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

[Pickman's model]

belle de jour, the novel the catherine deneuve film based on

 

[eoin_k]

My missus suggested Cynthia Voigt.
Also, The Hunger Games must be good, although I haven't read it.

 

[Sue]

My missus suggested Cynthia Voigt.
Also, The Hunger Games must be good, although I haven't read it.

The Hunger Games books are surprisingly good and lots of interesting themes and all that.

 

[Pickman's model]

the year of the french
the tenants of time
the end of the hunt
(all thomas flanagan)

 

[Orang Utan]

My missus suggested Cynthia Voigt.
Also, The Hunger Games must be good, although I haven't read it.

the first book is a masterpiece of suspense and has some great ideas in it too

 

[spanglechick]

i read a YA book called "before I fall" last year about an american high school girl re-living the day before she dies over and over again. It's an easy read, and not especially high-literature... but there's stuff there to make her think, and the characters and setting should appeal to most 12yo girls.

 

[Pickman's model]

the cat ate my gymsuit
go-go girls of the apocalypse

 

[Orang Utan]

i read a YA book called "before I fall" last year about an american high school girl re-living the day before she dies over and over again. It's an easy read, and not especially high-literature... but there's stuff there to make her think, and the characters and setting should appeal to most 12yo girls.

who wrote it? why does no-one remember authors? poor authors!
ETA: LAUREN OLIVER wrote it and it probably took her a long time in snatched minutes and hours while she was doing a full time job, as it's her debut, so a credit is even more deserved.

 

[toblerone3]

Although I am a bloke I actually have a list of everything I read when I was 12 and how much I enjoyed it. Based on this I would recommend

1. Midnight is a Place by Joan Aiken
2. The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper
3. Animal Farm by George Orwell

 

[Orang Utan]

They get made to read Animal Farm anyway. Way to ruin a good book.

 

[Pickman's model]

who wrote it? why does no-one remember authors? poor authors!

i thought you were some sort of librarian, so this should present little difficulty to you

 

[Orang Utan]

i thought you were some sort of librarian, so this should present little difficulty to you

that's not the point.

 

[SpookyFrank]

They get made to read Animal Farm anyway. Way to ruin a good book.

They make you read Animal Farm but they don't teach you about the Soviet Union in history class

 

[Orang Utan]

They make you read Animal Farm but they don't teach you about the Soviet Union in history class

they do at gcse but that's two years too late

 

[SpookyFrank]

My recommendation would be Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut.

 

[spanglechick]

who wrote it? why does no-one remember authors? poor authors!
ETA: LAUREN OLIVER wrote it and it probably took her a long time in snatched minutes and hours while she was doing a full time job, as it's her debut, so a credit is even more deserved.

who wrote the last ten films you watched?

 

[Orang Utan]

My recommendation would be Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut.

really? i read that only a couple of years ago and i'm not sure i got it!

 

[Orang Utan]

who wrote the last ten films you watched?

i would actually know some tbh.
but they're collaborative efforts.
i know i have a bee in my bonnet about this, but crediting an author is important. really important. IMO of course.

 

[SpookyFrank]

really? i read that only a couple of years ago and i'm not sure i got it!

There's such a lot going on though, you don't really have to 'get' all of it. Part of the point of it is the arbitrariness and absurdity of everything that happens, and how people invent beliefs to try and comprehend such things.

Tiger got to hunt
Bird got to fly
Man got to sit and wonder 'why why why'

Tiger got to sleep
Bird got to land
Man got to tell himself he understand

 

[Orang Utan]

Maybe I should recommend The Crying Of Lot 49 then. I did actually talk to some kids about it today, but only cos i was illustrating that some books are massive but are quick reads, while some shorter books can take a lot longer to get through cos there's so much going on in the dense prose of a writer like Pynchon (or Vonnegut for that matter)

 

[ringo]

I've been trying to gently guide my 12 year old away from the likes of Gangster Granny to some more grown up books this year with mixed success. I was reading Sven Hassel and John Fowles at that age, but I don't think she's ready for anything too adult yet.

She has just finished HHGTTG and absolutely loved it. I've just got her two books she chose from her reading list:

Chinese Cinderella - Adeline Yen Mah (her choice)
The Tulip Touch - Anne Fine (my choice)

 

[Pickman's model]

I've been trying to gently guide my 12 year old away from the likes of Gangster Granny to some more grown up books this year with mixed success. I was reading Sven Hassel and John Fowles at that age, but I don't think she's ready for anything too adult yet.

She has just finished HHGTTG and absolutely loved it. I've just got her two books she chose from her reading list:

Chinese Cinderella - Adeline Yen Mah (her choice)
The Tulip Touch - Anne Fine (my choice)

 

[ringo]

Thanks Pickman's model , I'll check that

 

[DotCommunist]

they do at gcse but that's two years too late

and is a breathtaking tissue of revisionist lies anyway

 

[May Kasahara]

If she likes fantastical stuff, the Edge Chronicles (Chris Riddell and Paul Stewart) are meant to be very good. And there's loads of them.

 

[spanglechick]

I loved HHGTTG at age 11, not for the sci fi, but for the humour. I loved the grown-up clever sublety of it, which made me feel grown up too. Actually it was one of the biggest positive reading experiences of my life (and I say that as someone who was a prodigious and passionate reader).

 

[Agent Sparrow]

She has just finished HHGTTG and absolutely loved it.

Nice to see that the digital watch references aren't completely off putting then!

I loved HHGTTG at age 11, not for the sci fi, but for the humour. I loved the grown-up clever sublety of it, which made me feel grown up too. Actually it was one of the biggest positive reading experiences of my life (and I say that as someone who was a prodigious and passionate reader).

Yep, I'd still describe it similarly alongside a very small handful of other books.

 

[chilango]

How about some Elinor Brent-Dyer?

Spoiler: some books

1. The School at the Chalet
2. Jo of the Chalet School
3. The Princess of the Chalet School
4. The Head Girl of the Chalet School
5. (The) Rivals of the Chalet School
6. Eustacia Goes to the Chalet School
7. The Chalet School and Jo
8. The Chalet Girls in Camp
9. The Exploits of the Chalet Girls
10. The Chalet School and the Lintons
11. A Rebel at the Chalet School
12. The New House at the Chalet School
13. Jo Returns to the Chalet School
14. The New Chalet School
15. A United Chalet School
16. The Chalet School in Exile
17. The Chalet School at War
18. The Highland Twins at the Chalet School
19. Lavender Leigh at the Chalet School
20. Gay Lambert at the Chalet School
21. Jo to the Rescue
21a. The Mystery at the Chalet School
(published only in the same volume as 23)
22. Tom Tackles the Chalet School
23. The Chalet School and Rosalie
24. Three Go to the Chalet School
25. The Chalet School and the Island
26. Peggy of the Chalet School
27. Carola Storms the Chalet School
28. The Wrong Chalet School
29. Shocks for the Chalet School
30. The Chalet School in the Oberland
31. Bride Leads the Chalet School
32. Changes for the Chalet School
33. Joey Goes to the Oberland
34. The Chalet School and Barbara
35. The Chalet School Does It Again
36. A Chalet Girl from Kenya
37. Mary-Lou of the Chalet School
38. A Genius at the Chalet School
39. Chalet School Fête
40. A Problem for the Chalet School
41. The New Mistress at the Chalet School
42. Excitements at the Chalet School
43. The Coming of Age of the Chalet School
44. The Chalet School and Richenda
45. Trials for the Chalet School
46. Theodora and the Chalet School
47. Joey and Co in Tirol
48. Ruey Richardson at the Chalet School
49. A Leader in the Chalet School
50. The Chalet School Wins the Trick
51. A Future Chalet School Girl
52. The Feud in the Chalet School
53. The Chalet School Triplets
54. The Chalet School Reunion
55. Jane and the Chalet School
56. Redheads at the Chalet School
57. Adrienne and the Chalet School
58. Summer Term at the Chalet School
59. Challenge for the Chalet School
60. Two Sams at the Chalet School
61. Althea Joins the Chalet School
62. Prefects of the Chalet School

Hope that helps *thumbs*

 

[Orang Utan]

looks like dodgy erotic fiction

 

[chilango]

When I was about 9 or 10 I had a brief binge on books like that. God knows why. What the hell would a pre-pubescent boy, with zero knowledge of that sort of world, get out of that kind of thing?