"A mind blowing novel for a 12 year old girl" - recommendations?

[Orang Utan]

Well any of the books people have suggested?

i meant the kids - i can't speak for each one of them!

 

[rekil]

 

[Belushi]

it depends on the background of the child, but i have found that urban working class kids do not in general identify with a lot of old kids' fiction cos it is not written for them. i loved swallows and amazons but only cos i identified with the kids - they were like how i imagined my parents were when i was younger.

I loved it even though I knew my parents had never been anything like that

 

[Orang Utan]

I suppose if you were suddenly made responsible for broadening the mind of a very thick and unthinkingly racist 12 year old then it would be helpful. I was imagining a charming red-headed OU niece, though.

well, her Noughts & Crosses books are very popular with the kids at my school who are mostly of African origin.

 

[Maurice Picarda]

^
That's known as the "Parsons Grip" - used by booksellers and reviewers to avoid contamination when handling trite content.

 

[Maurice Picarda]

well, her Noughts & Crosses books are very popular with the kids at my school who are mostly of African origin.

And who have probably thought a fair bit about racism already. Other than the reversal trick, they aren't exactly stretching.

 

[Orang Utan]

I loved it even though I knew my parents had never been anything like that

well with the odd exception, i have found that kids are not interested in older books - I knew one Kurdish girl who loved Enid Blyton, but otherwise they want contemporary books - dystopian thrillers, misery memoirs, anything to do with kidnapping/abduction

 

[Orang Utan]

And who have probably thought a fair bit about racism already. Other than the reversal trick, they aren't exactly stretching.

it does make them think though. she's a good writer and ought to be recommended to all kids

 

[Maurice Picarda]

well with the odd exception, i have found that kids are not interested in older books - I knew one Kurdish girl who loved Enid Blyton, but otherwise they want contemporary books - dystopian thrillers, misery memoirs, anything to do with kidnapping/abduction

So they want The Bunker Diary then?

 

[Orang Utan]

So they want The Bunker Diary then?

some do, yes! my experience is limited though. all schools are different!

 

[Bonfirelight]

tbf I was being serious - I'd recommend that book to anyone who hadn't read it, but then I don't know much about 12 year olds.
I did read a good book called Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel that might be more the thing you're after.

 

[Orang Utan]

tbf I was being serious - I'd recommend that book to anyone who hadn't read it, but then I don't know much about 12 year olds.
I did read a good book called Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel that might be more the thing you're after.

it would be a bit of a challenge for many 12 year olds.
Station Eleven is great - i put it in my library after reading it, but it's more suitable for older kids/young adults.

 

[miss direct]

I loved http://www.amazon.co.uk/Junk-Melvin...s&ie=UTF8&qid=1446490506&sr=1-1&keywords=junk
but would gobble up all books even if most adults would consider them unsuitable for my age.

 

[Bonfirelight]

it would be a bit of a challenge for many 12 year olds.
Station Eleven is great - i put it in my library after reading it, but it's more suitable for older kids/young adults.

fine. how about something by Neil Gaiman? The Ocean At The End of the Lane perhaps?

 

[Orang Utan]

fine. how about something by Neil Gaiman? The Ocean At The End of the Lane perhaps?

you picked one of his adult books about an adult looking back on his childhood.

 

[Bonfirelight]

you picked one of his adult books about an adult looking back on his childhood.

felt more like a kids book to me. witches and ghosts and all that..

you're hard to please.

how about Roy Keanes autobiography?

 

[Orang Utan]

it's not me who's hard to please! now you know what my job feels like sometimes!

 

[zoooo]

I read a lot of Stephen King when I was a 12 year old girl. His short story books are certainly mind blowing. (And only messed me up a teeny bit...)

 

[Orang Utan]

I read a lot of Stephen King when I was a 12 year old girl. His short story books are certainly mind blowing. (And only messed me up a teeny bit...)

I loved him when i was that age too. I was so pleased recently when a 15 year old lad told me he was reading The Shining

 

[Bonfirelight]

it's not me who's hard to please! now you know what my job feels like sometimes!

got it.

The Old Man And The Sea.

it's short, easy to read and what 12 year old girl doesn't empathise with struggles of an old Cuban fisherman?

 

[weepiper]

it depends on the background of the child, but i have found that urban working class kids do not in general identify with a lot of old kids' fiction cos it is not written for them. i loved swallows and amazons but only cos i identified with the kids - they were like how i imagined my parents were when i was younger.

What about the Borrible books? Still maybe a bit 'old' (early-mid 80s) but very urban and gritty. I loved them at about that age.

The Borrible Trilogy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[purenarcotic]

well with the odd exception, i have found that kids are not interested in older books - I knew one Kurdish girl who loved Enid Blyton, but otherwise they want contemporary books - dystopian thrillers, misery memoirs, anything to do with kidnapping/abduction

Anne Fine's The Tulip Touch might appeal, it has themes of arson and stuff in it. It's 90s so not modern modern but not ancient.

 

[purenarcotic]

The Whitby Witches series by Robin Jarvis is also pretty bleak and suitably dystopian (and also really funny in places). Great books.

 

[eoin_k]

WW2 kicked Edwardian Kids' books up the arse:The Silver Sword, Carrie's War and The Machine Gunners all had a bit of grit about them.... Not sure if they are a bit young though.

 

[Agent Sparrow]

Does it have to be a kid's book?

 

[Orang Utan]

Does it have to be a kid's book?

not necessarily

 

[prunus]

The Alan Garners suggested are indeed marvellous. I would also add The Wizard of the Pigeons (Megan Lindholm (pen-name of Robin Hobb who is still writing some of the best epic fantasy books around - she is marvellous)) to the to-consider list.

E2a: something more recent: Nation, by Terry Pratchett (not a discworld novel). Some mind-blowing ideas in there, with Pratchett's trademark whirlwind literary style to boot.

 

[Agent Sparrow]

not necessarily

Well I could tell you the book that blew my mind aged 11 but now I'm wondering if it's a bit of a silly suggestion

 

[iona]

I was a 12 year old girl the first time I read American Psycho and Lunar Park; those were pretty mind-blowing at the time (and probably entirely inappropriate...)

Not sure they're mind-blowing exactly but the Gone series by Michael Grant
Grant and Maximum Ride series by James Patterson would be good for that age group.

 

[miss direct]

I'd really suggest giving more info about the child in question...some kids hate fantasy, some love it..