<p>D loved Jodi Picoult’s books. Other favorites included: The Secret Life of Bees (by Sue Monk); The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (by Mark Haddon); and The Book Thief (by Markus Zusak).</p>
<p>Along with Jane Eyre, I’d suggest Wuthering Heights. The Bronte sisters are a bit easier to get through than Jane Austen. Makes for more of a “beach read”. </p>
<p>Maybe try Big Mouth Ugly Girl by Joyce Carol Oates.</p>
<p>I’d second The secret life of bees… it was a summer reading book for school but I loved it.</p>
<p>I really liked Francesca Lia Block’s books when I was 14/15. Some of her stories, however, do involve drugs and LGBT issues. I’d classify her as a contemporary urban fairy tale writer, if that makes any sense.</p>
<p>Another author who reminds me of Block is Janet Fitch, author of White Oleander, yet another book with adult themes that may or may not be appropriate for a 14-year-old (obviously depending on the 14-year-old). Definitely realistic fiction.</p>
<p>From my bookshelf, I’d also recommend The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant for historical fiction and Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder if your daughter’s interested in philosophy. Other books that come to mind are The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt, The Kite Runner, and anything by Amy Tan.</p>
<p>On the more lighthearted side, I recommend Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging and the Gossip Girl series. The former is hilarious, and my friends loved the latter.</p>
<p>I know the OP’s daughter isn’t interested in fantasy and sci-fi, but for those whose daughters might be, I recommend anything by Patricia McKillip (who writes prose like it’s lyrical poetry), the alternate fairy tale books by Gregory Maguire, Garth Nix’s Sabriel trilogy (Sabriel, Lirael, Abhorsen), and Sharon Shinn (especially Summers at Castle Auburn for something along the lines of a medieval fantasy romance).</p>
<p>Edit: Oh, and, of course, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. Still one of my favorite books of all time.</p>
<p>Mrs. Mike!! I loved Mrs Mike! Is that book still in print? Gosh, I thought I was the only person who read that book! I think I memorized large quotes from it. The scene where they have to stand in the freezing river to avoid the forest fire and Kathy is holding the baby… That and GWTW were my 2 favorite books.</p>
<p>Washdad we like the same books. Maybe she just hasn’t read the right sci-fi.</p>
<p>I agree Time Traveler’s Wife is a great book - one of the few where the time traveling makes sense and follows a consistent logic.</p>
<p>I see that demeter just beat me to A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Truly a classic and an all-time favorite for me. It is always the book I think of first for a young/mid- teen girl. And I read it also as an adult and loved it just as much.</p>
<p>*Now if you can solve another problem. Dear sweet daughter loves to read in the bathtub. Makes borrowing from the library nearly impossible. *</p>
<p>That is hard- how about books on tape?
I admit I have watched movies in the bathtub, but it fogs up my glasses and is too cold to be half in & half out.</p>
<p>^^^ That is exactly why my mom buys paperbacks from Goodwill!</p>
<p>from a teenager here =)</p>
<p>everyone in my town is obsessed with that stephanie meyers series (twilight), so she’s not alone haha</p>
<p>I loveee scott westerfeld (uglies, pretties, specials)</p>
<p>and sisterhood of the travelling pants is great</p>
<p>for some pure entertaining teen junk my favorites are The A-List and Gossip Girl. A-List is east-coast-old-money-meets-west-coast-new-money, and Gossip Girl is just upper-east-side-rich-kids. Its like a teen soap opera in book form, haha. great stuff.
oh they do have some sex/drugs themes in them and my mom used to try to stop me from reading them, but seriously its nothing compared to whats on TV nowadays (gossip girl is actually also a TV show now) and its not like it’s any crazy stuff that any 13-16 year old wouldn’t know about. I used to read them anyways and I like to think I turned out pretty well. </p>
<p>I reallllly like the **Blue Bloods **series by Melissa de la Cruz. like Twilight, it’s also about vampires except its a totally different take and less-fantasy like. Its kind of fantasy mixed with historical fiction and teen junk. haha I love it. </p>
<p>maybe try **Girl, Interrupted **and The Bell Jar. both have to do with mentally ill teenage girls and such. a tad disturbing, but great books. the movie Girl, Interrupted is amazing too. </p>
<p>and finally I LOVED this book called Candy, by Kevin Brooks. one of the best young adult books I’ve read. it’s fantastic. His book Lucas is also supposed to be good.</p>
<p>I’ll try to think of more, I know a ton</p>
<p>oh also, The Devil Wears Prada. if she’s anything into fashion she’ll like that one.</p>
<p>and also **Prep **and **Lovesick **by i think its Jake Coburn? I’m not sure though, don’t quote me on that. </p>
<p>and the Private series by Kate Brian is great teen junk too. it has a murder mystery plot as well.
actually, Kate Brian has a few good YA books.
anything **Meg Cabot **is good too (she wrote The Princess Diaries series)
oh and Meg Cabot used to go by a different name ummmm its **Jenny Carroll **i think? anyway under that name she also wrote a series called the Mediator which I used to really like.</p>
<p>everyone in my town is obsessed with that stephanie meyers series (twilight), so she’s not alone haha</p>
<p>[Do</a> you live in Forks?](<a href=“http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/entertainment/2008075490_twilight270.html]Do”>http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/entertainment/2008075490_twilight270.html)
;)</p>
<p>I couldn’t keep An Abundance of Kathrines by John Green on the shelf.</p>
<p>[Amazon.com:</a> An Abundance of Katherines: John Green: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Abundance-Katherines-John-Green/dp/0525476881]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Abundance-Katherines-John-Green/dp/0525476881)</p>
<p>Wow. Great ideas.
Alamode- your list is great. She has read some of those books but some we haven’t heard of. She has read some of the gossip girl books and I think the A list as well. I used to try to censor what she read but she is the youngest child plus she is the kid that nothing gets by her. She still likes young tv (Disney, Nick) but she reads just about anything on any topic.
She also has read Secret Life of Bee’s and To Kill a Mockingbird. I also have a few of the books on my shelves. She hasn’t read Water for Elephants but did read two others by the same author that were somewhat about horses.
I went to the bookstore yesterday and picked up a few books. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Briar Rose and a few off of the New York Public Library list. Alamode I also picked up the first of the Blue Bloods based on the recommendation of a young woman shopping at the same time.
I looked at Enders Game but after looking at the cover I don’t think there is any way I could get her to try it. I am going to check the library and see if they have a copy with a more female appealing cover.
No books on tape for her. The thrift stores in our area are not a great source of books. I have actually seen them dumping donated books straight into the recycling bin. We do go to several used bookstores but none of them have a large young adult section.</p>
<p>haha nope emeraldkity4, thankfully haha
but for the past few months every party or get together I go too I have at least 5 people ask me if I’ve read it yet and then yell at me that I should lol
there are more than 150 requests for it at our library though, so I think I’m gonna try to borrow it from a friend. </p>
<p>mom60, yeah the censorship thing never works out =P
and Blue Bloods is great, and I love the history twist part of it.
I highly highly reccomend Candy though. I need to read it again, but the story was great and I liked Brooks’ use of language.
this was one of my fav quotes:
“I was thinking about these things, but I wasn’t really thinking about them–they were just there, just floating around like dead leaves drifting on the surface of a pond. They didn’t really mean anything to me. Below the surface, though, down in the icy black depths, I could see things that meant something. Moving things, living things, formless shapes, darting and flickering in the darkness, stirring up the silt, whirling in the gloom, forming a narrow black tunnel…”</p>
<p>Alamode- I asked her about Candy. She said she wanted to read it at one point but I didn’t let her. I guess the part about the heroin using prostitute might have lead to the no vote. I am open minded so am willing to listen to why you think it is a good book.
My D told me she thought the Stephanie Meyers books were better then Harry Potter. My 21 yr old started the first one and she didn’t find it appealing at all and put it down.</p>
<p>I read the first two books in the Twilight series. Hmmmm…not my cup of tea and not nearly as well written as Harry Potter in my humble opinion. D2 who just turned 17 this month read the first when it came out and hasn’t attempted to read any more. Didn’t hate it but didn’t love it.</p>
<p>haha yes there is a heroin using prostitute involved.
heres a very rough summary:
well its about a young british boy living in the suburbs of london who meets this young lady when he goes into the city for a doctors appointment or something of that nature. he thinks the girl is beautiful and he has no chance, she’s the sarcastic type, they start talking and go to a fast food place. her pimp sees them and starts asking if he’s a customer, saying he’s gonna beat him up, and this kid has no idea whats going on. she has to leave and he goes home or whatever
they become friends, he realizes she’s a prostitute. he goes into the city a couple more times, eventually they kiss. throughout this time there are hints of her drug usage but no concrete evidence.
the kid is in a band, they get a gig in London, he wants her to come. she says she’ll try (she has to get away from her pimp)
the kid writes a song about her. that’s one of my favorite parts. </p>
<p>the way the author describes how the boy feels about his music, how he gets absorbed within the lyrics, etc. is great.</p>
<p>anyway, she shows up at the gig and hears the song about her, then her pimp shows up and starts beating people up, etc.
at some point the boy finds out that she was actually from a well-to-do family from his town who ran away from home and is using prostitution to survive. </p>
<p>so this kid thinks he’s in love with this girl and wants to “save” her so he goes to the city somehow follows her pimp to a house where all these girls are, manages to sneak in and they both narrowly escape.
now that he has her he has no idea what to do, so he takes her to this cabin his family has in the countryside. </p>
<p>at the cabin, he tries to stop her heroin addiction. he cuts her off cold and has to deal with her crazy reactions, the sickness, tantrums, yelling, screaming, etc. this is the best part, I think, its heartbreaking. </p>
<p>and then the pimp guy tracks them down and demands that he returns the girl, they narrowly escape, i think he shoots someone, idr, the girl goes to jail or something of that sort and he’s not allowed to visit her. at the end I think he sneaks in or something. but they can never be together =(</p>
<p>haha anyway, I like it because its a suspensful plot, and while I might not be able to relate to being an underage heroin addicted prostitute, I could relate to the boy’s insecurities and family issues (I didnt include that part in the summary), strained relationship with his father, etc. also, Brooks’ use of language is great, some parts are really poetic. I wouldn’t have really noticed that if I’d read it a few years ago, but I was taking AP Lang this year =P</p>
<p>anyway, I guess it depends how mature your daughter is. If she’s read the A-List and Gossip Girl and such, theres not much more in terms of drugs (unless we get into the particulars of heroine vs. cocaine) and no sex at all except for whats implied by the fact that the girl is a prostitute. I only read it this past year (16) but I personally think I wouldve been fine with reading it a couple of years ago.</p>
<p>I’ll recommend The Giver by Lois Lowry. It is a little bit science-fictiony but my 15 year old niece generally does not like sci fi and The Giver is her absolute favorite book. She has read it a dozen times I am sure. And she went to an international camp last summer and ended up asking my sister to send her several copies so she could distribute them to her new friends.</p>
<p>In the same vein (a little science fiction, but not what I’d think of as hard core sci fi) I would recommend A Wrinkle in Time and its companion books. Especially good for teen girls because the main character is a girl.</p>
<p>I liked this collection of ideas. [ALA</a> | Booklists & Book Awards](<a href=“http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/booklistawards/booklistsbook.htm]ALA”>http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/booklistawards/booklistsbook.htm) </p>
<p>I ordered several books from the reluctant reader list for my 16 year old daughter. I looked up the titles/descriptions on amazon.</p>
<p>“A Mango-Shaped Space” by Wendy Mass</p>
<p>13-year year old girl with a secret - sounds, numbers and letters have color for her. </p>
<p>Book probably aimed at the early teen age group, but those of us WELL PAST our teens really enjoyed it.</p>
<p>Oh my god, get the Angus, Thongs & Full-Frontal Snogging series. It’s seriously the funniest thing I’ve ever read.</p>