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My daughter hasn't asked for much for Christmas but she wants books. She's a fan of Raina Telgameier, she loves Harry Potter, and she tore through Hunger Games and the Divergent series. So she likes dark dystopian stuff but also lighter kid fare. She started reading the Maze Runner series a little while ago, but I am not sure if she liked it. I bought A Wrinkle in Time for her but she said she just couldn't get into it, much to my disappointment.

So she wants books but doesn't have any particular ones in mind. She seems to like reading series of books. I was thinking maybe the Chronicles of Prydain, which I loved as a kid, but she hasnt really seemed into fantasy as much as I was. I gave her the first book of Dealing With Dragons, which I loved as a kid and now, but she was kinda half-hearted about it and didn't finish it. I don't know. Also I know she's been reading some pretty dark stuff, but I dont want anything too dark.

Any recommendations? Thanks!

Has she read Chronicles of Narnia?

Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and The Silmarillian?

Fablehaven?

A Series of Unfortunate Events - Lemony Snicket series

Michael Vey series (I haven't read this, but I like the author's other books, which are very positive and heart felt types)

Edit to add: Inheritance series by Paolini - my son loved the first 2 books. I also read them. The last two books in the series I've never had a chance to read.

[This message edited by k8la at 11:00 AM, December 6th (Friday)]

The Eragon series was pretty good my son loved them.

The Maze runner series is really good too if she can get through the first book. But if she has seen the movies may not like to read it they differ a lot.

The Hobbit - That puts her ahead for mandatory reading in middle school.

To Kill a Mockingbird - loved that book when I was her age.

The Giver

The Lord of the Flies

Miss Perigrines home series

Lightening Thief series

Oh these are great! Thank you!

I have all the Chronicles somewhere. I have got to unpack my book boxes.

I don't know if this would be her thing but I have a banana who adored the Warriors books by Erin Hunter. They're a series about different clans of cats and how they survive/interact in the wild. I think they have powers, too?

I believe they're about 6th grade reading level... even so, my kid is 20 now and she'll still devour them as comfort reading.

[This message edited by wildbananas at 1:35 PM, December 6th (Friday)]

Bananas - I have never heard of those, sounds like fun mindless reading.

I may have to check them out myself.

Brandon Sanderson has a couple of YA series, and some of his adult stuff (excluding Stormlight, probably) would be fine for that age group, if a little more violent/intense.

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow – a school-age take on a 1984-esque story

Anger is a Gift by Mark Oshiro – not fantasy, but with themes of police brutality, from a teen perspective, so might be a bit more than you want.

The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper (one of my faves at that age, along with Narnia, and Wrinkle)

Ursula Vernon has kids books (Hamster Princess and Dragonbreath series’) but they’re more in the vein of diary of a wimpy kid

And Tor books publishes monthly (I think) listings of all their new YA releases, so tons of stuff there.

My childhood loves included

All the dragon books by Anne McCaffrey

The Xanth series by Piers Anthony

Incarnations of Immortality by Piers Anthony

Tolkien, of course

My kids enjoyed the Hunger Games, as well as the Maze Runner series, Harry Potter, The Percy Jackson zeroes by Rick Riordan, Rangers Apprentice series by John Flanagan, to name a few.

In non fantasy, I read all the Black Stallion books. Still have them, somewhere.

I was going to recommend

Lois Lowry

The Giver Quartet:

The Giver

Gathering Blue

The Messenger

and

The Son

Also by Lois Lowry

Numbering the Stars

Laurie Anderson

Speak

Shout

Scott Westerfield

The Uglies

The Pretties

The Specials

The Extras

Margaret Peterson Haddix

The Shadow Children Series

Jane Yolen

The Devi's Arithmetic

Oooh the Mrs Peregrine's series is awesome! I actually enjoy those a lot.

How is she on non-fiction? Bill Bryson is really fun.

Lord of the Rings series, Chronicles of Narnia, and I also loved the Little House on the Prarie series.

And I LOOOOOVED Dean Koontz when I was her age (still do, come to that ). He doesn't do as many series, but the Odd Thomas series was good (and had I think 8 books) and the Seize the Night series (which was my personal favorite).

I'll have to revisit my kid shelf...

Would she like Gary Paulsen books? Hatchet, voyage of the frog, Dogsong, etc. not fantasy but survival.

And if so, there’s also island of the blu dolphins and Julie of the wolves and my side of the mountain. Those are some oldies.

Oh- how about the Golden Compass series?

Oh and that one about those kids who fight the demons and the girl’s best friend turns into a vampire and the boy she likes might end up being her brother? It’s better than I made it out...

Minnesota, are you referring to the Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare?

Those were good. My oldest loved them. I enjoyed them, as well. Good YA books.

Margaret Peterson Haddix

The Shadow Children Series

seconding this.

The Caraval series

the Cinder series

the House of Night series by Cast

..hey, I've got a huge collection of 'MAD' magazines going back to the early 60's I can let you borrow...

just kidding..

seriously, I was also 10 when I read Farley Mowatt's "Lost in the Barrens", (Two Against the North) and the sequel, "Curse of the Viking Grave".

Enjoy...

smy

[This message edited by somanyyears at 7:13 PM, December 10th (Tuesday)]

Hatchet is really good too. And usually required school reading.

This is very far from fantasy and darkness, but has she ever read the Anne of Green Gables. books. I found a set of three at Ollies bargains for my grand daughter.

Children of Blood and Bone (and its sequel was just released, the name escapes me) is a great YA series that combines fantasy and magic. Definitely recommend for a Harry Potter fan.

The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, also a series, and the Nicholas Flamel character will already be familiar to her.

Among the Hidden was a YA dystopian novel I read around that age, it (along with The Giver) definitely exposed me to the genre.

Wrinkle in Time Series is very cool if she hasn't already read it.

In terms of "lighter kid fare," Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan is a fantastic story.

The Hobbit - That puts her ahead for mandatory reading in middle school.

This is my vote. It's actually a kids' book.

Well, I may have to argue with you on that barcher....

W2b and I were visiting a teacher of ours the Summer after we graduated from college, and Tolkien came up in the conversation. I had never heard of him, so our teacher grabbed The Hobbit and started reading it aloud. After a few minutes of that, I asked to borrow it.

Right now, I feel as if a 21 year old college graduate may be a 'kid,' so no argument - except that 21 is an adult in any society. Besides, W2b and I bonded over Tolkien, which led to some adult pleasures....

I met a very attractive girl that Summer on a bus ride from Toledo to St. Louis. We bonded over Tolkien, too, but I was hooked on W2b, so all we did was talk about hobbits and other books until we arrived. I don;t regret letting her go without even asking fro her phone number, but I still remember how pleasant the ride was.

IOW, Tolkien, even The Hobbit, can be a chick/man-magnet. Just sayin'....

[This message edited by sisoon at 3:19 PM, December 11th (Wednesday)]

I bought Magyk, by Angie Sage, for my son and read it first. It was good. I also recommend The Princess and the Goblin, by George MacDonald. It’s fantasy, but excellent.