<p>My upcoming 9th grader loves to read. She is constantly looking for something new. Her summer reading was 400 pages. She told me she is at almost 4000 pages. I won’t say how far along she is in her math summer assignment!
She does not usually like science fiction or fantasy. Though she is awaiting the next Stephanie Meyers book. She also liked Harry Potter. Liked the Golden Compass but not the rest of that series.
She also likes realistic fiction and some teenage junk. She loves Sarah Dessen. Has read them all. I pretty much let her read whatever she wants. She prefers books to TV.
Any suggestions. Looking for some more indepth reading but also for read on the beach type of literature.
Any adult literature that would interest or be appropriate for a just turned 14 yr old.</p>
<p>D loved “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” series. :)</p>
<p>Here are a few hits from my young teen’s list. Some of these authors have many books, as indicated. </p>
<p>Agatha Christie-- all of them (and yes, there are about 60 titles!)
Kingston: Women Warrior
Chrichton: Terminal Man, etc
Coelho: The Alchemist
Murphy; Wild Girls
Potok: The Chosen
Clark: Childhood’s End
Farmer: Charlotte Sometimes, etc
Smith: Peak
Brink: Pink Motel
Marshall: Christie
Hinton: That Was then, This is Now, etc
Ferris: Twice Upon a Marigold, Love amoung the Walnuts
Lenhard: Chicks with Sticks, etc
Mudock: Dairy Queen, etc
Wodehouse: Carry on, Jeeves, etc
Karon: These High Green Hills, etc
Patel: Life of Pi
Cabot: Party Princess, etc
Bloor: Story Time
Weeks: So B. It
Pedersen: Heart’s Desire
Zusak: The Book Thief
Kindle: Goose Chase
Cormier: Chocolate War
Bradbury: The Illustrated Man, etc
Patron: Higher Power of Luck
Salinger: Catcher in the Rye</p>
<p>The Secret Life of Bees
The Girl with the Pearl Earing
Diving Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
The Birth of Venus
The Other Boelyn Girl
Pillars of the Earth</p>
<p>All are adult fiction that are totally appropriate and readible by a 14 year old (based on my super-reader little sister). Most are historical fiction but kind of trashy historical fiction</p>
<p>D loved that book. Her very favorite book is My Forbidden Face. It is about a girl in Afghanistan that is a teenager and her life…kind of similiar to Anne Frank.</p>
<p>She also reads Lurlene McDaniel…DD’s lates was Angels in Pink. DD when she is bored goes online to [Unleash</a> Your Imagination - FanFiction.Net](<a href=“http://www.fanfiction.com%5DUnleash”>http://www.fanfiction.com)</p>
<p>Beside all the above mentioned my D2 liked all the Jodi Piccoult books for easy reading but current events.</p>
<p>My D read Les Miserables at 14 - liked it, but said it was “work”. I’ll go look on her bookshelf for more ideas. She has saved all the ones she liked best! … </p>
<p>Okay, I’m back. 
My D likes fantasy and science fiction (as well as just about everything else) so not everything on her shelf was appropriate. And some, like the Harry Potter series, you’ve already mentioned. My D also likes Christian stuff; I realize that’s not everyone’s cup of tea. Here are her recommendations:</p>
<p>Ella Enchanted. She said it’s really “younger” but is still one of her favorite books ever. It’s a take on Cinderella.</p>
<p>Pride & Prejudice, or “anything by Jane Austin, really”.</p>
<p>Anything by Tolkien (although may be too fantasy for your D)</p>
<p>Ender’s Game (although it’s science fiction. I don’t like science fiction, but I enjoyed it!)</p>
<p>Christy</p>
<p>Girl of the Limberlost (may be out of print?)</p>
<p>Chronicles of Narnia (Christian themed)</p>
<p>And she says for those who are okay with Christian fiction, anything by Dee Henderson.</p>
<p>Edit: I also recommend “Little Britches” by Ralph Moody. I had to go check to see if it was back in print - it was out for awhile. This series is written for older elementary boys, and was my H’s favorite books as a child. I read them as an adult, and loved them!</p>
<p>I’m bookmarking this thread for my 13 year old who does read a lot of fantasy but is running out of titles. (She has gone through about 12 Tamora Pierce paperbacks the past week.) Maybe I can help her branch out some!</p>
<p>NorthMinnesota- My older D loved Jodi Piccoult at this age. For some unexplainable reason my younger D does not care for them. Which is to bad since she has some books that I think she would enjoy. Same with the Sisterhood books- she doesn’t like them or the Princess Diaries series. I is hard to figure out her likes and dislikes. Sometimes it seems if I am the one suggesting she doesn’t like it but if a friend recommends the same book she will read it. I think she feels like I am pushing “great” literature on her.
Some of the other suggestions she has read but I will give her the suggestions and she can do some amazon searching.</p>
<p>Mamabear- Tamora Pierce was my oldest D’s favorite when she was in middle school.
Jewish so not to interested in Christian literature.</p>
<p>Well then, she’ll at least know what to avoid. :)</p>
<p>The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series is wonderful - set in Botswana, by Alexander McCall Smith. My D started them when she was 15. Some of the humor is subtle; she really enjoyed these books.</p>
<p>[A</a> Girl of the Limberlost - Google Book Search](<a href=“A Girl of the Limberlost - Gene Stratton-Porter - Google Books”>A Girl of the Limberlost - Gene Stratton-Porter - Google Books)
still in print</p>
<p>[I</a> Capture the Castle - Wikipedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Capture_the_Castle]I”>I Capture the Castle - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>Jane Yolen- try [Briar</a> Rose](<a href=“http://www.janeyolen.com/blurbs/briarr2.html]Briar”>http://www.janeyolen.com/blurbs/briarr2.html)</p>
<p>[Big</a> Mouth & Ugly Girl by Joyce Carol Oates](<a href=“http://www.harpercollins.com/book/index.aspx?isbn=9780064473477]Big”>http://www.harpercollins.com/book/index.aspx?isbn=9780064473477)</p>
<p>Always interesting to see different reading tastes.</p>
<p>Anne/PA - My d is currently reading <em>Woman Warrior for a summer reading assignment and I must say that it is not going to be on any recommended list for her. It will join _Catcher in the Rye</em> - the spoiled whining of an adolescent boy in my d’s opinion - as a reading experience she would prefer to miss. <em>Life of Pi</em> (To quote d: The main character is named ‘swimming pool’ for heaven’s sake and he hallucinates - or not - on a raft for 400 pages.) She also didn’t finish <em>The Book Thief</em>. Please don’t take offense, because I don’t mean it that way at all. Just funny, imo.</p>
<p>D’s books tend to be heavy on the fantasy angle.</p>
<p>The Ender’s Game and Ender’s Shadow series - Orson Scott Card
Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series and also her adult novel <em>The Host</em>
The Alanna series - Tamora Pierce (plus other novels)
The Thief series - Megan Whalen Turner
The Alex Ryder series - Anthony Horowitz
Gallagher Girls series - Ally Carter</p>
<p>Admittedly light reading.</p>
<p>I read a lot of historical novels in high school. I liked E.M. Forester’s Hornblower books, Margaret Irwin’s books about Mary Queen of Scots and various Stuarts, Anya Seton, especially Katherine. I loved the more romancy classics like Jane Austen, the Brontes, and War and Peace. Fitzgerald’s This Side of Paradise is delicious. I liked some of the less read Alcott books like* Eight Cousins* and Rose in Bloom also loved Jean Webster’s Daddy-long-legs. I also liked A Girl of the Limberlost which emeraldkity mentions. I also read all of Georgette Heyer’s books - she invented the Regency romance and does it more cleverly than most of her followers. </p>
<p>I don’t read a lot of mysteries, but loved Josephine Tey and Dorothy Sayers. I read a fair number of Agatha Christies and still read Dick Francis.</p>
<p>I know she doesn’t like sci-fi generally, but she might want to try Ursula LeGuin for her novels of ideas, and Lois McMasters Bujold because her books (especially the Vorkosigan series) are so much fun.</p>
<p>Has she read Star Girl by Jerry Spinelli yet? Although it is easy reading and some have read it in Middle school it actually is about HS age kids. Another of D2’s favorites is Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelson, a nice novel about restorative justice. Very good lessons in this one. Another one not real well known is Fall to Grace by Kerry Casey. It deals with two 13 yr. old boys who lose their fathers and how their lives entwine as well as their cultures, white Minnesotan and Native American. It is very good. Also touches on religious differences. You have to order this book through fivefriendsbooks.com.</p>
<p>D2 likes to read for pleasure over school breaks so chooses lighter reading but books with a message. She liked the message behind Three Cups of Tea but not the way the book was written. She also did not like Into the Wild. Loved Great Gatsby. It doesn’t have to be heavy classics all the time!</p>
<p>D1 has been enjoying the Janet Evanovich series for light beach reads. Not sure if the sex scenes are appropriate for your younger daughter but the books are laugh out loud funny if you’re looking for some guilty pleasure reading! ;)</p>
<p>ignatius- Did you read The Host?</p>
<p>This link to NY Public library’s teen summer book list, which has a list of popular authors, may help:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.summerreading.org/pdf/TeensBooklist.pdf[/url]”>http://www.summerreading.org/pdf/TeensBooklist.pdf</a></p>
<p>I didn’t even read Into the Wild when it came out, although I like Jon Krakauer who is local and like his writing.
However, I became interested in it when they partially filmed at D’s school- plus when Eddie <B became involved.
Listening to Sean Penn and Eddie Vedder talk about Chris McCandless story, and especially listening to the soundtrack- I began to see it as the story of someone who had an inner drive to prove something to himself, not the story of a rich kid who thought nothing could stop him, as I had previously believed.</p>
<p>Laurie Halse Andersen is another writer for teens, but not light reading
[Author</a> Profile: Laurie Halse Anderson](<a href=“http://www.teenreads.com/authors/au-anderson-laurie.asp]Author”>http://www.teenreads.com/authors/au-anderson-laurie.asp)</p>
<p>mom60: “ignatius- Did you read The Host?”</p>
<p>Yes, both my d and I read it. A tug-of-war ensued over who got the book when. At one point I was 200 pages (600+ pages total) ahead of her, yet she finished first. </p>
<p>binx - My d just finished <em>Fairest</em> - a companion novel to <em>Ella Enchanted</em>.
Like your d, <em>Ella Enchanted</em> remains a favorite. (My d is now a rising senior and said that she probably would have loved <em>Fairest</em> as she did <em>Ella Enchanted</em>, if she had read it at about the same age as she read <em>EE</em>. Gee, did that make any sense?) </p>
<p><em>Ender’s Game</em> by Orson Scott Card made the list for my 2 daughters and son a year or two ago when each had to choose only 5 books to have on a desert island - impressive as the reading tastes vary. (Youngest d cheated and picked 5 series. ;0)</p>