Thanks for all your suggestions. There are quite a few in there that I’m not familiar with, but I’ll do some research.
I’m going to start with “A Little Princess,” because I loved that book and read it over and over.
But I’ll look into some of the other ones mentioned.
Thanks!
(P.S. and she read Anne of Green Gables last summer and loved it)
My daughter is deeply into the Warriors series - think Watership Down with cats and written for late elementary. (My daughter is ten, a very good reader test wise, but her entertainment reading tends to be things she is very comfortable with - she doesn’t ‘challenge’ herself when reading for fun).
She also likes the Gail Carson Levine books (Ella Enchanted), the Emily Windsnap books (a girl who is a mermaid) and the E.D. Baker Frog Princess books.
She liked Clarice Bean and the Beacon Street girls for “realistic modern” fiction. She read all the Beverly Cleary stuff - most of it seems to be targeted for that age. And last year I gave her “Are You There God, Its Me Margaret” (she was a forth grader) - “Mom, that book CHANGED MY LIFE!” Yeah, sweetie, we all felt that way about that book, that’s why I had you read it.
Harry Potter is “too scary” for her.
Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to get her to click with historical fiction, she hasn’t grabbed Laura Ingals Wilder or the Anne of Green Gables stuff - at least not yet. And we read the first Betsy Tacy books (sadly, these go in and out of print - but if you’ve never read them and are a fan of the Anne of Green Gables sort of stuff, they are wonderful), but she stopped as Betsy got older and hasn’t gone back.
Nancy Drew series.
Plus another vote for the Boxcar Children series.
Anholt’s Artists Books for Children Series. Are for young kids. They have one on Monet, Van Goth, Matisse etc.
this one is on Degas.
The Narnia books, by C.S. Lewis, beginning with The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
Mandy. Not a series, but a very enjoyable stand-alone book.
These are pretty simple and short books, but the books that start with “Vampires Don’t Wear Polka Dots” were some of my faves as a kid. They do involve monsters but they’re not really that scary or graphic. There are other books like “Ghosts Don’t Eat Potato Chips” or “Werewolves Don’t Go to Summer Camp”–basically, a group of four kids encounters an adult, like a teacher or counselor, who might be a supernatural figure. The book never resolves whether they were or not, but they’re entertaining enough.
My daughter – who is now a high-school English teacher – read some of that kind of trashy series around that age, so it didn’t turn her brain to mush.
Coming in to ditto The Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander and the Tiffany Aching books by Terry Pratchett. I immediately thought of Prydain when I saw the subject line.
Eight is really early to try Lord of the Rings but the Hobbit, while it might be a bit to slog through, should be rewarding. That’s about when I read it but I had some trouble with Lord of the Rings.
another vote for all of a kind family. those are awsome!
The Trixie Belden series, and any of Heinlein’s juveniles.
My 12 year olds are avid readers and lovers of ‘series’ books. Some of what I see on their bookshelf that they would have read a few years ago:
Roman Mysteries by Caroline Lawrence
Nancy Drew
Narnia Chronicles
Spiderwick Chronicles
39 Clues
Rainbow Fairies rollseyes (not a mom favourite)
Lady Grace Mysteries
Horrible Histories
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Might be a bit too old:
Inkheart series by Cornelia Funke
Philip Pullman’s Dark Materials Trilogy
Percy Jackson
Warriers
There’s another series of historical fiction for girls that for the life me I can’t remember the name of. They all have a white cover and are about what daily life was like for a girl in Rome, in Egypt, in Victorian London, WWII etc
I highly recommend both of these series:
The Sisters Grimm
Peter and the Starcatchers: The Starcatchers (May be just a bit hard for a 3rd grader unless very strong reader)
Both are great reads and take stories that she knows already and turn them into new worlds. She will appreciate both as they say to a kid (like the Great Brain series does too), “you aren’t simple anymore and the book author and your parents know that- so go and let your imagination run wild and be a little subversive and sneaky”.
An easier reading series that is also a bit dark, but not as complex (very clear good/bad delineation, for instance) that we’ve enjoyed are:
The Owls of Ga’Hoole series
which is coming out as a movie soon, but they are great adventure books with amusing characters that we enjoyed simultaneous reading with our 7 year old.
If either (or both) click, the OP is set for a while. Marguerite Henry wrote a bunch of books - including one about burros, Brighty of the Grand Canyon - and Walter Farley was one seriously prolific dude: the Black Stallion, the Island Stallion, etc. All very absorbing for me when I was a horse-obsessed girl. Readable, entertaining books.
Oo oo oo! I remembered the one I forgot!
If she’s at all into time travel stories, she NEEDS the Green Knowe series by Lucy M. Boston. I discovered them when I was seven (I was ahead of myself on reading, though, I doubt they’ll be too young for her) and I still love them.
And oh my God, Misty of Chincoteague, instant flashback… Now I need to go get a copy.
Loved loved loved the Great Brain books (I was a serious tomboy, though). Also like Lloyd Alexander’s stuff, and in 6th/7th really got into the Ursula leGuin Wizard of Earthsea series. I also remember a spooky series-- no idea of author but “The House with a Clock in its Walls” was one of them.
I would have to recommend Bunnicula: A Rabbit-Tale of Mystery.
I’ve only read the first one, and it’s a great story of a vampire-esque bunny living in a house with a little girl and lots of pets, and it’s told, if I remember correctly, by the dog.
It’s very well done, at a good level for an intelligent 8-year-old, and, I understand, has become a series.
I was just thinking about Bunnicula!
These are wonderful suggestions. I’ll add Joan Aiken’s Mortimer series, which starts with “Arabel’s Raven.” They are very funny stories about a sweet little girl named Arabel and her horrifyingly obnoxious raven, Mortimer.
my kids love Artemis Fowl. There are six books now. They may be too old for her, but if she can handle HP and Anne, she should be fine. The main character is a boy, but there’s a strong female that gets enough book time to almost be the lead herself. My kids love these books.
Second Warriors and Spiderwick. Both series captivated my kids.
My kids are also willing to put themselves on the waiting list at the library to get their hands on another 39 Clues book. She might also like the Heck books by Dale E. Bayse. There are three now; the first is Heck: Where the Bad Kids Go.
Some worthy comics/graphic novels to add to the pile:
Magic Trixie - This was the first title that came to mind when you mentioned puppies and fairies. Follows the misadventures of an elementary school witch as she learns how to cope with sibling rivalry – Jill Thompson’s art is wonderfully cute.
Bone - The adventures of three cousins – Fone Bone, Smiley Bone, and Phoney Bone – after Phoney’s scheming gets them run out of Boneville. They find themselves caught up in a plot to protect a hidden princess from the dark powers encroaching on the land. Absolutely worth picking up for Jeff Smith’s cartooning, but should probably be previewed to make sure that it’s not too intense for her.
Amazing Agent Luna is a manga which follows the adventures of an uber-competent, extremely sheltered teenage ninja who has to negotiate the trials and tribulations of high school as part of her cover. There’s some mention of people that were killed in the past, but nothing graphic. I linked to the first issue for the preview, but the first three volumes are available as an omnibus.
Destiny’s Hand is about a fantasy story of young girl who rebels against her arranged marriage and throws in her lot with the last honorable pirate captain left on the high seas. When her captain is fatally wounded, it’s up to her and the crew to help his son fulfill his destiny. Some blood and, unfortunately, the writers didn’t get costume design veto, so the main character spends the entire series in hotpants. Preview here.
Polly and the Pirates is more pirate fantasy, but with a bit of a Victorian flavor. Polly is a student at a prim and proper boarding school, and she’s generally content to remain so, until questions of her past – specifically of her dead mother – start cropping up. A twenty-five page preview is available at the publisher’s website.
Leave It To Chance is set in a more-or-less modern city that’s having issues with some magical elements – goblins living in the sewers and such. Our main character is Chance Falconer, who investigates these disturbances with her pet dragon. You may have to do a little hunting for the first volume, since it’s out of print. I’m also not sure the series was ever properly finished, though I think the third trade does wrap the then-current storyline. Wiki overview.
Rapunzel’s Revenge- From the author’s site: “Once upon a time, in a land you only think you know, lived a little girl and her mother…or the woman she thought was her mother. Every day, when the little girl played in her pretty garden, she grew more curious about what lay on the other side of the enormous garden wall. As she grew older, things seemed weirder and weirder, until the day she finally climbed to the top of the wall and was horrified by what she saw beyond…”
Mouse Guard- Honor and chivalry from the POV of the guards charged with seeing to the safety of a community of mice. Lovely books, but, again, might want to preview to make sure it won’t be too much for her, since it is the sort of story where characters can get eaten by snakes.
The Babysitter’s Club and the Hardy Boys books are also both available in GN format. The Babysitter’s Club GNs are adaptations of the books, but the Hardy Boys are new adventures.
It might also be worth looking at some of the new Boom! Studios licenses – they’ve got new adventures out for Fraggle Rock and Darkwing Duck.
She might enjoy A Wrinkle In Time. Meg is older than your daughter, however she is a very strong female character. Madeleine L’Engle’s books are what turned me on to both science fiction and science fantasy.
I, of course, second kbear and Dung Beetle on the wonders of the Chronicles of Narnia.