What Deutsch or English books for dd aged 12? She is not yet ready for romance, and doesn't like fantasies.

[Nighbynight]

dd is representing our town in a reading competition, in German.

She has to choose a book, ideally by a German author, and as mentioned above, she thinks kissy books are Beaughh, and fantasies are stupid. She likes real books about real people. She has had enough difficulties in her life not to like books with sad endings.

She recently enjoyed Bruder zu Verschenken ("Brothers to Give Away Free"), by Sandra Saborowski, in fact she read it in the first round of the competition.
We are now looking for something similar - it's got to be suitable from 12 years old (we suggested The Railway Children, but apparently that was too young).

any ideas??

Fabulous book. I'm sure it exists in German (I have bought it in French for children here). It's the true story of a Polish Jewish girl who was deported to Siberia during WW2. One of my all time favourites.

The Endless Steppe

Thanks for that. Gosh tough life that girl had but infinitely better than the other alternative would have been. Was it a very upsetting book to read Anna? I'm wondering what age group it would be appropriate for.

No, it isn't an upsetting book at all. I re-read it many, many times between the ages of about 10 and 14. It's an uplifting book, I think - it is a first hand account of a young girl/teenager surviving great hardship. I think it is very good for pampered modern teenagers (and I include myself in that description) to read about real teenage hardship.

Thanks Anna, will keep an eye open for it

Thank you Anna. What an interesting story - there are so many little-known tales from this period of history.

Hello zz!
I went to a bookshop today, and noticed many of emkana's suggestions on the shelf labelled 10-12J. I would say, that this is dd's reading age, she is not precocious. The "Jugendliteratur" was too grown up for her taste I think.

she is just going to have a look on amazon for the books listed on this thread.

Did the little girl in that knit something in exchange for milk (or the other way round?)

I read something like that & I wanted to re-read it & the knitting stuck in my mind - she unravelled something to re-knit it?

Hi NN. Did dd see anything she liked? In my neck of the woods "Jugendbibliothek" means children's library (from littlest up, not Jugend as in teenager so they have everything from easy readers up, just more than in the small children's section most libraries have.

(I wasn't meaning sex drugs and all that stuff, heaven forbid!)

I think it's great about your dd doing this,especially since German hasn't been her strongest language up till now.

Yes, KatyMac, that's the same book.

I hope there is something in there that she likes.

Oh wow - I will get t out the library for DD

I can remember sitting on the school field crying about it - I must have been about 10 or 11

I did Sansibar oder der Letzte Grund by Alfred Andersch at school and LOVED it. It's quite short and vocab is fairly simple, but the story is fantastic.

I also loved Sansibar when in school, but I think it's more for older pupils (14 +). It's quite complex.

I bow to your superior knowledge, Em. Your Judith Kerr suggestion is a good one by all accounts - I've got it on dd's bookshelves (in English) but for some reason she refuses to read it - me pushing it too much probably.

Don't know about superior knowledge...

I had forgotten all about Sansibar, so thanks for mentioning it!

Nighbynight, I hope your dd makes a decision soon! Am awaiting it eagerly!

I confess that at this age I really got into Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo.

But probably not the effect you're after. How about Wanderer, Kommst Du nach Spa...? Or some Cornelia Funke?

Emil and the Detectives - is that a bit young. One of the few books I've read originally German??

pmsl at the thought of reading Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo at a Vorlesewettbewerb...

I read in a Vorlesewettbewerb at that age, oh to have seen the eminent adults' faces if I had read Bahnhof Zoo to them...

I was very fascinated by that book as well btw, have read it many times over

But would now, today, not want my dd to read it before age say 13 or 14

It was the graphic descriptions of her losing her virginity that fascinated me, emkana.

I don't think I'd ever encountered anything like that level of detail before. And the bits about them trying to nick the ladies' handbags in Kaufhof.

[mis-spent youth emoticon]

Or the bit where Christiane F and her boyfriend move in with an older guy and "oblige" him in order to feed their drug addiction...

good God it really is fascinating in a horrifying way

Oh yes, I'd forgotten that bit. It was all definitely a step up from Hanni und Nanni.

LOL frogs, I read Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo a million times too. It lived under my bed with my other favourites.

Has she made a decision yet?

We are going to Munich on Saturday so that she can have a look in Hugendubel. Thank you for all the input - I still have no idea what she is going to choose!
we have all got 10 different kinds of bugs at the moment so it has got put on one side a bit.