Can anyone recommend books for a 12 year old?

[southlondoner02]

DD (12) has up until now been a keen reader but is starting to say she doesn't want to read much. I think this might be partly due to reading being focussed on heavily at school but also that she's in that middle ground between younger kids books and teenager books.

We've been to the library but there's a limited selection. I'm happy for her to read most things but a lot of the teenager books seem to focus on dating and she feels they are too old for her. She's enjoyed things like the hunger games series and noughts and crosses series not too long ago and returns to Harry Potter now and then. Any recommendations appreciated!

Terry Pratchett is your friend !

Neil Gaiman

My daughter loved Skulduggery Pleasant at that age too as well as Harry Potter and Hunger Games. And she was also reading the Divergent books. You're right, it's a tricky age when they're into reading

DD didn't appreciate Terry at age
12 but is getting into his books now she's 19.

Northern Lights
The Ruby in the Smoke

Darren Shan- Cirque du Freak series! Or the Demonata series! Anything by Darren Shan really :)

At that age i liked Point Horror books and Babysitters Club etc. Be easy to find in charity shops/ebay etc

The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper. Almost the perfect time of year for it too.

I have a very avid 12yr old reader who recommends:

Pages & Co series
Nizrana Farook - ‘the girl who’ books
the land of neverendings - Kate saunders
the Anne of green gables series
the railway children series
the boy at the back of the class
Time travelling with a hamster - and the other Ross welford books
the Starfell series
the wizards of once series
the train to impossible places series
the polar bear explorers club series
the northern lights series along with anything else by Pullman or Pratchett

plus all the usual divergent, maze runner etc early teen stuff. Hope this helps!

At 12 I was obsessed with the Little House on the Prairie books. Read them over and over and still own my copies.
I like the Jacqueline Wilson books that are set in the Victorian times (Hetty Feather etc).
Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz is good for a bit of adventure.

Would she like some of the classics eg The Secret Garden, Diary of Anne Frank, Black Beauty? Also look out the Murder most unladylike series or Hannah Ellis’ dragon books. Also Rick riordan, and Enid Blyton and The Babysitters club (I appreciate most of these are quite different to eg noughts and crosses but just in case!)

Thanks all. She has read quite a few of these, including some Gaiman, Pratchett, and some of the 'classics', but there's some great ideas here that I think she would like. She picked a few to try and will get ordering from the library!

Have a look here. All of the books have interesting stories/themes. They are not about dating at all.

https://www.searchgoodbooks.com/ages/eleven