If I Were King by McCarthy. (Who McCarthy? I have no idea.)
I third the Dark is Rising series. Also Diane Duane’s Wizard series (So, You Want to be a Wizard is the first book), but it’s been a while since I read them, so I don’t recall the age level for them.
You could also try some of the Black Stallion novels or Misty of Chincoteague if she’s in her horse phase (do all girls have a horse phase?). And, of course, The Westing Game.
Oh, and The Children of Green Knowe, which is appropriate in that, like The Dark is Rising (second book in that series), it takes place over Christmas.
My daughter loved The Giver when she was about twelve. She hated Where the Red Fern Grows and that Terebithia book. Then again, she’s thirteen and deeply in love with Shakespeare.
I second the westing game, or anything else by Ellen Raskin,
How about a small list:
Little Women
Are you there god? it’s me Margeret
anything by E.L. Konigsburg
the Harry Potter series
The little house series
The dear America series
The royal Diary’s series
P.S. longer letter later
and the sequel, Snail mail no more.
I know a lot of people have reccomended His Dark Materials, but bear in mind that it is a series that has very few “middle ground” readers; people either love the books or hate them. (read the reviews that range from “best books ever” to " I decided sorting my sock drawer would be more entertaining than finishing the series" on Amazon to see what I mean), so don’t be too disappointed if they’re not a hit with her. There’s also teen sexuality as a sub-theme so you might want to check with the parents first.
I’d second Harriet the Spy, Lloyd Alexander (the series is called The Prydain Chronicles and can be found occasionally as one volume) and Wrinkle in Time (all the books in the series and the companion book Many Waters which is very compelling but rarely mentioned. It partially involves religious figures, though.)
I’d also recommend the Tillerman Series, starting with **Homecoming ** by Cynthia Voigt. Four young children rebuild their lives with their grandmother after being abandoned.
The Anastasia books by Lois Lowry, beginning with Anastasia Krupnik. Though Lowry is better know for writing The Giver this is a great series for a young girl, because it shows the young protagonist (age 10 in the first book) dealing with every day problems in clever and humorous ways.
I’m not sure how much luck you’d have tracking them down, but The Ghost Squad by Edmund Wallace Hildick really interested me when I was your niece’s age. The books are about a group of ghost-children who help solve crimes.
Another sort of book that can be interesting for a pre-teen is the self-reliance sort of story, in which an older child or teen takes care of themselves. Books like Julie of the Wolves, Hatchet, Island of the Blue Dolphins and** My Side Of The Mountain** are examples of it.
Thanks for all the great suggestions. I just printed this out, and I’m off to Books-a-Million.
But if you have any other ideas, feel free to post them. I’m sure I’m not the only one looking for this kind of thing, and if I get discouraged at the store, I’ll be back to order from Amazon before their deadline tonight.
Karen Cushman’s good. I’d second the warning about His Dark Materials. My kid’s perfectly capable of reading it but he won’t be for a while. Heavy themes in there.
Cynthia Hartnett and Rosemary Sutcliff although chances are they are not in print. Joan Aiken rocks.
Philip Reeve’s Mortal Engines just won the Smarties prize in Britain and sounds wonderful if she likes fantasy. Although it might be another one that needs a bit of pre-reading, according to rumour.
Seconded. I’m thirteen and it though they were a bit under par for what I usually read they’re very good. I really don’t know how I’d react to being bought a book-- perhaps a gift certificate to the bookstore is in order?
Thanks.
I love the classics - A Little Princess and Anne of Green Gables. I’d also highly reccommend books by Robin McKinley - especially *Beauty *(a wonderful retelling of the Beauty and the Beast tale) or The Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown (two adventerous fantasy novels).
I liked the Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander (Also sometimes called the Taran Wanderer series I think?) although I think I might have been a little older than 11 when I first read them.
If you do buy her ‘His Dark Materials’ tell her that Pullman spontaneously combusted before writing the third book. It will save her much pain later.
My daughter’s favorite books for several years have been the Sabriel books by Garth Nix, though they do have some dark themes, they are Young Adult books.
From an editorial review on Amazon
I also 2nd the vote for Madeleine L’Engle’s
A Wrinkle in Time series.
L’Engle’s Ring of Endless Light, which is not in the Time series, is also very good.
Brian Jacques’ Redwall series is very popular.
Modern retelling of fairy tales:
Robin McKinley’s Beauty is a retelling of “Beauty and the Beast”.
“Ella Enchanted” by Gail Carson Levine for “Cinderella”.
At her age, I was also taken with Cynthia Voight’s Homecoming series.
My daughter loved “Absolutely Normal Chaos” by Sharon Creech and has now read two others of hers. “Walk Two Moons” is good too and won some awards. All Creech’s books seem to be about a 13 year old girl and are good stories.
Note that all of these wonderful books were recommended to me (for my daughter) by the equally wonderful people of the SDMB a while back, in a similar thread.
By Australian author Robin Klein, Hating Alison Ashley was one of my favourites when I was a kid. It is worth tracking down, even if it is a little hard to find (you could order it direct from an Australian bookshop linketty keeping in mind that $1.00AU = $0.56US, but I don’t know anything about shipping details). Another great Robin Klein book is Halfway Across The Galaxy and Turn Left .
I was about that age when I first started reading Anne of Green Gables and books like that. Not every girl’s taste these days, but they still hold up well across the years.
