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Original poster

Romantic books for 11-year-old girl

56 replies

LadyGlencoraPalliser · 19/11/2008 11:42

DD told me she wants to read some romantic books! So I gave her the Flambards trilogy which she is enthralled with. Can anyone think of anything else along similar lines she could read. I thought of I Capture the Castle but she might be a bit young for that. Should I just let her loose on my Georgette Heyer collection or has anyone got any better ideas? I remember reading Gone with the Wind at a similar age, and my mother being horrified when she realised.

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christywhisty · 23/11/2008 19:35

Stargirl and Love Stargirl by Jack Spinelli are a lovely modern day love story for teens. My DD 11 adores those books.

janeite · 21/11/2008 19:04

Lol - no, I thought Saffy's Angel was lovely actually.

Get us - reading all the teenage stuff! I use work as an excuse but really I am just an adolescent in an old and wrinkly woman's body.

Saving the Malory Blackman's to savour later sounds a good plan.

DD1 has been off school ill today and has watched "Pride And Prejudice" - I'm hoping this will persuade her that it should be her next read. I soooooo want to be able to discuss it with her.

seeker · 21/11/2008 18:10

I read and loved Noughts and Crosses, but decided that it would be a shame if dd read it too soon - she's just about to start on it now and she's 13. I think she'll get a lot more out of it now that she would have doen at 11. But as you say - horses for courses!

I suppose Saffy's Angel isn't strictly a romance (although Caddy Ever After is), but it is very romantic!

janeite · 21/11/2008 17:50

It depends on the book and the reader I think tbh Seeker. DD1 was fine but dd2 wouldn't be. She's done others targetting younger readers but they are not romances.

They both enjoyed "Saffy's Angel" though - good rec; although not a romance.

seeker · 21/11/2008 17:48

Hilary McKay -Saffy's Angel, Inigo's Star, Caddy Every After and Permanent Rose are all fabbio fab!

I really wouldn't give Malorie Blackman to an 11 year old - she says herself that she's a year 8/9/10 writer!

Anna8888 · 21/11/2008 17:45

Anne Frank

Anna8888 · 21/11/2008 17:42

Summer of my German Soldier

FrannyandZooey · 21/11/2008 17:41

omg pennington

i will never never never get over not being able to marry patrick pennington
fgs don't give them to young impressionable girl or she will end up like me, pining for athletic moody sensitive piano playing thugs and wondering why she can't find one

janeite · 21/11/2008 17:31

DD1 read "I Capture The Castle" at around that age and loved. What about Malory Blackman's "Noughts And Crosses" series: there is a bit of romance but they are also very hard hitting.

"Across The Baricades" possibly, though I imagine it's pretty dated now.

The Georgia Nicholson diaries books are full of lurve and boys and snogging - I made dd wait until she was 12 though and dd2 has to do the same. They are very silly but totaly good fun!

Linda Newberry's "THe Shell House" is very good and iirc contains a boy coming to terms with his homosexuality - although that might be another one of hers; really sensitively done.

Original poster
LadyGlencoraPalliser · 19/11/2008 14:35

Very true, Christiana - I will try to find a nice one for Christmas. I remember getting a five year one with a lock when I was that age - really important when you have nosy younger siblings!

OP posts:
christiana · 19/11/2008 14:25

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christiana · 19/11/2008 14:24

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christiana · 19/11/2008 14:21

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Orlando · 19/11/2008 14:18

My 13 yr old has just finished the Twilight series and absolutely adored it, but they are sexy and edgy as well as romantic, I think. Particularly the final installment.

Powerful stuff though.

LostGirl · 19/11/2008 14:13

How about the Joan Lingard series that begins with 'Twelfth Day of July', that's about the romance between a protestant and catholic in Northern Ireland. I loved these at that age.

christiana · 19/11/2008 14:12

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Original poster
LadyGlencoraPalliser · 19/11/2008 14:10

Wow, loads of really good suggestions.
Yes, she has read all the Anne books and Emily of New Moon too - I totally agree OthersideoftheChannel, they are a must read. Little Women she has also read. And the Drina series (we have every one, and they took quite a while to track down) and Noel Streatfeild and Little House on the Prairie. And Eva Ibbotson. She is a big, big reader! I have the Wells series (for me, you understand!) but I don't think she has read it yet, I will suggest it.
The Twilight series sounds interesting, I will investigate. I read the Anne Rice books years ago, I can't remember how old I was. I guess they would be OK - she has goth tendencies so might like. The Dud Avocado is a great idea, I don't think I have a copy anymore, but will track one down. Also the Pennington series by K M Peyton.
And I just remembered one I loved as I was writing this post - The Greengage Summer! Must find it.
Off to look on Amazon now. Thank you all, this is a great thread, I'm glad I started it!

OP posts:
MrsBadger · 19/11/2008 14:02

horsemad

because they are drivel

Takver · 19/11/2008 13:49

Maybe some Georgette Heyer would be more appropriate than others (thinking The Grand Sophy, Frederica, These Old Shades)?
I second Daphne du Maurier, also if she likes that kind of thing the first Sylvia Scarlett book by Compton Mackenzie (though probably out of print . . .)

Simplysally · 19/11/2008 13:31

It might be worth a trip to a bookshop and let her loose on the £1 penguin classics to see what she's drawn towards .

Libra · 19/11/2008 13:29

Sorry Lostgirl. No idea if they are still published.
There are a few available at our library and I have a copy of my favourite that I picked up in an Oxfam bookshop some years ago (In case I ever had a daughter... Yeah, sure.)

LostGirl · 19/11/2008 13:25

Libra do you know if they still publish the old Jean Ure ones? I have been looking for a trilogy she did, 'The trouble with Vanessa', ';There's always Danny', and no idea what the third one was but can find no sign that they ever even existed. Wondered if they had been republished under different titles.

LostGirl · 19/11/2008 13:22

Yes, the twilight saga is great, a gothic teen romance. In answer to previous questions the author of the sadler wells series is Lorna Hill, and the orphaned ballerina books I think were the Drina series, by Jean Estoril, I think.

Orlando · 19/11/2008 13:22

Oh yes, Veronica at the Wells was my favourite too-- there's a lovely bit set in Northumberland at Christmas where Veronica and Sebastian go riding in the snow. I remember the description of Sebastian's beautiful hands, which was deeply romantic.

It's by Lorna Hill www.amazon.co.uk/Veronica-at-Wells-Piccolo-Books/dp/0330029002/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=122710 0641&sr=8-1

blueshoes · 19/11/2008 13:18

What about the vampire Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. I only read about that on mn and have been meaning to investigate.

On vampires, there are also the Anne Rice books like Vampire Chronicles and Interview with a Vampire, if OP can allow a little implied homoeroticism

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