Book Recommendations

[Deleted]

The Edward Eager magic books might seem a bit dated, but they are still pretty popular with my high level upper elementary students. Also, she might like some of Diana Wynne Jones's middle grade fantasy books such as Witch Week or The Ogre Downstairs.

[batmom]

Holes?

[Gigiree]

Here is a list of 67 books every geek should read to his/her child, but many of them would be absolutely appropriate for your niece.

[Deleted]

Thanks everyone! I was in the bookstore last night and the section for readers 9-12 is huge. These will definitely help me narrow some choices.

[granolamom]

Feb 12, 2015 20:43:26 GMT -4 @bronze said:

Any recommendations for a 10 year old girl who loves to read? My niece's birthday is at the end of the month and she is my only niece/nephew who loves reading. I'm so happy to be able to buy her books. She is smart, could read up a couple of levels, maybe to 12 years old. I don't think I want to get her any teen stuff yet. She was really into the Spirit Animals series as well as Diary of a Wimpy Kid. So I was thinking something either fantasy or school hi-jinks. Preferably a series so I can get her subsequent books later on. She has a lot of the classics already like Narnia so I was thinking of something more recent.

I'm a bit late to this, but my eleven-year-old kiddo likes The Wings of Fire series (dragons, or rather dragonets), Redwall (medieval mice in castles), and Warriors (cats, slightly more realistically living in the woods in clans). Two wonderful stand-alone books are "The Book of Story Beginnings" and "The Garden Princess" by Kristin Kladstrup, both with slightly offbeat female protagonists. Also, I just read "The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency, The Case of the Missing Moonstone," which promises to be a series, and really enjoyed it. Happy shopping!

[narm]

gigiree, thanks for that link! I saved it for future reference. My son was struggling with reading (first grade) and was actually getting extra help during the day (interventions before a reading disability dx, actually) and now he is tearing through chapter books. He's been exited from intervention. I can't wait to share those books with him. It's been a lot of work but I'm so glad he is learning to love to read.

I've been downloading cheap books by crazy! I'll let y'all know if I find something good...

[Deleted]

Feb 14, 2015 17:44:39 GMT -4 granolamom said:

I'm a bit late to this, but my eleven-year-old kiddo likes The Wings of Fire series (dragons, or rather dragonets), Redwall (medieval mice in castles), and Warriors (cats, slightly more realistically living in the woods in clans). Two wonderful stand-alone books are "The Book of Story Beginnings" and "The Garden Princess" by Kristin Kladstrup, both with slightly offbeat female protagonists. Also, I just read "The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency, The Case of the Missing Moonstone," which promises to be a series, and really enjoyed it. Happy shopping!

I did end up getting her the first book in the Warriors series and the first one in the Seekers. They both have tons of books in their series so if she likes them I have gift ideas for awhile. I was a voracious reader at her age too (and still love to read), but her tastes are really different then mine. I'm not into fantasy at all so it is hard for me to judge what sounds appealing to a fantasy fan. I'm going to keep several other of these books from this thread in mind too for later gift ideas.

[Ginger]

I finally read The Girl on the Train since I have been seeing daily stories about the movie adaptation. I thought the first two thirds of the book were very engaging and good. The last third, I had some quibbles. The ending was simultaneously telegraphed way in advance and also too sudden.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}Anna and Rachel simultaneously and abruptly realized that Tom, instead of being their perfect man, was actually evil. And after that, he was nothing more than a Lifetime Movie Villain spouting every single Lifetime Movie Villain cliche line. The author could have made him the villain without making him so moustache-twirly about it.

I did like the fact that we knew from the beginning that Tom was a lying cheater and the big twist was basically that he was a lying cheater.

I think Emily Blunt will do a good job as Rachel in the movie. I generally don't care about how well actors match up with physical descriptions in books, but I do find it amusing that Rachel is repeatedly described in the book as fat and unattractive. I'm sure they will try to make Emily Blunt look haggard from her character's alcoholism, and I'm sure she will still look beautiful.

I'm a little disappointed by Justin Theroux being cast as Tom. I think his acting will be fine, but the character of Tom seemed to me like somebody who should be really desirable and worth pining over, and Justin and his skinny jeans just don't do it for me personally.

ETA: I totally posted this in the wrong thread. Should be in the "What Are You Reading?" thread, but I guess I'd recommend it. I actually am recommending the book to a few people I know in the hopes they will read it and we can discuss it.

[chonies]

I have a literature question: can anyone recommend a novel that is set in the US, but written by someone who is not from the US, and not an immigrant? I had a very interesting conversation the other day about Pearl Buck's The Good Earth. I expressed surprise that this person, who is from China and has only been in the US for a decade or so, considers the The Good Earth one of her favorite books. I gawped for a bit--I don't know what I was actually thinking, but it just seemed kind of jarring.

Because Buck was a missionary with American parents, she understood China in a very intimate way but still as an outsider, and I can't think of any books like that about the US, besides de Tocqueville, or anything. I've read some travelogues but it's not the same thing, exactly.

I tried looking in Good Reads' Listopia but I couldn't find anything that fit my criteria.

Anyway, any tips would be very appreciated.

[smitten]

What about Neil Gaiman, he's British and writes books set in America? Like American Gods. Haven't read it so I can't really recommend it, but that was the first thing to pop in my head.