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Joined: Dec 2009
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Hi,
My DD 6.5 is currently reading Wolves of the Beyond and Guardians of Ga'Hoole. She loves animals and animal facts, and magic. The last book she read was lexile 850ish. I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions for books at about this level that have strong, smart females in them.
thanks!
Last edited by TwinkleToes; 01/12/13 06:06 AM.
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Joined: Apr 2010
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Terry Pratchett, The Wee Free Men. I have no idea about lexile, but this is a funny book with heart and a great female character. Could be a read-aloud.
DeeDee
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Joined: Dec 2010
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Harry Potter
The Penderwicks
Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
From the mixed up files...
Fabelhaven
Ramona Quimby books
The Railway Children
DD recommends Percy Jackson (though I'd recommend you wait until a bit older)
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Your dd sounds just like my dd, 6. She just brought Guardians of Ga'Hoole home from the library. She just finished reading Fire Within, a series about dragons. There's a 10yo girl character. Before that, Charlotte's Web.
Other animal/mythical creature books:
Five Children and It
The Trumpet of the Swan
Magician's Elephant
Edward Tulane-- really anything by Kate DiCamillo
Wonderstruck (one of the main characters is a girl)
Betsy Tacy series (100 years old, about the enduring friendship of two girls, starting at about age 6)
The Penderwicks-- about 3 sisters
The Mysterious Benedict Society has interesting girl characters
Island of the Blue Dolphin
ETA:
The Secret Zoo is about a young girl and zoo animals (we have, but haven't read yet)
A Dolphin Named Bob
Last edited by syoblrig; 01/12/13 10:36 AM.
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http://www.lexile.com/fab/This is where you can put in a lexile level and it will find books for you at that level.
...reading is pleasure, not just something teachers make you do in school.~B. Cleary
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Secret series by Pseudonymous Bosch - Cass (Cassandra) is the main character in the series. I highly recommend it. It's somewhat similar to MBS, though I think it's a bit snappier and got more twists and plots. There's also considerably more humor. Lots of magic, time travel, and mystery involved. Though the author doesn't claim Cass is gifted outright, there's no doubt that she is but not a more traditional way.
Terry Pratchett's Wee Free Men is a good suggestion. It's about a girl who becomes a witch and plays with magic.
Dahl's Matilda might be an option, though I think that's got a lower lexile score than the secret series or MBS but I'm not positive. Most of Dahl's books are aimed at 4th grade and books with a lexile score of 850L are aimed at 5th/6th graders. Matilda is a gifted girl.
Of course, there's the classics like Little Women, Alice in Wonderland, Dr. Doolittle.
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DD recommends A Wrinkle in Time, The Little Princess and Harry Potter.
I was wondering about All of a Kind Family, the Little House Books or Anne of Green Gables. We also listened to an interesting book called The Thirteenth Floor were a boy and his sister, who is a lawyer, get magically transported back to Salem at the time of the witch trials. It was fun and very interesting. The Sisters Grimm could be good but not sure of the typical age range. Also want to reiterate about The Penderwicks and From the Mixed of Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankwiler. And the kids in Mysterious Benedict Society are PG - there are indeed some very interesting girls in these.
DH suggests Peter Pan.
ETA: The Secret Garden
Last edited by Pemberley; 01/12/13 12:27 PM.
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Lemony Snicket S. of Unfortunate Events.
The following are very good, but more realistic fiction.
Boxcar Children
Nancy Drew
Trixie Belden (ideal for slightly younger kids)
Elizabeth Enright's books-- Gone Away Lake, Thimble Summer, etc.
Lois Lowry has some very good books with female protagonists as well.
Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood, and Ginny Weasely are pretty strong female roles in the Harry Potter series. There are some strong female protagonists in the Mistmantle Chronicles and in the Redwall series, too. Those would all be appealing to a girl with this set of interests. The Warriors books will, as well-- I'm sad to say. Those books are really dreadfully written, unfortunately, but there's a reason that so many girls find them so appealing. So much high fantasy is about boys-boys-boys.
Watership Down? (Might be a bit much for her manage right now in terms of emotional content-- it is quite intense.)
The Spiderwicke Chronicles. This would be just about ideal, I'll bet.
Schr�dinger's cat walks into a bar. And doesn't.
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Thank you all so much. I appreciate all the suggestions and plan on printing them out for a trip to the library. I want to keep things interesting and vobabulary stimulating enough, yet keep tabs on the content. Many of these suggestions sound right on the mark. I could just plug in lexile numbers, but I knew the people on this board would have some wonderful suggestions.
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These may be for the next round, after the excellent suggestions above (DD9 just read them last year, but I don't keep track of lexile levels or reading levels, for that matter)--
Forester, "The Girl Who Could Fly" (like X-men as kids)
Georgia Byng, Molly Moon series
Pippi Longstocking (!!) but you may remember it is a little
ridiculous (she can lift a horse with one hand or something; sorry I can't remember)
the Narnia series had Lucy and Susan, although IIRC much of the action focused on boys and there might have been some slightly old fashioned stereotypic stuff
Anne of Green Gables??
LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE!!! (but you might want to skip the second book, Farmer Boy, which you may remember is very interesting but about Almanzo's childhood and full of neat details about how they made stuff back then--cool to me now, but kind of boring for DD)
Also, not what you asked for, but DD's friends last year were enjoying the Warriors series (about cats). I thought it was pretty violent but the kids all seemed to love it (especially the girls). And a great lead-in to the Hunger Games, in case your DD picks it up off the coffee table where DH had left it and gets halfway through before you notice! :0
(fortunately DD is pretty resistant to getting upset about violence, but I know a lot of kids do get bothered, so maybe you should browse through the Warriors if you're thinking about letting your DD read one).
Last edited by Dbat; 01/12/13 04:02 PM.
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