Stephen King suitable for a 12 year old

I'm sticking with joyland.

From the corner of his eye.

Beautifully written SK book, not that well known but absolutely lovely!

OP can you tell us which stories she has read? With such a diverse author it would be a useful guide so we can getter advise you.

The op is considering it for her niece, not her dd, so I would recommend even more caution with what you give her if you are not the one having to deal directly with any fall-out!

Crazy, there's plenty of sex in dark tower, starting with the female bar owner in book 1, and wizard and the glass is 50% shagging

Sorry if I’d forgotten parts of some of the books I suggested. I love SK and think he is often dismissed as a horror writer when he is, in fact, one of the greatest storytellers of our time. So perhaps over keen to introduce OPs DD.

Still think The Girl who Loved Tom Gordon might be ok. There is a bit about being scared of a black bear but nothing sex related I don’t think.

I read my dad's copy of Firestarter when I was that age and really enjoyed it.

The Eyes Of The Dragon was beautifully written for a competent young reader. A young person with an adult reading age.

Every single other Stephen King book was written to FRIGHTEN ADULTS. There are multiple references to rape in nearly every book. They are not for under 16s. I read H P Lovecraft at 11, if she is an excellent reader who enjoys being frightened, these are better. King depicts graphic child sex abuse in many of his books.

Not Rose Madder

Cell is fairly harmless for Stephen King, I read Misery at 12 and loved it but I had a much stronger stomach then than now.

Salem's Lot is just a modern Dracula really, and again really good. From memory Insomnia wasn't too scary but I didn't find it very good either.

What do people think about cujo?

Not suitable either. I'm middle aged and I still find that one particularly distressing. 'Cujo just wanted to be a good dog', sob.

I have been a massive King fan since age 14 or so? 12 a bit young but they have already read some. If they like them.i don't see what harm they could do but encourage and foster a love of reading.

Rose Madder is not suitable for a 12yo! It has some pretty graphic descriptions of sexual assault.

I love SK, but I wouldn't recommend any of his work until she's a bit older. Even the less graphic stuff will probably contain themes she doesn't really grasp.

Can't believe suggestions of Misery for 12! I couldn't read as an adult, it made me feel very sick.
I've read most of his others, but wouldn't be happy if my niece/nephew were reading those at 12. Your DD may be mature and able to read it, but I would wait a couple of years. What about starting her on the old Point Horror books?
Like PPs said, the vast majority of horror in king books, is not the monsters.

Agree with previous posters that of all the spine chillingly gruesome things that happen in Stephen king's books the thing that affected me the most was the guy running over his three year old son in Pet Sematary - in fact, think that is the only book I could not bring myself to reread!

Someone could correct me, but I don't think the Dark Tower series has anything overly sexual, I mean, there is sex, but it's pretty tame sex.
Neither does the Talisman, which he wrote with Peter Straub.

Honestly, I’d wait. With the exception of The Eyes of the Dragon (highly suitable and a great story) plus some of the short stories (but these would be in a collection with other not suitable ones) I don’t think any are really appropriate for a 12 year old. I wouldn’t ever censor reading so if dd picked one up I’d let her continue but I wouldn’t actively direct her to SK just yet. Even the more benign ones are quite dark or just a bit complicated for younger readers. I don’t remember anything alarming in 11.22.63 but I don’t expect most 12 year olds would be all that interested without the historical context. And Firestarter, which I read recently and didn’t see anything I’d consider inappropriate for a mature 12 year old still, I think, would leave most young teens a bit cold. Or at least, they’d miss a lot of what makes it a good book. So why would you, when there are so many other books out there? I’d rather they discovered authors for themselves in their own time - I think they are more likely to keep reading them then, and SK in my view is too good a storyteller to be rejected on the basis of a bad experience early on.

The short story books skeleton crew ? 9

The first two I read at that age were Misery and Four Past Midnight. I don’t recall anything unsuitable, but it was quite a long time ago so I could be wrong.

I wouldn't say any to be honest. I would wait until she is of an age to "enjoy" the books, to savour the darkness - late teenage angst is the time that horror books come into their own!

Reading without understanding - and at 12 I would hope she would NOT understand the deep dark recesses of SK - is not really "worth" it - better to read books with less - adult?? - not really the word I'm searching for - themes

I read the Stand for the first time when I was 11. I even did a book report for it when I was 13 LOL. It has graphic sex, but honestly other than raising an eyebrow at the male rape it (which I totally didn't get at 11 in 1992), I won't say I'm scarred for life.

I don't know. I guess because I was a pretty sexually naiive 11 year old I just skimmed over that stuff and focused on the stuff I understood better and found more interesting.

What do people think about cujo?
My 12 yr old is asking to ready Stephen king too. I haven’t let him read any yet but thought I might give him The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.
I read loads as a teenager but can’t remember much of them. The bit I most remember from any of the books is the same as Sumo1.

And I am still haunted by the juggernaut running over his 3 year old son in Pet Semetary.

I am listening to The Stand and I would say def not for 12 year olds. Teh characters are very unlovely, believeable but not nice, and I was listening to a shoot out earlier, one had his face blown off, a woman blown across the room, about 6 horrible deaths in one chapter!