Mumsnet Talk

They're out of print now but if you can get hold of some of the 'Susan' books by Jane Shaw she would probably really enjoy them. They're very funny books about a girl (Susan, obviously) who's about twelve and goes to live with some cousins and gets a little bit too involved in trying to 'help' people. There's one called Susan at School which is the funniest boarding school book you'll ever read. Even now, as an adult, I really enjoy re-reading it and find it probably even funnier than I did as a child.

My son is 10 and has just finished the first two Hunger Games books - and is desperate for the 3rd one

Animal farm
Agree re Sherlock Holmes memoirs

I read the James herriot books vet in a spin and the Gerald.durral (sp) books mostly bout animals

I moved from children's books to Agatha Christie's and my 11 year old nephew has recently started reading them. She might enjoy those.

Rockin - I see no one has mentioned Sophie McKenzie yet - has she read the Girl Missing books or the Medusa Project - real life teen adventure, spies etc.
Also she might like Breathe by Sarah Crossan - it is fantasy but set in a close and recognisable future and deals with eco issues.
My DD has liked some of Ali Sparkes recently also and Robert Muchamore. Also try Gemma Malley's The Declaration series - dystopia but more science than fantasy.

Thanks again everyone, the more replies I get, the more awkward I realise she is to please ATM - I've tried all the Agatha Christy type things, she won't consider anything with vampires or the likes, so rules out Dracula et al & shook her head at anything with Dragons & no to autobiographies, or anything obviously historical too - I looked at reviews on lots of suggestions here with here & she just pulled a face - she's only really interested in what she thinks are more modern young adult books - I'm sure that will change, but for now that's what she wants to read

So just incase anyone else is having the same problem - Thankfully someone I know in RL has just finished reading the James Patterson Maximilian Ride - Angel Series -& says they are safe content wise & reading the reviews with her, she got really excite & I've just managed to pick up the first 2, The Angel Experiment & Schools Out Forever, & put the next 2 on order at the library & have a list of the first 7 & more to follow which should save me a headache for a little while

Funny though, she's not interested in autobiography, yet when the young librarian helping us mentioned she's reading one about a Gypsy girl set in the 80s that she might like as its set locally, she's really keen to read that one next

Thanks again

How about some autobiographies? My DS enjoyed Roald Dahls two 'Boy' and a second one, the title of which I've forgotten...

Temeraire might be worth a try - although it is fantasy (involves dragons) it is in a relatively realistic Napoleonic war setting (apart from the above dragons of course!). The author was a computer games programmer /writer as her day job and it is very pacey as you'd expect from that.

I loved Jane Eyre at that age. And Agatha Christy!

Has she tried Conan Doyle? I read Hound of the Baskervilles at that age and loved it although I never read any others.

I have an 11 yr old with similar reading speed, but not tastes. She loves the classics and has loved Swallows and Amazons / Enid Blyton and is now loving Gerald Durrell. We also have just started reading Oliver Twist (me reading it to her, as I think she'd still struggle on her own) and she's really enjoying that.

If she likes horror, maybe that's the way in - Frankenstein, Dracula etc.

Jut remembered Importance of Being Earnest is actually 19th C... well, Wilde was ahead of his time!

What about some 20th Century adult classics? Brideshead? The Importance of Being Earnest? I hate a lot of old-fashioned prose and can't be dealing with 19th century lit at all, but love early 20th century stuff, and it tends to be less raunchy. I can't remember if there's any sex in Brideshead, though... I remember a lot of drinking, but I suppose it depends how you feel.

Thank you MrsHoarder Tamora Pierce sounds perfect & I don't mind the odd sexual reference as she's very grown up for her age & she's read SE books/chats, school etc, so not totally naive but obviously I want to keep a check on anything too graphic - I recently read J/H Sectet of Crickley Hall & all the way through it I was thinking, she can have this next, she'll love it, until I got to the end & it suddenly went all S&M & paedo - so thought better of it & yes thanks, we are lucky & have that library system for free here

Thanks January - but sadly I cannot get her to read any of the classics, tried hard, she tells me the Enid Blyton stuff she read when much younger put her off, as its full of stuffy words no one uses any more - hoping she will come round in time & appreciate the classics for what they are, but for now she's very much a teen in her attitude & its all just stuffy

Books I was reading at her age:

Chalet School - Elinor M Brent Dyer - old fashioned but I loved them
the Jennings series by Antony Buckeridge - old fashioned but hilarious

Agatha Christie

James Herriot

Susan Cooper (Fantasy, but brilliant)

The classics - Austin, Bronte etc

I realise these are possibly not her usual type, but something might appeal

Tamora Pierce. She's a YA author who tries to write strong female characters which are good role models. And is fab.

The Circle of Magic series would be perfect (starts with Magic Circle: Sandry's book), the Tortall universe books are fairly suitable, but there's some "under the covers" sex: I think the most detailed the sex gets "and then they both knew that they desired each other very much."

I presume you know that you can order books on the library system across the county/region for a usually quite nominal fee too.

Thank you, loads of great suggestions there & I'll be hitting the library later -

though she informed me this morning that she's not interested in fantasy type books any more, she thinks they are young - I still love fantasy now - but she says she now likes things that are more believable, like the 2 shes just read, which in her words "are almost scientifically possible" so seems its thrillers & some horror, but I'm hoping I can work on her later with some of the fantasy as some of the suggestions, such as TP I think are fantastic - someone in RL just reminded me that James Herberts Fluke is okay& I have that, so will start her with that & hopefully it will last her until I can get my hands on some of the others (library pre order)

& thank you expat - both buying & library, but at the rate she's reading, more library than buying, so your recommendation is fantastic - thank you.

Funny though, every things too young for her - according to her, but when she runs out, she goes back to re reading her old Junie B Jones - kids eh

YY, TP is a good suggestion. DD got Eric for Christmas and was giggling away - it came in a very smart grown-up looking '50 best SF novels' cover too

Anything by Terry Pratchett

She's probably read most of these but dd likes:

Anne McCaffrey's Pern novels: Dragonsong trilogy is aimed at YA audience, you might want to skim the rest for suitability
Temeraire series (aimed at adults but very harmless)
Percy Jackson plus all the other various series by RR
Michelle Paver Chronicles of Ancient Darkness
Inkheart trilogy
Gerald Durrell's various books
Rangers Apprentice series
Hunger Games series
Casson family series by Hilary McKay (although the covers are very 'chicklit' they're perfectly inoffensive in content)
Artemis Fowl + Eoin Colfer's other books

sure there are lots more, will come back

I don't remember any human sex in James herriot, but there is a wonderful scene getting a bull to perform for AI material.

I watched the TV show and had them on tape as a child and loved them.

Read them and see, DD2 who's almost 12 would be fine with them, but she's reading Twilight (big sisters have a lot to answer for )

No chance she'll read them, both DDs make a point of ignoring my suggestions.

I'm guessing she's read Percy Jackson and the Kane Chronicles

Oh, one thought if she likes horror - have you tried Anthony Horowitz's books along those lines? He's best known for Alex Rider etc, but DS read the Power of Five books around that age and enjoyed them. Also the Horowitz Horror short stories.

DD is 10 and in the last few months has read pretty much everything Robert Muchamore has ever written, plus most of Cathy Cassidy. And loads of other stuff I can't remember at the moment.

Are you buying all the books for her (in which case I presume you have discovered the cheap book collections offered by Red House & the Book People - DD got about 20 books from them for Christmas), or does she have a school/public library to borrow from? Children's librarians can be quite good at the 'if you liked this, you might enjoy...' game - or you can look up books she has enjoyed on Amazon and see what suggestions they come up with (people who bought/viewed this item also bought...).

Tiger in the well was a particularly dark book in that series and yes I second the recommendation.

If she enjoyed the Dark Materials, how about the Ruby in The Smoke series, also by Phillip Pullman? Female lead character, but set in Victorian London (initially).

Ruby in the Smoke
Shadow in the North
Tiger in the Well
The Tin Princess