Suitable books for quite an innocent 12yo girl whose a very good reader

Sorry - Charlotte Sometimes

She's the perfect age for ;;www.<a class="break-all" href="https://amazon.co.uk/Charlotte-Sometimes-Vintage-Childrens-Classics/dp/009958252X/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=charlotte%20sometimes&qid=1582490799&sr=8-1&tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-childrens-books-3831037-Suitable-books-for-quite-an-innocent-12yo-girl-whose-a-very-good-reader" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">amazon.co.uk/Charlotte-Sometimes-Vintage-Childrens-Classics/dp/009958252X/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=charlotte+sometimes&qid=1582490799&sr=8-1 Charlotte Sometimes]] - a book I read as a child and is one of those stories that just stayed with me to the extent that I bought myself a copy a few years ago. It's a haunting, lovely book.

For those saying "look at Young Adult books", be careful - many of those are not in my view suitable for naive, sensitive 12 year olds (and some not suitable for any 12 year olds). DD was ready for the dystopian fiction type ones but DS wasn't. Neither were comfortable with anything that had more than a chaste kiss in it yet many YA books go much further.

Ta da! www.thebookseller.com/news/walker-books-leads-years-carnegie-and-kate-greenaway-longlists-1192493

(Lots of the posters here have got suggestions from their own childhoods, which is lovely, but in my experience some of them haven’t dated well and there are so many fabulous new books out there. Noughts and Crosses is on tv soon....)

What about Rosemary Sutcliffe?

My DD is in year 8 and has reread Yankee Girl over and over again. I haven’t read it but it was on an 11 plus reading list, so it is probably worth a look!

I second the Robin Stevens books. Also try some of the older Helen Peters books (Secret Hen House Theatre, Farm beneath the Water), Gill Lewis, Eva Ibbotson, Frances Hardinge, Little Women series, the "My Story" books (semi-fictional historic stories), the older Jacqueline Wilson books (but check first as a couple of them may be too much for her), some of the Michael Morpurgo ones are more for older readers if she' s not read them already.

Ask her school librarian or the local authority children’s librarian (ask at yr local library)

This is what Young Adult books are for. Have a look at the Carnegie shortlist. They’d all be suitable. ChickenHouse and Walker are both publishers who a very good list for this age group.

Maybe steer clear of some of the authors who reference sex, such as Sarah Maas or Sara Barnard, but to be honest, their publishers have vetted the references and deemed them acceptable for that age group

Would she read non-fiction?
DS loves the QI books and also enjoyed An Utterly Impartial History of Britain and An Utterly Exasperated History of Modern Britain (both by John O’Farrell).

Agree to try Ruby Redfort series, they are brilliant books. DD loves them.

Hatchet by Gary Paulson... a young adult story of wilderness survival... got both my engrossed who were 13.. it was a set school book and they read it in 2 days..

The diary of Anne Frank... is she mature enough? ... I read it around her age..

How lovely to have a reader!,,

Not sure if it’s been mentioned but Chocolat - DD is a good reader at 9 and loves it

I always likes goosebumps books at that age and younger

Michelle Harrison. Pinch of Magic (and it's sequel which has just come out) and the '13' books.
Cressida Cowell - Wizard of Once.
Railway children. What Katy Did. Little Women etc.
And, as precious poster mentioned, Murder Most Unladylike series.

Northanger Abbey, Cider with Rosie, Tom Jones, Candide, David Copperfield. Silas Marner. Tom Wakefield's Forties Child is a bit forgotten but a lovely read for that age if she doesn't mind unfashionable books! For more modern, Life of Pi, Angela's Ashes, Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy series, Philip k Dick, The Luminaries, Station Eleven off the top of my head. Also Sarah Waters, people think she's really edgy because of the lesbian themes but I actually find her books very accessible.

Where the World Turns Wild by Nicola Penfold. This is just out and brilliant!

Not all adult books are ‘adult’ themed. Thinking back to what I read at that age I was massively into Gerald Durrell, try My Family and Other Animals.
I liked PG Wodehouse, also James Herriot, as mentioned
Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes
I can’t remember what age I started on Jane Austen - P&P is still my favourite but Northanger Abbey is probably the easiest read
Old fashioned children’s books, like the Secret Garden and E Nesbit
The Dark is Rising series
Plus the YA fiction of the early 90s!
How about Terry Pratchett, maybe Wyrd Sisters or Mort?

Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
Moonfleet
A Town Called Alice
The Silver Sword
Five Children and It
The Children of Green Knowe
A Pattern of Islands
The Borrowers

Another for the Terry Pratchett's, loved the Tiffany Aching books-. (how can they be 17 years old!) when younger, and she could then progress to the more Discworld ones if she likes them? Also good strong female protagonists!

The Dark is Rising
Demon Headmaster

Sherlock Holmes

Malorie Blakmans books are good for young adults.

Charlie Bone books by Jenny Nikki
Crestomanci series by DianaWynne-Jones
Agatha Christie.

All enjoyed by my 12 year old

Michelle Paver - Chronicles of Ancient Darkness and Gods & Warriors series

Ruby Redfort series by Lauren Child

Skellig plus everything else by David Almond

Lauren St John - Kat Wolfe series, White Giraffe series

Anything and everything by Katherine Rundell

Robin Stevens Murder most unladylike series

Dark is Rising Sequence by Susan Cooper

The Seeing Stone trilogy by Kevin Crossley-Holland

Roger Lancelyn Green's historical novels

Emma Carroll - lots of historical novels

Geraldine McCaughrean - Where the World Ends

Rosemary Sutcliff - lots of historical novels

Anna James' Tilly series

Lari Don's First Aid for Fairies series

Michelle Harrison's 13 series

The Last Wild series by Piers Torday

Alan Garner

At that age I devoured the books by Gerald Durrell.