Suitable books for quite an innocent 12yo girl whose a very good reader

[MirkleMe]

My 12yo DD is capable of reading adult books but obviously the topics are not suitable, especially as she's quite niave.

She's in yr 7.

Any suggestions

When I was that age I enjoyed reading the classics, Dumas in particular, but also very trashy books like sweet valley high (!) And point horror of course.

Would she be ok with the Agatha Christie novels? I loved them when I was a kid. Obviously murder etc but all very genteel and non gory! I devoured them from about age 7.

Go for classics - Wolves of Willoughby Chase, Green Knowe series, The Dark is Rising series, Wolf Brother series, Call of the Wild. Frank Cotrell-Boyce and Louis Sachar have some good books.

His Dark Materials books, followed by Book of Dust books

Has she read Little Women, Anne of Green Gables, Emily of New Moon?

Oh yes, I used to devour Agatha Christie too! And the James Herriot books.

I was thinking the above. Has she read Harry potter, Goose bumps. Judy Blume books. Miss peregines home for peculiar children.

I was going to suggest Anne of Green Gables series. What about The Hobbit or Molly Moon series, if she likes ponies and horses there are oodles of books but some are desperately sad! There's also of course Enid Blyton Mallory Towers and St Clare's but maybe too easy and may drive you mad if you read with her.

Does she like nature? The Little Grey Men and Down the Bright Stream, Watership Down.

Have a look at KM Shea .

Nancy Drew!

The classics are perfect for kids like this! E Nesbit, CS Lewis, Noel Streatfield.

The evolution of calpurnia Tate and its successor (forgotten) are really lovely books, written recently but set 100 years ago.

Think I got into Georgette Heyer at about that age.

Agree the classics (particularly 19th century writers) bridge a gap between children’s fiction and modern adult reading.

I’m not sure any particular topics need be out of bounds though. It’s more a matter of the language used and the attitudes portrayed.

She's read Harry Potter,.Anne.of green gables and Mallory towers etc

K M Peyton's Flambards series

Also read the Narnia books. She's pretty much covered everything we would have read as children.

It's the next jump up I'm struggling with.

She's read a lot of Judy Blume.

Warrior cats??? My cat obsessed year 7 loved them and luckily there are loads of them.

His Dark Materials
Little Women
Twins at St Clares

The Magyk series by Angie Sage

Little House on the Prairie series. I was obsessed with those at 12. (still am to be honest)
Back Home by Michelle Magorian I also read and re read.

My 12yo loved the classics like Moby Dick, Treasure Island etc when she was stuck between the ability to read more complex works and the maturity to understand the nuances. This was towards the end of primary school, y5 ish. She also worked through some classic adult texts like Austen, Bronte, Little Women, Harper Lee, Atwood etc. Now she's 12, she reads all sorts of dystopian, disturbing stuff but the classics were perfect before she was ready. She prefers Poe, Hoffman, Shelley etc when reading classics nowadays.

Dark Materials is a good shout, it's complex but child-friendly.

Austen is good around this age. When I was around her age I read a lot of classic-classics that have probably fallen out of favour a bit - Children of the New Forest, Huckleberry Finn, Dickens, Bronte sisters. Let her crack on with them, but do talk to her about what she's reading - I imagine for example the racism in Huck Finn would be quite hard to read now.

Terry Pratchett is generally not very racy. My 11yo has read Mort, and the Tiffany Aching books.

Has she read the When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit trilogy?

Oh yes. Pratchett is a v good call. DD is trying to collect them all from charity shops alone. We are missing only 6.

Arthur Conan Doyle? I devoured Sherlock Holmes as a 12 year old