November 2024
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    38 Comments

    1. The Hunger Games

      Triskellion

      The Testing

      Divergent

      These were my staple series from age 10-13 and much loved for a long time.

    2. I was really into Artemis Fowl at that age. Also Skullduggery Pleasant (though the series „grew up“ with my generation – at the beginning, the main character is 12, in the more recent books she’s in her early/mid 20s)

    3. TAMORA PIERCE!!! Sorry for the all caps but she is massively underrated but like half of the smartest women I know as adults were total Tamora Pierce fans at 11. There’s some stuff that’s a bit dated (a couple younger woman/older man romances) but I really feel like she is the gold standard for female character fantasy. It’s high fantasy (medieval settings etc) but I think they’re amazing and so so fun. You could start with Protector of the Small quartet for lady knight stuff or the Circle Quartet for more magic school energy. I reread them to this day — smart, funny, honest, exciting. 

      I would also recommend Diana Wynne Jones and the Tiffany Aching series by Terry Pratchett. Diana Wynne Jones has lots of wonderful books, Howls Moving Castle or the Chrestomanci books might be fun to start. 

    4. SkyOfFallingWater on

      Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

      Ronia the Robber’s Daughter by Astrid Lindgren

      The Hounds of the Morrigan by Pat O’Shea

      Tanglewreck by Jeanette Winterson

    5. Fluffy_Duck_Slippers on

      The Secret Garden by Burnett. Anne of Green Gables by Montgomery. St Claires or Mallory Towers by Enid Blyton. All my favs growing up

    6. Intelligent_Twist_14 on

      Michelle Paver’s Chronicles of ancient darkness series is incredible!
      {Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver} is the first.

    7. Dull_Upstairs4999 on

      The Time Quintet by Madeline L’Engel. It’s the 5-part series that starts with A Wrinkle in Time.

      Read the first three around the same age as your daughter, but because the final two were published after I’d gotten a little older and out of that style of book, I never went back to finish. Still, though, those first three books were fantastic to me at that age.

    8. **His Dark Materials** trilogy.

      The main character is a girl and started out around that age.

      There’s also a prequel that features other characters elwhen Lyra is an infant and a sequel—but it is a cliffhanger, and I really don’t know where it’s going.

      The main trilogy, though, starting with **The Golden Compass**, is really fantastic.

    9. Seconding (or thirding) the Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffrey. Also supporting the Artemis Fowl series (much better than the movie).

      Also the Cinder series depending on maturity level.

    10. – Gregor the Overlander (The Underland Chronicles) by Suzanne Collins – 5 book series, I still own my copies of these books to this day. They are so good and always, always, always on my recommended lists for youngins.

      – Inkheart by Cornelia Funke – This trilogy is so much fun, especially for fans of reading.

      – The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins – these books are hyped a lot, but they deserve it — they hold up even all these years later.

      – Gone by Michael Grant – this is a 6 book series, very entertaining.

      These are a few series I read as a teen that I loved at the time, but love less now that I’m 30:

      – The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

      – Divergent by Veronica Roth

      – The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

      – Uglies by Scott Westerfield

      – The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod by Heather Brewer

      – The Maze Runner by James Dashner

    11. That was about the age I started reading Discworld by Terry Pratchett. Wyrd Sisters is a great first entry into the series, and it’s perfect for readers her age!

    12. Paul Coelho or Michael Scott? Whichever she might like the other

      David Almond: Skellig

      Isabel Allende: City of the Beasts, Kingdom of theDragon

      Eoin Colfer: the Artemis Fowl books

      Charlie Fletcher: Stoneheart, Ironhand, SilvertongueMichele Paver: Chronicles of Darkness starting Wolf Brother

      Cornelia Funke: Inkheart, Inkspell, Inkdeath

      CS Lewis: Chronicles of Narnia

      Carolyn Keene: the Nancy Drew books

      Mary Norton: the Borrowers

      Philip Pullman: Northern Lights, the Subtle Knife, the Amber Spyglass

      Noel Streatfeild: Ballet Shoes

      Jonathan Stroud: the Bartimaeus Books eg the Amulet of Samarkand

      JRR Tolkien: the Hobbit

      TH White: the Sword in the Stone

      Laura Ingalls Wilder: Little House in the Big Woods, Little House on the Praire etc

    13. AsphodeleSauvage on

      Oooh so she likes fantasy! That’s my area.

      -Check out other series Rick Riordan wrote after Percy Jackson: *Heroes of Olympus* and *Trials of Apollo* are amazing and follow up Percy Jackson directly; *Magnus Chase* and *The Kane Chronicles* are awesome too! He also started a publishing line , Rick Riordan Presents, which features fantasy books about mythologies from around the entire world (ex : the *Aru Shah* series).

      -Brandon Mull’s series *Fablehaven* and its follow-up series *Dragonwatch* are in the same vein as PJO, HP and KOTLC and they’re well-written and compelling. His trilogy *Beyonders* is also some of the best fantasy I’ve read even now that I’m an adult.

      -C.S. Lewis’ *Narnia* series is a must-read given her tastes. I’d recommend Philip Pullman’s trilogy *His Dark Materials* too, but it depends on her maturity level and the type of topics she’s interested in.

      -The *Inkheart* trilogy (soon to be a tetralogy) by Cornelia Funke is right up her alley and pure goodness, just like her *Dragonrider* trilogy.

      -*The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel* series by Michael Scott is wonderful as well, if she likes mythology.

      -Some I haven’t read but heard excellent things about by people I trust: *The School for good and evil* and the Chris Colfer books.

      You can send me a message if you want to know more about the books’ themes etc!

    14. The Witch of Blackbird Pond

      A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

      Ella Enchanted

      Cheaper by the Dozen

      Jurassic Park

      And all the Roald Dahl books

    15. IcyPraline7369 on

      *My Side of the Mountain* trilogy, *The Borrowers*, or *Chitty Chitty Bang Bang* (nothing like the movie)

    16. The Bartimaeus Sequence – a series of books about a young magician and a djinni.
      Artemis Fowl – books about a criminal mastermind kid and fairies.
      The disc world series of books.

    17. It’s been mentioned already but it’s vital your kid reads His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman. I feel this so strongly because I read the first as an 11 y/o girl myself so I grew up alongside Lyra and these books still impact how I view the world today at 38 (and a half). Not that anyone asked but yes, the wait for them to be published was excruciating!

      ‘Northern Lights’, ‘The Subtle Knife’ and ‘The Amber Spyglass’

      It’s absolute imagination fuel and the protagonist is an excellent role model. Enjoy.

    18. Bunnicula and Tuck Everlasting!!

      Bunnicula, a story about a vampire bunny, is narrated by the family dog and is hilarious.
      Tuck Everlasting is a love story about living forever that changed my childhood.

    19. The Tiffany Aching series by Terry Pratchett! It’s about a young witch learning and coming into her own. They are funny and smart and some of my favorite ever books!

    20. PerpetuallyLurking on

      Terry Pratchett’s Tiffany Aching books! The first is The Wee Free Men. She’ll love Tiffany! Pratchett is SO GOOD! His other Discworld book for young readers is The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents which is also quite the story! Most of the Discworld books wouldn’t be inappropriate for her; all the best “adult” jokes will just go over her head for now. She’d probably like Monstrous Regiment – a young girl disguises herself to join the army and find her brother and meets some very fun friends. You’d probably like it too. But definitely try The Wee Free Men and its sequels. There is more where that came from if she likes it!

    21. A Wrinkle in Time series by Madeleine L’Engle

      Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld

      Anne of Green Gables series by LM Montgomery

      The Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson

    22. Island of the Blue Dolphin. About a girl and her dog surviving on their own. My favorite book when I was that age.

    23. Fablehaven by Brandon Mull.
      All Tamora Pierce – (my favorite start with the song of the lioness series) wonderful world building with great female characters whose stories start at around 11 years old – there’s magic every character has to work hard for what they hope to achieve, which I think is great – nothing is handed to them even if there’s destiny involved.
      Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer – kid antihero.
      Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede about an unconventional princess who decides to be a dragons princess (which is still very appropriate thing for a princess to do 🙂 ).

    24. The Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce! Anything by her, honestly, but the Alanna books are a great place to start.

    25. Un Lun Dun by China Meiville. It’s a great little story with a strong female protagonist and a wonderfully creative premise

    26. gradschoolforhorses on

      Gallagher Girls by Ally Carter. About girls who go to a school for spies! I loved it when I was her age

    27. When I was 11 (summer before 6th grade) I read Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton and it blew my mind. I considered that my first adult book and I was hooked after that. I’d also recommend Holes.

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