Help me find authors for DD14

[fatowl]

We are a reading family (between me, dh, dd21 and dd17- there are 100s of books in this house and all of us but DH also have Kindles)

DD14 is not a reader

She is academically able, doing well at English but just will not read for pleasure.

We gave up trying to encourage, bribe etc a few years ago and she has just begun to show a glimmer of interest again, but she is soooooo picky (unlike the other two dds who will literally read everything)

We have recommended to her (and she has turned down) :
Harry Potter
Hunger Games
Lorien Legacies
Maze Runner
Lord of the rings/hobbit

When she was younger she liked Jacqueline Wilson.
She has recently read a David Walliams (way too young for her- I was just glad to see her read anything something)
She enjoyed THe Secret Diary of Adrian Mole but won't read the other ones.
She read the Fault in our Stars and said she enjoyed it, but has not picked up his new one (Paper Towns?) I bought for her birthday a few weeks ago.

She says she likes historical novels, but written like a diary or in the 1st person. On the basis of this, I suggested Jane Eyre (which she did at school and hated- she wants this type of thing but "less boring")

Any suggestions?
I was thinking I capture the Castle might fit the bill, but it's so long since I read it.

[WildStallions]

Noughts and crosses - malorie Blackman.

[WildStallions]

Slave girl - Jackie French.

[PotteringAlong]

Hitch hikers guide to the galaxy?

[lemonpoppyseed]

My (more) reluctant girl readers usually enjoy Sarah Dessen books. I'm a librarian at a girls school.

[Chorltonswheelies422]

Huge Adrian Mole fan here - out of interest why doesn't your DD want to read the other ones?

[Chorltonswheelies422]

Has she tried the Michael Morpurgo books?

If she likes history, she should try the call the midwife books - Jennifer Worth was a fantastic writer

[Chorltonswheelies422]

Arrggh hit post by accident - also the diary of Anne Frank

[TrappedInAWitchesCurse]

Have a look at the young adult historical novels by Marie Louise Jensen. I haven't read them all but the ones I have read were very good, quite fast moving plot so hopefully not boring and if I recall correctly, written in the first person.

[fatowl]

Thanks for these suggestions, I'll check them all out.

Wheelies- have no idea why she won't read the others, quite often she will read a chapter or two, but then leave it. (so frustrating)

I've read the Midwife books and loved them- I might suggest those.
I'd not heard of Marie Louise Jensen- it looks like something she might try.
THanks again everyone

[TheCountessofFitzdotterel]

It's a bit naff to plug one's own books but my ya historical, Five Wounds, is first person and has been selected by Amazon for a Christmas promotion so the Kindle version is 99p today (and I think for 12 days but not quite sure how it works!)
I agree re Marie Louise Jensen being good. Mary Hooper is another one and she does 1st person brilliantly - Newes From The Dead really blew me away.
Codename Verity by Elizabeth Wein is another top notch one - I constantly recommend it to adults as well as kids because it is better than most adult histfic imo.
If she is a Jacqueline Wilson fan, has she tried JW'S recent forays into histfic and also memoir? The Hetty Feather books might be a bit young but Opal Plumstead is more mature, and My Secret Diary is about her own teens in the 60s.
Good luck!

[LadyIsabellaWrotham]

I think I capture the castle would be good, yes. DD (13) really enjoyed Val McDermid's reworking of Northanger Abbey (although it is set in the 20th century). Definitely worth seeing if that's in your local library - it's not great literature but at least it's a book - and then if she likes that she could try the original.

Have you considered Georgette Heyer?

The Eyre Affair is fun as a reward for struggling through Jane Eyre.

Rebecca is pretty much the definition of "like Jane Eyre but less boring"

The Wells and Wong detective series are worth a look - murder mysteries set in a 1930s girls' boarding school, and written in the 1st person. Aimed at ages 11+ I think.

[TheCountessofFitzdotterel]

BTW, looking at your list of what she has turned down, I wonder if the problem is she doesn't like supernatural and scifi but prefers things grounded in the real world (whether historical or contemporary)? At the moment fantasy dominates so heavily, even among books that initially look like straight historicals, you can have to look quite hard to find them.
If so, has she tried contemporary comedy (eg the Geek Girl books, or Louise Rennison) or thrillers, eg Sophie Mckenzie, Anne Cassidy?

[LadyIsabellaWrotham]

I agree Countess, so many of the biggest hits recently have been sf/fantasy that I guess people who prefer realistic fiction would be more difficult to cater for. I found it a real struggle not to type my standard answers on a teen book thread of Pratchett/Hardinge/Adams/Riordan.

[fatowl]

Countess, I agree with you on the dominance of fantasy in YA fiction at the moment.
DD17 enjoys it though, so they are the books that spring to my mind

These are great suggestions, thanks.
Will check yours out Countess

[TopazRocks]

Eva Ibbotson?

[ThreeRuddyTubs]

They're adult books and I think there is occasional swearing (you might want to check it out first) but jodi taylor is excellent. The premises is that historians time travel to historical events to find out what really happened, but they're pretty funny. First one is called "just one damn thing after another".

I really enjoyed them but I don't know if they'll be her thing. They're pretty cheap on kindle

[Chorltonswheelies422]

The James Herriot collection of books - can't think how I missed posting that suggestion yesterday. Very absorbing and very amusing and so interesting reading what life was like in the 30s and 40s

[LeaLeander]

I loved Herriott at that age.

There's a non-fiction book called Maiden Voyage by Tania Aebi, a teen who sailed solo round the world. Quite engaging.

I think the social and political humor/commentary in the Mole books might be a bit over the head of a young teen.

MM Kaye of Far Pavillions fame wrote a great three volume bio of her youth abroad. Her light mystery novels are charming too.

[LadyIsabellaWrotham]

And if she liked Herriot she might like Gerald Durrell.

[munkisocks]

Piers Anthony. Brilliant novels.

[Schwabischeweihnachtskanne]

'A girl called problem' by Katie Quirk - its not historical but is realism and set in Tanzinia - so "window to another world" type thing and DD (10 but I read it to her) loved it. The heronine is 13 - DD was probably a bit young but as I say I read it to her, so 14 to read alone sounds about right.

In another direction entirely what about something like 'The other Boleyn girl'? Not written for teens specifically of course but easy to read and engrossing, fast moving, and nothing too unsuitable for a 14 year old.

Edward Rutherford books might appeal if she can get over the thickness of the book - they are light and essentially interconnect short stories spanning the centuries in the same location.

[UkmmTheSecond]

The Book Theif by Markus Zusak is brilliant.

It's set in World War Two and is told by Death as he follows a young German girl evacuated through the war, death comprises her path a lot as he takes the souls of various people in Leisels life. Only book to ever make me cry. It's a book Zusak wrote with teenagers in mind but brilliant for adults too.

It's a long book, but divided into small sections that's a few pages long, it's my favourite book ever,


Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Nighttime might be good. Not historical but written in a diary format from the view point of a boy with Autism.

Extremley Loud and Incredibly Close, young boys accounts (I think it was diary format) of losing his father in the 9/11 attacks.

[cosytoaster]

Would she prefer non fiction? One of my DC is a reluctant fiction reader but enjoys factual books - history and biographies mainly. I wish he could enjoy fiction, but am glad he's reading something.

[IndridCold]

I loved Daphne de Maurier at that age. If she likes historical ovals then you could try The House on the Strand and The Kings General.

Also,not he Diary of a Young Lady of Fashion by Cleone Knox - which is in diary form, set in the 18th century.