Book recommendations for 12 year old girl, not fantasy, horror or crime

[motherofonegirl]

My 12 year old daughter is an avid reader but has run out of books to read! She doesn't like fantasy, horror or crime. She enjoys books about people. Has read lots of war setting/survival/success against the odds type books. She has read all Jacqueline Wilson, Judy Bloom, Heart stoppers, Enid Blyton, Sufiya Ahmed, David Baddiel, A M Dassu, Benjamin Zapheniah, Malorie Blackman, Onjali Q Rauf, Katherine Russell, Michelle Magorian. Her reading age is 15+ but she isn't keen on young adult themes yet. Any ideas please?

The Railway Children, Anne Frank's Diary, Emily and the Detectives, Jules Vernes.

I was reading adult books age 11/12 but she isn't keen on them - she is quite sensitive and doesn't like anything thing too grown up in terms of horror, crime or sex so it's limiting things for her. So many books I loved that she isn't willing to try so looking for ideas.

Similar to Ballet Shoes but about acting is The Swish of the Curtain and the rest of Pamela Brown’s blue door series- I got obsessed with acting at about 14 because of that book! Same with Francie and the Boys (don’t be put off by the title…)

One with a slight fantasy element that I loved around that age was Ragboy, Rats and the Surging Sea by Alan Temperley - a fairly realistic story that happens to centre on a mermaid.

Tamora Pierce’s Alana series was my favourite, it has magic in but not OTT and it also has teen sex!

Charlie Higson’s Young Bond series is good.

For non fiction for grownups or teens, probably the funniest book I’ve ever read is The Tent, the Bucket and Me by Emma Kennedy - proper laughing-on-public-transport stuff. The sequel is good too but but a bit more hair raising for 12.

Also the Animal Ark books about the daughter of vets, those fuelled my ill-fated desire to be a vet!

My 12yo dd likes Jennifer A Nielsen books. Of the three she has, one is themed around the French Resistance, one around the Titanic, and one in the First World War. Published by Scholastic, so definitely aimed at adolescents.

I'd highly recommend Katharine Rundell's books. Especially The Explorers but all her books are excellent.

Goodnight Mister Tom, Tom’s Midnight Garden, Harvey Angel. All wonderful.

Edith Nesbit - Five Children and It, The Phoenix and the Carpet
I can’t see if anyone has recommended the Narnia books.
What Katie Did
Joan Lingard’s NI series - Across the Barricades, Kevin and Sadie etc
Geoffrey Trease - historical fiction featuring children/teens
Black Beauty
Warrior Cats series
Maybe the Chalet School series?

Sofia's world has already been mentioned, but more Jostein Gaarder's books might be relevant, he writes great contemporary stories with extra philosophy/ethics layer and is primarily focused on this age (I love The orange girl and see it easier read than Sofia's world).

If the dislike for fantasy is driven just by common more adult content, I'd recommend A wizard's guide to defensive baking by T. Kingfisher, young heroes (10 and 14 yo), no romance, very limited violence and lot of fun. How can someone whose only magic ability is baking save her city when the adults are useless?

I’d suggest The Cinnamon Tree, any of the older classics- Anne of green gables, Little women, What Katy did books. Also any of the Eva Ibbotson books.

DD1's school use Accelerated Reader and they test every half term. They don't give out the results as a matter of course, but will tell you if you ask.

My DD has a similar reading age and has recently enjoyed Little Women, Lord Of The Flies, and Watership Down.
I know you said she isn't horsey, but neither is DD. She's currently reading Black Beauty and really enjoying it despite initially needing a bit of a push to give it a go.

Has anyone mentioned Wizards of Once series from Cressida Cowell? She's the author of the How to Train Your Dragon books too. It's full of humour and adventure while touching on serious matters too. Even the ending of the last (fourth) book is great and unexpected. It's so good I had to finish it before my kid, who has since re-read it millions of times.

Just wanted to say, if she has a favorite author, you can search Google for, say, “authors like Malorie Blackman,” and the first result will probably be GoodReads, who will provide a list of all related authors, links to pages about them, and on those pages, all books they’ve written. I don’t know how you feel about her having any social media you monitor with her (you can have an account on a computer, not required to be on a mobile), but GoodReads is nothing like Facebook or Snapchat or anything, and great for this stuff. Could be something you do together. You’ll NEVER run out of book recommendations for her. For example, here is the “authors like Malorie Blackman” page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/similar/172977.Malorie_Blackman

You can see there are many authors she’s read, and some she hasn’t, and she might be able to look at the authors she’s read and see books she didn’t know about.

My first grown up book was Flowers in the attic. I read it when I was about 13/14. Absolutely brilliant book

Just seen everyone is saying no to VA. Sorry 🙈 I loved it but it's been a long time since I read it and I had completely forgot about the incest!

They do reading tests- they're standard in most schools, I'm surprised you've never come across them.

Ah great, I was also going to suggest My Family and Other Animals! It made me want to go and visit Corfu, which I later did :)

My guilty pleasure around that age was the Princess Diaries. More mature in the books than the films.

She loved the wolves of Willoughby chase, I didn't realise there were more of them!

Definitely Katherine Rundell

Showing my age but

Cynthia Voigt
Flambards
Bridge to Terebithia
Silver Sword
Eagle of the Ninth
His Dark Materials

Even if they're a little young they're classics

Last official ready age check was in year 6 of primary school. She is in year 7 now and is dyslexic so has regular check ups with the SEND department who keep a close eye on such things. Can't spell and has other issues related to her dyslexia but reads really well surprisingly.

Yes she loved these

Reminds me of Flowers for Algernon, another brilliant book. Or The Queen's Gambit, which my mum suggested I read when I was about 13.

Alan Garner, Terry Pratchett, James Herriot.

My DD liked books written by Emma Carroll at that age. She writes historical fiction.

I second The Swish of the Curtain, it was one of my favourites, and Ballet Shoes, and White Boots.

My daughter loved The Roman Mysteries, The Lady Grace books, and the My Story books https://www.lowplexbooks.com/products/my-story-collection-20-books-set-box-pack-children-history-stories

She also loved this book, and others in the series https://www.amazon.co.uk/Diary-Young-Waiting-History-Diaries/dp/0749639431#:~:text=Book%20overview&text=Each%20title%20is%20the%20chatty,%2C%20doubts%2C%20hopes%20and%20dreams.

And she loved the St Clare’s and Mallory Towers books, but I guess your daughter has read them already.