Recommended books for pre-teen

[MsZem]

I've never even been tempted to read an opening sentence of any Danielle Steel books.

No great loss, believe me.

 

[Vagabond]

Read a Danielle Steel book before you turn eighteen, and you could be damaged for life.

 

[Prancer]

I think my son was around nine when he started reading the Redwall series by Brian Jacques. He loved it and reread those books for years. He also loved books by Avi, who has books for a range of ages, and Kate DiCamillo. He was a mature, advanced, dedicated reader.

My daughter was more into graphic novels and humor, so her favorites were things like A Series of Unfortunate Events, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, the Bone series, and (her very favorite) Dear Dumb Diary. She was not an advanced reader.

Last time I tutored elementary kids (it's been a while), Wonder was a big favorite, as was The Bridge to Terabithia and The Wolves of Willoughby Chase. And Mr. Popper's Penguins.

I like the recommendations here: https://www.npr.org/2013/08/05/2073...ckseat-bookshelf-100-must-reads-for-kids-9-14 -- it's a nice mix of current books and classics.

I was not terribly fond of old books when I was young. For one thing, old books for children tend to be really didactic; I always felt that I was being lectured on good behavior and I got enough of that elsewhere. For another, girls rarely get to do anything interesting in old books and I resented that even then. There are some old books that transcend this, of course, but not many.

The best thing to do with a young reader, IMO, is take her to the library and let her plow through whatever she likes. It's good to have books at home, always, but for me, going to the library was like being taken to a banquet--so many books, all mine for the choosing.

Oh, and I read Danielle Steel books when I was a young teenager and lived to tell the tale. I also read Xaviera Hollander's memoir and a lot of other things that were, um, adult. I don't think it did me any harm, although my parents would surely have disagreed.

 

[maatTheViking]

I read The Clan of the Cave Bear in 7th grade too, lol.

I've always found Narnia boring, but The Hobbit is a great choice.

I also liked my dad's old boyhood books, I don't recall the names but they were about a Canadian Mountie and his dog? They would probably be very old fashioned today (my dad as born in '43), but I loved the whole man and best friend against harsh nature and criminals .

I also loved The Black Stallion books. I read a bit of one when I was waiting on my kids in the library, so they are still around.

 

[TheGirlCanSkate]

There are some incredible books out there!
Wendy Mass wrote A Mango-Shaped Space, Jeremy Fink and a whole list of books- each one is amazing.
Rebecca Stead is also a fantastic author, When You Reach Me is brilliant.
The Secret Series by Bosch
Wonder
Dragon Slippers
A fun math book: Penrose the Mathematical Cat
The Golden Compass
The author Garth Nix

For classics look at Roald Dahl.

A lot of people push advanced readers to classics, books that are really long, when what they really need is the imagination and magic of reading about kids under 9th grade. My daughter (16 now) says middle-grade readers are different from teen fiction, middle-grade readers are about kids who become heroes and do the impossible.

She also said she would have read books she is assigned in class but something like Catcher in the Rye is just better when you read it with others and someone leading the discussion. I think that is true for most books over 50 years old.

I had a not hard fast rule - the main characters in books needed to be not more than 2 years older than her. Then when the Twilight/Hunger Games stuff came out, I said she could read it later. She didn't need to read extreme violence or about girls who would try to kill themselves before living without a boy in 3rd/4th grade when her peers were reading them.

There is so much time! Nodding at Kate DiCamillo and Avi as well.

 

[Prancer]

I had a not hard fast rule - the main characters in books needed to be not more than 2 years older than her.

I think that's a good (general) rule. Kids like to see themselves in books.

 

[LeafOnTheWind]

I had completely forgotten about The Great Brain. I did check on Amazon. They are about $6-7 apiece so not too bad a price. They may have been for boys but this girl loved them.

Other authors I loved: Judy Blume, S.E. Hinton


Basically I read our library. My mom was a librarian and I had to wait for her to finish work. I ended up reading everything and got into the classics by age 11.

I would recommend waiting for Faulkner's Sound and Fury. That classic was rough at age 11.


ETA: If she likes Fantasy/Science Fiction I would also recommend Weis and Hickman's Dragonlance series or Terry Pratchett's Discworld series.

 

[made_in_canada]

Tom's Midnight Garden (has a little skating in it!) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom's_Midnight_Garden

Omg, I’ve been trying to remember what that book was called for a long time. Thank you!

When I was around that age I loved The Face on the Milk Carton series.

Me too. I loved those books!

 

[Spun Silver]

Re your 9-year-old's interest in ballet, I have a young niece who dances, and Michaela DePrince's autobiography Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina was a big hit with her a couple Christmases ago. DePrince is more than two years older than your girl but she's still a very young woman (especially to be publishing an autobiography!). She was one of the dancers featured in the film First Position, in case that's of interest.

 

[I Luv Bulldogs]

Loved going to the library as a kid.

Some of my favourites were Judy Blume and Little House on the Prairie . . . . Books and tv show. Also Anne of Green Gables.

 

[oleada]

OMG, yes, Judy Blume, how could I forget! Are you there God? It's me, Margaret was my favorite but I loved the Fudge series and basically everything she wrote.

From the classics, The Secret Garden was my favorite. I preferred it over A Little Princess because Sara Crew was too perfect (though I liked A Little Princess anyway). I also liked Black Beauty.

I read so much stuff at that age that probably wasn't the most age appropriate. My parents let me read anything I happened to pick up. If I got something in English, which I did often, they couldn't read the cover or find out what it wa about anyway.

 

[Spun Silver]

I used to love the Noel Streatfield "shoe" books (ballet, skating, theatre, etc.). They are probably very dated but still...
https://www.goodreads.com/series/95934-shoes

 

[TheGirlCanSkate]

I used to love the Noel Streatfield "shoe" books (ballet, skating, theatre, etc.). They are probably very dated but still...
https://www.goodreads.com/series/95934-shoes

I loved those and any other book that required kids to either live on their own, be orphaned, or self-sufficient. I also loved boarding school books. I think Theater Shoes was my favorite of the shoe books.

 

[jl22aries]

Oh my gosh you folks all rock! So many fantastic ideas. Have any folks read or know a young person who has read "Ms Marvel"? is this graphic novel a little too mature for a pre teen? Even if she is quite mature. Or how about "Brown Girl Dreaming" by Jacqueline Woodson?

 

[Wyliefan]

I used to love the Noel Streatfield "shoe" books (ballet, skating, theatre, etc.). They are probably very dated but still...
https://www.goodreads.com/series/95934-shoes

Oh yes, I was MAJORLY into these! I still think most of them hold up pretty well.

 

[Wyliefan]

From the classics, The Secret Garden was my favorite. I preferred it over A Little Princess because Sara Crew was too perfect (though I liked A Little Princess anyway). I also liked Black Beauty.

That's interesting -- I read A Little Princess to pieces and never thought Sara was too perfect. She had a mind of her own, and a temper. I loved her. On the other hand, Little Lord Fauntleroy, from the same author, was nauseating.

 

[Spun Silver]

Edward Lear's Nonsense books are a delight. I feel sorry for any book-loving kid who hasn't met his limericks. Sample: http://www.nonsenselit.org/Lear/BoN/bon010.html

 

[emason]

That's interesting -- I read A Little Princess to pieces and never thought Sara was too perfect. She had a mind of her own, and a temper. I loved her. On the other hand, Little Lord Fauntleroy, from the same author, was nauseating.

Total aside re: Little Lord Fauntleroy. My grandmother was a seamstress and made all the clothes for my mother and her two brothers. My poor uncles: my grandmother made them Little Lord Fauntleroy suits and I have class pictures of them circa 1920-1925 where all their classmates are in ordinary clothes of the time and my uncles stick out like sore thumbs in those godawful suits.

 

[TheGirlCanSkate]

That's interesting -- I read A Little Princess to pieces and never thought Sara was too perfect. She had a mind of her own, and a temper. I loved her. On the other hand, Little Lord Fauntleroy, from the same author, was nauseating.

I vote for A Little Princess too, but I even loved the very different Shirley temple movie (reminds me of spending the night at my grandmother's) - The Secret Garden lost me with the ending. I guess I'd rather have not seen them all grow up.

 

[PDilemma]

As a teacher mostly working in 3rd-5th now, I'd just caution you that you need to keep a balance between challenging a high level reader and making sure that books are age appropriate content. I'm seeing books here that are in our middle school or high school library not in the K-5 library and the main reason is appropriate content.

Half of my current group are 9 or nearly 9 (third grade). The higher level readers like Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, the Boxcar Children series, Captain Underpants books and anything by Dan Gutman, Shannon Hale, Beverly Cleary and Gary Paulsen.

I'd also suggest Judy Blume's books for younger kids--Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and Super Fudge are the first to come to mind. The majority of her other books are more age appropriate for middle school and up.

 

[Japanfan]

I also liked Black Beauty.

I was seriously into horses as a child and loved horse book.

I've never forgotten 'My Friend Flicka', which had an ending that made me

 

[LeafOnTheWind]

That reminds me of the The Black Stallion series by Walter Farley. Loved those books.

 

[TheGirlCanSkate]

More ideas:
Moxie Maxwell (series) {even at 16 if there are new ones we will both read them}
Clementine (series) {even at 16 if there are new ones we will both read them}
Charlotte's Web
Savvy
Katheryn Applegate (author of many wonderful books including Ivan the Great)
Bad Kitty (series)

 

[Rogue]

My daughter loved the Redwall series and Wings of Fire series as well. She also loved the Warriors series by Erin Hunter.

 

[Wyliefan]

I just read a couple more recent ones that were terrific: Inkling by Kenneth Oppel and The Language of Spells by Garett Weyr.

 

[Spun Silver]

I loved those and any other book that required kids to either live on their own, be orphaned, or self-sufficient. I also loved boarding school books. I think Theater Shoes was my favorite of the shoe books.

OT, but you might like the detective novels of Martha Grimes. They almost always feature a preternaturally capable orphaned or quasi-orphaned child. I guess it's something of an archetype because somehow it never gets old.

 

[Nomad]

The Phantom Tollbooth (Norton Juster?) was something I read at 9 or thereabouts. Also The Wolves of Willoughby Chase and The Witch of Blackbird Pond.

 

[MacMadame]

When I was that age, I loved The Phantom Tollbooth, Harriet the Spy, anything Nancy Drew and Encyclopedia Brown, plus biographies written for that age group. Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. A series about a family of really small people that lived inside the walls of people's houses. Little Women and Little Men. Charlotte's Web. Diary of Anne Frank, Anne of Green Gables, The Secret Garden.

I was older when I read the Judy Blume books because lots of them weren't available when I was a pre-teen. Other books I read when older that would be great for a pre-teen are the various series by Eoin Cofer (not limited to the Artemis Fowl series), Harry Potter, The Hunger Game.

 

[LeafOnTheWind]

I forgot about Encyclopedia Brown!

Loved those books too. Half the fun of reading this thread is remembering all the books I loved as a kid.

 

[quartz]

Oooohh....Harriet the Spy! Forgot about that one even tho I have a copy on my shelves. Every now and then I buy a childhood favorite because except for my 1971 edition of Narnia, all my books went to my nieces.