Bookfilter: Recommendations for a tween, not fantasy or sci-fi
January 15, 2021 8:52 AM   Subscribe

Looking for recommendations for an almost-12 year old. We'll ask the local library, but any & all recommendations are welcome. Paraphrasing her: "Fiction or non-fiction. Not fantasy or sci-fi, ok to have magical elements in it but it should be based in our world. 1st person or 3rd person are both fine, focused on people, ok if it's from one person's perspective or there are chapters or sections from different people. Things I liked: All the Answers, 11 before 12 series, Graphic Novels like Roller Girl and Raina Telgemeier's books."
posted by true to Media & Arts (18 answers total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
I love love love David Mitchell's Black Swan Green, which is a (semi-autobiographical) novel about a boy growing up in rural England in the 1980s. I've heard a suggestion (and I heartily agree with it) that it should replace Catcher in the Rye in the high-school lit canon. It's just lovely.
posted by number9dream at 9:01 AM on January 15, 2021


My Side of the Mountain

Swallows & Amazons (a series, but that is the first book title as well)
posted by Lawn Beaver at 9:02 AM on January 15, 2021 [3 favorites]


Two graphic novels by Jerry Craft, The New Kid, and Class Act.
posted by Stanczyk at 9:05 AM on January 15, 2021 [4 favorites]


Our daughter liked the The Berrybrook Middle School graphic novels (Awkward, Brave, and Crush) by Svetlana Chmakova.
posted by eckeric at 9:20 AM on January 15, 2021 [1 favorite]


Holes
posted by oceano at 9:20 AM on January 15, 2021 [2 favorites]


Graphic novels:
Stargazing (Jen Wang)
The Awkward series (Svetlana Chmakova)
Sunny Side Up and sequels (Jennifer Holm)
El Deafo (Cece Bell)

Books:
I Am Princess X (Cherie Priest)
Drum Roll, Please (Lisa Jenn Bigelow)
Listen, Slowly (Thanhha Lai)
Front Desk (Kelly Yang)
posted by goodbyewaffles at 9:22 AM on January 15, 2021


Highly recommend:
- The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate
- Sal & Gaby Break the Universe
- the Lumberjanes series
posted by nkknkk at 9:42 AM on January 15, 2021 [1 favorite]


Seconding Sal and Gaby; it's got "magical" elements, but it takes place in Miami and it's DELIGHTFUL.
posted by gideonfrog at 9:49 AM on January 15, 2021


When I was her age, an enterprising teacher showed us Pride & Prejudice in class, after which I got the book and started to work my way through it. It was hard for sure, but so deeply satisfying, and it's been a constant re-read in my life. So I wouldn't suggest just giving her the book, but maybe watch a filmed version first (I suggest the one with Keira Knightley, and if she likes it move along to the Colin Firth version) and see if that might interest her in the book.
posted by BlahLaLa at 9:56 AM on January 15, 2021 [1 favorite]


Birchbark House series by Louise Erdrich

The 12 yr olds in my book group also really liked The Wolf's Trail: An Ojibwe Story, Told by Wolves.
posted by RedEmma at 10:00 AM on January 15, 2021 [1 favorite]


Anya's Ghost is essentially a ghost story, but is based in the everyday world.
posted by Johnny Assay at 10:51 AM on January 15, 2021


Lloyd Alexander's Westmark trilogy is set in a fictional country undergoing an ersatz French Revolution. It is breezy but grapples pretty well with some serious issues around the use of violence in the service of good and bad ends. There are no fantastic elements and it is a lot of fun.

Also, The Pushcart War by Jean Merrill is great fun and explores questions of equity and urban design.
posted by gauche at 11:01 AM on January 15, 2021


To Night Owl From Dogfish is a very modern take on the Parent Trap and it is wonderful and surprising and soooooo good.
posted by bookmammal at 11:31 AM on January 15, 2021


number9dream, I can't help but feel you're a bit biased in your recommendation. Black Swan Green is a lovely book though.

How about the Cartoon History of the Universe? I lived in the first 2 volumes when I was a bit younger than her but would go back to it even as a high school student.

March by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell is great, as is They Called us Enemy by George Takei, Steven Scott and Justin Eisinger.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 11:32 AM on January 15, 2021


These days I feel like I'm the old guy recommending books from ages ago - c'est la vie.

Not sure what the appropriate age for the books are, but around that age I loved reading almost everything by Chris Crutcher (all sports related, but intensely individual - some tough themes involving death and suicide). More recently, I've loved John Green's books and think some 12 year olds would be ready for them.

Also would recommend anything by Elizabeth Speare, though perhaps they're for younger kids? I still love them, particularly the Bronze Bow (though I'm not religious at all) and Calico Captive.

Then Good Night Mr. Tom is maybe again for slightly younger readers? But I loved it too, and while harder to come by Michele Magorian's other books are solid too.

Finally, to this day, I love reading the little house on the praire series, particularly the ones where Laura is older - from the Long Winter onward.
posted by slide at 12:05 PM on January 15, 2021


Recent: the Track series (Ghost, Patina, Sunny, Lu) by Jason Reynolds is great. Definitely appropriate for that age, though worth noting the kid protagonists deal with some rough challenges (family violence, alcoholism, bullying, etc.). Also, I’d look into Stamped, by Jason Reynolds & Ibram X. Kendi—it’s the middle-grade version of Kendi’s Stamped from the Beginning. Nonfiction about race and racism in the US. Haven’t read it yet but I’ve heard it’s quite good.

Lighter: The Kicks, a series about kids on a soccer team, cowritten by Alex Morgan. My kid loved these and there are 12 of them.

Older: Harriet the Spy is dated & problematic in some ways but still an amazing & unmatched story of a kid figuring out how to bridge her busy interior world with the strange world of other people. (I am still furious at the teachers & other grownups who discouraged me from reading it as a kid because it was “for girls” and steered me instead to My Side of the Mountain (fine) and Catcher in the Rye (execrable). Harriet would have been so great and useful for me at 12!)
posted by miles per flower at 1:24 PM on January 15, 2021


Recent hits from the rising middle school girl in our house, purged of the stuff about dragons and talking swords:

Milford, Greenglass House series

Bradley, The War that Saved My Life series

Bouwman, A Crack in the Sea [also, inevitably, a series, but my informant tells me the later ones aren't as good]

Johnson, The Parker Inheritance

Lin, Starry River of the Sky series

Haydu, Eventown

Florence, Jasmine Toguchi series [maybe a little young?]

and a memorable classic from my own youth: Paterson, Bridge to Terabithia

Searching the public library catalogue for books for this age group and sorting on kid ratings has found lots of potential good reads. Kirkus Reviews helps distinguish the wheat from the chaff.
posted by ogorki at 2:14 PM on January 15, 2021 [1 favorite]


The Westing Game by Ellen Ranskin

E.L. Konigsberg's oeuvre especially The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and The View From Saturday
posted by Constance Mirabella at 6:12 PM on January 15, 2021


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