Looking for a book for a 12 year old girl - suggestions please!

[KittenKong]

I’m looking for a book for my 12 year old niece.

She’s quite a smart kid any suggestions for novels with great female characters?

The Stolen Lake by Joan Aiken - Dido Twite is one of my favourite heroines and Philip Pullman based Lyra Silvetongue heavily on her in my opinion. It does mean you come into the middle of the series but I think it’s the best one.

The Changeover by Margaret Mahy

Charlotte Sometimes,maybe?

Pullman? Sorry I couldn’t buy his books now bleugh.

Any Jane Austen. I first read Pride and Prejudice at that age. My favourite then was Northanger Abbey but now it's persuasion.

Ann Elliot is a great character, dealing with her shitty family and not becoming a shitty person herself.

I got into Agatha Christie at 12. Now I'm a big fan of mysteries.

@KittenKong

Pullman? Sorry I couldn’t buy his books now bleugh.

I wasn’t recommending them. I said I thought he based his main character heavily on Dido Twite. Have you read any Joan Aiken?

Where the World Turns Wild by Nicola Penfold. Juniper is a fantastic character.

The Song That Sings Is by Nicola Davies. Harlon is strong lesbian character.

A Kind of Spark by Elle McNicol. Really strong autistic female character.

She Wolf by Dan Smith.

October, October by Katya Balen. Stunning book.

Orion Lost by Alistair Chisholm.

The House with Chicken Legs by Sophie Anderson.

Can You See Me? By Libby Scott.

The Star Outside My Window by Onjali Q Rauf.

The Ghost of Gosswater by Lucy Strange.

All published this century.

Is she too old for Anne of Green Gables? DD10 is loving that right now and I (despite being a big bit older than 12) am shocked how much I’m loving it myself!

When I was that age I liked Sophie Mackenzie too - I forget which book it was but she did one about a girl who finds out she’s a clone of her older sister who passed away and she sort of goes on a mission to fight back the corrupt scientist helped by a boy she meets who is also a clone. It was a while ago right enough!

I can’t think of anything else right off the top of my head. I do have an 11 year old, he likes all the fantasy series and is getting into YA now. Maybe worth looking in the local Waterstones and just browsing till you see something that seems to suit her?

@stargirl1701

Where the World Turns Wild by Nicola Penfold. Juniper is a fantastic character.

The Song That Sings Is by Nicola Davies. Harlon is strong lesbian character.

A Kind of Spark by Elle McNicol. Really strong autistic female character.

She Wolf by Dan Smith.

October, October by Katya Balen. Stunning book.

Orion Lost by Alistair Chisholm.

The House with Chicken Legs by Sophie Anderson.

Can You See Me? By Libby Scott.

The Star Outside My Window by Onjali Q Rauf.

The Ghost of Gosswater by Lucy Strange.

This is a very good list indeed.

Amelia Fang-these are great for reluctant readers as have lots of illustrations-about a witch and her BFF pumpkin, loved them

I've a 12 year old girl.
She dislikes books that are too 'school' ie a bit heavy.
She loves
A Kind of Spark
Can You See Me
Diary of Lottie Brooks
Dandelion Clocks
Up For Air
Splash
Jacqueline Wilson books for older girls
Series of Unfortunate Events
Anything by Onjali Rauf.

The Tracy Beaker books (including the ones where she's grown up and it's about her daughter) are really good actually
Alannah/Song of the Lionness by Tamora Pierce
Little House on the Prairie
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Secret Life of Bees
Journey to the River Sea
When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit
Anything by Francis Hardinge or Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Murder Most Unladylike
Rooftoppers
The Tiffany Aching books (start with Wee Free Men)
Julie of the Wolves
Angus Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging (very funny and not at all age-inappropriate despite the title)
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle
Howl's Moving Castle

I second the reccomendation for anything by tamora pierce, she has some amazing female characters along with the Tiffany Aching books

I'd reread Little House on the Prairie before giving it to a child today. Mary's blonde hair is prized more highly than Laura's brown hair and there is a positive reference to how Pa could encircle Ma's waist with his hands when they met.

There are better books now with female characters and lots of them are suggested above.

I'd reread Little House on the Prairie before giving it to a child today. Mary's blonde hair is prized more highly than Laura's brown hair and there is a positive reference to how Pa could encircle Ma's waist with his hands when they met.

That's true, but I think it would be a shame to jettison a classic book for that reason. It's obviously a personal choice but you could have a chat about how attitudes have changed.

I think you’d struggle to find any children’s classics that meet today’s standards.

I was merrily reading through The Secret Garden with dd10 when there’s a section (don’t remember exact wording) where Mary and Dickson are told about a woman being beaten by her husband and Mary comes out with ‘hmm maybe if Mrs so and so didn’t nag Mr so and so then he wouldn’t beat her so much.’ I was looking at dd think what have I just read and she was looking back at me baffled. Obviously we had to talk about it and about how when we read books set in certain times we need to think about what the world was like at that time, and how it’s changed.

Same if you read even something as modern as Blyton - I was shocked at Gwen being called spotty and fat as if those were personality traits or something she should be scolded for. And I felt lots of the girls were horrible bullies. But I didn’t just reject the books for something written last year, I talked to my child about them instead.

It may be that there’s ‘better female characters now’ but I don’t think rejecting all classics that don’t live up to today’s moral standards is a good idea.

My daughter loved Mallory Towers, St Clare’s and the Naughtiest Girl series. Also if she likes slightly spooky stories, Moondial by Helen Cresswell and then the White Giraffe series by Lauren St John is a fabulous set of adventure stories about an 11+ year old girl. Other books by Cresswell and St John are also worth exploring.

I was also just about to recommend the Alanna series by Tamara Pierce!

Diana Wynne Jones is another fantastic author, if she hasn’t encountered her before. Try A Tale of Time City or Howl’s Moving Castle (she may know the Ghibli film based on that).