Contemporay fiction recommendations for Yr 6 DD,challenging but age appropriatee

[fallenempires]

She's an avid bookworm, has virtually completed 'Girl Missing' since returning home today
What other books can you recommend?
Nothing relationship/boy related or JW please.
TIA

Poledra, thank you so much for mentioning Mollie Hunter. I adored A Sound of Chariots and was trying to recommend it to my dd (11) not long ago, but couldn't remember either the title or the author's name. I ordered it from Amazon marketplace as soon as I saw your post.

campergirl, did you read the second book, The Dragonfly Years too? I must order these now for the DDs (the oldest is only 8 but I so want them to read them!).

DD enjoyed 'Ways to Live Forever' by Sally Nichols and 'Love Aubrey' by Susanne Le Fleur.

(I know you said no JW but DD also enjoyed her 'Hetty Feather' series - historical, about a foundling child and not her usual fare.)

I gave in and let dd read Hunger Games because pretty much all the rest of her class (yr 6) seemed to be reading them.

I've just bought her the Inkheart trilogy for Xmas, if your dd hasn't read them they are pretty long . Other series she likes, though I suspect your dd will probably have read them as they are all pretty mainstream are:

Artemis fowl
Rangers Apprentice
Skulduggery Pleasant
Eragon
Chronicles of Ancient Darkness
Northern Lights

Slightly more obscure perhaps:

Fly by night & sequel Twilight Robbery by Frances Hardinge - I think these are fantastic books, the language is amazing, personally I think although aimed at children they are worth reading for any age :)

Not exactly contemporary but dd has loved after they were recommended to me on here:
Dragonsong trilogy by Anne McCaffrey

Also:
Temeraire series by Naomi Novik (latter written for adults, I read the first 3 I think to check for suitability haven't checked out the later ones so can't vouch for them but dd did enjoy them)
The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde

DD wasn't particularly taken by the Terry Pratchett kids books, but they are very popular generally.

Just thought - she might really like the Casson family series by Hilary McKay if she hasn't read them. The first one is Saffy's Angel. They have very chick-lit-y covers but really aren't teenagerish at all!

Thank you all so much for all your recommendations.As I'm sure that you'll agree it can be tricky finding suitable reading material for a pre-teen especially when her peers are allowed to read 'The Twilight Trilogy' etc.
Takver DD has also dabbled with Terry Pratchett's childrens'books and didn't particularly like them although loved listening to HGTTG.

I've just launched a website called www.booksteensandmagazines.com to help teenagers and parents find interesting and appropriate reading material. I hope it can help you find something - Dead Time by Anne Cassidy is of a similar style to Girl Missing and there are two further books in the Girl Missing series.