For straight prose, Bruce Coville’s Magic Shop books, the Aliens Ate My Homework Series, and The Unicorn Chronicles all sound like they would fit the bill. If she enjoyed the Chronicles of Prydain, then she might like The Foundling (also by Lloyd Alexander and set in Prydain).
My daughter is just about the same age, and I love reading to her at night. We both loved the Percy Jackson series, too; I assume you’ve already read through the continuing books starting with The Lost Hero? I’m not loving The Kane Chronicles as much as the Percy Jackson books, but they’re okay.
If she’s a Walt Disney World fan (and shouldn’t everyone be?), she might enjoy the Kingdom Keepers series, which has a healthy dose of both fantasy and sf.
I’m in the middle of reading The Hunger Games to my girl as a prelude to her seeing the movie, but I haven’t decided what to do about the next two books in the trilogy. I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it, I suppose.
Has she read The Wind in The Willows yet? I agree with Peter S. Beagle that it was life-changing.
Seconding the Terry Prachett YA stuff, starting with The Amazing Maurice And His Educated Rodents. Actually, even the Nome stuff (Truckers, Diggers & Wings AKA The Bromeliad trilogy) is good - think *The Borrowers *but not.
The Borrowers itself is a classic, of course.
One series i always recommend is the Edge Chronicles (especially if you like illustrations), but I’m not sure that’s light enough, based on the OP. There are moments of levity, but it’s a grim setting over all.
Philip Reeve’s Larklight trilogy is probably right up her alley. His Mortal Engines books are very dark and violent but the Larklight ones are basically whimsical Victoriana steampunk - almost parodic but certainly tongue-in-cheek. And the action does keep things moving along.
In the Suicide Mountains by John Gardner. Two of the principal characters are a kick-ass princess and a swooning, violin-playing prince. Written as a nod to The Canterbury Tales.
Is she comic book people? Leave It to Chance is accessible to kids without writing down to them. The heroine is the tomboyish daughter of a Dr. Strange-type hero magician.
If you’re looking for an enchanting book that doesn’t have a young, female protagonist you might go with *Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell * by Susanna Clarke.
Like the disc world books, it’s better listened to than read, IMHO.
I have the perfect series: Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy. It’s about a twelve year old girl who, after her uncle’s death, finds herself drawn into a subculture of mages and mayhem. Her partner is a detective who is an animated skeleton. The books are loaded with humor:
And that’s all from one page.
They’re packed with action and fights, and Stephanie, the protagonist, is an excellent but realistic fighter (by which I mean, she gets hurt when she fights, sometimes quite seriously, but usually comes out on top). The first book is the weakest, but it’s a good introduction, and it gets really great as they go on. I liked the series a lot more than Percy Jackson, so if she liked that, she ought to love Skulduggery.
Set in 1950 rural England, 11-year old Flavia is a precocious chemist and solver of mysteries. Great for both adults and kids. Fun, fast-paced, irreverent but with some weight as well.
Thank to Thudlow Boink - I’m feeling less gobsmacked that I never connected the 2 Nortons…
Back to the topic - I’ve been enjoying the Bloody Jack series by LA/Louis A Meyer - an orphan girl from the streets of London masquerades as a boy to get on a Royal Navy ship and adventures ensue. I’m thru the second in the series & raring to start the third. The audiobooks are AWESOME, but I bet reading aloud would be fun, too.
Pretty sure no one’s mentioned Tuck Everlasting. If they have, I second it. I also second, My Side of the Mountain.
I would like to add The Westing Game. It’s an age appropriate mystery book. It was one of our required books in middle school and I loved it so much I’ve read it a few more times since then and now I own it.
First, I want to commend you and your daughter on your excellent taste in literature :). You mentioned several of my favorite read-alouds in your OP.
That said, there are two books that are among my all-time favorite read-alouds that haven’t been mentioned yet. Both of them are Newbery Medal winners that don’t follow the medal’s sometimes tradition of being awarded for Most Depressing Children’s Literature.
Holes, by Louis Sachar. It’s not straight-up fantasy, but it has a little touch of magical realism in it, perhaps. The story has at least three different time-frames, and it’s a delightful narrative mystery. On its downside, almost the only female character in the book is a villain–but it’s not like it’s an anti-girl book, it’s just a boy’s adventure. If your daughter is okay with boy’s adventures, it comes highly recommended.
The Tale of Despereaux is astonishingly good. Seriously, I might put it up there with Watership Down in terms of animal-based fantasies. It, too, has got multiple entwining narratives; and it, too, has a lot to say about human nature. I’ve read it many times to many classes, and more often than not, when I read the final page, students break into spontaneous applause. It’s really, really good.
Any of the historical novels of Leon Garfield. They don’t call him the children’s Charles Dickens for nothing. I LOVED Black Jack when I was a girl a bit older then your daughter.
Strangely enough, I mainly remember it as a moving young love story between Bartholomew Dorking and the rich girl they rescue while she is being carried off to a madhouse. And it has the happiest, most satisfying ending anyone could wish for.
Came in here to suggest this. I started reading them in middle school and I’ve kept it up to now. Good stories, strong characters, interesting dilemmas.
