Mumsnet Talk

I've just launched a website called www.booksteensandmagazines.com to help teenagers and parents find interesting and appropriate reading material. I hope it can help you find something - Dead Time by Anne Cassidy is of a similar style to Girl Missing and there are two further books in the Girl Missing series.

Thank you all so much for all your recommendations.As I'm sure that you'll agree it can be tricky finding suitable reading material for a pre-teen especially when her peers are allowed to read 'The Twilight Trilogy' etc.
Takver DD has also dabbled with Terry Pratchett's childrens'books and didn't particularly like them although loved listening to HGTTG.

Just thought - she might really like the Casson family series by Hilary McKay if she hasn't read them. The first one is Saffy's Angel. They have very chick-lit-y covers but really aren't teenagerish at all!

I gave in and let dd read Hunger Games because pretty much all the rest of her class (yr 6) seemed to be reading them.

I've just bought her the Inkheart trilogy for Xmas, if your dd hasn't read them they are pretty long . Other series she likes, though I suspect your dd will probably have read them as they are all pretty mainstream are:

Artemis fowl
Rangers Apprentice
Skulduggery Pleasant
Eragon
Chronicles of Ancient Darkness
Northern Lights

Slightly more obscure perhaps:

Fly by night & sequel Twilight Robbery by Frances Hardinge - I think these are fantastic books, the language is amazing, personally I think although aimed at children they are worth reading for any age

Not exactly contemporary but dd has loved after they were recommended to me on here:
Dragonsong trilogy by Anne McCaffrey

Also:
Temeraire series by Naomi Novik (latter written for adults, I read the first 3 I think to check for suitability haven't checked out the later ones so can't vouch for them but dd did enjoy them)
The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde

DD wasn't particularly taken by the Terry Pratchett kids books, but they are very popular generally.

DD enjoyed 'Ways to Live Forever' by Sally Nichols and 'Love Aubrey' by Susanne Le Fleur.

(I know you said no JW but DD also enjoyed her 'Hetty Feather' series - historical, about a foundling child and not her usual fare.)

campergirl, did you read the second book, The Dragonfly Years too? I must order these now for the DDs (the oldest is only 8 but I so want them to read them!).

Poledra, thank you so much for mentioning Mollie Hunter. I adored A Sound of Chariots and was trying to recommend it to my dd (11) not long ago, but couldn't remember either the title or the author's name. I ordered it from Amazon marketplace as soon as I saw your post.

Also Caroline Lawrence's Roman mysteries series, if she hasn't already read it.

Okay, seen a review of Girl, Missing by McKenzie.
Rather a lot like Jacqueline Wilson's "Dustbin Baby"!! Maybe you could revisit the "No JW" decision...

I gather there are sequels to Girl, Missing.

Go to public library for advice, most libraries have pretty good idea what their books are like.

Best thing is to read THG for yourself (I did!). I think first volume of THG is okay, within tolerable for many 11yos. Most of the violence is only alluded to, not too graphic. But if they read the whole trilogy it gets more disturbing, a lot grimmer and more explicit. Bit like Harry Potter books in that the series matures with the readers. The real horror is in the society that endorses and glamourises the ritual humiliation. The books are quite political, too, towards the end. So I feel best left for older sensitivities to fully appreciate.

John Grisham does good thrillers, no sex or swearing but tense plots. I wonder about the early James Bond novels, too.

Bollywood Babes (one in a series of at least 3) are contemporary & not unduly about boys or romance.

Avoid Meg Cabot if you want to avoid romance.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, still modern enough methinks.

Darren Shan is very modern but gothic & violent. Ditto Steve Cole.

Xposted with you lljkk.Sophie Mckenzie is the author of the 'Girl Missing' trilogy.

I adored Mollie Hunter at this age - A Stranger Came Ashore and A Sound of Chariots were huge favourites. Might only be able to get these second hand now, and I'm not sure if they really count as contemporary. Or what about Joan Lingard?

Thanks all,some great suggestions here.
Unfortunately she does prefer to read contemporary fiction,any attempts to steer her in the direction of the classics that I read at her age are met with some resistance!
I'm undecided about THG,yes I'm quite sure that it would be an enjoyable and suitably challenging read for her, however at nearly 11 would she have the emotional maturity to actually fully comprehend them?

I'm confused, who is the author of Girl Missing? Sophie McKenzie or Tess Gerritson. Same title, different books!

Sorry if THG seems a bit old. Y6 DD and friends have read it and didn't seem fazed. And I'm normally a bit rabid about her not reading anything inappropriate

Fair enough, I am not familiar with Girl Missing.

I let my 10-11yo read the Jacqueline Wilson books for age 13+ but would rather she didn't touch THG yet. My own gut-feeling rating for THG is age 12/13+.

At 11yo DS read lots of Sam Hutton, Connor Clover, The Hobbit, Percy Jackson, Steve Cole.

Totally disagree about THG being 14+. I would say 11-14.

lljkk - to be fair if she has read Girl Missing THG is unlikely to faze her. My Y6 DD has read the trilogy. OP - things my DD has read this year that yours may like:
The Owl Service
The Time Riders series by Alex Scarrow - she should like this if she enjoyed Girl Missing.
The Percy Jackson books
Frozen in Time - Ali Sparkes
The Lady Grace mysteries
The Hobbit
She is keen to get the new Rick Reardon series for Christmas - a PJ spinoff.

And um, yeah. Not the hunger games. Excellent books but for 14+ really.

The Jess The Border Collie series, I loved them at that age.

It's about a girl who lives on a farm and her dog, sounds twee, written by the animal ark author(s) I think? But aimed at a higher age range, it has storylines like the family struggling with the farm during the lambing, there's a fire in one of the books, bullying, some environmental issues (oil slick or something IIRC) and covers issues of depression and also serious illness. There are no boyfriends or anything like that, though and it's all done very well.

Can't believe someone recommended THG. ANYWAY:

Diana Wynne Jones.
DD has just read The Enchanted Glass & Dogsbody (one of my all time faves).
Gillian Cross, too, well under-rated. I highly recommend The Great Elephant Chase.

DD is a bit of a history buff, anyway, and has been thoroughly engrossed in the "My Story" books. Some are better than others so persevere.

Also recently read:

Anne of Green Gables, Little Women, Enid Blyton (FarAway Tree), Jiggy McCue, E. Nesbitt, Arthur Ransome.

And the lion one is Lion Boy, by Zizou Corder.

Yes! Thank you.

Michelle Magorian also good but makes me cry , though OP's daughter may be made of tougher stuff

Lancelottie - do you mean the Duncton Wood series by William Horwood? That was better than Watership Down IMO.

Or how about something by Michelle Magorian - never read one I didn't like.

What's that one with the child who can speak cat and lion language?