King of the Wind because I had the joy of learning about horses and history.
Middlesex? Sorry, the yuck factor was too strong for me, and I'm 49, bi, and poly. I did like The Outsiders and the others in the set. When I was a little older I liked The Basketball Diaries (this was decades before the movie) but it's pretty gritty.
Jennifer (aka EM) wrote: "ok, just returned from Chapters (think Barnes & Noble, but Canadian-based), and I've got quite a good selection for her.But ... I am freakin' appalled at the dearth of selection. This is a major ..."
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian- YES!
also, you could try public libraries where they have good books (and meyers), to try out things to like, like probably all the correta scott king awards, all the batchelder awards, all the printz awards, the alex awards, the pura belpre awards, siebert, horn book, lambda, in fact, why go to box stores at all?http://www.breitlinks.com/my_libmedia...
I bet she'd like non-fiction, historical fiction, memoirs - she doesn't like fantasy so she probably wants the book to feel real, meaningful, significant.
Jennifer (aka EM) wrote: "True, Chapters may not be great - it's owned by Indigo Books & Music, not Borders. I think it's still 100% Canadian.If it's Chapters' merchandising to blame here, I'll be even more pissed and mi..."
As a 100% Canadian store, Chapters should have the YA books that received awards from the Canadian Library Association. Here's a link to the list of award winners.
Canadian Library Association YA Awards
Perhaps you'll find something suitable for her on that list, and if Chapters doesn't have it you really have a right to complain about it. You might have better luck with Amazon.ca . I just got a very interesting Canadian book from them that wasn't available from other sources.
Hmm, how about The Pox Party? It's historical fiction set before the Revolutionary War. I'd also recommend books by Laurie Halse Anderson - Chains has the same historical backdrop as The Pox Party while Speak and Wintergirls deal with current issues. If she doesn't mind graphic novels, perhaps she'll like The Complete Persepolis, which is a woman's memoir of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution and her experiences going to boarding school in Europe.
Excellent feedback, all! Thank you and Happy New Year!Miriam, that one looks particularly good - not sure if a bit young for her, but we`ll see.
Out of everything I gave her, she has gravitated to The Book Thief. I`ve since found out she hasn`t read The Diary of Anne Frank, so that`s now on the list too.
This is a 2012 project, so keep those recs coming! :-)
Well, I liked it and I'm over 30! But I know lots of kids don't want to be seen reading "younger" books.I also liked The Earth Hums in B Flat.
Miriam wrote: "Well, I liked it and I'm over 30! But I know lots of kids don't want to be seen reading "younger" books.I also liked The Earth Hums in B Flat."
hmmm have you ever noticed buying books for children is much more complicated than buying books for adults. I mean my sister is a total pain in the butt when I try to recommend her books she turns her nose up at everything.
My 15 year-old son and I both loved The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate. Definitely not too young for 12 yo.
I second the recs for Calpurnia Tate and Mockingbird, and Agatha Christie as well. Secret Life of Bees (currently on your shelf) is a good adult pick for her if she liked The Help.You might also try these classics/ classic young adult + middle grade novels:
More recent young adult/middle grade:
And I haven't read War Horse, but it's gotten great reviews and since she likes horses...
I love & recommend most books by Katherine Paterson but I'm not sure if Jacob Have I Loved would be something she'd like. Just my pov. The other rec's look excellent.
You know what, I just remembered there are some mature themes in Saving June that are prob not so appropriate for a 12 year old, so I'm taking that one off. I think you're probably right about Jacob too, Cheryl.
holy smokes, you guys have been busy! thank you all!she's still finishing The Help ... and I can't bring myself to start it. At this rate, I have enough books to last her until she's 25! hah!
Not to make your list too long but...Here are a few of my daughters' (12 & 14) recent favs:
Greyhound-Piper
The Book Thief
A Complicated Kindness-Toews
The Girls-Lansen
Stargirl
Matched series
Hunger Games
Alice, I Think-Juby
The Red Tent
To Kill A Mockingbird
Jade Peony - Choy
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Fahrenheit 451
Jim the Boy -Earley
Three Views of Crystal Water - Govier
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Sam~~ we cannot see the moon, and yet the waves still rise~~
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Try "When You Reach Me" by Rebecca Stead. Sorry, not sure how to make it a link from my phone.
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If she liked The Outsiders, I also recommend The King of Mulberry Street by Donna Jo Napoli (I hope that's her name, anyway). Also, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. The three of those helped inspire my first completed novel, and they share a lot of similarities.
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I don't know that A Tree Grows in Brooklyn would be good for a twelve year old. Maybe a little older than that? Correct me if you think I'm wrong, though.
i'm reading this one now, it is super; funny, realist, nice synthesis of facts and story , The Dubious Salvation of Jack V.: A Novel but for very mature 12 yr olds. maybe mom n dad would like it better
@SamLol, maybe you're right. I don't even know because I was just a scarred child. :P
I would second the Katherine Paterson books, particularly Bridge to Terabithia. I reccomend A Corner of the Universe as well.
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Rooftoppers
it is a great story with a great female protag, and it is just gorgeously written. it is the perfect smart book for smart no-nonsense little girls. and me.
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Books mentioned in this topic
Rooftoppers (other topics)Bridge to Terabithia (other topics)
A Corner of the Universe (other topics)
The Dubious Salvation of Jack V.: A Novel (other topics)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Katherine Paterson (other topics)Marguerite Henry (other topics)
Anne Rice (other topics)
J.D. Salinger (other topics)
Wilbur Smith (other topics)
She has recently completed a book report on The Outsiders and came to love it. She liked the fact that "there were lots of things happening" (which I take to mean - a compelling plot).
She is now reading The Help and loving it. She has mentioned that she's interested in biographies and in stories about real people, or those that take place in a real or historical setting. I'm imagining that means she is oriented to character-driven stories, and possibly historical fiction.
I've created a shelf with some ideas for her - I've promised her that I will read some of the same books as she is so that we can talk about them (neither of her parents are particularly avid readers).
(Good grief, this means I need to read The Help).
Any ideas to flesh out the choices I've got for her so far would be much appreciated!
Do you guys think that Middlesex might work for her? She's 12 going on 13, but I think a little naive, so not sure if that content might be too mature.