"clean" book series for 14 year old girls?

[HeatherC]

Hi There!

My dd is an avid reader who devours any book she gets. Problem is that I'm having a hard time finding books that are "acceptable" to me as a parent but will keep her interest as a teen.

She just finished the books from Susan Pfeffer...Life As We Know It, etc. and loved them.
Also read "The Tillerman Cycle" series and recently finished all the Twilight books...but didn't love them surprisingly.

Anyone have any suggestions that I can show her?

Thanks so much!

 

[golfgal]

DD and her friends are reading the Nicolas Sparks and Jodie Picoult books. They seem to be pretty popular in the 9th grade world.

 

[clarabelle]

See what she thinks about
"The Hunger Games" and its sequel "Catching Fire"
(about a future world where a girl is forced to participate in a fight to the death type set of games) It doesn't sound good -but it is a real page turner with a tiny bit of romance.

Also "The book Thief" a book about a German girl in WWII Germany.

When I was that age I enjoyed Agatha Christie books (still do) if she likes mystery.
A couple of my favorites "The Mirror Cracked"
"Death on the Nile" and "Evil under the Sun"

 

[Mandychelle79]

Sorry I dont have a suggestion for a "clean" series because I dont know what you consider "clean".

At 14 I was reading Steven King like it was going out of style and also reading my moms romance novels.

 

[marlynnp]

I agree, you need to define "clean"

 

[minniebeth]

What about the Jeanette Oke series, the ones based off the tv series "Love Comes Softly" and that whole group of books? Kind of like Little House on the Prairie for adults~

Lionboy series is awsome as well as the City of Ember series if she hasn't already read them.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Sorry I dont have a suggestion for a "clean" series because I dont know what you consider "clean".

At 14 I was reading Steven King like it was going out of style and also reading my moms romance novels.

My younger dd was reading SK in 6th grade at 12. I finally had to let her go. She is reading at a college level and bored to tears with the teen books. Now she does like the Warriors series and loves the Percy Jackson author however past that, forget it.

She is finishing up the last book in the Dark Tower series. She would rather read Watership Down, Plague Dogs and other depressing stuff. Not my cup of tea but whatever....

Might be time to let her loose OP, if she is an avid reader and devours books.

 

[Acklander]

Sorry I dont have a suggestion for a "clean" series because I dont know what you consider "clean".

At 14 I was reading Steven King like it was going out of style and also reading my moms romance novels.

Oh yeah, I was a big time Stephen King fan. You could really get lost in his books. Also around the same age I fell in love with true crime books, and still love them to this day.
Don't know what the OP means by clean, but at some point you've got to start reading about real life and not the sanatized version of it, to keep the reading interest growing.

 

[DSNY4ever]

I liked all of the Fannie Flag books at that age (author of Fried Green Tomatoes). Daisy Fay and The Miracle Man is my particular favorite, but she has lots of sweet/funny books.

I also loved the classics like everything by Jane Austen, that is when I fell in love with that author and I still re-read her books today. James Herriot also has his series of classic sweet stories about his life as a vet in England. I read all of those in High school. They certainly aren't a new/trendy series, but they are all good and age appropriate (I think). But at 14, most things are pretty age appropriate.

 

[golfgal]

I liked all of the Fannie Flag books at that age (author of Fried Green Tomatoes). Daisy Fay and The Miracle Man is my particular favorite, but she has lots of sweet/funny books.

I also loved the classics like everything by Jane Austen, that is when I fell in love with that author and I still re-read her books today. James Herriot also has his series of classic sweet stories about his life as a vet in England. I read all of those in High school. They certainly aren't a new/trendy series, but they are all good and age appropriate (I think). But at 14, most things are pretty age appropriate.

DD loved the James Herriot books. She read them in 5th grade when they do a "Biography Parade" and dress up like an author and write a paper about them.

 

[HeatherC]

Thanks guys! Guess what I mean about "clean" is not explicit sexual material. Some of the books that I pick up and thumb through can be pretty explicit.

Now I'm not a prude and know that kids are going to see, hear and read about this stuff. But I would just prefer to
try and offer up some other good reads. After all, not every good book has to have a ton of sex in it.

She's in seventh grade now so she's not in high school yet. Guess I just want to hold on to "some" of that innocence for a little longer.

Will check out some of the ones mentioned.

Thanks!

 

[dakcp2001]

Do kids still read Christopher Pike books? Those were my fav, I think I was a tween or teen when I read them. They were better than the RL Stine Fear Street.

Have her read the classics! Then she will be ahead in school & collgege. The Great Gatsby, Wuthering HeightsJane Eyre etc etc

She might also like to read Jurassic Park etc, the books were fantastic. In 9th grade we were assigned 1 Mochael Crighton book- I chose Jurassic Park, The Firm(Grisham) His books will make you think!, The Color Purple, The Joy Luck Club, A Tale of Two Cities...Ill see if I can think of any others

 

[Toad_Passenger]

Hi There!

My dd is an avid reader who devours any book she gets. Problem is that I'm having a hard time finding books that are "acceptable" to me as a parent but will keep her interest as a teen.

She just finished the books from Susan Pfeffer...Life As We Know It, etc. and loved them.
Also read "The Tillerman Cycle" series and recently finished all the Twilight books...but didn't love them surprisingly.

Anyone have any suggestions that I can show her?

Thanks so much!

Honestly, if she is an avid reader, who loves good literature, I'm not surprised she didn't like Twilight. While it is entertaining to a lot of folks, it is not well written, and that puts off a lot of young book lovers.

I completely agree with the PP who mentioned Jane Austen. They are classics, superbly written, and will hold most teenage attention spans. Dickens is also good, but may get a bit boring for a younger teen, although, at that age I wore out my copy of Great Expectations!

 

[Toad_Passenger]

Do kids still read Christopher Pike books? Those were my fav, I think I was a tween or teen when I read them. They were better than the RL Stine Fear Street.

Have her read the classics! Then she will be ahead in school & collgege. The Great Gatsby, Wuthering HeightsJane Eyre etc etc

She might also like to read Jurassic Park etc, the books were fantastic.

Sorry everyone for the double post, but I forgot about Christopher Pike at that age. We used to spend our entire Summer at the shore when I was in my teens, and one of those Summers I went through Christopher Pike books like they were candy!

 

[piglet too]

I would only caution you that a few of Jodi Picoult's do have some explicit material. ETA ~ "Nineteen Minutes" is one in particular.

 

[disneydreamersx4]

I hear you OP about our young DD's not reading books with sexual nature...hold onto these precious years as long as possible

Has your DD read Among the Hidden?

 

[kimono rose]

Even though I'm 24 I still sometimes read YA books here's a couple I enjoyed.

The Boyfriend List and The Boy Book by E. Lockhart

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (and it's series) by Ann Brashares

Most anything by Judy Blume

The Baby-Sitters Club by Ann M. Martin (these are coming back out)

 

[AshleyW]

Thanks guys! Guess what I mean about "clean" is not explicit sexual material. Some of the books that I pick up and thumb through can be pretty explicit.

Now I'm not a prude and know that kids are going to see, hear and read about this stuff. But I would just prefer to
try and offer up some other good reads. After all, not every good book has to have a ton of sex in it.

She's in seventh grade now so she's not in high school yet. Guess I just want to hold on to "some" of that innocence for a little longer.

Will check out some of the ones mentioned.

Thanks!

She's 14 and in 7th grade? When I was 14, I was in 9th grade.

Hm, let's see.. I'm trying to think of stuff I read around that age..

The Giver by Lois Lowry
The Lord of the Rings series by J. R. R. Tolkien
Meg Cabot books
The Dark Tower series by Stephen King
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
Chronicles of Narnia series by C. S. Lewis
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice

I think that's around the age when I started reading and getting into more of the classic books.

 

[Toad_Passenger]

Even though I'm 24 I still sometimes read YA books here's a couple I enjoyed.

The Boyfriend List and The Boy Book by E. Lockhart

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (and it's series) by Ann Brashares

Most anything by Judy Blume

The Baby-Sitters Club by Ann M. Martin (these are coming back out)

They also brought Sweet Valley High back.

 

[Glynis]

Has she read anything by Louisa May Alcott? These are wonderful, old fashioned books. My DD 13, just loves them. I second (or is it third) the Jane Austen. Wonderful books. I loved Sense and Sensibility and Emma when I was 13.

What genre of books does your daughter enjoy? There are some fun Sci-fi/fantasy books. Terry Brooks is a fun author. I enjoyed "Magic Kingdom for Sale: Sold".

Do you have a good library where you are? If so, have her talk to the YA librarian to get some recommendations.

Shannon Hale is a great YA author! My daughter has loved her books, especially "The Goose Girl", "Book of a Thousand Days" and "The Princess Academy."