Grown up books for a nearly 12 year old girl

[PepeLePew]

My niece is coming to stay in the school holidays. She's a voracious reader but is flying here so won't be able to pack many books (and doesn't have a kindle). We spoke on Skype today and I said I'd go to the library and pick some books up for her if she told me what she liked. She said she's not keen on a lot of the YA dystopian fiction, and she's read almost all the children's classics we can think of. So I wondered about suitable adult books - she's very clever but not very worldly, so I don't want to alarm her. I also don't want to bore her - she said she tried Rebecca recently and found it very slow to get started.

So far, I have:
To Kill A Mockingbird
Diary of a Nobody
Emma
Love in a Cold Climate

But any suggestions for others, recent or classic, would be well received. Historical fiction, sci-fi, romance, whatever you can think of!

DD enjoyed Sophie's World around that age (I think you have to be young and have an elastic brain to understand it )

Not adult - but has she read the Flambards novels? They had them in dd's yr 6 class library, & they seemed to be popular.

I Capture the Castle - Dodi Smith
My Family and Other Animals - Gerald Durrell

Not grown up books as such but dd consumed Sarah Dessen books at about the same age.

Not grown up books as such but dd consumed Sarah Dessen books at about the same age.

Both of Shutup's suggestions are excellent.

Diary of Anne Frank
Howl's Moving Castle

I would think Agatha Christie and Conan Doyle would be suitable now. I was the same at that age and was reading Arthur Hailey, Jeffrey Archer, Tom Sharpe and Shirley Conran by then, maybe not a good idea for the latter yet though.

Dd (12) has just romped through the Carnegie book awards shortlist. I'm not far behind her and thoroughly enjoying them - so lovely to escape the dystopia clichés!

Edward Rutherford - massive tomes appeal to 12 yo voracious readers but Dublin and so on are lots of shortish interconnected nuggets so not slow paced. Not too much gore or salacious sexual stuff - tamer than some young adult stuff.

My DD's teacher has just told her class of 11 & 12 year olds to read 'Girl with the pearl earring' to discuss during their Ethics class next Friday, and I really don't think it is suitable for quite such young kids, but German teachers can be rather... Erm. .. eccentric.

Raiding my Grandmothers bookshelf for those. We had Tom Sharpe in the school library, he's early stuff is great. DS2 enjoyed reading a Spike Milligan's war memoirs at that age too.

If she doesn't like all the dystopian books, how about something romantic like Anne of Green Gables series and The Little White Horse?

Apologies fat fingers....his and ignore the random a.

Second I Capture The Castle. Agatha Christie goes down well with a lot of pre-teens. Georgette Heyer maybe? The Hobbit, and if that goes well the LOTR? Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy? Terry Pratchett? Anything by France's Hardinge crosses the YA to adult barrier brilliantly.

The book their? My 13 yr old niece gave it to my 11 year old DD recently. I was surprised by her choice but read it with new baby brain when it first came out so must re-read. If she likes animals, The Runaways by Victor Canning.

Book Thief.

John Grisham writes teen books. The Theodore Boone series is recommended by my 12 yr old as is the murder most unladylike series by Robin Stevens. She doesn't generally like teen fiction either!

Apple and Rain, Sarah Crossan
Faceless, Alyssa b Sheinmal
My 11yr old loved both of these.

Oh yes you can't go wrong with the Murder Most Unladylike series

Bartimaeus series by Jonathan Stroud
Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Coifer
Virals series by Kathy Reichs

Already been said but I second
The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy
I Capture the Castle

I'm pretty sure I had started reading Agatha Christie by the age of 12. Definitely remember reading Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I read Gone With the Wind when I was a little bit older, maybe 14, but if she wants a long book to occupy her days, then that would do it :). Definitely read Anne Frank when I was around 12/13. Maybe I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou would appeal?

I'm sure I read clan of the cave bear at that age and loved it

Not grown-up books, but not dystopian either: has she tried Hilary MacKay's children's books about family life?

The Exiles was one of my favourites.

These are classics so she may have read them already- Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising sequence, Jenny Nimmo's The Snow Spider trilogy and Charlie Bone books (although I think those last are more 8-12, whereas the Snow Spider trilogy was more 10-13).

Has she read Jane Eyre?

Cold comfort farm ?
Noughts and crosses ,
Rebecca

At 12 my reading was pretty awful -Lace / flowers in the Attic /Thorn birds . Would be horrified if my 12 year old read those ! My friends all had older sisters !

Watership Down
Megan Whalen Turner's Thief of Eddis series (YA- no dystopias in sight)

Has she started on Terry Pratchett?