Girl Books
I had a sweet passionate request from a reader for girl book suggestions. I have to help her! I understand the plea, and the pressure, and the pain…the pain that bored children can cause us moms. 🙂 You all came through for me, beyond my wildest dreams, with my 13 year old boy book suggestions. Could I please ask you to offer up some 10 year old girl book suggestions?
I know Abbey loved Sammy Keyes mystery books and as much as we wrack our brains, we can’t remember much more than that. That was all of 6 years ago! (My brain is sleep-deprived, Abbey’s is full of chemistry, math, psychology…)
Thank you in advance!
Lloyd Alexander also writes good girl books! Specifically the Vesper Holly series. I also liked anything by Madeleine L'Engle at that age. 🙂
They might be a little young for her, but we are looooooooooooving reading the Clementine and Ivy & Bean books with our daughter right now.
Anything by Lucy Maud Montgomery or Classic Starts.
Anything by Shannon Hale!
A great classic is from the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg.
I just saw this list on pinterest today. I haven't read all of the books on the list but the ones I have read I love!
http://mollymakesdo.blogspot.com/2013/01/great-girls-your-daughter-should-know.html
I've never commented on your blog before but I just have to tell you how much your letter to your children touched me. I loved every word. I even printed it off and gave it to one of my friends and put one in my journal. Thank you for being so honest and real. I wish more people would be willing to share such things with their children and everyone they know. Thank you so much!
Guess I am going too far here…Little House on the Prairie books. My all time favorites. I think I was supposed to be living on that prairie with their family…I felt such a deep connection to their life and how hard it was and that simple life; family, church, school, sewing, singing. I have my original books, the entire set. I am 46 now and I guess they are considered collectibles…perhaps. I received them as a gift from my mother when I was 11. Oh, how I loved those books!!!
When I was about 9 (20 years ago), I started reading The Mandie Series by Lois Gladys Leppard, and I enjoyed those books for several years. I have memories of staying up late with my flashlight reading under the covers. That series was great for me and definitely played a big role in my love for reading. Good luck to your reader; establishing a love for independent reading at that age is so imprtant.
Fever by Laurie Halse Anderson is good historical fiction. All of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and Judy Moody for the younger set. All of Beverly Cleary and Roald Dahl. The Secret Garden. Little Women. Ella Enchanted. And "The Giver" series. Some of my all-time faves on that list.
Anne of Green Gables, American Girl Books, Little House, Nancy Drew, My America, Dear Diary (history), Beverly Cleary…so many great ones!! The local library would be a great place to start…the most popular ones are usually on display. Oh, The Boxcar Children too!!! Enjoy!
I have four girls (ages 9, 7, 5, and 2) and so this is perfect! I JUST sent a friend a list of my daughters' favorites from the last few years–both to read AND to be read to. Series seem to work out well for us:
Princess Ellie books (Pony-Crazed Princess series)
Big Apple Barn series
Horse Diaries series
Tales of Pixie Hollow chapter books (actually very well-written)
Little House in the Big Woods, Farmer Boy (other ones in the series as they get a bit older)
Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew
A to Z Mysteries
Harry Potter (the first book for sure)
Desperaux
Tuck Everlasting
Many things on the Newberry Award winners list (look it up)
And now my almost-8 and 9.5 year olds are LOVING the Warriors series, Theo Stilton, Geronimo Stilton . . . and moving on up in the Harry Potter books as I let them 😉
"Mandie" series (I think there are 40!) by Lois Gladys Leoppard!!!!!! I CANNOT wait for my girl to be old enough for those!! They are so wonderful!
Of course, "Little House on the Prairie" and "Anne of Green Gables" are classics. 🙂
I also really loved "From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler"!! That was suggested above and it is awesome.
"Harriet the Spy" by Louise Fitzhugh
"Phantom Tollbooth" by Norton Juster.
I remember LOVING "Nancy Drew" books too. Can't really go wrong with those!
"Magic Tree House" series. Great adventure books about American history. (Although I'm in Canada, so we read the "Canadian Flyer Adventures" which is really similar with Canadian history!)
You have a LOT of really great suggestions from other ladies! I hope your friend can find some good books for her daugther!
My 9 1/2 year old isn't into the very girly books, so I thought her favorites might help similar girls. She has loved reading the Warriors books (about cats), and the Series of Unfortunate Events books. Some other favorites are Julie of the Wolves and the Besty-Tacy series.
My daughter loves everything by Andrew Clements!
I loved the Cherry Ames series and Dana Girls series when I was a child – and passed them on to my daughter. (mystery series of Nancy Drew vintage) They're out of print so you have to find them in thrift and antique shops. There's also the Elsie Dinsmore series that has been republished – you can find them in Christian book stores. Chronicles of Narnia, of course. Charlotte's Web. L.M. Montgomery has a long list of titles that are all fabulous – not just the Anne of Green Gables series. Lois Lowry has some great books as well – some for when she's a bit older. Bridge to Terabithia, the Giver. Frances Burnett's books – the Secret Garden, the Little Princess.
Let's see….Betsy-Tacy(series), Five Little Peppers and How They Grew(series), and the Fairchild Family series(Rebecca Caudill). The Five little Peppers can be found free on Amazon for Kindle.
Judy Blume…Barthe Declements…rosamond duJardine (vintage books from the late 40s-50s)…the girls of canby hall (scholastic books series from the 80s)…sweet valley high (there were also sweet valley kids and sweet valley twins series for the younger kids). The babysitters club series (I think they're currently being reissued). Scholastic also did a series of books about "real life" issues such as being the new kid in school, divorce and various illnesses. They sound heavy but they were really popular when I was a kid.
Julie Andrews book "Mandy" is fabulous! Also, I loved the Beany Malone books by Lenora Weber when I was an early teen! They are so wholesome. My mom read them when she was young and passed them on to me! They have recently been reprinted and there's a whole wonderful series!
Anything by Maud Hart Lovelace (Betsy & Tacy series) is always a great read too. And, of course, depending on the age and ability of your reader, all of my kids loved Harry Potter! Oh-my girls also loved the All of a kind family series! Again-books I read when I was young and LOVED and passed along to my girls.
Can't ever go wrong reading GOOD books! 🙂
Nancy Drew!
My 10 year old really enjoyed the Allie Finkle Rules For Girls series. The author is a great writer and the plot is interesting enough for me to read out loud to her. Actually, I read the first Allie Finkle book out loud during our family camping trip last year and the whole family (teens and all) listened in. The series is an excellent gateway to a whole bunch of conversations that relate to tween girl relationships! Plus there's a whole bunch of laugh out loud scenes!
a newer pair that is out & lovely is by Marissa Burt. The first is Storybound and the 2nd is Story's End. They are clean, lovely, fantasy type stories about a shy girl named Una who goes into the land of story. Big hits around here!
oh! And we love George MacDonald's fiction. He was C.S. Lewis' mentor and has that same depth of story [think Narnia] that leaves you wondering if this is for children or adults! 🙂 But my kids LOVE his fantasy as well!! And such GREAT lessons/ morals.
oh! And we love George MacDonald's fiction. He was C.S. Lewis' mentor and has that same depth of story [think Narnia] that leaves you wondering if this is for children or adults! 🙂 But my kids LOVE his fantasy as well!! And such GREAT lessons/ morals.
I LOVED the Trixie Belden series. I am 46 now and I know that series is much older than me because was was introduced to them by a friends mother. She let us read some of her childhood copies. in my opinion they were so much better than Nancy Drew. I wanted to like Nancy but I never could get into her like Trixie. As I remember even though they were around a long time when I read them in the late 70's the stories were timeless and not dated. Give them a try. I wish sometimes I had a niece to share them with. I'm pretty sure my sweet nephew would not be interested. LOL
Oh I remembered more. I also loved the series by Peggy Parish that started with Key To The Treasure. I had those from the library so many times. I have old library copies that I bought on the Internet but I know they are back in print now. Some of the titles were Key To The Treasure, Haunted House, Clues In The Woods, The Mystery of Hermit Dan. So glad you made me think of them….these would be good for girls and boys so I can share with my nephew.
My girls are 11 and 13. They LOVE the Mother-Daughter Book Club series by Heather Vogel Frederick. They love Wendy Mass books and the Allie Finkle books by Meg Cabot. Also, anything by Judy Blume.
My favorite book, when I was 10, was "Bridge to Terabithia" by Katherine Paterson. I still have that book and I'm almost 35 now. I read it still as it is still my favorite. 🙂 I could really relate to it at that age(it's about 5th graders)and it was so beautifully written.
Emily Windsnap series by Liv Kessler
Mysterious Benedict Society trilogy
Series of Unfortunate Events
True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle
Most books by Gail Carson Levine (Fairest, Ella Enchanted, and more)
Anything by Shannon Hale
Harry Potter!
My daughter is 11 and loves all of the books by Kate Klise.
Mandy by Julie Andrews in my all-time favorite book for girls.
Lois Lenski did wonderful children's books. The Betsy-Tacy books and others by Maud Hart Lovelace actually detail portions of her own life and are very simply written. Ginger Pye and others by Eleanor Estes are very good too.
Ivy and bean are a huge hit around here.
A few that haven't been mentioned yet are The Penderwicks, Understood Betsy, Cheaper by the Dozen, and Tumtum and Nutmeg. I echo many of the other suggestions, too!
How about some theologically based books? I review those on my blog, but some that come to mind right now are The Bronze Bow, Wise Words, Peril and Peace, and the YWAM biographies.
Has anyone mentioned Little Women? My 18 year old daughter still claims this as her favorite book. She also loved to read the horse books by Marguerite Henry (Misty, etc.,) the Dear America books, and all the Little House Books, though I think she read those when she was younger than 10.
I'll second Tumtum and Nutmeg.
A new one to me, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is wonderful.
Classics-
The Wizard of Oz books.
Louisa May Alcott
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. (all in that series)
My girls are still too young to read chapter books yet. But I must share my love for Anne Of Green Gables, oh how I cherished those books as a young girl, read them again as a teenager and still read them to this day. I can't wait for my girls to meet Anne 🙂
Here's a great website for books for girls of all ages!
http://www.amightygirl.com/
I was a little different when it came to books. I read anything I could get my hands on from an early age ~I was 10 when I read both Gone with the Wind & North and South (mostly because they took me longer than a day & it was impossible to keep me in books) My mom tried to keep things age appropriate but books were like crack for me (I would even raid friends parents shelves) so we agreed to discuss everything.
I remember loving Old Yeller, Sounder, Where the Red Fern Grows, Bridge to Terabithia, all of the Anne of Green Gables, & the Little House on the Prairie series. I still have my well worn copies almost 30 years later.
Naya Nuki, Soun Tetoken, Julie of the Wolves, & Island of the Blue Dolphins were a great change of perspective as the characters were all roughly my age.
German reader here…
I loved anything Astrid Lindgren and Enid Blyton when I was 10 (only a few years ago, hehe…). 🙂
I still have all the books and love reading them from time to time.
…me again… I thought I should add names to my comment above.
Astrid Lindgren: of course Pipi Longstocking, but also Emil of Lönneberga and The Children of Noisy Village
Enid Blyton: St. Clare's series, Malory Towers series, Famous five series, The Adventure series.
Enjoy!
My daughter really likes the Amelia Bedelia chapter books, American Girl doll books, but she LOVES books by Dan Gutman such as "Miss Kraft is Daft!"
Christine
my girls are 10 and 11 and these are some of the ones they like:
Ramona series
American Girl books
Jewel Thieves series by Hope McLean
Whatever After series by Sarah Mlynowski
Confectionately Yours series by Lisa Papademettriou
Lily series by nancy Rue
Camp Club Girls series by various authors
Basically they say they like books about girls that are the same age as them. =)
I second just about anything by L.M. Montgomery and Louisa May Alcott as well as the Chronicles of Narnia–some of my favorites around that age and ones I still enjoy! I'd also recommend The Secret Garden, A Little Princess, I Capture the Castle, Ann Rinaldi's historical fiction, and for a bit of fantasy, some of Diana Wynne Jones's books with strong female characters like Howl's Moving Castle and Power of Three.
At that age I LOVED Mandy by Julie Andrews Edwards. I still love it, and I'm 33 now.
The 2 that come immediately to mind are
The Doll People Series by Ann Martin and Laura Godwin. These books are illustrated by Brian Selznick and are well-written and engaging.
My girls both loved "The Penderwicks" books. I think there are 3 now and they are also quality books.
Mandy, by Julie Edwards. Lovely and imaginative tale.
The books might for slightly older – but I LOVE Shannon Hale.
I liked the Grandma's Attic Series by Arleta Richardson (they are a quick read but there are over a dozen) and The Mandie Series by Lois Gladys Leppard. I also loved The Anne of Green Gables books, Chronicles of Narnia and Nancy Drew!
Here's a good long list of books for girls I compiled by talking to teachers, moms, and friends: http://booksmartgirl.blogspot.com/p/great-books-for-girls.html
The Northwood Series by Lois Walfrid Johnson. There are ten books, filled with mystery and awesomeness! i was a huge Mandie book fan and these are even better!
I loved "Because of Winn Dixie" and any other Kate DiCamillo (sp?) books. When I was that age I loved reading all the old Nancy Drew mysteries. They were kinda corny and out-dated, but I liked them anyway and you can always find them at used book stores.
When I was 13 the book that turned my world upside down and forever made me a lover of books "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith. Just like Betty Smith wrote…….the world was mine(hers)for the reading.
Where the Red Ferns Grow
Anything by Judy Blume. I know that is probably touchy for some parents. But, given that they watch so much junk now I don't think Judy Blume can be considered as racy.
My 11 year old discovered the Warrior Cat books by Erin Hunter right after she turned 10 and was totally hooked. She has read every single one (more than 30 books, I think).
I teach 5th grade. The girls in my class love Ella Enchanted, Criss Cross, Number the Stars, Stepping on the Cracks, Maniac Magee, Star Girl, Pictures of Hollis Woods, One Crazy Summer, and The Sisters Grimm series. They are all amazing books.
i liked Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild. also Railway Children by Edith Nesbit. and The Westing Game by RAskins (one of my all time favorite books ever. my teacher read it to me in 5th grade and I have read it at least 12 times since then. i read it to kids I've babysat, and even my husband the first year we were married). i also really like Witch of Blackbird Pond
For Girls or Boys – Wonder by RJ Polacio &
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly
Other authors:
Andrew Clements
Wendy Mass
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Trying to list ones that I didn't see when I skimmed through. You should read Wonder too!
I love this question! I'm the founder of a girl empowerment website that your readers interested in this topic might find useful. We have over 1,500 books listed starring girls for all ages of readers and you can sort them by topic and targeted age. If you'd like to view our recommendations, visit http://www.amightygirl.com. Of course, many of the books mentioned are featured on the site but we have quite a large collection that we've compiled. Hope that helps!
I've just checked to see that no one has added "The Fleurville Trilogy" by Countess de Segur. It's a bestselling French Classic that has now been translated into English. It's fabulous! Mel x
I loved the Famous Five series and the Secret Seven series by Enid Blyton. I bought some of these recently for an 11 year old niece who loved them too.
Caddie Woodlawn was my very favorite book at that age. I can't wait for my girls to be a bit older so we can read it together.
I agree with the Mighty Girl suggestion – great site!
We love Ordinary Princess and Ronia Robber Daughter – I read both aloud to my girls recently and we were so bummed when those books were over! Of course the Little House books.
The Secret Garden. It's still one of my most favorite books! Island of the Blue Dolphins. The Little House series. The Witch of Blackbird Pond.
Another vote for Shannon Hale's books. I loved Princess Academy and The Goose Girl.
My 9 year old loves the "Just Grace" series. "The Borrowers" is another great series. Also, American Girl has the historical books, but also the choose your own ending books and now a whole series of mysteries. The mysteries are geared towards higher level readers, probably perfect for a 10-year old.
My 10 year old likes the Cat Warrior series, they also have a series on bears and dogs. Erin Hunter which is actually three different authors under one pen name.
I used to teach fifth grade, and one of my very favorite series that I would read with the kids was the City of Ember books. FANTASTICALLY written, adventurous, strong characters, etc. Great, great books. I also recently discovered the Penderwick books and cannot say enough about them either. Very well written and hard to put down, even as a 31 year old. 🙂
There is a pin on Pinterest with a list of books for young-ish girls…I will see if I can find it
http://bookreviews.me.uk/rory-gilmore-reading-challenge/
I adore some books by Deborah Wiles: Love, Ruby Lavender and Each Little Bird That Sings. I have to give a shout out to the Penderwicks, Little Women, and The Secret Garden – those books greatly influenced me as a reader. I have never commented before, but I really appreciate your posts.
My 9 year old wants me to add that in addition to the many books that have been mentioned already, she loves the Theodosia Throckmorton books.
Thanks for helping compile this list. We have found several we haven't heard of before and added them to our library list. Trying to keep my daughter going with good books is a challenge!
Trixie Beldon + vintage Nancy Drew! My daughter just turned 11 and she is enjoying the Artemis Fowl series!! She. Read hunger games series last year, amd followed up with the two.series similar- Reardon writes them I believe..
Also Divergent +.Insurgent.
She is reading To Kill a Mocking Bird right now ans enjoying that.
haven't read all the recommendations yet so not sure if it's been suggested, but 'Mrs. Mike: The Story of Katherine Mary Flannigan' by Benedict and Nancy Freedman is a good one! Pretty much un-put-down-able.
I'm sorry… I was thinking for Abby's level. Mrs. Mike is more for high school girls!