Enjoyable reading for dd age 11-12. What can I do to get her reading again?

Don't have time to read whole thread, so sorry if it's already been mentioned, but I recently read Piractica I & II (III coming soon) - I thought it was FAB and so did my 11yo niece!

It is full of quite sophisticated puns - it takes place in a parallel universe like, but not like, ours, so action in Port's Mouth, Eastminster, Lundun, and historical characters (recognisable to you or me). Niece didn't get all or probably most of them but still thought the story cracked along.

She's having a harder time with 2nd one, though, and fair enough - it was harder...

Wotz - there are loads of fab books out there, and you've got some great recommendations here.

Peers are crucial at this age: Do you know any local girls or friends or cousins who are readers? You could try asking them to recommend/lend books to your dd and talk about them together?

I run a thriving reading club at school, and we manage to persuade the members to keep reading. It is very common for children to stop reading altogether when they leave primary school.

Rosalux ... I have recommended Ingo lots on here - I'm glad your dd has enjoyed it
Watch out next time you go to the beach though - I'm worried ds1 might drown himself trying to get into Ingo

dd1 said she didn't want to read Goodnight Mister Tom as it was sad and they'd watch the DVD in school when they were leaning about WW2. So I'm reading it, she asked why ???!!???

She is enjoying the fist book she picked up by choice of
Beyond The Deepwoods - Paul stewart & Chris Riddell

My 7yo dd loved reading for reception/Y1 and is well in front with her reading abilities.

But now she will read only poetry books.

I despaired at first, but with the help of some Korky Paul/winnie the witch profession type books, she's slowly getting back into the reading thing.

I'll keep things crossed that you get through this and will keep lurking on the thread, just in case I can pick up any help too!

Susan Cooper

Something a bit different - Uglies by Scott Westerfield ... is part of a quartet and is a sci fi story. Haven't read it myself but it's on my OWN wishlist (apparently excellent for 10+ up to adult).

Also books by Cathy Cassidy (e.g. Dizzy). Also Gwyneth Reese, The Making of May and the Mum Hunt (but NOT the tedious fairy stories).

Dd seconds the Princess Diaries; also suggests the Lady Grace mysteries (set in Elizabethan times).

Not read the whole thread but 'The Magician's House' series by William Corbett are wonderful - I couldn't put them down, dd2 and I were fighting over them!

I think most 11 year olds are too young for Noughts and Crosses - please read it first. It's very disturbing. I wouldn't give it to my 12 year old.

I suggest reading Noughts and Crosses before giving it to her- only you can judge whether she is emotionally mature enough to read, but I am glad I read before giving it to my daughter, because I didn't feel she was old enough at 11 to read it.

Ah. I didn't realise you were in Germany. I think she is finding the reading difficult for another reason then. As a former expat child I beleive that she is going through a very normal phase of feeling embarrassed about being different. Coupled with that, she is probably struggling to keep her English up to the same standard as her German, and is feeling bad about that. I think you should bring her over to England as soon as possible for a couple of weeks or so, and take round to see all the things that would help her to feel happy about being English, then leave appropriate books just "lying around". It's a phase- it will pass when she realises she's neglecting part of her heritage.

"Stop the train" by Geraldine McCutcheon. I loved it!

dd is now 11. She's been through my old mandy and bunty annuals, but I havent seen her reading them recently. Maybe I should get more.

"Die Wilde Huhne" by Cornelia Funke is popular here (dont know what its called in english), but she isnt interested in that. She says adventure books are boring because adventures dont happen in real life.
I think she is a timid reader as well, which I was as a child, and I can certainly relate to finding dense text offputting. But I was reading something,e ven though it wasnt v challenging.

The reading issue is v important for dd, because she has regular tests in english grammar and spelling and she got a 6 last week in one!!!! (that is the WORST mark you can get, 1 being the best) and everyone else in the class was laughing at her because they know she's a native speaker, but she JUST DOESNT READ ENOUGH.

NighbyNight - I have three daughters, two are bookworms, one not so interested. She finds large expanses of text off-putting, I think. I have bought large quantities of old annuals - we started with Twinkle and then Bunty, Judy, Mandy etc and she finds those much easier to deal with than chapter books.
She loves being read TO though, which is something.

Wotz - do we share a dd??!
Mine reads Wendy magazine - a sort of horse themed Bunty/Jackie, published in germany.

All attempts to get her to read something else (and there have been many) have failed.

Many of the suggestions on here are much too challenging. And she isnt stupid, just doesnt like reading. How can any daughter of mine not like reading????

Ah yes, could well have been me, Rosa. I also got my mum a Helen Dunmore for Christmas (about DH Lawrence in Zennor) and she has been raving about how good it was.

DD got the 2nd and 3rd books in the Lionboy trilogy for Christmas and has loved those too.

Over Christmas she read Maddigan's Fantasia, which I think is really designed for older children (dd found it challenging, but she rarely gives up on a book once she's started) and might be good for an 11-y-o.

I think it was you who recommended it to me in the first place Ellbell! Or was it Roisin?
DD also got a new Cornelia Funke at Christmas called Igraine the Brave which looks easier to tackle than Inkheart et al - much shorter and looks quite funny, but I haven't read it myself.

Was going to recommend the Ingo trilogy, but Rosa got there first! (They are great, aren't they Rosa? I grew up around there, too, so there's an added nostalgia factor for me!)

Cornelia Funke? DD (who's younger, but reads above her age) has enjoyed Dragon Rider and The Thief Lord (though the latter she found quite hard going - would be better for an 11-y-o) and is currently reading (and loving) Inkheart.

Also dvd staring Jim Carey