I recommend the Tamora Price books too. Her Young Wizards series is good.
For Robin McKinley I would skip Deerskin also. It’s a dark fantasy with very adult themes of incest and rape. Sunshine is all light and happy by comparison.
The Dark is Rising series, by Susan Cooper
The Chronicles of Narnia, by C. S. Lewis
Some stand-alones:
Harriet the Spy, by Louise Fitzhugh (Yes, there are sequels, but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend them. YMMV.)
Blue Willow, by Doris Gates
A Drowned Maiden’s Hair, by Laura Amy Schlitz
The Search for Delicious, by Natalie Babbitt
The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Also, does your library carry Cricket magazine? Lots of excellent short stories and articles for her age.
My friend’s daughter really enjoyed this series, about twins (a boy and a girl): The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel - Wikipedia
And the author of Percy Jackson had another series about a brother and sister, set against Egyptian mythology:
Coraline - Wiki link: Coraline - Wikipedia What I loved about it, as an adult, was that Coraline thinks her way out of danger, and does brave things even though she was scared. The book also has a more realistic set of bad parents than most fairy tales - not abusive, just too wrapped up in the adult world.
The Redwall Series by Brian Jacques is indeed excellent (for any age, I was in my 20’s and my fiance in his 30’s when we got hooked on them). They are about animals and are a lot about friendship, courage, morals, good and evil. They are wonderfully descriptive and the best part is that there is a huge amount of them so they’ll keep her going for a long time. They can be read in published order or chronological order (there are actually places you can find lists of proper chronological order). I read them in published order and my fiance read them chronologically and we both enjoyed them immensely. I was introduced to them by my then-17-year-old niece and I, in turn, introduced another niece (10-years-old) to them.
Also, the Tiffany Aching books and The Amazing Maurice and His educated Rodents are awesome books and good for any age but were written for kids. If she likes the Tiffany Aching books, she’ll probably like many other Discworld books, particularly the witch books (especially since she’ll already be familiar with two of the main characters from the TA books).
Terry Pratchett has also written non-Discworld books and I’m pretty sure they’re for kids too.
I don’t know if she’ll like them but when I was her age, I loved the original Nancy Drew books (still do actually). I also loved the Little House books.
All of these books have strong female lead characters (Redwall books have many of them).
He wrote Nation, which might be a bit too old for her now, but I think that it’s important to let kids try out books that might be a bit too advanced for them, rather than keep them on little kid books.
Oh, and seconding the Wizard of Earthsea trilogy. I wouldn’t give a preteen Tehanu and expect her to enjoy it.
Incidentally, I read some of the Little House books at that age, and didn’t really care for them. Now that I’m an adult, and have a different perspective of things, I’m fascinated by them. Similarly, I didn’t care for the bios of Florence Nightingale that were pushed on me as a child, but now that I can read the more in-depth bios, I’m struck by her life.
Scott Westerfield has been mentioned. Try his Leviathan series.
Your child might like the Dear America and Royal Diaries series, which are historical fiction written in the form of diary entries from young women of the time. Yes, the Royal Diaries series features some princesses, but fact is stranger than fiction and these are some good stories and interesting history:
I have been obsessed with the Little House books since I was five, so I will always recommend them.
Also:
Noel Streatfield’s Shoes books:
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Lois Lenski’s regional books:
Julie of the Wolves, Island of the Blue Dolphins
Judy Blume, Beverly Cleary
My recommendation is “no recommendation”.
Teach her how to look at books (read jacket copy, sample a few pages, etc),
plunk her down at “A” in the library’s juvie fiction section, and have her choose her own.
A few duds, a “wow” or two, pick up where she left off last time – her eye will develop and soon she will be recommending books to you.
Weed out anything with the not-age-appropriate issues noted by posters above, explaining why. Otherwise – whatever catches her eye. A princess or two may sneak in. Boy heroes, even! Grown-ups. Giant sea monsters. You never know what may appeal on a given day.
The Anne of Green Gables and Emily of New Moon series by L.M. Montgomery. Also, the Matched series.
A Mighty Girl has a bunch of recommendations by age - looks like a useful resource!
I recommend Philip Reeve’s books - for a 10y.o. start with the Larklight trilogy which is light-hearted steampunk. When she gets a little older you might try her on Here Lies Arthur or No Such Thing As Dragons, and when she’s ready for more dark, violent fiction the Mortal Engines books are excellent (including a female protagonist who is about as amoral as you can get). Those are all categorized as “Young Adult” so none of it should be too far out of her reach.
Personally, I wouldn’t go for the Hunger Games, then. Or at least, read the first book yourself, then decide. It’s pretty gruesome.
If she does read and like Tiffany Aching, I wouldn’t feel the need to stop there. The Taller Girl (currently 9) has read and enjoyed a number of the Watch sub series too, though I do have to explain some of the jokes to her (or not explain them as the case may be…)
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the Skulduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landy. Seven books in the series so far (plus some side stories). The premise is sort of Harry Potter/Percy Jackson-ish, inasmuch as there’s a kid character who, at about the age of 11, discovers that there’s an unseen world of magical wonderfulness, naturally also fraught with danger. The main character in Skulduggery, though, is a girl, Stephanie Edgley. The books have tons of humor in them, and are also full of fierce battles, of both the magical and the hand-to-hand variety, and they’re actually pretty realistic in that Stephanie often gets hurt, sometimes quite badly. But any girl who likes Potter and Percy ought to like Skulduggery (Skulduggery Pleasant, by the way, is the name of Stephanie’s partner and mentor. He’s a wizard, he’s a detective, he’s a living skeleton. He’s also the source of much of the humor, as he’s a huge smartass.).
As far as “anti-princess” these aren’t them. They make Tolkien look downright forward thinking in his treatment of women and his well developed female characters. They are morality tales and well done as such with amusing stories, but if you want female characters that can be viewed favorably/idolized by your daughter look elsewhere.
I recommend “The Mysterious Benedict Society” by Trenton Lee Stewart. Books 1 and 2 are great- they have the spunkiest girl character imaginable! And the team of 2 boys and 2 girls work with each others’ strengths well.
Also, “The Westing Game” has a great girl protagonist.
As a child I was immediately enchanted by one old but timeless classic–The Perilous Gard, by Elizabeth Marie Pope. Although this doesn’t feature a princess (just a lady-in-waiting!), it is a fairly traditional love story–often thought of as “girly.” At the same time, the heroine is brave, loyal, strong-willed and compassionate (it’s essentially a re-telling of Tam Lin). I think it’s important to emphasize that being a girly girl isn’t a bad thing–it’s not having a choice that’s bad. I think that’s one reason I loved Tamora Pierce’s later books like her *Immortals *and *Circle of Magic *series: they emphasized that traditionally feminine virtues like compassion, nurturing, healing, etc. were just as important as being “a woman who rides like a man.”
China Mieville’s YA fantasy Un Lun Dun, which I personally really enjoyed, deals with this same idea from a rather different angle. Again, female protagonist.
Other fantasy featuring women that I loved as a child:
Tanith Lee’s *The Unicorn series *(Black Unicorn, Gold Unicorn, Red Unicorn). Probably a bit old for your daughter–I read it around 13–but some day! Tanith Lee’s work is always infused with a darkness you’re not going to find in other YA fantasy. They feature a heroine who is a mechanic, not a magician.
*Little Sister *and *The Heavenward Path *by Kara Dalkey are two fantasies set beautifully in ancient Japan–for something entirely different.
Lawrence Yep’s *Dragon * series features a princess–a dragon princess named Shimmer no less! who is nonetheless one of the strongest female characters I can remember. They are based loosely on Chinese folktales so again, something very non-traditional.
As a young woman growing up almost exclusively in the fantasy section of the library, the heroines in these books (as well as some others already mentioned–Diana Wynne Jones, especially) shaped me into the person I am today.