Book recommendations for an 11 year old girl

My niece is turning 11 and has become quite the reader. I gave her the Chronicles of Narnia 7-book set for Christmas and she has finished them all save one. She is asking for more books for her birthday but she doesn't have any idea what she wants.

Suggestions?

was the Blue Sword by Cynthia (I think?) McKinney.

when she was 11, she was reading the "Dear America" books and anything by Gail Carson Levine (Elle Enchanted, etc.)

I still have a copy around here somewhere - almost 40 years later!

The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke
Bloomability by Sharon Creech
Tangerine by Edward Bloor
Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares
:hi:

i actually read the pig scrolls as well and it was very funny.

I've read in a long time:


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060525509/102-8088019-9736100?v=glance&n=283155

:blush:

OK I'm well - well over 11 - but I really really liked them. And I do have a 12 yo son and HE liked them - and his friends (female) do, too.


Hmm...... The Seventh Tower - has a strong female character, although she doesn't show up until late in the first book - maybe even not until the 2nd book.....

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0439176824/102-8088019-9736100?v=glance&n=283155


I also recommend the Blue Sword and The Hero and The Crown by Robin McKinley - but she might be a tad young for it - depends on the kid, really.

Then there's Harry Potter of course, who could forget that???



edit link.

Very good series.

Fantastic for both young adults and adults :thumbsup:

i love those books

Pullman is great--totally progressive!

One of my favorite series.

:shrug: words fail me.

:applause: for His Dark Materials!

"Bridge to Terebithia," by Katherine Peterson, "The Forgotten Door," by Alexander Key, "The City of Ember" and "The People of Sparks," by Jeanne DuPrau, "The Indian in the Cupboard," by Lynn Reid Banks, and "An Egg on Three Sticks," by Jackie Fischer.

Also, if she likes ghost stories, Helen Hoke's anthologies of short, spooky fiction for middle school age readers are excellent. Creepy, but distinctly NOT adult, not inappropriate, and not the kind of thing that's going to keep her awake at night after she's done reading. A similar collection of short stories she might love is Joan Aiken's "A Touch of Chill: Tales for Sleepless Nights." Eerie, but not terrifying. I adored that one when I was eleven, and re-read it many, many times. It's great.

I read that in the 7th grade. :hi:

Lloyd Alexander. All the kids I know that read it love it and had to have the rest of the books.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0440407028/qid=1150064625/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/103-4682000-6604641?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

My Side of the Mountain... About a kid who runs away to live in the woods...

Wrinkle in Time... Great Book...

And this series of books called Gone Away Lake...

It was about a resort lake that dried up and the kids who stumbled across it while walking through the woods....

my particular fave is the blue castle. I also really liked tara harper's wolf series, and midori snyder's oran trilogy. Anne mcCaffrey books (particularly the dragon ones) were also faves. At that age I loved any book with strong female characters.

but i think everybody under 12 has.

I recently just read it for the first time, and was amazed at how perceptive and ahead of her time LMM was. :hi:

Strange, as a Canadian, I'd never read Anne of Green Gables, or any of her books before.

I'm kind of a LMM junkie though. You should read the whole Anne series. It starts with Anne of Green Gables and ends with Rilla of Ingleside (about her youngest daughter.)

Valancy Stirling is my favorite heroine of any book.
Oddly enough I know someone from PEI who has refused to read anything anne. I recommend them though. The series sort of grows up as anne grows

http://www.ala.org/ala/alsc/awardsscholarships/literaryawds/caldecottmedal/caldecottmedal.htm

I'll just make myself feel old trying to remember what I read at 11.

"The Stranger"!

And perhaps "The Brothers Karamazov" or some Proust

before he single handedly destroys childhood.

Before your inevitable execution why not suggest Molly Bloom's orgasm at the end of Ulysses (sp) or Lady Chatterley?

Rabrrrrr running a preschool... anyone else shuddering in horror?

:)

Khash.

My kids would be of an intellectual acumen and have an attitude that would terrify you at first, then slowly drive you into the abyss of your own despair as they took over the world.

Yeah, she has read all the Harry Potters.

Island of the Blue Dolphin is another great one

Becoming Naomi Leon by Pam Munoz Ryan, The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke, and The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster.

I read that book at 11 and it really got me interested in reading.
The original "Tarzan of the Apes" was another book that I loved as a kid.

If you think that she'd be able to grasp the story, "Illusions" by Richard Bach might be a good read for her.

Here's a list of some books that make up a series:

The Warriors by Erin Hunter--about a clan of wild cats who have to fight to save the forest they live in.

A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket--Darkly comic tale of orphans and their misadventures.

The Edge Chronicles by Paul Stewart--Looks like an adventure series with a nod to Lord of the Rings/Narnia fantasy.

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares--series about a group of close friends united by "magic" pants.

And some that are not in a series:

Ida B. by Katherine Hannigan-- (amazon review----> ) "From School Library Journal
Grade 4-6–As an only child, Ida B has had plenty of time to indulge her creative bent. She makes miniature rafts, to which she attaches notes with questions such as, "What is life like in Canada?" Acres of apple trees are her friends, and she enjoys long conversations with Beulah, Pastel, Henry VIII, and other trees. She lives life to the fullest, firmly believing there is never enough time for fun. When her mother develops cancer, her parents sell part of the orchard and send Ida B to public school rather than homeschooling her. The changes leave her feeling fiercely angry and betrayed. With the help of a wise and caring fourth-grade teacher and the enduring love of Mama and Daddy, the girl slowly begins to heal. Ida B is a true character in every sense of the word. Through a masterful use of voice, Hannigan's first-person narration captures an unforgettable heroine with intelligence, spirit, and a unique imagination. The rural but otherwise undefined setting works well in taking a backseat to the characterization. With just the right amount of tension in the plot, a spot-on grasp of human emotions, and Ida B's delightful turns of phrase, this book begs to be read aloud. Regardless of how tight the budget, don't pass it up.–Faith Brautigam, Gail Borden Public Library, Elgin, IL "
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060730242/qid=1150068117/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-7770277-5559931?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

Hoot by Carl Hiaassen--Friends have to save an owl's home and Flush by Carl Hiaassen--Environmental mystery--kids solve mystery about who really was dumping sewage in the ocean.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak--(amazon review-----> ) "From School Library Journal
Starred Review. Grade 9 Up–Zusak has created a work that deserves the attention of sophisticated teen and adult readers. Death himself narrates the World War II-era story of Liesel Meminger from the time she is taken, at age nine, to live in Molching, Germany, with a foster family in a working-class neighborhood of tough kids, acid-tongued mothers, and loving fathers who earn their living by the work of their hands. The child arrives having just stolen her first book–although she has not yet learned how to read–and her foster father uses it, The Gravediggers Handbook, to lull her to sleep when shes roused by regular nightmares about her younger brothers death. Across the ensuing years of the late 1930s and into the 1940s, Liesel collects more stolen books as well as a peculiar set of friends: the boy Rudy, the Jewish refugee Max, the mayors reclusive wife (who has a whole library from which she allows Liesel to steal), and especially her foster parents. Zusak not only creates a mesmerizing and original story but also writes with poetic syntax, causing readers to deliberate over phrases and lines, even as the action impels them forward. Death is not a sentimental storyteller, but he does attend to an array of satisfying details, giving Liesels story all the nuances of chance, folly, and fulfilled expectation that it deserves. An extraordinary narrative.–Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley Public Library, CA "
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0375831002/qid=1150068642/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-7770277-5559931?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

Classics:
Anything by Roald Dahl, L.M. Montgomery, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Avi....Ok that's all I can think of right now. You've got a lot of good suggestions in this thread. Happy hunting. :hi:

The Book Thief, too. I haven't read it yet but heard him interviewed on NPR and I'm looking forward to reading it. It sounds fabulous!

and my friend (the mom) read it and loved it too so maybe I'll add it to my own list for the summer.

Perfect age to read it.

I've met a few teens who have yet to read it and I don't understand why they haven't yet.

Also, Rawling's The Yearling, Steinbeck's The Red Pony and anything by Gary Paulsen.

And was absolutely mesmerized by the tragic story. It's definitely something I'd recommend for an eleven year old

Loved the books (much more than I liked the tv show, that's for certain).

I think I got all 9 books in a boxed set and I think you can still buy the set that way.

at bedtime. It took us a few years, but was so well worth it.

The stories are more than just descriptions of pioneer life. They help place Westward Expansion in context for kids but they also show how lives change over the years and how people cope with harvest and famine, disastrous weather and nature's brutality, blindness, racism, neighbors.

One of my favorite parts is where Laura is set to marry "The Farmer Boy" and she says she doesn't think she can vow to submit to him, even if it's in the Bible.

I'm glad you mentioned these. We still have the tattered copies, bought one at a time years ago.

those are really good too.

She's the same age as Anne - so will immediately identify with her. That book, and that character, more than any other, influenced my view of life and myself as a girl. Like someone else said, Montgomery's other books would be great, too.

Cried over Matthew, cried over Ruby, cried over the stillborn baby, cried over Walter, cried when Gilbert almost died.

Damn, that whole series made me cry!

Another good book to cry over is Little Women.

I still get upset thinking about that one.

My bosom friend in the seventh grade and I were so shaken up by it that we even cried during our math test the next day!

:hi:

Wasn't it in France? Seems like it.

I read them countless times. L.M. Montgomery wrote lots of other great books too.

A rite of passage.

There are about 13 in a series. My daughter loved them. Your niece may have seen the movie. I believe it was based on the first three books.

I loved those books.

The books are; Alanna: The First Adventure, In the Hands of the Goddess, The Woman Who Rides Like a Man, and Lioness Rampant.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0375825649/qid=1150072230/sr=1-4/ref=sr_1_4/104-5267257-1733535?s=books&v=glance&n=283155




I also loved Ella Enchanted.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0064407055/qid=1150072497/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-5267257-1733535?s=books&v=glance&n=283155



:hi:

Read Song of the Lioness Quartet first, then The Immortals Quartet, then Protector of the Small Quartet, then Daughter of the Lioness 2-book set.

Pierce is a great, liberal writer. I love her books to pieces.

I loved the Anne of Green Gables series, or Emily of New Moon.

The Pushcart War, a humorous tale about valiant New York pushcart vendors. Has strong liberal and populist overtones.
The House Of Stairs, the best psychological thriller ever written for adolescents.
Slake's Limbo, the haunting, surreal story of a homeless New York boy, and the "home" he found for himself.

Hope she likes those.

Another vote for that one!

:thumbsup:

Robert A. Heinlein

Whenever I feel sick or down that's the book I read!

Khash.

Only since 1995 has Heinlein's original ending been published.

The Giver.

Number the Stars.

A Ring Of Endless Light.

I don't do dystopian (BRAVE NEW WORLD; 1984; etc.) well--they keep me up at night, which I suppose is the purpose. So reading Orwell in school next year should be interesting.

I couldn't get through NUMBER THE STARS--I'm not sure why.

:shrug:

Great for kids (that's who they were written for) but I've treasured them as an adult too.

Khash.

But definitely some of them such as "Matilda" and "The Witches" would be suitable for that age bracket. But then again I read those by the time I was nine so you may want to make sure she hasn't read them

I kid you not -I had read them by the time I was 11. I'd also read a book by Richard Nixon

I was quite the Republican then. But the 1992 election also happened when I was eleven and Bill Clinton began changing my political attitudes. My eleventh year was a watershed year in terms of political ideology

This is one of my favorites of hers. You really cannot miss with anything Judy Blume, but some of them have sexual content (which is age appropriate but still). Sheila the Great is awesome.

"Blubber" is awesome, about a girl that gets teased at school.
"Are you there God, it's me, Margaret" also awesome.

There is one about divorce I can't remember the name of that is really good as well.

The ones that have a small amount of sexual content are "Deenie", about a girl with scoliosis, "Then again, maybe I won't", which has a male protagonist, and "Forever", about loss of virginity, in case you want to skip those.

But the first ones and most of her books are dead-on about adolescence and puberty...she is just a genius at getting down on paper.

...would be a good one.

not to mention, "Missing Since Monday," by Ann M. Martin," and "Starlight Drive-In," by Marjorie Reynolds.

There are three others that I think of as having more mature content in them, but which some parents I know are letting their ten year olds read (for the record, these aren't things I would have read before age 13 or so, if I recall correctly): "Fade," by Robert Cormier, "Speak," by Laurie Halse Anderson, and "Monsters You Never Heard Of," by Daniel Cohen. You might want to run those last three especially by your niece's mom and dad before giving them to her.

I read it when I was 10. It was the first classic I ever read and I loved it!

Alcott is great. :thumbsup:

I still re read that book now and again.

It's a great one for encouraging girls to be strong!

I know that I liked it, though, so: :thumbsup:

:D

I loved my libray card and Tuesday nights was the night that my mother would take me to the library each week

...by Wrede and Stevermer. It's a wonderful, funny novel in the epistolary style (the authors collaborated by trading e-mails in character). Imagine a Regency England plus magic, presented with a dry wit that would have done Jane Austen proud.

The Grand Tour, the sequel in current release, is almost as good, sending the now-happily-married heroines of the first book on a tear around Europe.

For more Harry Potterish fun, there's Stevermer's unrelated A College of Magics, set in an alternate and magical Europe of 1908.

Heidi, Huckleberry Finn

girl. Parts are pretty heavy but it was written in the 40s, so they're not lurid. Easily handled by an eleven-year-old without upset.

I can't recommend this classic strongly enough.

I didn't read it until I was an adult, and I *still* loved it.

I need to get it for my kids -- I haven't read it in years.

He enjoys the puns!

(and former 11 year old girl/bookworm)

My favorites:

Matilda by Roald Dahl - a fabulous fantastical story about a brilliant young girl who loves to read and learn new things. Unfortunately, Matilda is raised by parents who favor watching t.v. over learning and books, and she attends a school run by a tyrannical child-hater. Things get very interesting when Matilda discovers she has magical powers. The book has some ridiculously funny parts...when I was a kid I used to carry that book around and read all the funny parts to my family (while cracking myself up.) Definitely recommended for every 11 year old, book-loving kid!!

Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great and Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself by Judy Blume - These are great "growing up" stories that I read over and over again as a kid. Judy Blume's style is so honest and engaging...most anyone who reads her books is bound to be hooked...she's one of the best child authors out there, and these two stories really do speak to an 11 year old girl's heart.

Those books are older (but in my opinion, timeless.) A couple newer titles I have discovered that would please an 11 year old girl, would be:

Becoming Naomi Leon by Pamela Munoz Ryan (another "growing up" type of story, but with a different twist than the Blume books; Naomi has an ethnically mixed background and two absent parents. For years, she is raised by her beloved grandmother, until one day when her long-gone flaky Mom returns to the scene, which complicates things for Naomi and her family.

Before We Were Free by Julia Alvarez - A very engaging historical fiction story about a young girl living in the Dominican Republic during the tumultuous events that took place there during the 1960's.

Everything on a Waffle by Polly Horvath - A humorous, but heartfelt story of a young girl who's parents get lost at sea (and are presumed dead) so she must go live under the care of relatives in seaside town full of quirky characters.



Hope that's helpful. :-)

And other greats by S.E. Hinton--Rumble Fish; That Was Then, This Is Now--but The Outsiders is the best.

my fave all time kids book. read it when i was 11

When I was little, I remember reading and loving a biography of Phyllis Wheatley, who was kidnapped from Afirca and sold into slavery, she was self-educated and became a widely accalimed poetess of her time. Sorry, don't remember the book title/ author. I think biographies of high achieveing women are nice reading for young girls.

I also like mythology for kids.

All of the "Shoes" books by Noel Streatfeild - Ballet Shoes, Theatre Shoes, Dancing Shoes, Circus Shoes, Music Shoes, Movie Shoes, Skating Shoes, etc.

These are the best girl books EVER!

They are a little old-fashioned, though, and hard to find in your local library any more. You can order them from Amazon and can get them on Ebay too.

Here's a link with a description: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A908985

kidding! kidding! :evilgrin:

Never Cry Wolf
The Dog Who Wouldn't Be
Owls in the Family
Woman in the Mists: The Story of Dian Fossey
Lost in the Barrens

A little old fashioned, I know, but good books never go out of style.

Hey, I read it when I was 11. :P

Blubber
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing
Then Again, Maybe I Won't

and many others.

She has a way of getting right into the adolescent brain.

get her some lovely teen fiction novels, there a worthless read but kind of fun. Just don't get her gossip girl.

I read all those in 5 and 6th grade. Mindless escapism for the preteen.

on edit: Or the Baby Sitter's Club series.

by John Christopher

I loved these books at that age!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tripods

We read the first one in my 6th grade class, and so I ended up checking the others out at my local library- and they started my love for sci fi/ fantasy books!

by Meredith Ann Pierce- about a girl who lives in the forest, and gives healing potions to the village people, but then has to leave the forest in search of a queen to break the spell on a knight who wandered into the forest and was transformed into a fox.

The Moorchild by Eloise McGraw - About a girl who is the reincarnation of a half-mortal faerie, and her life growing up among humans and her mission to return to the otherworld and find the child who was replaced by her.

The Star Lord, by Louise Lawrence- A boy visiting his grandfather in the country over the summer doesn't believe the legends about the mountain Mawrrhyn, but have to deal with its powers while trying to help a mystical space creature escape the army so it can leave Earth.

There was another book, in a futuristic seeting, but I can't remember the title. This government worker is sent to investigate a plan being formed by a planet to which people have been exiled for having telepathic powers, but instead he turns on the government, falls in love with an exile woman, and helps her and her little brother, a kid with powers never seen in any of the other exiles before. It was so interesting, I wish I could remember the title...

I still enjoy that one.