Books for daughter

tipsychick

Has she read anything by Rumer Godden or Elizabeth Goudge? Both were recommended by one of my favourite primary school teachers when I was 10, going on 11. It's a difficult age reading wise - not quite child, not quite teenager.

The Greengage Summer and The Peacock Spring by Rumer Godden were two firm favourites - one's set in France and the other in India. Linnets and Valerians by Elizabeth Goudge would be perfect too and would satisfy her desire for magic and mysticism!

Have a look on Amazon for a quick synopsis. They're grown up books without being adult!

I also loved Noel Streatfield's books. They were all about ballet, dance and theatre. Those would be great now too!

jellyhead

i must be thick then because i couldn't have read john steinbeck at age 10. well, i could have read the words but the meaning would have been lost on me managed it at 12, along with shakespeare but my boy's been reading shakespeare since age 8, he must have a thick mum

what about the wolves of willoughby chase?

thriftlady_2

All my favourites have been mentioned I absolutely loved The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge when I was 10. Apparently it was JK Rowling's favourite book as a child. The Dark is Rising has been mentioned already, a fantastic sequence of 5 novels (I have them all on tape and listen while I bake, although my Mum has borrowed them at the moment).Another good one by Susan Cooper is King of Shadows about a boy who goes back to Shakespeare's theatre.

My ds1 who is 11 read The Fellowship of the Ring when he was in y6 and The Hobbit. He and I loved the Alex Rider books by Anthony Horowitz and we're enjoying his new sequence of books The Power of Five.

If she likes history try A Traveller inTime by Alison Uttley, a wonderful story about a plot to rescue Mary Queen of Scots.

Penny-Pincher!!

My DD is 11 and she loves Lemony Snicket. There are about 12 nooks in total with the final one being released next week I think. She also likes LOTR and Patricia Cornwell.

PP
xx

Glad

Penny-Pincher!! wrote:

My DD is 11 and she loves Lemony Snicket. There are about 12 nooks in total with the final one being released next week I think. She also likes LOTR and Patricia Cornwell.

PP
xx

does she enjoy the Patricia Cornwell PP?
my daughter is 14 and reads extensively but although I read them I think P Cornwall are a bit gruesome for her

cherrysnapz

My daughter has just turned 13 and loves anything by Darren Shan,

recovering_spendaholic

tipsychick wrote:

Has she read anything by Rumer Godden or Elizabeth Goudge? Both were recommended by one of my favourite primary school teachers when I was 10, going on 11. It's a difficult age reading wise - not quite child, not quite teenager.

The Greengage Summer and The Peacock Spring by Rumer Godden were two firm favourites - one's set in France and the other in India. Linnets and Valerians by Elizabeth Goudge would be perfect too and would satisfy her desire for magic and mysticism!

Have a look on Amazon for a quick synopsis. They're grown up books without being adult!

I also loved Noel Streatfield's books. They were all about ballet, dance and theatre. Those would be great now too!

We must have read all of the same books!!! I love all of those and will never forget the first time I read the Greengage Summer, I re-read it so many times!- I also liked Noel Streatfield and I used to love Malcolm Saville too at that age. I have got all of the above for my two DD's and they loved them, although DD1 (16) found them a bit old fashioned, but DD2 (9) loves them - I have read some of them to her, to get her into them. I know its not popular, but the Enid Blyton School series are great - both my DD's love them and also the Five Find Outer books - although these are glaringly unPC!! I also bought a set of the original Nancy Drew books off of ebay and they are great - Dd2 thinks they are a hoot because they are set in the 30's and she marvels at the lack of technology. Both of mine have also read all of the Princess Diaries and Ally's World books.

I don't know if it is just me, but I find alot of fiction for todays 11 - 15 year olds is just so depressing. I bought Jacqueline Wilson books for DD1 when he was 10 and I thought they were depressing in the extreme and quite upsetting in content. Kids need escapism - there will be enough time for the depressing reality of life when they are grown up!!!

tipsychick

Recovering spendaholic, we do love the same children's books!

I didn't dare suggest Enid Blyton, although she featured prominently in my childhood reading . I'm thirty three now :eek:, don't have children yet and wasn't really sure how she was regarded nowadays but I imagine still not terribly favourably. I read stacks of Enid Blyton, from the Enchanted Wood and the Faraway Tree (Moonface and Silky!) to the the Twins at St. Clares, Malory Towers, the Famous Five, etc. I think the Five Find Out series were for a slightly older audience, from memory.

I loved Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys too but they did seem a bit dated when I was reading them in the 1980s. All that 60s/70s American slang, ice cream parlors and the like - I can just imagine what your daughter thinks! The Hardy boys were always being hit in the solar plexus and in the end I was forced to get out an encyclopedia and find out exactly where that was!

When I hit my teens, Judy Blume's books were pretty popular because they were contemporary and unpatronizing. Tiger Eyes was my favourite. All of her books exchanged hands many times at my convent school! On a completely different vein, I particularly liked Jane Gardam too. She was very good on what it felt like to be an awkward teenager waiting for life to start!

My mum has a loft jammed full with boxes of my books. From time to time, I read how people have had a clear-out and sold lots of books on Amazon or Ebay but I could never bear to part with any of mine. I've pretty much still got every book that I've ever bought or been given. They're my comfort blanket and my timeline!

I really had to think back and remember what I read and at what age - a couple of years makes a lot of difference when your at that inbetween stage.

SkippyB

I still read lots of childrens books and I am .... years of age!!

I know this may sound a little odd but when I was a bit younger than your daughter, my mum gave me my first Agatha Christie to read and I was addicted!! I have the whole set in Hardback now!!

Agatha's books are slightly old fashioned and contain absolutely no sex or violence at all!!! They are good reading!!

Also think about PD James and other older writers.....always a good read!

dumpy

I'd forgotten about the little white horse by Elizabeth Goodge, now I couldn't put that down.

Also Eva Ibbotson, The Great Ghost Rescue and Which Witch.

Tipsy chick I too have all my old books in my Mums attic, I'm there this weekend so I'll have to go up and have a browse.....