Any Book Recommendations for Reluctant 10 y.o. DD please...

[Essjaybella]

Hello everyone :-)

We are struggling to find the next book for our girly. She has just finished 'Bedtime Stories for Rebel Girls' - which she LOVED - and previously enjoyed reading David Walliams' 'World's Worst Children' and (about 2 years ago) Jacqueline Wilson's 'The Worst Thing About My Sister.' But she has simply fallen out of love with reading! She prefers real life stories over fiction. She is quite people-smart/mature in her thinking for her age and finds lots of books either too "babyish" - e.g., World's Worst Children 2 or the language too hard e.g., Ruby Redfort (we recently tried these two). She's going into year 6 and I'm trying to help her get into the habit of reading more regularly (and enjoying it) to help her prepare for the literacy-heavy secondary years. I so don't want her confidence knocked when she gets there. Help! Does anyone have any recommendations? Thank you. xx

What about biographies / autobiographies ?
My recommendation would be to steer clear of any names you recognise - the others on the library shelf are far more interesting stories IMO.

Has she read Anne Frank's diaries? Or When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr (semi-autobiographical and awesome)? There's also a great novel called Letters from the Lighthouse set in WW2, about a young girl whose sister goes missing. Didn't mean to stay on a WW2 theme there but they were the ones which came to mind when trying to think of something for a girl who likes non-fiction but will have to get used to fiction for secondary and also finds some fiction babyish. How about the older Michael Morpurgo books like Kensuke's Kingdom? The girl of ink and stars is also awesome and features a great, strong female lead.

How about the My Story series? They are by various authors, but describe historical events through the eyes of someone who was there, e.g. a maid of Anne Boleyn, a soldier in the trenches. Lots of historical eras covered.
Or the Horrible Histories/Horrible Geography/Horrible Science books.

My family and other animals?

Chris Riddell 'Goth Girl' books?

DD is the same age and is enjoying 'The Keeper the Box and the Dragonfly' by Ted Sanders although it is quite a thick book which might put off a reluctant reader.
Do you still read to her? This is how I get my DD started on books which she might find a bit of a challenge.

we have just got My Family and Other Animals for our daughters (years 4 and 5), one of mine is a very reluctant reader but has discovered she likes mystery books so I have just ordered a set of three from the book people but I have no idea what they are like - The Glass Bird Girl, The Impossible Clue, The Secret Cooking Club. Also just ordered the first Murder Most Unladylike one as those have come highly recommended by some year 6 friends and The Guggenheim Mystery. Again I have no idea if she will like them but it is a few suggestions. She loves the David Baddiel books, thinks David Walliams books are childish and stupid though. I loved autobiographies when I was younger but not until I was 12+ I don't think. I remember one called The Endless Steppe, not sure if it is still in print but I do remember being fascinated by it. Has she read Moondial? it is fiction but very interesting and I really enjoyed that as a child.

you could try something like the Gabby Douglas book. that is written for young people to read.

Thank you soooo much for all your recommendations. We went with Wonder by R J Palacio and my DD has just fallen in love with it! I read it last year and she was given it at her music club. She just can't put it down! I just love this book. We started by taking it in turns to read, then she just wanted to keep reading it! We're so looking forward to the film - released on 1 Dec in UK. If anyone else's LOs have read Wonder, do you have any recommendations for similar books. DD loves realistic fiction about people overcoming struggles. We have 'Auggie & Me' lined up next.