wiping away a tear It truly is.
I’m excited you’re getting Night Shift…some of his best work, and short…she’ll be hooked in no time. 
For the novels, I like The Shining and Carrie.
Hey, let us know what she thinks, whatever you wind up with!
Skeleton Crew was my introduction to King. It was great because there was no commitment to anything too long, and it allowed me to pick and choose some stuff that appealed to me.
“The Jaunt” and “Survivor Type” were especially terrifying (in a great way) to my 13-year-old self.
‘Longer than you think, dad! Longer than you think!’
Another enthusiastic vote for Night Shift. Great stories, well written, and assessing which of the stories she likes, well help you know what to recommend for her next.
I’m gonna vote for IT, just because it’s my favorite and because I mean, come on…the main characters are all at the same age as your daughter! (At least in the 1950s timeline.) So much good stuff in there about just the average everyday life of a kid, and the specific ways life can be hard at that age that she might really relate to.
And I wouldn’t worry about all the sex/perversion in King. Pretty much impossible to avoid it, and why is the sex worse than all the horror, anyway? If she can handle one, she should be able to handle the other.
Ever see the size of those Harry Potter tomes (especially combined)? I’m not saying she reads Harry Potter but today’s kids don’t seem large-book adverse if they’re enjoying it.
I was into King when I was 12. . . I think the Shining was the first. . . then The Stand. . . never read Carrie, Salem’s Lot, or the Dead Zone. . . I guess cause I saw the movies first.
The Stand was my first exposure to King, at about 14 or so. It’s got some adult elements, but I think a lot of people underestimate what young teens know about things like sex.
It was a long time before I finally got around to reading The Shining, but that’s an excellent book. Like The Stand, there are some age-sensitive elements
I’m actually a big fan of King’s Bachman novels (the ones he wrote under a pen name). The Running Man is more relevant today than it was when he wrote it in 1982, and The Long Walk caused an indelible emotional response in me. In some respects, I consider it his best novel. The Long Walk is not traditional horror (no supernatural bogeyman, just brutal “war” conditions) and I don’t think there’s any sex in it.
Hopefully, any 12 year old will realize that The Hunger Games are just a silly pop-culture remake of those two books. And then they’ll get off my lawn. 
Note: I see on Wikipedia that
There’s irony for you. It’s the only Stephen King book on that list, and it’s not under his name. :smack:
The unedited version.
It is possibly the perfect Stephen King novel.
And this is coming from an immense King fan. I bought “The Shining” when it came out in paperback and I was about…14. Started reading it on Saturday morning. Never stopped. Finished early Sunday morning. Completely frightened.
Not so much of the hotel. But of adults. Of what adults can become… with a little bad help.
Over the years, it might have emerged that this was my favorite King story because of the Kubrick film. I’m a Steadicam Operator, and that film has great meaning for those of us who are practitioners of that gentle art. ( yes, yes, I know King detests the Kubrick film except for moments when he doesn’t. )
Anyway, I vote for The Stand.
'Salem’s Lot was the first SK book I ever read (in high school), and it hooked me. Some scenes and dialogue have stayed with me even up to now. Firestarter would be a good one to start out with, too, as would The Dead Zone, or any of his early short-story collections. I suspect The Stand, although a great book, would be a bit too much for most teenagers as an intro to King.
Same, except I was 18. Perfect first SK book.
And it’s so awful in the most tantalizing, delicious way.
Follow it up with Different Seasons for a mind bender. (The same author wrote that?)
There’s a few I’d go for -
My first was The Shining - I can’t reliably remember how old I was, but it should have been early teens
Other than that - Christine?
I’d very much second Firestarter - very accessible
Deadzone might be pretty cool - I remember it being a relatively easy read.
Also would suggest “The Bachmann Books” - Long Walk, Running Man, Rage …all relatively good.
Something more recent if she likes to be “scared” could be “Full Dark, No Stars” - I found it very very dark.
Also - The Green Mile - it’s a bit of a departure from some of his other stuff, but I really enjoyed it
I’m a bit of an outlier and my tastes may not be hers, but the Stephen King book I wish I’d had when I was 15 (it hadn’t been written yet) is On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. It demystifies the entire act of writing in a way that I think teenagers would find particularly beneficial.
I found that some of King’s earlier work can be a pit slow paced. Maybe Desperation would be better for a kid. It is a lot more fast paced than the typical King novel and was pretty creepy.
Two of his newer novels, Mr. Mercedesand Finders Keepers involve a retired detective and a high school student, and may be of interest… they are King’s first attempt at this type of detective work, and are quite good.
That said, why hold back, jump right in with It and The Stand
Eh. The “mirror” novel to that one, The Regulators, gripped me much more, though I was 19 when the books came out so that’s a fair bit older than the OP’s daughter.
I read my first King at somewhere around that age–I think it was Carrie–and I was hooked for life.
I suggest something classic, like IT, The Stand, or Pet Sematary. Even with the kiddie-sex scene at the end (which was creepy, but IIRC it wasn’t super-explicit), IT is my all-time favorite SK book, just chock-full of images guaranteed to hit the nightmare buttons on just about anybody. And let’s not even talk about the clowns. <shudder>
Let her see why King is considered such a master of horror, then if she likes him, introduce some of his newer stuff.
I thought The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon was a bore, but maybe that was just me.
I would have voted for Cujo but for the scene where the ex-lover breaks into the house, vandalizes everything in sight, and ejaculates all over the bed. My first King book was It, which is crazy scary but has that one bit that just, ech.
Short story collections would be ideal, I think. I vote Skeleton Crew. I feel that it’s stronger than Night Shift, plus it has “The Jaunt”. Funny how that story seems to make an impression on everyone who reads it, and it’s not really even horror until the very end.
Gerald’s Game! Haha, no.
I forget which King novel was my first, my dad had a whole bunch of his old paperbacks in the closet that I would pull out and read when I was around your daughter’s age, and then I would go to the library every week to check out more. The first one may have been Firestarter or the Bachmann Books. Or maybe it was Pet Sematary or IT. I read so many in such a short period.
It’s funny, the scene in IT that disturbed me the most wasn’t anything to do with supernatural horror (or kiddie sex, which I don’t even remember reading at that age), but was when the sociopathic kid tortured the puppy to death, because people really do shit like that.
Now I really want to go read all these again!
I didn’t see Thinner mentioned (queue reply for “it was post #17 doofus”). It is a wonderful fast-paced read, one of my first King books way back in the day. Others were Salem’s Lot and Pet Semetary that really got me hooked.
Of all his books, IT affected me the most, I mean in a way that nothing ever has before or since. That being said, I don’t really even remember the part with the kids having sex. I mean, I’m *aware *of it, but mostly because we’ve spoken about it here. And, mercifully, I really don’t remember any puppy torturing. I’ve often wondered if the book would affect me the same way if I reread it now, but I really do not want to read about animal cruelty.
Back to the subject; I too cut my teeth on The Shining, right around the age of 11. It would seem to be more of a rite of passage than a bar mitzvah!This would be my recommendation as it’s pretty quick reading, you don’t have to wade through tons of exposition before things get creepy and I overall think it’s the classic example of King’s writing. One that I haven’t seen anyone mention is Delores Claiborne. There is a back story about molestation but the molester gets his just punishment in the end.