Best classics for 12yo DD

[iismum]

I want to introduce DD to some of the classics (Austen, Dickens, etc). I've got a tendency to introduce her books she's not really ready for which then don't interest her - e.g. we read David Copperfield a couple of years ago. Any thoughts about what might appeal at that age?

[slipperyeel]

Jane Eyre definitely!

The Picture of Dorian Gray
A Christmas Carol

[Isitweekendyet]

The above are great.
Oliver Twist may be good... they do slightly condensed versions which may be a lot better.
Possibly Great Expectations... any with a child as the main character would interest her?

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Little Women, Water Babies, Animal Farm and Robinson Crusoe may be good additions too... nothing too heavy!

[WilmaJean]

When I was this age I loved Jane Eyre (still my favourite!)
I would also recommend I capture the Castle.

[AndNoneForGretchenWieners]

Jane Eyre for sure. How about Midwich Cuckoos, Oliver Twist, The Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables? I loved all of those at 12. We also read The Handmaids Tale in English class then, but it may be a bit too old yet - certainly a lot of it went over my head.

Other than the classics, I was reading Agatha Christie, Catherine Cookson and Flowers in the Attic

[CountFosco]

I think 12 is still a bit young to appreciate the classics, I was reading children's classics and junk adult books (Flowers in the Attic, Lace etc) at that age. Didn't really start reading a lot of adult classics until I was post 16 and I was a very bookish child. Has she read all the children's classics, they are probably a good way to get into the more complex language of older novels. I'd recommend Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, The Secret Garden, To Kill a Mockingbird, Alice in Wonderland, Little Women, some of John Steinbeck's shorter novels, some Jules Vernes, the Wizard of Oz books, some E Nesbit , Little Women, What Katy Did, Heidi, Anne of Green Gables, The Little White Horse, Black Beauty, Children of Green Knowe, The Box of Delights, the Earthsea books, The Coral Island, Treasure Island, Kidnapped, maybe Gullivers Travels or Robinson Crusoe in abridged form. I hate Dickens, prefer Jane Ayre or Silas Marner or Sense and Sensibility as an introduction to classic literature.

[CountFosco]

I would also recommend I capture the Castle.

Absolutely, suspect it would have been my favourite novel if I'd read it at that age.

[betternamepending]

My opinion is that the diary of Anne Frank should be read between 12 and 14yo because she was that age when she wrote it.

[gracepoolesrum]

I enjoyed the Brontës at that age, Jane Eyre and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall especially. Also Daphne du Maurier.

[iismum]

Fab, thanks for the suggestions! I think I'll try Jane Eyre to start with, and definitely give her I capture the castle - but I feel like that's one for her to read herself rather than for us to read together. I love the Tennant of WH but it's a bit dark! Also keen for to avoid Wuthering Heights until she's old enough to realise it's about abuse and not the model for a romantic relationship - how I love Heathcliff as a teenager!

[gracepoolesrum]

@iismum my dad (a keen reader) actually gave me the tenant of Wildfell Hall to read as a teen as he wanted me to learn to choose boyfriends wisely

[iismum]

@gracepoole - interesting! I guess with Tennant there's no chance of falling in love with the bad guy! I love that it essentially does the happy-ever-after bit right at the beginning, and then shows what can actually happen when you begin on the ever after.

[pollyhemlock]

Yes, Jane Eyre is a good one to start with. I wouldn’t force it at this age, though, as you risk putting her off. If she likes it, fine; if not try again in a year or so, and she’ll probably love it. I absolutely loved the Sherlock Holmes stories at 11, and reread them many times. They are are great way of getting in to Victorian literature. It’s worth looking on YouTube for Lucy Powell who blogs as LucytheReader. She is a young woman who introduces the classics in a very accessible way for teenagers.

[hidingmystatus]

Little Women (and sequels) - just rereading now (age er-um) and really enjoying.

[AndNoneForGretchenWieners]

Also - Adrian Mole books. These were my favourite. Not classics in that sense, but definitely masterpiece material.

[Papergirl1968]

Little House on the Prairie series if she’s not read them.

[highlandcoo]

OP I read Jane Austen for the first time at 17 and it was too young to appreciate the subtlety of the characterisation; I read them for the plot alone which was fair enough, however when I returned to her novels around 20 years later I couldn't believe how sharp and acutely observant her writing was. She's now my favourite author but I definitely needed to grow up to appreciate her!

It would be a shame to put your daughter off reading the heavier classics by pushing them onto her too soon. I'd echo Anne of Green Gables, Little Women and Jane Eyre as a good place to start. And Ballet Shoes is lovely if she hasn't already read it.

I don't think CS Lewis has been mentioned yet? Starting with The Magician's Nephew, there are seven books in all. They do get darker as the series progresses.

[StripyHorse]

I'm really interested in this. I never read Jane Eyre as a teen; I read it in my late 30s. I absolutely loved it but I don't think I would have appreciated it fully in my teens. For that reason, although I have loaded it onto 12yo DD's kindle, I have told her she might prefer to wait to read it to get the maximum enjoyment of it. I might feel differently had I discovered it at a young age myself.

[TonTonMacoute]

Sort of Classics, but I loved the Flambards books at that age, they were my transition from exclusively reading pony books, and then I moved straight on to Jane Austen.

[Sleeplease]

I loved Dumas at that age

[stucknoue]

Try the Lizzie bennet diaries first (modern) then pride and prejudice (it's tv/podcast as well as book) my daughter was reading them by 10/11 but she's always been quite advanced in reading. Do let her read modern teen fiction too, they loved the hunger games at that age

[Sleeplease]

Does point horror count as the classics?

[Teddybear45]

At her age I would start with Dracula or Frankenstein if she likes horror. Tarzan / Jungle Book if she liked the movies. If she likes gothic thrillers: Woman in White /Moonstone.

[Celticrose]

I absolutely loved the Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ramsom at that age. Read all twelve. Years later gave them to a friend for her son who loved them as well

[ErrolTheDragon]

I started reading classic books on the back of tv serialisations - one episode a week and I couldn't wait to see what happened so had to read them. Jane Eyre was the first such, later dickens (Our Mutual Friend, Silas Marner) - and War and Piece, but skipping the intro and epilogue.

I wasn't ready for Austen till later, and certainly not Eliot.

Agree that the 'children's' classics are still good for this age - some of the later Anne books are not really for younger children.

[TonTonMacoute]

I absolutely loved the Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ramsom at that age

I was introduced to S & A as a child by my dad who loved them, and I just didn't get them at all. However I read them with DS and loved them. I realised that although the adventures are great to read in their own right, there is also so much really clever stuff in them about life skills - making friends, dealing with responsibilities, disappointments, feeling left out.

It's so well done, far more subtle than some of the clunky modern stuff.