in search of books for preteen

[Tink-n-MrIncredible]

DD is loving the Mysterious Benedict Society books right now.

My DD is reading this also and loves it.

 

[robin09]

I have two DDs (10 and 12) and they both really enjoyed the Peter and the Starcatchers series by Ridley Pearson. I'm not sure how many books there are... maybe 4 or 5? I have not read them but I believe it's the back story of Peter Pan before Wendy.

o00o0 Never heard of these and I know she likes the way Pearson writes... I will give these a try!

 

[Tink-n-MrIncredible]

Tamora Pierce is one of my favorite authors. She has so many books, and they all have such good role female role models

If death is an issue, she may want to start with The Circle of Magic and then the sequel series, The Circle Opens. Those were targeted towards younger readers and have less worries. They are about a group of four young magicians who discover they each have special talents and they have to make their way in the world like that. The descriptions of magic are awesome. Warning though, there are two books, Melting Stones and the Will of the Empress, which take place later and are more for people who grew up with her books. They are way more young adult in nature.

Also her Tortall books (in the order they should be read) The Song of the Lioness Quartet, The Immortals Quartet, The Protector of the Small Quartet, Trickster's Choice, Trickster's Queen, and the ongoing Provost's Dog series (Terrier and Bloodhound, Elkhound sometime next year) are peerless. They are all set in the mideval fantasy realm of Tortall and are coming-of-age hero stories about lady knights, wild magician half-gods, etc.

I will tell you though because I'm not sure how you feel about this sort of thing with your daughter, while these are some of the best fantasy books I have read, there is some death, some of it has made me cry, and her girl heroes do engage in premarital sex. Nothing graphic, more they think about it, buy birth control, and it's never a one-night stand kind of thing and they are all very mature about it. But these are spirited women coming of age and sexuality and romance are things that come up. I wanted to warn you of that. Basically the later you get in her books, she gets more freedom with her publisher and the books become longer and more complex. At the very least the Provost's Dogs series as well as Will of the Empress contain homosexual characters, which again is something I leave to your discretion. Read any of her series in the order they were published and you'll be fine, they will grow with her tastes. I'd pick up the Song of the Lioness books and give them a read and see what you think. If you think they are too much, go to the Circle books I mentioned above.

Sorry this is so long, she's just easily one of my favorites and I am always so happy to introduce someone new to her!

Does the Circle of Magic have any sexual overtones in them?

 

[Disneefun]

A lot of people forget that "The Wizard of Oz" was just one book in L. Frank Baum's series. There are quite a few other Oz books and I really enjoyed those as a kid. Amazon sells a huge book that has all fifteen stories in one volume.

 

[HillPete]

The Puzzling World of Winston Breen by Eric Berlin (there's a second in the series, also. Something about potato chips? Ask your librarian)

The Westing Game (implied death, but not gorey at all)

Chasing Vermeer by Blue Baillet (two more in the series, all are great!)

The Name of This Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch

Has she read all the Beverly Cleary books? E.B. White? My DS10 is re-reading them now. He had them read to him when he was little, and he is enjoying reading them to himself this time.

 

[Kitzka]

My daughter is 12 and really enjoyed the Spetimus Heap series. There are 5 or6 books now with a 7th coming out in 2011. She also does not care for death or sex so i think this would be a good option.

Alos, what about the 39 clues series?

Lara

 

[Aristomommy]

Dd reads the warrior cat books which a lot of friends are also into. Her friends are reading twilight books but she is not into it. Her other favorites are 39 clues, anything by Avi or anything animal related. She is also reading biographies or books about people she admires such as Jane Goodall.

 

[Racemom17]

The Babysitters Club (if you can still find them)

Boxcar Children (if she hasn't read them)

Little House on the Prairie Series

Oldies but Goodies.

 

[Soarin_04]

Everyone's suggestions are spot on -- my son's zipped through all of those as well.

How about Roald Dahl's stuff? Both my sons read through all of his stuff.

There's also a series of books by Kathy Hoopman that features protogonists with Aspergers -- The Asperger Adventure series. My son's read The Blue Bottle Mystery and Of Mice and Aliens but there's also Lisa and the Lacemaker. It *may* be a little young for her -- for ages 9-12 -- but my 11 year old inhaled the other two and liked them because -- as he said -- they feature people "from his planet."

 

[Fyrefly]

Does the Circle of Magic have any sexual overtones in them?

Not that I recall. They are basically only kids in these books after all. The Circle of Magic and The Circle Opens should be fine. Melting Stones has a major war which results in some PTSD for one of the characters in the later book, Will of the Empress, but as I said those are both more adult in nature, they were written almost 10 years after the original 2 series anyway.

I think those should be perfectly fine. I didn't like them AS much because I became a fan at about 18 or so, and they were geared for people way younger than me, so I've only read each one once. But they are still really really good.

Her wiki page gives a quick overview of each plot in her series, but again, I'd skim through them if you're concerned. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamora_Pierce

 

[luckey-lasvegas]

My DD loved The Tail of Emily Windsnap series
http://www.amazon.com/Tail-Emily-Wi...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1289924624&sr=1-1

And The Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls series
http://www.amazon.com/Moving-Allie-...1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1289924770&sr=1-1-spell

She also Loves Fairy Haven and the Quest for the Wand, and Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg.
http://www.amazon.com/Fairy-Haven-Q...=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1289924862&sr=1-3

http://www.amazon.com/Fairy-Dust-Qu...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1289924862&sr=1-1

 

[Ava]

I loved Judy Blume's preteen books when I was that age:

http://www.judyblume.com/books/middle.php

Also the Anastasia series by Lois Lowry. In the first book she's a little younger, I think 10, but in the rest of the series she is 12-13.

 

[pintamino]

Yes, I have not read any of these as my DD is 7. Sorry, OP. Maybe young adult is too mature for a 12 year old.

Oh, they're fabulous books! Definitely keep them in mind for years in the future!

 

[robin09]

Everyone's suggestions are spot on -- my son's zipped through all of those as well.

How about Roald Dahl's stuff? Both my sons read through all of his stuff.

There's also a series of books by Kathy Hoopman that features protogonists with Aspergers -- The Asperger Adventure series. My son's read The Blue Bottle Mystery and Of Mice and Aliens but there's also Lisa and the Lacemaker. It *may* be a little young for her -- for ages 9-12 -- but my 11 year old inhaled the other two and liked them because -- as he said -- they feature people "from his planet."

These sound wonderful... I like that... "from his planet" must be from Jenna's too!

 

[robin09]

GOTTA LOVE THESE BOARDS....
Thankyou so much for all your responses... I've been investigating... maybe we will redo Wizard of Oz series.. we read them together when she was younger each night.

Went to Barnes and Nobles today and got her new books.. 2 by Bill Wallace (sorry she loves animals... lol.... No Dogs allowed and The dog who thought he was Santa)

We also got Peter and the starcatchers by Ridley Pearson and the Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart.. Hopefully these will hold her off another couple of weeks.. she's almost done with one of the dog books already!

 

[Suz D]

Although my daughter is older she loved Monster High by Lisi Harrison. I hope it's okay to post a review from Amazon. I guess if it's not, I'll find out about it.

"Frankie Stein is not your average teenager. Aside from the fact that she's only 15 days old (having been created in a Fab Lab by her parents) she has bolts in her neck and a green tinge to her skin. As if life isn't already hard, right?
In an effort to fit into society, Frankie's parents send her off to `normie' school (for regular, normal teenagers) in an attempt to help her assimilate. But Salem, Oregon is a monster safe-haven, and Frankie soon finds fellow monster classmates, or RADs (Regular Attribute Disorder). There's Lagoona Blue, Draculaura, Deuce Gorgon, D.J./Jackson Hyde, Cleo(patra) and Claudine (CLAWdeen, get it?).

Lisi Harrison's novel is definitely aimed at the younger end of the teen market. `Monster High' is a bit of unabashed pop-culture fun for tweens. And to be honest, Harrison has done a really good job of appealing to this teeny bopper market.

I really liked the character of Frankie Stein. She looks different, she thinks differently to her peers and she desperately wants to fit in. But she never sacrifices who she is for how other's will see her. It's a hard lesson she has to learn, but Frankie has a great sense of self, bolts, green skin and all! I love the book's tagline; `Fitting in is out', it's a nice message to send to younger readers, and all the better for being written with monster-mashing teenagers.

I can see that `Monster High' is the perfect middle-ground book for pre-teens who want to be a part of the `Twilight' craze, but whose parents aren't thrilled with the blood-sucking subtext. This is a nice gateway book, still with all the monster-antics promised in older YA fantasy (complete with teen crushes on cute boys) but without the eye-brow raising sexual euphemisms."

She also loved" Eleven" by Lauren Myracle (and also the two books "Twelve" and "Thirteen" by the same author).

 

[Fyrefly]

GOTTA LOVE THESE BOARDS....
Thankyou so much for all your responses... I've been investigating... maybe we will redo Wizard of Oz series.. we read them together when she was younger each night.

Went to Barnes and Nobles today and got her new books.. 2 by Bill Wallace (sorry she loves animals... lol.... No Dogs allowed and The dog who thought he was Santa)

We also got Peter and the starcatchers by Ridley Pearson and the Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart.. Hopefully these will hold her off another couple of weeks.. she's almost done with one of the dog books already!

Awesome. Are you a member of the rewards program at Barnes and Noble? It has a yearly fee but at least for my family it pays for itself in $ saved. You may want to look into it as it sounds like your DD gnaws through books as fast as me!

 

[robin09]

Awesome. Are you a member of the rewards program at Barnes and Noble? It has a yearly fee but at least for my family it pays for itself in $ saved. You may want to look into it as it sounds like your DD gnaws through books as fast as me!

I used to belong, but being that I live a good hour... an hour and a half away.. I basically broke even with that fee.


I did join her in the kids club though, that is free ... $5 coupon when they reach 100 in their books.. cupcake on their birthday.

I do books on amazon and gotta love garage sales. Unfortunately, no garage sales now and we have gone through our stock pile.

 

[crazymama]

My DD just turned 11 and loves the 'Mother Daughter Book Club' series of books. She is currently reading the 4th one called 'Pies and Prejudice.' It would be good to start at the first one for the flow of the story. She also loved 'The Rule of Three.' (mostly because it involves a Sock Monkey Both are good Tweenie series though.

 

[Minnie M6]

My DD just turned 11 and loves the 'Mother Daughter Book Club' series of books. She is currently reading the 4th one called 'Pies and Prejudice.' It would be good to start at the first one for the flow of the story. She also loved 'The Rule of Three.' (mostly because it involves a Sock Monkey Both are good Tweenie series though.

These look like books my DD would love-I just ordered the Mother Daughters Book Club for her on Amzon for $3.85 with free shipping- thanks!