I hope this is okay to start. My 11yo is outgrowing the children's section, but both of us are finding the YA section somewhat uninspiring (she is not interested in vampires, dystopia, or romance). I am transitioning her to tween-appropriate adult fiction, but this is something that requires some thought. Here is my list so far. If the book contains sexual themes, extreme violence, etc, do note it. Note--I don't intend this to really include books written specifically for the YA market, but of course some of these do land in YA sections today.

--Little Women (and sequels)
--Jane Eyre
--Wuthering Heights (I hate this book, but teens often like it!)
--Pride and Prejudice, etc (subtle--may be better for an older tween)
--Dickens
--To Kill a Mockingbird (rape themes)
--Fahrenheit 451 and other Ray Bradbury
--Terry Pratchett
--Douglas Adams (occasional sexual jokes)

Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 and Harper Lee's To kill a Mocking bird is on my ds12 7th grade reading list this year. Along with some texts dealing with adversity, Jane Yolen's The Devil's Arithmetic and Anne Franks The Diary of a Young Girl.

--The Martian, by Andy Weir (swearing)

For Terry Pratchett, I do recommend standing with the YA titles (Amazing Maurice and the Tiffany Aching series that starts with Wee Free Men). While kids will probably enjoy his other books, some of the humor is really better appreciated with a little more experience under one's belt.

When I was that age I was obsessed with detectives and murder mysteries: Agatha Christie books, Sherlock Holmes, Nero Wolfe come to mind. Of course there's always a murder in the background of these - but minimal violence in the stories themselves. I remember wishing Holmes was a real person because I had a huge crush on him! Yes, I was a quirky kid...

I'd absolutely recommend Fahrenheit 451 to a young gifted reader, if for no other reason that because the theme would resonate strongly with them. I can't recall any adult themes offhand. And if she's interested in Bradbury, I could also recommend Heinlein's works, though I haven't read too many of them. Generally speaking, you can't go far wrong on sci-fi for a tween if it was written before the 70s, as the violence and sexuality were a lot more muted back then.

I gave my DD a shot at some Discworld (Pratchett) material when she was 8 and expressing an interest in my bookshelf, but it didn't take, and I expect that has a lot to do with life experience. The things they make fun of are not things children are not participating in... things like government, law enforcement, communications, university staff, etc. I'm not sure I'd recommend them to an 11yo unless they're already interested in social science-y things.

Given that you've put both Pratchett and Adams on the list, I assume satire is an interest, so I'd add two names:

Mark Twain: Not only great satire, but also great use of language. If only we still wrote like this.

Carl Hiassen: Until recently I would absolutely NOT have recommended his works to parents for their younger children, as they are rife with adult themes, but in recent years he has begun writing a separate set of books targeted at the young adult market, with more appropriate themes. I haven't read his young adult stuff personally (though DD has a copy of Hoot by her bed), but I can say that as satire, he's hilarious. From one adult to another, if you like Adams and Pratchett, you should give Hiassen a try.

A list my family recently put together for this problem:
Jade Snow Wong
Fifth Chinese Daughter

Anya Seton
Katherine (romance, but not the kind you're talking about)
others

Mary Renault (historical novels set in ancient Greece)
The Last of the Wine
The King Must Die
The Bull from the Sea
others

Mary Stewart's Merlin series:
The Crystal Cave
The Hollow Hills
The Last Enchantment
The Wicked Day
The Prince and the Pilgrim


Beverly Cleary
My Own Two Feet (her autobiography)

Andy Mulligan
Trash
others

Marcel Pagnol
My Father's Glory
My Mother's Castle

Margaret Mitchell
Gone With the Wind


Jessamyn West
The Friendly Persuasion
The Massacre at Fall Creek
others

Witi Ihimaera The Whale Rider

Michael Morpurgo War Horse

Daphne deMaurier
Rebecca
The Scapegoat
The King's General
others

Jack Finney
Time and Again
From Time to Time
About Time
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
others

Alfred Toombs
Raising a Riot


Jean Merrill
The Pushcart Wars
others

Robert Cormier
The Chocolate War
others

S.E. Hinton
The Outsiders


T. H. White
The Once and Future King


Richard Peck
Paul Zindel

Maxine Hong Kingston
The Woman Warrior, Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts

Ray Bradbury
The Illustrated Man
Fahrenheit 451
others

Natalie Babbitt
Tuck Everlasting
others

Rod Serling
Stories from the Twilight Zone
others
also: not a book, The Big Tall Wish: The Twilight Zone Radio Dramas

John Steinbeck
The Grapes of Wrath

Ernest Hemingway
lots, but you might be a little young.

Ken Follett
Pillars of the Earth
World Without End
His other books are spy novels and kind of gory.

Amy Tan
The Joy Luck Club
others

Chaim Potok
The Chosen
The Promise
My Name is Asher Lev

C.S. Lewis
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (#1 of Chronicles of Narnia series)
others

Ursula K. LeGuin
anything

Tolkein
The Hobbit
Lord of the Rings series

Everyone took mine!!!! Not fair.

NOt sure I have too much to add. Reading level most popular adult fiction is probably well within your daughter reading level. The idea of a "teen" genre is relatively new and mostly is filled as you have found with teen romance and paranormal stuff. The big genre to avoid is adult romance which can be quite explicit. I'd say horror as well but you might have to know your child, I LOVED Alfred Hitchcock short stories as an early teen.

It's already been suggested by mysteries particularly Agatha Christie, Sherlock Holmes can be good. Books like Jules Vern, 100,000 leagues under the sea, journey to the edge of the earth, etc. can be fun.

Anne McCaffrey's Pern novels (the original Dragonriders, and Harper Hall--can't speak to the later series written with her son)

I read tons of British/Commonwealth drawing room and procedural mysteries at this age, as well, not only Christie, but

Dorothy Sayers
Georgette Heyer (known more for her period romances, but also wrote quite a few mysteries)
P. D. James
Catherine Aird
Ngaio Marsh
Margery Allingham

also, in other genres

P.G. Wodehouse
Patricia Mckillip
Arthur C. Clarke
Isaac Asimov

offhand.

Agreed on some of the Terry Pratchett comments.

My DD10 loved Maurice and his amazing Rodents at 8 and also some of the Wee Free ones. BTW, his last book just hit the shelves The Shepherd's Crown which features a young with and the little blue men.

She recently tried some others, loved Small Gods which makes me really happy because that is one of my faves too - enjoyed the ones featuring The Watch because she had already read LoTR and Twisted Tales - but was a bit at sea on The Hogfather so YMMV depending on real world experience to date. She does get a lot of the humor which again is very satisfying to observe.

Mark Twain is one of the pithiest writers ever - totally agree with you, Dude.

Idiots Abroad and Roughly It leap to mind immediately both for his engaging style and mercilessly sharp wit. The fact that they are valid from a socio-historical perspective as well doesn't do any harm either.

At that age I really got into reading biographies of famous characters from history too.

Thanks so much for the additions!!

DD has read Amazing Maurice and the first Tiffany Aching (she will move on to the others in that series soon, but has been reading other books) and loved them. I am trying to figure out which other Pratchetts may be the most kid-friendly. I read Wyrd Sisters recently and thought it might suit. I do know other kids who have read his adult books and liked them, but agree that it will vary. Interestingly, she did not take to Hitchhiker's Guide at all last year.

Hiassen's written some great kids' books, but they are definitely kids' books, in the kids' section. I have only read one of his adult books, but it was definitely not something I would give to my 11yo.

I was a major sci-fi and fantasy buff in my youth, and when DS was really getting into the sci-fi, thought I had it made with shelves full of ancient Heinlein, Asimov, et al. As Dude notes, little explicit adult content in the old stuff. But.... a caveat for younger kids. The sexism can be brutal - all the more so for being casual and unintentional reflection of the times, not deliberately misogynistic - and the racism iffy at times as well. When I re-read a stack of Asimov short stories, for example, I realized there wasn't a single female character who wasn't utterly ditzy, and usually selfish and greedy to boot, with the except of the occasional serious neurotic (Asimov didn't date much ). Heinlein is better for having some strong female characters - but it's also constantly emphasized how utterly unlike normal female-kind they are.

Now, I devoured this stuff at half my DS's age - but I was a pretty sophisticated absorber of info. He, on the other hand, is astoundingly naive, with a tendency (rapidly diminishing, finally) to be a little too credulous. (He's also utterly incapable of discussing his feelings, so reading and talking over difficult topics doesn't work too well around here). I just couldn't give him most of this books until I felt like he had a little maturity and discrimination under his belt, to be able to understand the books in the context of their time, without unquestionably absorbing their attitudes. He's now 11, and I am slowly starting to open up the pipeline. So caveat emptor! While these books were great for me as a young kid, I did feel DS need to grow up a little more before I shared them.

P.S. It's actually interesting to look at how the female characters in Asimov change over the 50 years or so he wrote. Reading the whole pile of Foundation all at once, with a parental lens on, was a fun study in cultural change.

Good point, Platypus. My DD actually totally notices that stuff---and she HATES it. It is a total turnoff for her.

Funnily enough, I don't worry about this stuff with (younger) DD - I'm pretty confident that, like me, she'd just call BS and move on with the story. DS though.... I feel like he needs to be explicitly trained to be more critical, and be aware of the need to actively reject rather than absorb the stereotypes, while still enjoying the story.

His father was brought up neanderthal; perhaps I am a little overcompensating!

The whole Asimov conversation brought me to the Ender series (I've read a few of his other things, but they didn't make much of an impression on me, tbh). Specifically in Ender's Game, there are not many female characters, but they're all strong, and they all have good hearts (Valentine, Petra, Ender's mom), while the male side is heavily populated with severe sociopaths, up to and including Ender's father and brother. In keeping with this theme, the movie adaptation decided to inject some sympathy and conscientiousness into his training phase, so they converted the role of psychologist into playing that out, and turned it into a woman's role.

It makes one wonder what it must have been like growing up in Asimov's household.

ETA: NVM, that's Orson Scott Card. Facepalm for me.

Good point. I'll have to keep that in mind in recommending literature for my own DD10, though she tends to detect this sort of thing and squawk about it. You should get her warmed up on Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty some time. The gradual evolution of Disney princesses from helpless slugs awaiting male rescue to powerful characters in their own right is something we've talked about a lot, and so I think she could read something like Heinlein through that same lens, and see it for what it is, a reflection of a previous time and culture.

Has she read "Walk Two Moons" and other books by Sharron Creech. While this lands in the genre of a children's book I consider it more of a pre-teen book. While the reading level isn't at all difficult the themes in the book are very appropriate for tweens.

I wouldn't write off all "teen" labeled books while a large portion of those are teen romance they are some gems to be found. Many books can be found on both 'teen' and 'adult' reading lists. If you look through the list of "Best Young Adult Books" on Goodreads you can find books that I'd list as adult and some I'd list as for kids.

What about?

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH?
The Graveyard Book or Stardust by Neil Gaiman.
Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale.
An abridged version of Pride & Prejudice.
The Call of the Wild & other books by Jack London

My DD's first Pratchett was actually Equal Rites. She has now read all of Tiffany Aching and will have to fight me for The Shepherd's Crown when it arrives. I do think that the witch series is probably the best to read first for a tween girl - Equal Rites, Wyrd Sisters, Witches Abroad, Lords and Ladies, Maskerade. Next best is the Guards series - Guards! Guards!, Men At Arms, Feet of Clay, Jingo, Carpe Jugulum, The Fifth Elephant, Night Watch, Thud!, Snuff.

That should keep her going for a week or two.

If she likes the Pratchett, she should try Diana Wynne Jones. I recommend her books frequently. I'm always so surprised they are more popular in the US. She has written good kid/tween series of Chrostomancy books (kids), but also Howells Moving Castle (I like it better than the movie), and my favorites The Merlin Conspiracy and Deep Secret which are really more teen than kid.

My teen is currently enjoying the Pratchett books. I tried to get him interested when he was younger without much luck.

Don't forget the Dune trilogy, either.

I don't think The Chocolate War has stood the test of time. Tried to teach it to 9th graders a few years back and it was painful.



This is a wonderful but pretty challenging book. Personally, I think it would be tough for an 11 year old, even a gifted 11 year old.



This is a great and engaging book--but lots of adult themes, including a landowner who rapes his peasants.



Amen! Obviously, the Wrinkle in Time series is classic (and awesome for gifted characters), but the Wizard of Earthsea books are just as wonderful.

I would leave the adult Heinlen books for later - fathers initiating daughters into sex might start conversations you don't want. There is also quite a lot of mild sado masachism and sexism. I like them but you do need a filter.

There is also homosexuality in the Pern novels. This would worry me no more than any other sexuality but you may disagree. The three about Melody, harper of Pern are usually recommended for younger kids.

I just read whatever was around by 12 so maybe just read the ones listed and work out a system for choosing from the adult shelves? I read a lot that was probably not suitable.

Has she read Watership Downs?

Thanks! This is helpful. I agree, in that I read Wyrd Sisters and thought she might like it. (I did.) I'm a Pratchett newbie, though. We are all newly in love!

She has read Sharon Creech, Mrs. Frisby, and Diana Wynne Jones. The children's section, while not totally exhausted, is pretty thoroughly mined, and also I'm fairly up on it...but this way of thinking through the adult stuff is a new mindshift.

Oh, and I seem to recall that the Menolly (Pern Harper Hall) novels also have a subtext alluding to a romantic relationship between the very young Menolly and the much older Masterharper.

I read all the original Dragonrider and Dragonsong novels when I was about nine and ten, and, I think, just ignored anything that didn't make sense in my experience, which still left enough for a good read.

I second Watership Down. The Plague Dogs, also by Richard Adams, is also good, but a bit heavier for a tween (though I read it at about 12).

Another author:

Zilpha Keatley Snyder--The Changeling, Greensky trilogy, many others.

I also read Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber at around this age. Someone else may recall if there is a lot of potentially age-inappropriate material in it.

Oh, and T. H. White's The Once and Future King trilogy. The original "The Sword in the Stone" was quite child-friendly. The revision, which appears to be the canonical version nowadays, is a bit darker.

My tween loved Roger Lancelyn Green's classic re-tellings of "King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table" and "Robin Hood".

They have a romance between Menolly and the not-eyebrow-raisingly-older harper Sebell, which does get physical (in a very brief allusion that certainly went over my head when I read them originally). I don't think there's anything explicit between Menolly and the Masterharper in the Harper Hall books themselves. There might be something in the later books.

I also read the Dragonrider and Dragonsong books at a tween and ignored the stuff I didn't understand, will no ill effects. Oh, and The Ship Who Sang! And I remember loving Zilpha Keatly Snyder, too.

I loved loved loved Heinlein as a teenager and adult, but there are sexist/sexual material in his later books (but please note no actual sex). He writes strong women characters, but also throws in a bit of "dirty old man" into the mix, if that makes sense. However his short stories might be good choices. Here is a pretty good article that talks about Heinlein and his views of sexuality as portrayed in his books.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/02/books/review/heinleins-female-troubles.html?_r=0

The thing I truly love about Heinlein is his amazing creativity, and his sense of humor. I am a woman, and he is one of my favorite writers.

I do remember as a child loving the Dragonriders of Pern as well as the Amber series. I also loved all the mysteries… like Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes.

I am sure she may have read this already, but has she read any of the Mysterious Benedict Society series?

Don't forget the Dune Trilogy

She's read Zilpha Keatley Snyder and tried Mysterious Benedict (not her thing). You all are thinking of great stuff, but I was trying to come up with adult fiction that might work.


She has not read Dune and neither have I. It's appropriate? Once and Future King is on my list---forgot to put it up there. I'll edit the original post at some point.

Dune is sort of appropriate--depending on how you feel about a series of novels all premised on wars and political maneuvering over an addictive hallucinogen.

I did read the original trilogy at about this age.

My ds loves sci fi and read Dune when he was 11. I am *not* a sci fi fan so I've never read it, I just picked it up for him off of a big stack of books that included Jane Eyre etc on a B&N sale table thinking it looked like something he'd enjoy! (That's what happens with parental oversight when you've got 3 kids and two of them are 2e and all 3 of the kids plus their parents have crazy-busy lives lol!).

DS loved Dune and had a habit of reading it any chance he had, including while walking. One of the adults at his school who had read it in college and loved it saw ds reading it and was impressed... and... also asked me if I really thought he was ready to handle the maturity of the themes.... which of course I knew nothing about lol! By that time ds was already almost finished, and assured me he'd had no issues with it.

How's that for non-advice?

FWIW, my 13 year old is an avid reader and prefers popular fiction - not sure if your dd would be into anything she's into or not, but in an attempt to find her books that lasted a few hours longer than all the John Green books, I suggested a Jodi Picoult book and she loved it. You'd probably want to pick and choose those based on what level of mature themes you think your dd is ready for - but in general, another thing I've done with my dd is to think back through books I've read in my book club, or for both my dd and ds when they were around your dd's age I'd look through lists of recommended high school books or high school curriculum lists. I also found that it helped for me to occasionally throw a book at my kids (not literally lol!) that was in a genre outside their currently preferred narrow genres and tell them they had to read the first two chapters but could stop after that. They rarely stopped - it just took that small bit of nudging to get them to read something that they were thinking wouldn't be interesting to them.

Best wishes,

polarbear

I can totally relate- this was a tough reading period for my DD as well. All her friends seemed to love the YA stuff and she couldn't stand most of it. I also think we had some (subconscious) resistance to anything mom-reccomended...

I love polarbear's suggestions for sources; there are also good lists to be found on goodreads and other book sites, but you have to dig around to find what suits your needs. Also, you have probably tried this, but cultivating a relationship with a good librarian is priceless.

I know this is YA, but has she read The Book Thief? Another, that i believe is listed as "adult" fiction but is similar, is All the Light We Cannot See (Doerr). Both are Holocoaust/WW2 themed, but with great characters and beautiful writing.

What about Geraldine Brooks? I love her work; Year of Wonders is great, but she might enjoy People of the Book, Caleb's Crossing. I remeber enjoying March, but don't rmember it well enough to know if one has to have read Little Women first to really get it.

Definitely second Agatha Christie and PG Wodehouse, Amy Tan. DH recommended Michael Chrichton and Tom Clancy to our kids- i haven't read them so can't comment directly.

Peter Mayle has some lively, light travel stories, like a Year in Provence, which might be fun.

I have not yet gotten DD to read Barbara Kingsolver, but think she would love her work. I loved Poisonwood Bible, but would have to revisit it to make sure there is nothing objectionable- off the top of my head i think it would be fine.

Some random thoughts-
Abraham Vergese's My Own Country (about an Indian Infectious disease physician's alienation and assimilation into a Tenessee community, but also about the beginnings of the AIDS epidemic, so depends on your comfort with that).
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks- not fiction, but a great story (but is centered around cervical cancer and racial issues).
Life of Pi- kind of dense, with a lot of religious ruminations in the first part, but my DS is enjoying the philosophical ideas.
The Selected Works of TS Spivet- about a 12yo cartographer, kind of convoluted, but uses imagry/illustration heavily, visually really neat.
Louise Erdrich, Margaret Drabble- it's been a while since i read their work, but i think it would be appropriate.
Three Bags Full (Swann)- a mystery told from the perspective of a flock of sheep; quirky, funny.
Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society- a great British character story set during WW2
The Help- you might need to read to check, but i don't think there is anything objectionable in it (other than a lot of racism); my DD loved it, and must have been fairly young, because she had to ask what sh*t meant (and it's integral to the story...)
Ruth Reichl, Garlic and Sapphires (non-fiction, but a great read about her time as a NYT food critic) and Delicious, a novel
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle- beautiful writing, about a boy's deep comnection with his dog, but too slow for my DD at that age
Donna Leon mysteries- set in Venice, wonderful characters and descriptions, murders, but fairly gentle/benign violence-wise


I can check in DD's room for more favorites when she gets up, but that's all i've got for now. Good luck!

Thanks for additional suggestions! I thought about Life of Pi. She has a philosophical bent, though she's pretty ignorant about religion. She's also become interested in historical fiction. She has never liked mysteries (must be genetic--I don't care for them either), but I think she might like Wodehouse. She does not like war/military/violence themes, and I think is not too interested in full-on love themes (even if chaste), but light romance is probably okay. She is reading Little Women right now and enjoying it greatly.

Part of the reason for my question, btw, is that our choice of schools means that English/LA is not a strength. We knew this, but it's a shame, so I want to enrich outside of school. I'm willing to co-read and discuss, and she's into this idea. We did this a little this summer with Bradbury.

I would say she is obviously a strong reader, but not phenomenally strong. For some reason which I have never understood, her vocabulary lags behind what I would expect from her. (She has a Kindle now, which should help, except that I don't think she likes to use the dictionary feature.) However, I am always impressed with her thematic understanding. Vocab-wise, I wouldn't put her higher than 9th grade level. That puts plenty of adult books in reach, though.

Oh oh oh - I just thought of another one that I LOVED at that age - how about the James Herriot books, beginning with All Creatures Great and Small. Lovely writing, some sad parts where animals die (he's a vet), but lots of funny and happy parts, too. And I'm pretty sure there's nothing even remotely racy or violent.

There are also lots of short story compilations, but I think the books themselves paint a fuller picture.

Yes! I loved those books as a child, too.

Joy Adamson's "Born Free," about Elsa the lioness.

Leonard Wibberley, The Mouse that Roared

All of P.G. Wodehouse

Anne of Green Gables series--especially the later volumes

Would she come to you if something disturbed her? Or just do what i did and skip bits? I think most of us miss stuff at that age because we haven't got the background knowledge. I actually really liked Shakespeare at that age but i know a lot went over my head.

Thinking of YA stuff there seems to be a trend to make it real and for it to challenge. When i read i would mostly prefer not to read about the miserable experiences my neighbours might be having. I don't think domestic abuse is a suitable topic for a 12 year old or incest etc. I am not sure that i would consider a lot of of YA stuff suitable for a YA audience.

A YA title, but good: Suzanne Goldsmith, Washashore.