Prize Giving Book for 11 year old girl

[mysteryfairy]

My DC go to a school that still does very traditional prize giving where they walk across the stage and are given a book with a bookplate announcing nature of prize by a visiting dignitary.

I try to persuade them to get something they might like to keep for posterity. However I am really stumped for DD in y6 who would get the latest Cathy Cassidy or Jacqueline Wilson if it was left to her. (I do buy her these anyway so she is not missing out.)

She had read and enjoyed plenty of children's literature going back further e.g. Anne of Green Gables, Little Women, Black Beauty.

Can you suggest something with a bit of gravitas that I might not have thought of and even better if a bit quirky for her to collect at speech day?

[Picturesinthefirelight]

I've got to choose a book too for dd to have at prize giving. All the Year 6 leavers get one plus there are subject prizes.

She's leaving to go to a full time performing arts school do I'm trying to think something appropriate

[mysteryfairy]

Have you got any ideas for what you are going to get?

[spixblue]

Cold Comfort Farm for hilarious gravitas?
I also loved a book by Ursula Moray Williams called 'The Adventures of the Little Wooden Horse.' It's got something of a Toy Story theme.
Or maybe a decent biography of a worthy person your DD admires?

[ChaosTrulyReigns]

*[[http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/2012/may-i-pimp-the-latest-edition-of-my-book/ >>Information Is Beautiful

[booksteensandmagazines]

Bridge to Terrabithia by K Patterson

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (might be a read for later but such a lovely book)

Anne Franks Diary

Noughts and Crosses trilogy by Malorie Blackman - modern, excellent, and by the new children's laureate

Or have a look at recent award winning books - I've got lists of them here:

www.booksteensandmagazines.com/reading-lists

[Takver]

Now I thought Information is Beautiful was a bit rubbish, tbh - I didn't find the graphics that informative, and it felt a bit like a load of info taken off Google and turned into computer graphics.

Does your dd like poetry? Would something like The Rattlebag appeal? Its a really excellent anthology, edited by Seamus Heaney & Ted Hughes - theoretically for children, but would certainly appeal into adulthood (its still a favourite collection of mine now)

[Takver]

Or another one - does your dd already have a copy of Jane Eyre? If not, maybe a nice hardback copy? My dd (also 11) has just read & enjoyed it, probably a book best read at that age when you can ignore the wild coincidences

[stealthsquiggle]

At DC's school prize books are chosen by the librarian - DS got a lovely hardback edition of a Michael Morpurgo book last year.

I would go for a nice poetry anthology, or a dictionary.

[stealthsquiggle]

When I chose my own prize books, I chose coffee table books of various sorts. Might a book of beautiful photos of the theatre /ballet be appropriate?

[BramblyHedge]

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith? I loved it at that age.

[mysteryfairy]

Thanks for the suggestions. Some we already have but I will run others by her.

[Louise1956]

daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster. A book I absolutely adored when i was eleven. delightful story of college life, as fresh and funny as it was a hundred years ago.

A Traveller in Time by Alison Uttley. Another book I loved at that age, with an historical/time travel theme, beautiful book.

the Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge. Another favourite of mine at eleven, a period story set in Victorian England, lovely book.

A Long Way from Verona by Jane Gardam. About an English schoolgirl in wartime, a very amusing book with a strong heroine.

Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfield is about girls at a school for performing arts in the 1930s. three sisters, one want to be an actress, one wants to be a ballet dancer, one despises the arts altogether and wants to be a chauffeur. delightful story.

Thursday's Child by Rumer Godden is about a boy who wants to become a ballet dancer, and his struggle for acceptance by his family.

[mysteryfairy]

She got A Traveller in Time last year' That's exactly the sort of thing. She has all the Noel Streatfield books too so I will check out your other suggestions. Thanks very much.

[PeterParkerSays]

Bit of an odd option but what about a fairy tale? You can get some stunning editions of Hansel and Gretel, Red Riding Hood and Snow White and Rose Red. I only have a 3 year old, but am dying to have an excuse to buy these, even as an adult, to gaze longingly at the pictures.

Or how about something completely random, like this.

[Leeds2]

Maybe a non fiction book? Something about Greek myths and legends, for example.

[Picturesinthefirelight]

Oddly enough dd wasn't much for Ballet Shoes.

[DeWe]

Has she A Vicarage Family? By Noel Streatfield. It's the first volume of her autobiography, and it's an interesting read. Although it's written as a story (she calls herself Vicky in it) it is more adult than most of her books, things like at the end of the book her favourite cousin is killed in WWI.
Another good Noel Streatfield for a prize would be The Fearless Treasure, again a story, but a lot of history information in. However I don't think it's still in print.

Otherwise I'd probably go for a fact book, one that may be useful over secondary level.

[Periwinkle007]

if she liked A Traveller in Time has she read Charlotte Sometimes? I loved that when I was that sort of age.