£120 to spend on books, what would you buy?

[nice2BeNice]

Looking for recommendations please, to spend £120 on books

My 13yr old daughter loves reading, reads mostly fiction and history, politics. She has a bunch of book tokens to spend (collected over time); they come to around £120

I am reluctant for it to be spent on one of those box sets or such that don't get read again. As most of the tokens were awarded as prizes, I want her to buy something that she will read and keep/reread.

Any recommendations ?

Josephine Tey: Daughter of Time possibly Franchise Affair
I am David
To Kill a Mockingbird
are the first ones I thought of.
I'd also suggest some classics, maybe some classics that are regarded as children's stories if she hasn't read them, like The Secret Garden, What Katie did set etc.

How about some folio society editions or similar of classics eg Trollope, Brontes, Jane Austen, Mrs Gaskell ,Wilkie Collins etc

If you've a good local bookshop why not go with your daughter and talk to the people who work there.

Why don't you do a visit to a bookshop and let her go wild in the aisles? We did this from the school library where I work part time, with some of our regular readers. We overspent massively and then our lovely headteacher covered the excess from the rewards budget, she said books are more important than pizza!
We went to Foyles on Charing Cross Road, but one of my colleagues takes her avid reader daughter , who is your child's age to Waterstones Piccadilly Circus.
And yes I do know everyone doesn't live in London, but I partly moved here for the bookshops!

Show her the shortlists from:

https://womensprize.com/announcing-the-2024-womens-prize-for-non-fiction-shortlist/

https://www.thebailliegiffordprize.co.uk/year-by-year/2023

https://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/2024-hugo-awards/

Etc …

I would check the vouchers haven’t expired first! We have been stung by that

Sorry but I'd let her choose her own books. She won the book tokens as prizes. They are her rewards.

She loves reading. She has lots of book tokens.

I don't get why you would have any input whatsoever unless she has asked you. What does it matter what you think? I'm a huge reader, but I don't want any help in choosing books, thanks. And I certainly wouldn't have done at 13.

DD started collecting 'beautiful' books, the clothbound classics ones that make a fabulous display and will be kept.
Anima Farm
Sherlock
Dorian Grey
Frankenstein

DD also likes reading plays and poetry so she has a good collection of Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, Arthur Miller etc

If they can be spent in waterstones, could they be spent on other items they sell as well or just books? Know you aren't looking specifically at box sets - maybe get the first one or 2 of a set to see if they are liked and get the rest another time with leftover tokens? Hunger games and northern lights maybe?

Depends what she likes...
At 13 I had favourites that I had copies of and re read all the time - but they were a mish mash of bought new and secondhand and the covers didn't match and I would have loved to have got a shiny new set of all matching ones.
Has she got a favourite author/genre?

Clan of the Cave Bear!

I agree the choice must be the daughter’s, not the OP’s.

But there’s no harm in @nice2BeNice suggesting a wider range of sources than her daughter might be aware of.

A good hardback dictionary (Oxford would be my first choice) will see her forever and look good on her shelves.
At 13 she’ll soon be writing school essays, so maybe a matching Thesaurus.

If she's into cooking at all then maybe a cook book or 2 that will be for her? Or any other interests where there may be a nice related hardback book??
And as a pp suggested- if she tells someone in the shop her favourite authors, then they may be able to make recommendations
And obviously I mean she pick her own! An hour or 2 in a bookshop.will be lovely!!

Let her choose.
My daughter at 13 had completely different tastes to me, she still does.
Theres a vast amount of excellent, modern fiction out there, without recommending Dickens or Austen or To Kill A Mockingbird.
Presumably you want her to read them, multiple times? Then it needs to be something she’ll actually enjoy. Her choices.

Thank you very much, everyone, for taking the time to post your recommendations. I will compile the list of books as well as the options like folio society, clothbound editions.

To answer the question raised by some, she chooses her books all the time.
We go to bookshops very often; usual names, independent ones, 2nd hand bookshops and charity shops!!

This time around, as these prizes mean a lot to her, she has said that she wants to get something that she can keep.

Do this. Booksellers love 💕 to help!