My 10 year old is looking for a book to read. She leans toward dystopian novels but maybe thats just because most series are. She has read, the Maze Runner series, the Hunger Games series, the Lunar Chronicles (awaiting the 4th book) also loves other books as well.
She just won a $20 gc for B&N and we're hoping to get ideas here. Has anyone heard of any new books worth reading?
TIA
ETA. She's read the divergent series, harry potter series, the giver quartet, all riordan with percy in it, a ton of new berry books and some others.
She's off to the bookstore with her pops. Just found out that the 4th book of the lunar chronicle is out and I also threw in a few of your recommendations. We'll see what she comes home with.
She did read and love A wrinkle in time but did not like the companion book too much so she passed on the series. She owns the Narnia Chronicles but only read the Magician's Nephew and lost interest (She was 8 then) She plans to read the rest soon. She read Wonder last year. I personally loved that book so much that I bought 10 copies and gave them to kids and all the 4th grade teachers last year.
She came home with the Unwanteds by Lisa McMann =). Thanks. I will continue to peek here for book recommendations.
Erica, she loves Cinder. It's part of the lunar chronicles. She is waiting for the final book (Winter) out it November. I read them too and enjoyed them.
1984
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
A Scanner Darkly
Fahrenheit 451
The Time Machine
These are all books my 11 year old has read she particularly enjoyed Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.
ender's game by orson scott card (i'm mad at him, and don't like a lot of the subsequent books in the series, but this one is seriously brilliant.)
moongather by jo clayton (although there is a mild lesbian theme, nothing graphic.)
the hero and the crown by robin mckinley.
the forgotten beasts of eld by patricia a mckillip.
love that you have a reader!
khairete
S.
I have to agree with Dana K's suggestion that if she reads the Narnia series -- one of my all-time favorites as a kid, read them 8 times each -- that she NOT start with The Magician's Nephew. It drives me crazy that the publishers decided to change the original order of the books.
It's so much more exciting to read the books and then find out a lot of the history after the fact. You go, "Oh, so THAT's why the wardrobe led to Narnia, so THAT's why the professor believed them, so THAT's where the witch came from" etc.
Wonderful books, she should read them if she hasn't already. But be sure to follow the original order. They may have changed the order of some of the other books in the series, as well.
The Tripods, a trilogy by John Christopher (The White Mountain, The City of Gold and Lead, The Pool of Fire) - Loved them as a child. Apparently there is a prequel published 20 years later - haven't read it.
The Chronicles of Narnia - Start with the Lion, the witch and the wardrobe - NOT The Magician's Nephew which is numbered #1.
The Wrinkle in Time trilogy by Madeline L'Engle. The first is by far the best.
My son is currently reading the Heroes of Olympus/Percy Jackson series and loves them.
The Wildwood Chronicles by Colin Melot.
I would NOT give a 10 year old Animal Farm any sooner than I would give them Clockwork Orange. It is much deeper and more depressing than it appears on the surface. Not an elementary age book.
ETA: She should try Narnia again. I HATED the Magician's Nephew and loved the other books. Never would have gotten through the series if I had read it first. It is very different from the others.
Hobbit and Lord of Rings trilogy? Just a thought. May be too young ..
She's probably already read Harry Potter, but if she hasn't, she should.
Most of my suggestions probably won't fit the dystopian society genre, but as a reading teacher I "force" my kids to expand their genre selections.
Cinder and the books that follow it might be OK. You might want to read them ahead of time to see if they are age appropriate. Cinder is a retelling of Cinderella. Cinder is a cyborg.
A Wrinkle in Time would be a good one.
The Grimm Legacy and The Wells Bequest are fun. They take place in a library where you can check out items from the Grimm fairy tales and H. G. Wells and other science fiction books.
The 5th grade students at my school have loved the book Wonder and the book Out of My Mind. They talk about them nonstop. El Deafo is a graphic novel that my daughter loved!!
Eye of the Storm is a futuristic novel that involves storm manipulation to keep control of a community. Sky Jumpers is another futuristic novel that takes place after WWIII. Winter of the Robots is another good one.
Keeper of Lost Cities and it's sequel have a little but if a Harry Potter feel to them.
Any of Wendy Mass's books are good.
Escape from Mr. Limoncello's Library is a fun read for book nerds.
My favorite series at that age was Anne of Green Gables.
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi was a favorite of mine when I was her age.
Not dystopian, but Come a Stranger by Cynthia Voigt.
And The Pushcart War, it is very old but so good.
The Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy might be a bit old for her now, but maybe keep it in mind for the future. Laini Taylor is the author.
Brave New World and 1984 are classic dystopian novels, she might like those.
Depending on your daughter's maturity and your comfort level, I would add Brave New World and This Perfect Day. She might also like Island of the Blue Dolphins, Hatchet, My Side of the Mountain, the Chocolate Wars, The Bumblebee Flies Anyway, Flowers for Algernon, Ender's Game.
These are some books recommended for 4th & 5th grade kiddos through Ambleside Online (we homeschool using AO but the free reading books are outstanding suggestions for everyone). Keep in mind that most of these are classics or at least older as the curriculum is based on older "living books." Perhaps you'll find some that will interest her (oh, the authors mentioned are typically the original author & not a retelling - this is important!):
Black Beauty, by Anna Sewell
Pollyanna, by Eleanor Porter
The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Railway Children, by Edith Nesbit
A Book of Golden Deeds, by Charlotte Yonge
Bambi, by Felix Salten
The Chronicles of Narnia series, by C.S. Lewis
Little Britches series, by Ralph Moody
The Borrowers, by Mary Norton
Lassie Come Home, by Eric Knight
Gentle Ben, by Walt Morey
Gone Away Lake, by Elizabeth Enright
Thimble Summer, by Elizabeth Enright
Return To Gone Away, by Elizabeth Enright
By the Shores of Silver Lake, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Peterkin Papers, by Lucretia Hale
Calico Captive or The Sign of the Beaver, by Elizabeth George Speare
Johnny Tremain, by Esther Forbes
Tree of Freedom, by Rebecca Caudill
Amos Fortune, Free Man, by Elizabeth Yates
The Reb and the Redcoats, by Constance Savery (British view of revolution)
Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott
A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens
Captains Courageous, by Rudyard Kipling
Puck of Pook's Hill, by Rudyard Kipling
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain
The Prince and the Pauper, by Mark Twain
Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson
Lad: A Dog (or another book in the Lad series), by Albert Payson Terhune
The Treasure Seekers, by Edith Nesbit
The Wouldbegoods, by Edith Nesbit
Anne of Green Gables, by Lucy Maud Montgomery
The Long Winter, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Little Town on the Prairie, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
These Happy Golden Years, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The First Four Years, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, by Kate Douglas Wiggin
Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates, by Mary Mapes Dodge
Michael Faraday, Father of Electronics, by Charles Ludwig
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch, by Jean Lee Latham
Rifles for Watie, by Harold Keith
Across Five Aprils, by Irene Hunt
Rilla of Ingleside, by Lucy Maud Montgomery; shows WWI effects on a community.
Falcons of France, by Charles Nordhoff, James Norman Hall
Goodbye Mr. Chips, by James Hilton
The Story of My Life, by Helen Keller
Justin Morgan had a Horse, by Marguerite Henry
Has she read the Redwall series?
My 11 yr. old book nerd also loves this genre. She recommends: Heroes of Olympus, The Book Thief, Animal Farm and The Giver. Hope this helps a bit. If she thinks of any others, I'll add them!
L.
has she read walk two moons and chasing red bird? << love those stories. also, where the red fern grows was and is a favorite..
additionally, sign of the beaver, witch of blackbird pond, old yeller (sad but really good) belle prater's boy, Z for Zachariah (might be a little older for her) and The Bronze Bow.
what about the divergent series? Also I really liked the faire folk series by Gillian Summers. Look at those ones I bet she would like them.
When her mother dies, fifteen-year-old Keelie Heartwood is forced to leave her beloved California to live with her nomadic father at a renaissance festival in Colorado. After arriving, Keelie finds men in tights and women in trailer trash-tight bodices roaming half-drunk, calling each other lady and lord even after closing time! Playacting the Dark Ages is an L.A. girl’s worst nightmare.
Keelie has a plan to ditch this medieval geekland ASAP, but while she plots, strange things start happening?eerie, yet familiar. When Keelie starts seeing fairies and communicating with trees, she uncovers a secret that links her to a community of elves. As Keelie tries to come to grips with her elfin roots, disaster strikes, and Keelie’s identity isn’t the only thing that’s threatened.
One part human determination and one part elfin magic, Keelie Heartwood is a witty new heroine in a world where fantasy and reality mix with extraordinary results.
Maggie St ie fv at er - shiver series and several others.
Has she read the Uglies series by Scott Westerfield? There is a trilogy, then a partially connected 4th book. Uglies, Pretties, Specials, and Extras.
Damn. I'm really impressed by her reading level and interest. Keep it up. I have an 11 year old who struggles with reading comprehension and reading in general. It's such a gift when they can read so well. I was like that. I read classic books such as Trumpet of the Swan, Island of the Blue Dolphins, and Follow My Leader to my son.
One I'd suggest, which probably is one of my favorites is Ayn Rands " Anthem". A very short read, but such a great one.
I have always found teachers and librarians to be the best resources for what's currently hot in the YA genre.
My son was an avid reader and his teachers and school librarian were always his go to people for this kind of thing!
For what it's worth maybe she would like the Wrinkle in Time series? That was my favorite as a kid.
The Giver.
The Host.
