A Year Down Yonder
A Long Way From Chicago
Both by Richard Peck
A teen age girl living in Chicago spends summers with her Grandmother on a central Illinois farm. The second book is a Newberry Honor Book.
It so happens that I've read both of these books. That is, Mrs. Hazlitt, who is a former 5th grade teacher and who is not averse to reading this kind of thing, read them to me. I was interested because I am a year or two older than Peck and grew up down the street from him in Decatur, Illinois. When Peck writes about central Illinois, he has the mindset and the language down cold. He is known for his ability to write sympathetically about teen girls and their problems.
Thinking of real adult literature, I wonder if your 14 year old could grasp Willa Cather's My Antonia. It's one of the all time greats about a girl who grown up on the plains.
I have a daughter who grew up reading and loved the Laura Ingles Wilder books: The Little House on the Prairie.
My sister and I were introduced to a british writer by the name of Terry Pratchett, when were young...
His books revolve around an alternate universe with a humorous Monty Python like twist. Brilliant!
http://www.co.uk.lspace.org/
Thanks,
Ceili
Thanks, Hazlitt and Ceili! I'll incorporate your suggestions in the list I present to my young friend...
Books to recommend...
The Diary of Anne Frank? Unless, of course, it's been forced on her at school, in which case she probably wouldn't appreciate it for a long time to come.
Roald Dahl for great humor.
There is an incredible variety of what all you can read. I would recommend -
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho,
Ivanhoe by Walter Scott,
The Prisoner of Zenda,
and 1984.
If she liked the teen narrator, she might fall in love with one of William Sarroyan's works: Tracy's Tiger, for example, is a teeny tiny novel, full od charm, but certainly not 'sweet'. At fourteen I adored (well, still do) Russian romanticism period, mostly Dostojevski - it just reads different when you're at that age, it's much more intense and fascinating. But if she doesn't like to read, that may not be the best idea. How about the good old Anna from Avonlea and Anna from the Green House? Perhaps too old-fashioned.
i have a neice of 14 who enjoys reading the redwall series by brian jaques? not sure.
anyway she told her mother that she enjoyed a television series based on the books. so we brought her an eppisode and she now owns all of them..
its based on medieval fiction
perhaps your friends daughter might be interested
I would suggest a one year subscription to Playgirl. It's all about the articles you know.
your welcome..
and if your still open to suggestions, the discworld series by terry pratchet are very popular to young adults now.. this is also a large series so if she is inrerested in one vol. she has the others to look forward to
Books to recommend...
Wow, Cosmicfilter, I didn't know anyone remembered The Prisoner of Zenda! Did you ever read the sequel, "Rupert of Hentzau"?
I remember the prisoner of zenda too!
She may enjoy tom clancy, although not teenage-narrated his stuff has action/adventure and some mystery.
I second Little House on the Prarie series,
The little prince,
The princess diaries,
and I suggest a wrinkle in time (by Madeline L' Engle).
C.S. Lewis' chronicles of narnia are good (although have strong christian undercurrents)
I have to second ehBeth on Madeleine L'Engle. A Wind in the Door and a Swiftly Tilting Planet are wonderful, scary, atmospheric books with a girl scientist heroine in a family headed by a scientist mom.
I grew up reading Laura Ingalls Wilder. Some boob my age didn't believe me when I told that to her: she thought Laura was just a television character. Her books are a lot like the Anne of Green Gables books, which I also grew up with, by Lucy Maud Montgomery and like Little Women. I almost think you have to be a history buff to appreciate them now.
Another trilogy that might interest her is the Earth Sea trilogy by Ursala Le Guinn.
Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird might tweak the girls interest. It has more in common with Montgomery-Wilder-Alcott but is very well written and more into this century.
A Circle of Friends by Maeve Binchy is also a good look at a young woman growing up and declaring herself although the movie was better than the book.
I heard Catcher in the Rye is a big favorite for teens. I didn't like it much, but if she likes teen narrators, she probably will.
When I was 14, I think I was reading Madeline L'Engle too, and some fantasy stuff by Melanie Rawn (The Ruins of Ambrai series).
Edit: Just remembered another really good series with a teen narrator - The Wizard series by Diane Duane (first book is "So you want to be a Wizard?"). It's actually slightly similar to the Madeline L'engle books.
Thanks for this suggestion, rufio, and to the others in this thread. As of the amount, I'm helping the kid in question with her driving. Books, alas, appear to be on the back burner.
Now that's a bad metaphor...
These books by Lois Lowry are narrated by kids, and are very good:
Anastasia Krupnik
The Giver
Gathering Blue
There's another one called Holes, but I can't remember the author. It's written from the point of view of a teenage boy who has been sent to a work camp instead of jail. It's well-written and an easy read, had to put down once you start it. I think they made a movie out of it.
Louis Sachar wrote holes. Great book.
