Top 25 Books for Girls ages 9-12 and Up
By Heather Idoni
Updated Thursday, April 24, 2008
These are my best recommendations for girls' reading. You will see some of the books are also on my boys' list. If you were to come into my bookstore in Michigan, these are some books I would direct you to! No particular order -- they are all wonderful. :-)
- The Good Master by Kate Seredy
- The Singing Tree by Kate Seredy (sequel to The Good Master)
- Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher
- Blue Willow by Doris Gates
- Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia Sorensen
- The Saturdays series (The Melendy Quartet - 4 by Elizabeth Enright)
- All-of-a-kind Family books by Sydney Taylor
- Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
- Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski (and others by her)
- Little House on the Prairie books by Laura Ingalls Wilder
- Baby Island by Carol Ryrie Brink
- Caddie Woodlawn (and Magical Melons, the sequel) by Brink
- Ballet Shoes (and other 'Shoes' books) by Noel Streatfeild
- Misty of Chincoteague (and other true horse stories) by Marguerite Henry
- The Ruth Fielding Books by Alice B. Emerson
- The Moffats (and sequels) by Eleanor Estes
- The Railway Children by E. Nesbit
- Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan
- Twenty and Ten (AKA The Secret Cave) by Claire Huchet Bishop
- Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren
- Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (but not the others in this series)
More to come!
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I have several customers at Beloved Books whose daughters love the Trixie Belden series. Here is a quote I read recently from a mom who remembers reading them as a child:
"Trixie Belden wasn't the smartest, prettiest, most athletic or most elegant Bob-white, but she was clever, courageous and kind to friends and strangers alike. She just amazed me."