[sheriL]

Santa always leaves a book in the stockings at our house. He's got most of the kids figured out, but I'm a little stuck on our oldest. She's 11 and is a very avid reader. Harry Potter is the top of the list of favorites, but right now I think there's a 3 way tie for 2nd place between the Twilight books, The Fire Within series (Chris D'Lacey), and the Inkheart series (Cornelia Funk). I've suggested Eragon to her, but since I suggested it, that pretty much guarantees she won't read that one for awhile!
She doesn't seem at all intimidated by big books (she's read the all of the Twilight books in the last 3 weeks), so book size isn't an issue, and seems to be a very good reader for her age. If any one has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them, both for stocking ideas (to pass on to Santa of course), and for ideas to pass on to her when she starts saying "what can I read?" It's great to have a reader, but sometimes its hard to keep up with them when they toss off 500 page books in a few days! Thanks!

[anna]

LOL - I was the same way at that age. Read everything, especially fantasy books.

I'd recommend David Eddings "Belgariad series. Five great books. The series continues with 5 more books called the "Mallorean" series. not as good as the Belgariad, but still good to read. I got all ten books for Christmas when I was 11, and I read them all between Christmas and New Years...
"Beauty" by Robin McKinley. All of her books are good, but Beauty is my favorite.
"Dealing with Dragons" and the rest of that series by Patricia Wrede are fun.
Inkheart and Inkspell by Cornelia Funk are good. A bit dark in places, but good reads. I keep waiting for her to write a third book in that series...
"The Goose Girl," "Enna Burning," and "River Secrets" by Shannon Hale are excellent. Also "The Princess Academy" by her is good too.
"The Giver" by Lois Lowery is sad, but good.

Those are just a few of the top of my head. Good for you (and Santa ) for encouraging reading! When I was in elementary school, my dad was the reading teacher at the high school. He'd pay me to read books and tell him about them. If you need more suggestions (or something besides Fantasy/Sci Fi), just say the word!

[Bobbi Jo]

Sheri:

Diana Wynne Jones is a favorite with my 11-year-old. "Howl's Moving Castle" (there's a movie but of course, the book is better!), "Castle In The Air," "Charmed Lives" and "The Lives of Christopher Chant" are good ones by her.

A couple of others by Robin McKinley that she would probably love are "The Hero and The Crown" and "The Blue Sword".

"Ella Enchanted", by Gail Carson Levine, the whole "Betsy-Tacy" series by Maud Hart Lovelace but especially the ones dealing with high school and beyond are wonderful if you can track them down (Amazon).

How fun to have a reader in the house! Good luck.

[sheilaj]

She might enjoy the "Narnia" series by CS Lewis. The series has christian allegorical undertones...nothing offensive but it might not fit with your ethos.

[SilverSwanMama]

sheilaj, on Nov 21 2008, 07:10 AM, said:

She might enjoy the "Narnia" series by CS Lewis. The series has christian allegorical undertones...nothing offensive but it might not fit with your ethos.

That's what I was going to suggest. These would keep her busy for a while!

I suppose she's past the Little House age?? I love those, but I was an avid reader as a kid, too, so I'm sure I finished them by the time I was 11. If she hasn't read them yet, though...

What about the Nancy Drew series? Is that too "apple pie" for her? I read almost all of the Nancy Drews. Love, love, love them!

I don't know, these might be too juvenile for her. Sounds like she's reading way beyond her age level.

[April Showers]

Sounds like she likes the same style books as my Charlotte (who is now 15 and on her way out the door to school) but would be more than happy to write up a favorites list a little later. She is an avid reader. I'll run this by my Annette (now 18) who also likes the same type of books. Every book you mentioned is sitting on my shelf.
A quick suggestion is The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C Wrede. They look pretty short, and I haven't read them, but Charlotte said they're fun. I see Anna already mentioned them.

[sweetaudrey]

When I was her age I was addicted to all of Lurleen McDaniel's books...they are all guaranteed to be tear jerkers though....not sure if she likes those. I'd say she is like a Nicholas Sparks for young readers. But, I've read all of her books, at least 25+ and she still writes.... HTH.

Oh, and Anna suggested "The Giver"- fantastic book if she hasn't already read that!

[StephanieB]

I'm not sure if these would interest her but there is a series called "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" and my 12 yr old son loved them. He reads alot of the same books your DD reads so maybe that's an option for her.

I know how you feel about finding books for them to read. It's great to have a reader but at the same time it gets a bit tough keeping them in good books.

[anna]

Oh - I was just thinking about the Percy Jackson series. My nephew has liked them a lot.

[sheriL]

Wow, thanks for all the wonderful suggestions - she's read quite a few, but there's lots there she hasn't - I need to type up some kind of master list for her now! We do have all the Narnia books sitting on the shelf, she read them all more than once. When the Prince Caspian movie came out, we had a good conversation about the symbolism in books, how she could learn a lot from CS Lewis.

[scrappylibrarian]

I love Rick Riordan for adventure and Gail Carson Levine for some Fantasy. There is also a fun adventure series started recently called The 39 Clues with books written by different YA authors. The second book comes out Dec 1 and there is an online game to go with it. I sell it to my school kiddos as a cross between Amazing Race and National Treasure. It will probably be a fairly easy read for her but she might enjoy it. If she enjoys Fantasy you might also look at Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson's Peter Pan books for a bit of a higher level read.

[debubbie]

I agree with Jennifer the Nancy Drew series is great!!! At that age I was into the Sweet Valley Twins series (the twins grow older as the series progresses), Fear Street series by R.L. Stine and Christopher Pike for more scary stuff.