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Children's books

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Original poster

I need recommendations again - books for an 11 year old who is reading above her age

82 replies

Miaou · 13/09/2008 11:57

Dd1 has just been to the library this morning but was a bit disappointed by what was on offer - we have a very small teenage section! She enjoys Malorie Blackman and Meg Rosoff, has read the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. She is not really into Alex Rider or LOTR and has outgrown Jacqueline Wilson and Harry Potter.

Any suggestions of what we can order in would be most welcome!

OP posts:
Countingthegreyhairs · 16/09/2008 12:14

How about the Flambards Trilogy by K M Peyton?

seeker · 16/09/2008 11:52

My dd loves Anne McCaffrey. Also Antonia Forest. I presume she's read all the Louise Rennisons? Has she read Hilary McKay?

MrsBates · 16/09/2008 11:49

Is she romantic? I read Wuthering Heights at that age and loved it.

Dark is Rising sequence is great.

What Katie Did - too young?

BlingLovin · 15/09/2008 16:37

The Hobbit or Lord of the Rings? Hobbit certainly was originally a children's story. I agree with other posters that if sci fi/fantasy is an option, this is a good time to get into it. Anne McCaffery and David Eddings are both pretty accessible for that age group - not too challenging but quite fun. And endlessly long series that will keep her busy for ages.

Meg Cabot and the Princess Diaries? Or is that too juvenile? Ditto Artemis Fowl? [disclaimer - I read these, and I'm in my 30s!]

Some of the WW2 stuff? I am David or The Silver Sword?

WouldYouCouldYouWithAGoat · 15/09/2008 16:32

green knowe books by lucy m boston. omg i loved them!

cmotdibbler · 15/09/2008 16:32

I forgot the Garth Nix Abhorsen series too

cmotdibbler · 15/09/2008 16:29

Any Terry Pratchett would be suitable, but the Wee Free Men ones are nominally teen books.

Margaret Mahy wrote some great teen books - The Changeover, The Haunting, The Catalogue of the Universe are all great books that I still read now.

Alan Dean Fosters Spellsinger series v popular with that sort of age group

Original poster
Miaou · 15/09/2008 16:23

I think dd has read all the william nicholson ones, but I'll check

I've ordered a pile of these from the library, one of each sort really, so she can work her way through and see which direction she wants to go in!

OP posts:
christywhisty · 15/09/2008 16:21

William Nicholson - The Wind Singer which both my dcs have read/listened to the tape a few times.
DD will be 11 this week and is enjoying the Lauren St John books set in Africa.

ethanchristopher · 14/09/2008 11:10

Black Magician's Trilogy by Trudy Canavan
Georgia Nicholson by Louise Rennison

Original poster
Miaou · 13/09/2008 16:41

Good idea Scummy, will look at those

Thanks Northern and Cammelia, she's read the My Story series but the others are new to us!

OP posts:
Cammelia · 13/09/2008 16:08

Miaou my 11 year old dd (also with an adult reading age) has just read the Book Thief and is most of the way through Mao's Last Dancer

ScummyMummy · 13/09/2008 16:03

How about Sherlock Holmes? She's the right age to obsessively read the whole oeuvre, no?

And sad orphans in adversity are always a complete winner so she should read:

Goodnight Mr Tom and the other Michelle Magorian one about Rusty who goes to America for the war and comes back all American to the horror of all her uptight English family and friends

Cynthia Voight- a whole family of orphans in a series of books and a great stern but lovely long-lost grandma

"easy" classics with orphans which she can re-read a million times and get something different from each time: David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights

Little Lord Fauntleroy and Secret Garden

Lemony Snicket

northernrefugee39 · 13/09/2008 16:01

My 13 yr old has just read The Declaration by Gemma Malley- now 11 yr old is gripped by it.
There's a new one just out too.
They also recently whizzed through the My story series which are good and a quick read.

Original poster
Miaou · 13/09/2008 15:33

A lot of these she has read but there are a lot that she hasn't, so thank you! James Herriot is a good idea. She has read Little Women and Little House ont he Praire, and Secret Garden and (I think Railway Children). Also Edge Chronicles. In fact now I know why we are struggling a bit

Will order some of these fromt eh library and see what she thinks!

OP posts:
smartiejake · 13/09/2008 13:05

What about the James Herriot books? I read these when I was about 12 and absolutely loved them. (All Creatures great and small etc.)

Little Women?

Anne of Green Gables series?

Little House on the Prairie Series by Laura Ingalls WIlder?

RoscoPColtrane · 13/09/2008 12:54

What about Inkheart and Inkspell if she's not already read them?

zippitippitoes · 13/09/2008 12:50

a high wind in jamaica richard hughes

zippitippitoes · 13/09/2008 12:47

rumer godden the greengage summer and kingfishers catch fire

a town like alice nevile shute

love for lydia he bates

cider with rosie laurie lee

Marina · 13/09/2008 12:42

Also The Railway Children and The Secret Garden, both very touching children's novels that can be read and enjoyed by all ages IMO

Marina · 13/09/2008 12:41

YY to Jane Eyre and maybe also Pride and Prejudice
My Family and Other Animals

Marina · 13/09/2008 12:41

Has she read the Edge Chronicles?
The London Eye Mystery is good
Diana Wynne Jones
Andre Norton
a book called Sophia Scrooby Preserved
The Witch of Blackbird Pond
these are all history/fantasy though :-(

Slouchy · 13/09/2008 12:36

There is another trilogy whichs starts with Ruby in the Smoke (billy piper was in a tv adaptation a couple of years ago but don't let that put you off!)

Do you think she would enjoy Jane Eyre? At least the 1st section - the aunt's house and the school. I remember being mesmerised by this at about this age - more so when I realised it was based on true events.

Original poster
Miaou · 13/09/2008 12:27

She's read Dark Materials, but I didn't realise there were other (appropriate) PP books, thank you!

Will look at Christopher Pike, she was into Point Horror a couple of years ago so that might be good.

Thanks for all the suggestions, keep em coming!

OP posts:
Slouchy · 13/09/2008 12:23

Ursula le Guin/Alan garner id she likes other world-y stuff (like HP)