My 12yo daughter is in need of some new books. She recently enjoyed Turtles All the Way Down (John Green) and previously liked the Heartstopper series but abruptly grew out of it/lost interest.
I feel like this is a tough age to find books for because she's definitely out of the "little kid" books phase (Harry Potter, Wings of Fire), but I'm also hesitant to get her anything that's going to be too heavy or overtly sexual (like some of John Green's other books).
Any recommendations for a "goldilocks" book — not too young, not too old? (Reading difficulty level is a non-issue.)
ETA: She is not interested in anything in the science fiction or fantasy area
by AccurateStrength1
8 Comments
*The Thief of Always* by Clive Barker
*Un Lun Dun* by China Mieville
Anne of Green Gables
Howl’s Moving Castle
The Enchanted Forest Chronicles
Tiffany Aching Books
The Elfhame series by Holly Black
The Lunar Chronicles
For me one of the big transition books from “kid” to “grownup” books was the Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. They start young but follow Alice up through adulthood. I don’t know how well they’d hold up for a current 12 year old but I loved them.
Anne of Green Gables is another classic. She also might enjoy classic lit in general- it tends to feel more grown up without being explicitly sexual like some more recent YA books. I liked Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre, and felt very grown up reading them. I didn’t like Little Women, but my sister loved it.
Look for “MG” or middle grade books. I work in a middle school and can think of hundreds of books her age that kids really like.
(Disclaimer – I don’t have kids of my own so I’m going off what I liked or think I would have liked around that age)
Is she of the mindset **all** fantasy is for little kids? If so, ignore this paragraph : Maybe some Kelly Barnhill? W*hen Women Were Dragons* would be too adult, but she otherwise writes for children. I haven’t read everything yet, but I recently read and truly loved *The Witch’s Boy* and have heard great things about *The Ogress and the Orphans*. Ursula K Le Guin’s *Earthsea* series might also work. Or going classic, *The Lord of the Rings*. Or perhaps *The Eyes of the Dragon* by Stephen King.
Otherwise, for non-fantasy, some you could look into:
– *To Say Nothing of the Dog* by Connie Willis
– *Ender’s Game* by Orson Scott Card (I read it in middle school and it sparked my interest in sci-fi)
– *Project Hail Mary* by Andy Weir (I hate this book, but I’m in the **very** slim minority on that and I probably would have loved it when I was younger)
– *Station Eleven* by Emily St. John Mandel, or perhaps *Sea of Tranquility*
– *The Oracle Year* by Charles Soule
– *Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children* by Ransom Riggs
– *The Hunger Games* by Suzanne Collins
Trying to think of books I liked at that age – I tended harder towards fantasy and historical but not all of these are
– Patrick Ness’s books like a monster calls or Chaos walking books
– Diana Wynne-Jones
– Sabriel by Garth Nix
– The edge chronicles by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddle (having illustrations might make them seem childish but there’s some decently scary monsters in these books)
– The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud
– Marcus Sedgwick’s books – e.g. the book of the dead days
– The setting stone by Kevin Crossley Holland
– Rosemary Sutcliff’s books like The Eagle of the ninth
– Terry Pratchett’s YA stuff
– The Alex Rider books and Diamond Brothers books by Anthony Horowitz
– Malorie Blackman’s books like Noughts and Crosses
– Earthsea – Ursula k le Guin