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The Echo Falls mysteries (Down the Rabbit Hole & Behind the Curtain) by Peter Abraham sound like a perfect fit for this reader! Ingrid, the protagonist, is smart, funny, athletic, and creative -- and the plots are pageturning.

SKM,
teen librarian
Cheshire Public Library

frack, frack, frack.

So here I am all in an "I can pack and post" moment.

Gilda Joyce books are by Jennifer Allison.

Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

The Long Dark Teatime Of The Soul by Douglas Adams

Caroline B Cooney as a rule is pretty good for young adults

I don't, as a rule, read many sports books, but these are all good comedy/fantasy/sci fi, with the exception of Cooney's books, which are more every day life... Good luck :)

A Mango-Shaped Space by Wendy Maas
The Trimoni Twins books by Pam Smallcomb
The Murder of Bindy Mackenzie by Jaclyn Moriarty
The Girls by Amy Koss

Well, this may be old hat, but as a 13-year-old i would've really enjoyed Phillip Pullman's work -- both the His Dark Materials trilogy and the Sally Lockhart trilogy.

My 12-year-old stepson likes the Eragon, etc., series, but this particular reader might not be as interested in fantasy.

I'll keep my thinking cap on. Good luck!

Witch of Blackbird Pond
A Wrinkle in Time
Sammy Keyes mysteries
Peter & the Starcatchers
So You Want to be a Wizard

Why does everyone think that Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants has sex in it? It doesn't. You could read it that way if you want, but there's no need to...

Seems to me that The Giver and His Dark Materials cover topics that are way more controversial.

Just another opinion from the local deviant!

Sorcery and Cecilia by Patricia C. Wrede (warning: the sequel The Grand Tour does have *mention* of sex. this one is perfectly clean however.)
Gideon the Cutpurse by Linda Buckley-Archer
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
The Hollow Kingdom by Clare B. Dunkle
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
Fairest by Gail Carson Levine
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
Princess of Orange by Elizabeth Kyle
Penny From Heaven by Jennifer Holm
The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge

Hope this helps!

The only ones I can think of off the top of my head are A Wrinkle in Time and The Westing Game. Both feature early-teen girls who are not interested in "girly" things.

Though I'll second the nomination for Hattie Big Sky, definitely.

My 13 year old likes the following:
Beacon Street Girls
Tamora Pierce books- Specifically, the Song of the Lioness Quartet (fantasy- girl centric)
Old fashioned, but hold up well-
My Side of the Mountain, Julie of the Wolves, Gone Away Lake, The Mad Scientists' Club, Understood Betsy, Anne of Green Gables, and Mrs. Mike, Voyage of the Dawn Treader (part of the Narnian Chronicles).

Also: Everlost; Elsewhere; Larklight (fantasy);

I second these recently published books-
The Case of the Missing Marquess, Kiki Strike, and If I Told You That I Loved You I would Have to Kill You.

My 8th graders have all been reading
Uglies by Scott Westerfeld and the sequels Pretties and Specials. They are fantasy but deal with some real life issues.

Although I have younger (5th graders) reading the books by Blue Balliet, Chasing Vermeer and The Wright 3, if she enjoys mysteries she might enjoy these, think a modern version of From the Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankenweiler.

The Bridesmaid by Hailey Abbott would be perfect. I gave it to my niece for Christmas as well as Caroline Cooney's new book, A Friend at Midnight.

At that age I read a lot of fantasy because those books were never about makeup and boys! There weren't many girl-centric fantasy books when I was a kid, but now I hear great things about the Tamora Pierce books. I also recommend Lloyd Alexander's Vesper Holly books which are adventure stories without all of the dungeons and dragons type fantasy. Vesper is like a female, teenage Indiana Jones. I always thought of her as a good role model since she's very erudite and polylingual but still fun.

The Enchanted Forest series by Patricia Wrede

The Green Sky trilogy by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

Princess Academy by Shannon Hale is great, too.

Here's an online bibliography that might prove useful: http://plymouthlibrary.org/gentlereads.htm

The ALA had a committee on Books That Won't Make You Blush of late that created a list. I remember that Greg's Ninjas, Piranhas, and Galileo was on it, but I can't seem to find the page. Maybe someone else will have more luck?

I second Kiki Strike, and I would also add Shug, Heat, and Monsoon Summer.

Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock is a great book about a 16-year-old female football player. Older main character but no offensive or inappropriate material.

I echo the Gilda Joyce books and the Enola Hughes Books, (there is a sequel out now to The Missing Marquess), also The Misadventures of Maude March: Or Trouble Rides a Fast Horse. A sequel to that one is due out next week.

I would also reach back a bit to Madeleine L'Engle - sounds like this reader is perfect for the Austin family series and also the Murray quartet. For sure get a copy of A Wrinkle in Time. It still holds up and is a book every young girl should read. (Meg Murray is one of my heroes.)

For fantasy, I thought Tanglewreck by Jeanette Winterson was very good and has a great female heroine. I also just finished reading Flora Segunda by Ysabeau Wilce - very gutsy chick in a wild mysterious house that has all kinds of breath taking adventures.

Katherine Sturtevant's two books on 17th century Europe At the Sign of the Star and A True and Faithful Narrative are great historical fiction. As is Ellen Klages' A Green Glass Sea and the wonderful A Drowned Maiden's Hair whose author is escaping me right now but should be easy to find.

Also Cornelia and the Audacious Escapades of the Somerset Sisters by Lesley Blumef full of all kinds of great female characters both young and old and First Impressions has a Jane Austen twist from author Marilyn Sachs who give it just a smidge of romance - nothing more than a kiss.

And oh yes - all the Casson books by Hilary McKay. I adore these books, they are the perfect sort of qurky/artsy family. (Liz B. beat me to the punch on this one.)

Nothing is better for girls wanting to be brave than Kiki Strike. And a sequel is due out in September!

I think Dairy Queen by Catherine Murdock might work also. The mom might want to read it first, but there is only a kiss or two - nothing much and she plays football which is too cool.

I also thought Chicks with Sticks was excellent chick lit for the younger crowd - some boy interaction and angst, but nothing that sees pants coming off (or anything even close). Plus it's girls who knit! How can you resist that?

And really stepping out of the box, Warrior girl by Pauline Chandler is a story of Joan of Arc and I think it totally kicks butt. Joan is fantastic, her cousin provides an excellent narrator and the story is adventure from beginning to end. As it has the added bonus of being about a real person, teens also learn a thing or two while reading it. Awesome.

And finally Laura Ruby's The Wall and the Wing. Very good fantasy and also has a sequel due soon.

I could go on and on. I try to mention if age is a factor (meaning sex or language) with the books I review every month in my Bookslut column. These were all books I really loved.

Thanks, everyone, for your amazing, thoughtful & useful feedback. I think the mother in question will have plenty of great stuff to work with, thanks to you.

Jill, the parent in question was saying that by the end of the fourth Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants book, three of the four heroines was sexually active. I know you don't have to interpret Bridget & Eric's interlude in book one as sex, but I do. Regardless, the mother querying me was talking about events in the fourth book, not the more open to interpretation first title.

I tweaked my list slightly to make it more organized. :)

http://slayground.livejournal.com/170494.html

Life, Love, and the Pursuit of Free Throws would be great for her because it's about girl basketball players (There are so few books out there about girls who play sports) and is a clean comedy.

If she likes a bit of fantasy then I would recommend The Goose Girl and Enna Burning by Shannon Hale too

Thanks for your clarification, Sophie. But, I still find this entire thread vaguely...disturbing. The parent seems to be looking for books that won't challenge her or her daughter's worldview, but many of the ones that've been suggested would almost definitely do that - especially all of the speculative fiction titles.

Is there something wrong with wanting to find books for one's child that reflect her interests & are appropriate for her developmental level?

I do not for a moment believe that the parent in question is trying to stymie her daughter's quest for individuation; she just wants some good reading ideas.

Also, there is nothing in the e-mail I posted to suggest that the mother would be averse to her daughter reading something that challenged her worldview; she just thinks the kid isn't ready to read about sex. That is 100% between her & her daughter.

Please carry on with the suggestions, folks!

second shannon hale,
second joan bauer,
i LOVE tamora pierce but in some of her books the do sort of talk about sex, in a fantasish way, like she talks about getting a charm to protect against pregnancy if she decides to have sex, and stuff like that. i can't remember but i think in alanna she does have sex but in the protector of the small series she doesn't...but it's all a bit blurry because it isn't really the focus, perhaps someone with a better memory could follow-up.

Also if she is athletic i love tangerine by edward bloor, it is mainly boy characters but it is fast paced and has some great soccer scenes.