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??

Well we went to Hugendubel (biggest bookshop in Munich) yesterday.
Most of the books suggested under were in the 10-12 section, and I feel that this is where dd belongs as well. She is just not mature enough for "from 12 years" books.

We looked briefly at Jugendliteratur, it was mostly (a) thrillers (b) fantasy (c) horror (d) pink giggly romance or (e) heavy, serious, self-obsessed stuff, most of which looked as though it had been written by social workers.
Wir Kinder von Bahnhof Zoo sat incongruously amongst (e). dd looked at it, hastily put it back down and ran back to the 10-12 section.

Vorstadtkrokodile was given to the children in the last round, as an "unseen" read apparently, so that's out.
dd says Rote Zora is for 7 year olds.

Eventually we came away with Oliver Twist (labelled as from 11 years - I was ready for this book, aged about 16!), and Diary of a Wimpy Kid, in ENGLISH!
It is a sort of American Adrian Mole, very funny, the children are laughing over it at the moment. But we still have nowt for the Vorlesewettbewerb[clutches head]

Dd has that book in German (Diary of a wimpy kid) and she isn't realyl into reading but she's been walking around with her nose in it for days!

By the way nighbynight we just got the dreaded Empfehlung for Hauptschule for her, I thought of you and kept saying we'll make it, nighbynight managed!

oh god admylin .
I am expecting this for ds as well - that's if he makes it into the 5th class at all. However, it is really not so bad. Next year, the pressure will be off, the most successful kids will be out of the way so your dd has a chance to shine, and best of all - in our school, the important Noten in the 5th class are Deutsch, Mathe and ENGLISH.
So, she will get one "free" 1, to put her average up. (dd started the 5th class thinking she didnt have to work at English, but after she got a couple of 6s, she realised that she had to study the spellings, even though she is bilingual!

Out of dd's class of 18 last year, 6 managed to get to RS or Gym at the end of the 5th class. I think the durchschnitt was 2,0. So, with a 1 in English, they only have to get 2 and 3 in the other 2 subjects. If you don't already have hausaufgaben help for your dd, it might be worth starting in September with it, every night of the week. I feel guilty that the reason dd didnt get the Uebertritt last year was partly because I didnt get organised with hausaufgabenhilfe until Christmas, so dd started teh year in a blob of self-pity and failure.
The 6th class HS is worse than the 5th class, as most of the keen ones have now gone
and dd says the teacher spends most of the time yelling at the others for not doing their homework.

dd is currently on 1, 3, 3. She would have been a 2 in Maths, but she blew the Fractions Probe, they had 2 Proben on this subject, and she got a 4 in both.
So her uebertritt is hanging in the balance, which is one reason why I am very keen that she takes part in the Lesewettbewerb - if she could win the Landkreis, it might just tip the balance.

Maybe we should just go with Diary of a Wimpy Kid for the Lesewettbewerb?

That's if dd can read it without laughing.

Thanks for the tips Nighbynight. I think somesort of Schülerhilfe or such like will have to be thought about. I've been trying to do it myself but it's not sinking in.

I'll be going for a Gesamtschule for year 5 and I suppose it will do her good to be getting good grades and be top of the class (although she always was in Berlin, somehow this new school has failed her how do you say that in German?)

Schulerhilfe round our way is extra work, not hausaufgabenhilfe. My children hate it, and have profitted far more from hausaufgabenhilfe.

The 4th class is a horrible experience. 12 year old dd is now permanently sick. I am taking her to an allergy doctor next week, as I suspect she might have a candida infection & consequent allergies (typical profile of sufferer: young, female, stressed). We have already been round the kinderarzt (twice), who can't suggest anything, and an alternative practitioner who made some diagnoses, but no improvement.

what signs of illnes does she have NN?

headaches, aching limbs, tired but cant sleep, general unwell feeling. She says she has the "behind glass" feeling, which is a fairly unusual symptom.

I'm coming to this too late, but for the future, What about The Book Thief? Written by a descendent of German immigrants to Oz, and set there in Germany in WWII.

I've just read The book thief, not sure how it would go down being read here in Germany. It was so sad wasn't it?

Nighbynight, do you think a pupil doing Abi would be suitable as Hausaufgabenhilfe? I'm thinking it would be a hell of alot easier if I could get one to come to the house.

Book Thief is an adult book - thank you for the suggestion though.
dd is not a precocious reader.
that is the problem, finding something that is "old" enough for the competition, and that she enjoys. The judges are probably the sort of people who read Dickens when they were 8. thats why her last choice was perfect, because it was written by a 15 year old, so obviously "in" in literary terms.

admylin, our 2 nachhilfe tutors are a mum of small chidlren, and a retired teacher, both of whom live near us. They are both very good teachers, and have enough authority for dd to have listened to them. ds1 is a bit of a hard nut, but thats another story.
I'd rather go for experience and authority, but it would depend upon the Abi student, of course.

Sorry meant to add, they dont come to our house, my children go to them. Better for us, because our house is small, and there are too many siblingy.

Thanks Nighbynight. Do you pay them cash or through the bank? Do you mind telling me how much per hour they ask for? I'll start looking at the ads in the local paper too.

Suggest this one to your dd for her competition Shadow Forest Schattenwald my ds read it in English and his 12 year old cousin (a girl) loved it too.

Unfortuantley NN's dd doesn't like fantasy stories admylin. Otherwise sounds good.

My dd is only 8, so what she reads is not much good to you NN. They wouldn't be challenging enough. She read all the Harry Potters in German last year and all the Ein Fall für Dich und das Tiger-Team books (she likes detective/mystery stories) and she atm seems to enjoy die Zeitdetektive (they go back in history, Olympia, Vikings etc and solve some mystery). I see from the cover it says "ab 9" so probably too easy.

I know she read and enjoyed the Tale of Emily Windspear last year which is also translated into German but it is about a girl who discovers in swimming lessons that she grows a tail in water and is in fact half mermaid. So your dd might find not like it. Dd did but I warn you it was a bit upsetting for her because it is about a girl who doesn't see her dad.

How long does she have to read for ? What about Gustav Schwab? Can't remember the exact title but soemthing like "Geschichten des klassischen Altertums" - Greek legends etc. They might be good if she just had to read out one

just remembered it is called "Sagen des klassischen Altertums" not Geschichten. Dunno if they'd approve of that or find it too old-fashioned.

My dd loves Greek legends if they're not too detailed and gruesome. How about the Minotaur, Medusa or Hercules? Good stuff some of it.

I thought of greek or norse legends too - we have a lot, but in english.
She is now in a negative mood, refusing to revise maths, tearing up 7 different copies of a painting for art homework and determined to read Oliver Twist for the Lesewettbewerb, despite claiming that she doesnt have time to read it this week.

admylin, I pay 45-50 euros in cash for 3 sessions a week. Length of sessions is negotiable, depending on the circs/qualifications of your tutor.
Both of ours are brilliant, and worth the money.

That's reasonable for 3 sessions isn't it? I was expecting more. Suppose by the look of ds's report he might need to get some help too but dd is more dringend.

For a nachhilfe company, I pay 20 euros per school hour, that's 45 minutes.

Sorry, changing the subject of your thread again but did you try to help them before you got the Hilfe? I've been trying to work with my 2 but it just doesn't seem to be working. If you want you could answer on the school thread

omg dd is in the local newspaper, she is competing against RS and gymnasium.
she has no chance, they will never pick a HS kid & foreigner to win - that would undermine the whole system.

has anyone read "35 Kilo Hoffnung" by Anna Gavalda? what is it like?

If you're after greek myths Christa Wolf does retellings of both Medea and Kassandra (story of troy from her point of view). Very well retold.

Also is it a reading out load thing? Becasue if soI remember reading Christine Bruckner "DEsdemona if only you had spoken / DEsdemona wie hätten sie gesproken at that age and enjoying it.

"Contains the monologues of 11 women who speak their minds. The voices are drawn from history and fiction, ancient and modern. Some of the voices are famous because of their association with a famous man - Petrarch's Laura and the wives of Goethe and Luther, whereas others are familiar in their own right - Sappho, the Virgin Mary and Clytemnestra"(Amazon summary)

yes, its reading out loud.

that sounds interesting.

it is a nighmare to get something fun that dd genuinely enjoys, that looks grown up and intellectually impressive enough.

also, I feel it might be tactically a good idea to get somethign that the judges might have read themselves at this age