Mumsnet Talk

My son is a massive HP fan. He also likes Philip Pullman, Eva Ibbotson (possibly a bit young?) and loved Whispering to witches by Anna Dale. I've just bought some more of hers, so I'll let you know. My daughter liked the Borrowers and in (vaguely) similar vein also like the Mennyms (though I think they are out of print, you can get them second hand). Also the Family from One End St.

DD is 10 (but v good reader for her age) and has recently been racing through all the Cherub/Henderson Boys books by Robert Muchamore, plus lots of Cathy Cassidy, and earlier this year really enjoyed Journey to the River Sea, The Dragonfly Pool and The Star of Kazan, all by Eva Ibbotson.

Chronicles of narnia box set

Rummer Godden!

James Herriot
Sherlock Holmes
Animal Farm
Anne of Green Gables
Anne Fine books
Ruler Godden books

If she lives fantasy then I would recommend Kristin Cashore (Graceling, Fire and Bitterblue). My two have also been Warriors fans for a few years, there are three 6 book series so lots of reading potential (ds is on his third or fourth reading of the set).

I've just started dd (12) on Terry Pratchett which she is really enjoying and there are certainly lots of them!

YY to The Indian in the Cupboard....Cynthia Voigt is an amazing YA writer, as are Theresa Breslin and Elizabeth Laird.

DD loved the Inheritance Cycle series about Dragons, starting with Eragon (it's a film too). There's 4 of them in the series and they are very thick. Another recommendation for the Hunger Games and Philip Pullman's Dark Materials too.

Ohh Indian in the Cupboard! I loved those books!

Definite yes to The Dark Is Rising. And Helen dunmore's Ingo is the most gripping, beautifully written modern children's fiction I have read. It's truly astonishing.

My 11 yo didn't like what Katy did or Narnia much either, but did like Anne of green gables.

She still likes Cathy Cassidy, very much liked a book called 'a boy called M.O.U.S.E', Anne Fine (The Devil Walks, especially...) Anna Dressed in Blood and the Gemma Malley series, recently.

Dd has just turned 11 and likes a series of books which begins with Stormbreaker.

DD loves re-reading books - she has re-read The Hunger Games series, re-reads lots of her Horrible History books, Michael Morpurgo has a huge range of books, so if she likes him she will want them all.

I thought of a couple more.

Tom's Midnight Garden (I still quite like this one!)
The Indian in the Cupboard series.
And there was one called Moondial by Helen Cresswell that I loved at that age. I even pretended myself into a game of it, and then (because it's a bit spooky) got stranded at the bottom of the garden one night having imagined certain things into 'reality' - I couldn't bring myself to run past them back into the house!

None of mine are modern - they are all books I loved at around that age. And some of them were old-fashioned then! All damn good stories though.

I've just launched a website called www.booksteensandmagazines.com which reviews books and magazines for teenagers. As well as reviewing books, it has a recommendations page and issues a quarterly newsletter - hopefully you can find some book ideas on there.

Other things: The Exiles by Hilary McKay, I think there are about 3 books? It's a series about four sisters.

Also Ally's World is great, I loved those. Although just looked it up and there is a boyfriend in it. The main character is 13 so maybe in a couple of years they would be good.

Has she read the Skullduggery Pleasant series? They're by Derek Landy and really fantastic. Another vote for Artemis Fowl as well.

If she's ok with less modern books then Swallows and Amazons will keep her busy for a while, and I had a deep and abiding love for the Jennings series at that age.

Was going to say Goodnight Mr Tom but someone beat me to it!
However, I will add 'Back Home' by Michelle Magorian (same author as for Mr Tom) - I preferred it. It's about a 12 year old returning to the UK after the war having been evacuated and trying to find her feet in a country which is trying to sort itself after the war, as well as sort out a relationship with her mother. Fantastic book. the author wrote quite a few others which she might also like if she enjoys this.

Yes to The Dark is rising sequence.

A bit left-field but Just William? Funny but the writing is quite sophisticated.

L.M. Montgomery - Anne of Green Gables but also Emily of New Moon series.

There's a wonderful follow-up to 101 Dalmations which most children have never heard of: The Starlight Barking (Dodie Smith) - a day comes when all dogs wake up and humans don't - there's a reason for it and it ends with the dogs having to make a collective moral choice.

If she liked school stuff, the Trebizon series? more advanced than Malorey Towers!

Noel Streatfeild - I loved them at that age - easy to read but I loved the stories.

More adult - My Family and Other Animals - it was when I read it and it started the love affair I had with Gerald Durrell's work.

Diana Wynne Jones The Chrestomanci Series.
For an easier but no less pleasurable read try Helen Cresswell's Lizzy Dripping books.

If you like one Agatha Christie you will lke them all really.

Cat among the Pigeons is not her best; I would rate Cards on the Table, Five Little Pigs, the ABC Murders, Death on the Nile, Murder on the O Express...

Goodnight Mister Tom
Michelle Magorian

Far better than the TV version.

My 12 year old recently enjoyed hunger games, wolf brother, wonder, re read muderous maths for the millionth time, PG wodehouse, Agatha Christie cat among the pigeons, which according to her is an amazing amazing book.

Sorry for the hijack, what other Agatha Christie is good for a 12 year old?

My 11 year old nephew has just started reading Agatha Christie. I thought they would be too grown up for him as I was fourteen before I started reading them but he loves them.

Just about old enough for Lord of the Rings, and that should last her ages. Have to read The Hobbit first though.

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