What is your 11 year old reading please?

[lisalisa]

I ask as I have just returned from holiday and found the sugested summer reading from my daughter's new high school on the doorstep along wiht a zillion other letters!!!!

Duly went to Smiths yesterday and , apart form charlie bone, which she doesn't fancy , they had none of hte books on the list - don't stock them at all. the only one they did stock was so horrific that I refused to buy it although dd begged. In fact I had a whole 20 mn coversatoin with the assitant about how this book came to be on an 11 yr old's reading list - it was about nightmares/blood/death and contianed a warning not to read at night!!!!

So what is your 11 yr old reading?

[janeite]

I take it the gory one was a Darren Shan? Some of them are less horrid than others, although the only one I've read, I wouldn't put anywhere near an 11 year old girl.

Michael Morpurgo?

David Almond?

DD still likes the "How To Speak Dragonese" series but tbh I think she's getting a bit "old" for them now.

[janeite]

Off out now but will have a think and post properly later.

[SlartyBartFast]

dd only reads jacqueline wilson, which reminds me i must trawl archives for suggestions

[lisalisa]

No - it was stuff of nightmares by malorie blackman.

slarty - jacqeuline wilson was most definatley not on the list....... hee hee

[lisalisa]

She is very fussy about her books - althogh well above class average for english her taste in books is reflected by fact that she hates reading. In contracst to me and ds aged 9 as we both love it - I'll read antynign and everything. Dd wants to read only horrid henry!!

the list includes these books which she wanted but scmiths didn't have so going to try borders - anyone heard of them/dcs read them?

The london eye mystery - siobhan dowd
The night of the burning - Linda press wulf ( not sure about this one either tbh)
A small person far away - Judith kerr
Fatboy swim- catherine forde
chinese cinderella series - adeliene yen meh
red sky in teh morning - elizabeth laird

[SlartyBartFast]

oh, well - we could try those thanks

[fullmoonfiend]

ds (10.5) is reading Treskillion which is quite cool.

[lisalisa]

what is it about fullmoonfiend?

[lucymack]

I can get any of these books for you. If you're interested you can email me at [email protected]

[lisalisa]

Thank you lucymack but how?

[fullmoonfiend]

Sorry, typo it is called Triskellion - Will Peterson.

two children sent from New York to stary with grandma in freaky sinister village with their grandma.

from the book cover: ''against a brooding background of very real danger the two outsiders follow an incredible trail on an archaeological adventire witha startling paranormal twist.. In a community that has existed for centuuries, many terrible secrets lie hidden ans the villagers of Triskellion have a great deal to protect...''

We've only just started it but enjoying it very much.

[lisalisa]

Sounds good but a bit dubious about paranormal stuff - my dd is a bit chickeny and i think that may freak her! Sounds exciting read though!

[charliecat]

10 year old - series of unfortunate events

[lisalisa]

charliecat - that I've heard of and is supposed to be very good - is it?

[Miaou]

dd1 has just read Fat Boy Swim and said it was very good. She has read all the Malorie Blackman books too except the one you mention (though we now have it on order from the library).

She has also enjoyed the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime and the Meg Rosoff books (What I Was, Just in Case, How we live now (? not sure of that last title, looks wrong). She has also just read the Iron, the Switch and the Broom Cupboard and couldn't put it down (though aside from the obvious skit I don't know what it's about!)

[lisalisa]

Thanks Miaow - what's the curious incident of hte dogb about?

iwould really cuation againts that malorie blackman one - unless your dd is a lot older - it looked bloody awfuyl!

[Miaou]

She is 11 lisalisa. Is it worse than the other Malory blackman ones then?

The curious incident is written from the perspective of a teenage boy with Aspergers Syndrome (although that isn't specifically made clear in the book). It's sad, amusing, challenges the perceptions of other people, and is a mystery to boot!

I'll have a think what else she has read recently.

[lisalisa]

That sounds good miaou.

She hasn't read any other malory blackman so I don't know - when I saw the cover of this one i double checked and queired the assistant how this can be suitable. the assistant did say that mostly older teens ( 15 up) bought it and she was surprised it was aon a reading list for such young children. the jacket of hte book warns of death/voivlenc/blood and horror and not to read at night and the preamble talks of the author's 13 worst nightmares and how they have been graphically described inthis book. I mean ffs - why?

[MrsWobble]

my dd read the chinese cinderella books in yr 7 as school directed reading. she also read "al capone does my shirts" and some others which i can't remember now. i can ask her this evening if you like.

[Miaou]

Gosh, that sounds a bit much for an 11 year old! Most of dd1's peers are still reading Jackie Wilson and Captain Underpants .

[charliecat]

lisa lisa, yes very good, get them from the library, they are 6.99 each and theres 13 i think..

[ellceeell]

Have you tried Geraldine McCaughrean? Every book is different but good. The Book People have an excellent offer www.thebookpeople.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_10001_10051_117676_100_48107__category_

[suedonim]

I've just asked dd2 what she was reading over the past year. She says she has that Malory Blackman (I think it came in a set) but she's too scared to read it. Dd is pretty bomb-proof wrt to scary stories/films so it must strong stuff.

Other reading matter was Jane Austen, Anne Frank, The Curious Incident, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, the Sally Lockhart mysteries, Phillip Pullman (again), Holes.

Must get dd to keep a book journal so I know what she's read.

[mrsgboring]

I've just read Peter Pan in Scarlet, which is Geraldine McCaughrean and very very very good (I'm not eleven though!)

Try Robin Klein - we did Hating Alison Ashley for our first set book in secondary school and I loved it. Also "Halfway across the Galaxy and turn Left" which is about a family of aliens who go to an Australian High School and try to blend in.

[lisalisa]

in the end we bought chin ese cinderella and red sky in the morning botgh of whih look superb - she has yet to start though