Book recommendations (for a 10 year old girl)?

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I know next to nothing about books for younger children. (Not too bad on the reading habits of adolescents, but younger than that is pretty much a mystery to me .)

So ... any book suggestions for a bright little 10 year old girl? The daughter of friends.
She's an avid reader, plays piano, enjoys ballet, likes drawing & painting, enjoys making & editing her own home movies (!) ....
I think she's read all of the Harry Potter books, if that helps.
She may sound like a snooty, uppity child, but she's isn't at all. Wink

Pretty down to earth, actually ...

Any suggestions would be most appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Olga

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@msolga,

You might find some ideas from this old thread from last year when Sozobe was asking for book recommendations for the Sozlet

http://able2know.org/topic/97527-1

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@Butrflynet,

Sozlet! Of course, Butrflynet! Why didn't I think if this?
(How old is Sozlet now, though? I know she's very bright, but are we in the right age bracket, interest-wise? Not sure.)

Thanks.

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@msolga,

Sozlet's eight... she's definitely interested in things that her friends' older sisters are interested in. (As in, the 10- and 11-year olds...)

Do you know if your friends' daughter has read the Lemony Snicket series? There seems to be a lot of overlap -- kids who like one (Harry Potter, Lemony Snicket) like the other -- and I just finished the series and was very impressed. It was written by a person who never thought he'd be writing a children's book (he'd published adult books first) and there are a lot of levels to it, to entertain lots of interest levels -- right up to adult former English majors. Wink

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this is a pretty cool book, and the main characters are two girls about twelve years old
Un Lun Dun

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f1/UnUnDun%281stEd%29.jpg

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@djjd62,

Thank you, djjd!

Just read the link & it sounds very interesting to me!

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@sozobe,

Ah thanks for that, Soz. I browsed through the thread after Butrflynet posted it & couldn't quite work out the age! (Gosh, eight already! Surprised

How time flies!)

You know, as I read your thread I was thinking possibly Lemony Snicket, too. I remembered the name as littlek often mentioned it in her posts.

I think I'm eventually going to end up at my favourite bookshop with a list of books to check out! This could be fun! Very Happy

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My daughter loved the Judy Moody series:

http://www.judymoody.com/

and the Charlie Bone books by Jennifer Nimmo:

http://www.jennynimmo.me.uk

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Ruskin Bond is one writer children Love. Most of his creations are set up in the local background of Himachal Pradesh, India, where he grew up. You can surely include some of him in the reading.

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Many thanks for your suggestions so far. I'm writing them down in preparation for a visit to Borders soon.

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Hmmm.... the Spiderwick series are based in myth and legend. Not as hard as Harry Potter, or as long. Avi is an excellent author.

In Massachusetts, students vote on their favorite new books each year. The 3-5MCBA books are therefore student recommended and reviewed <grin>. Here's a list from the website: http://www.salemstate.edu/education/mcba/ . I tinkered with it, you can get more info there.

Quote:

Grade levels suggested by School Library Journal are listed for each title.

Low Fourth: (age 9-ish)
The Year of the Dog
Clementine
Rickshaw Girl
Punished!
Martin Bridge: Ready for Take Off!

Fourth Grade (age 9-10)
The Homework Machine
Drita, My Homegirl
Regarding the Trees: A Splintered Saga Rooted in Secrets
Whales on Stilts: M.T. Anderson’s Thrilling Tales
Swordbird

Fifth Grade (age 10-11)
Chicken Boy
Each Little Bird That Sings
Free Baseball
The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs
The Sacrifice

Sixth Grade (age 11-12)
H.I.V.E.(Higher Institute for Villainous Education)
Counting on Grace
Shakespeare’s Secret
Double Identity
Gossamer (grade 6 read this this year - age 11-12

Advanced Sixth Grade
I, Coriander
Miracle on 49th Street
All of the Above
The Mysterious Benedict Society
Escape! The Story of the Great Houdini

1 Reply

@littlek,

Hey, k!
Long time no see! How are you?

I knew you'd be here eventually! Very Happy

That's quite a list. I have a bit of Googling to do! For this particular girl I suspect I'll be investigating the age 11 - 12 suggestions.

1 Reply

@msolga,

My computer has been reformatted. I am back! I'm well, and you? I have more suggestions in me somewhere, I just need to find them.

1 Reply

@littlek,

Quote:

My computer has been reformatted. I am back!

I was wondering where you'd gotten to, k.

Really nice to see you're back! Very Happy

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At that age I loved 'The Girl With the Silver Eyes' forgot the author. Anything by Madeleine L'Engle 'A Wrinkle in Time' and 'A Swiftly Tilting Planet' and many others by her. The 'Redwall' series by Brian Jacques is great. The 'Bunnicula' series by James Howe is also entertaining. 'Bridge to Terabithia' by Katherine Paterson. 'The Trouble With Tuck' by Theodore Taylor is a touching story about a young girl who deals with her beloved dog going blind. There is also the prerequisite 'Are You There God it's me Margaret', but I would probably let mom and dad handle that one.

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@Aldistar,

Aldistar - Bunnicula - love it! I also read A Wrinkle in Time.

I poked around school (7th grade - 12/13 year olds). But, I left the list at school. I do remember two. Creech's Chasing Redbird (about a 12 year old girl - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chasing_Redbird) and Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo ( http://www.katedicamillo.com/books/bowd.html )

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If she's read all of the Harry Potter books, what about "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman. It's the first book of a trilogy. The others titles are "The Subtle Knife" and "The Amber Spyglass". "The Golden Compass" was made into a movie fairly recently.

Also, there's "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe", debatably the first book in a series of seven, "The Chronicles of Narnia", by C.S. Lewis. I read that series, as did my daughter as a pre-teen.

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Agreeing about "Bunnicula: A Rabbit Tale of Mystery" and its sequels, well, two of them anyway, "Howliday Inn" and "The Celery Stalks at Midnight".

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I loved them too, in fact I still pull out the tattered copies of my youth and read them just for the heck of it. "Celery Stalks at Midnight' was my favorite. Same goes for all the books I listed, I still read them again every now and then.

1 Reply

@Aldistar,

I was reading Bunnicula to a group of second graders and could nearly not finish I was laughing so hard - the part where the cat is pounding the STEAK onto the bunny's chest.

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Book recommendations (for a 10 year old girl)?

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