Great Middle Grade Reads discussion

My 11 year old daughter goes through books like water. She has been reading since a very early age and reads well above her grade level. While she is capable of reading books for older kids, the content is not necessarily appropriate. I want to keep her innocence as long as possible. I am looking for books for her to read over the summer. i sent an email to her teacher at the end of the year but didn't get any suggestions. I am ideally looking for longer books that are part of a series but will take any suggestions. Bear in mind she has read a lot of books already! She has read harry potter (4 times so far), Percy jackson, Red Pyramid, lemony snickett, dork diaries, diary of a wimpy kid etc. Looking for young adult books that are still appropriate - ie no sex, minimal violence, no swearing.

I feel your pain! My son is the same way. Has she read fablehaven yet? My son just devoured those.

I am also about to let him start The Journey of the Marked though I know he will be just as frustrated as I am that the next book isn't out yet.

He also enjoys The Hardy Boys and Jupiter Jones books that I collected when I was young. You might have a lot of luck finding those at the library or at garage sales. They were safe until the boys got into their college years, then the content got a little more mature, but nothing like Twilight!

Hunger Games, though the concept was mature, the material wasn't too bad. Just be prepared to discuss how a world could end up that way. Maze Runner series, again dark content but they get around language by creating their own curse words and there is no sex.

If your girl is anything like my 12 year old, that will keep her busy for the rest of July ;)

thanks Heidi! good leads. I will check them out. she read hunger games series in less than a week!

I'll recommend almost anything by Madeleine L'Engle. Some of the books have younger teens struggling with relationship issues, but I can think of only one that has any sex, outside of her adult books.

For books that might offer a more challenging reading level but nothing inappropriate (there is occasional violence, but less than in Harry Potter and WAY less than Hunger Games) I will also recommend the Princelings books by our own Jemima Pett. Ditto the books of Wendy Leighton-Porter.

The Edge Chronicles by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell is a great middle great adventure series with quite a few books to get through.

https://www.goodreads.com/series/5538...

The Blackwell Pages triology by K. Armstrong is a good middle grade read-a-like for Percy Jackson fans. It's a spin on the Thor vs. Loki mythology.

https://www.goodreads.com/series/6134...

Gods of Manhattan by Scott Mebus (series) -- again middle grade Percy Jackson read-a-like

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

The Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer (series)
https://www.goodreads.com/series/4509...

Hope these help!

Hello everyone,
I'm co-leading a Middle Grade book group for kids in grades 6-9. I welcome any suggestions for great books and any genre.

Hi, Simona. There are so many great books for that age range! Though it spans a pretty broad range of reading levels, so there might be room for some thought there.

Rebecca wrote: "Hi, Simona. There are so many great books for that age range! Though it spans a pretty broad range of reading levels, so there might be room for some thought there."
Hi Rebecca,
That's one of the problems I've been having with selecting books. I have to be mindful of the content and this means that books that I believe would be great to read don't make it into my list. I am currently reading The Iron Trial by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare.

I would definitely second recommending Madeleine l'Engle (the time quintet, and from the Austin family books, definitely the first instalment).

And the Anne of Green Gables series, basically almost anything by L.M. Montgomery would be appropriate.

Has she read Black Beauty? I only read this as an adult but there is nothing really inappropriate about it except that there is quite a lot of abuse and neglect of animals, especially horses. If she is not too sensitive, the book would be a good discussion as the content actually caused quite an uproar in Great Britain and laws to change.

Simona wrote: "Hello everyone,
I'm co-leading a Middle Grade book group for kids in grades 6-9. I welcome any suggestions for great books and any genre."

I feel your pain -- I have one book club that's grades 4-8, and another that 6-8!! I've found these titles interesting topics for discussion while still maintaining appropriateness for the ages.

My Life With The Liars by C. Carter
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
Discussion topic: seeing your world through someone else's POV


OCDaniel by W. King
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
Discussion topic: Feeling different


I am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to be Your Class President by J. Lieb
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...
Discussion topic: An intro to Politics


Better Nate Then Ever by T. Federle
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
Discussion topic: Diversity AND Following your dream

Since you daughter is eleven, and the girls start their mother and daughter book club at age eleven (for the girls of course), The Mother-Daughter Book Club and its sequels would be something to consider. I did not completely love these books, but I think for the intended audience, they are indeed wonderful.

Here are some of my own favourites,

Little Women
A Little Princess
The Secret Garden
Heidi
What the Moon Said
Olivia Bean, Trivia Queen
Winterbound
The Belonging Place

And as mentioned previously, ANYTHING by Lucy Maud Montgomery.

The Neverending Story (I do love this, but I have not read the English translation, only the German language original)

And for nostalgia, All-of-a-Kind Family (and its sequels) are lovely.

If your daughter wants an easy and quick read that is a sweet and poignant time travel novel, Beswitched is great.

As is the equally fun, King of Shadows
(although it does deal with death, as the main protagonist's father has committed suicide).

I don't often recommend books but we read Magyk as our Book of the Month in the summer, and I think that is genuinely a good follow-on from Harry Potter (and it's a series...).

If she doesn't mind UK-set books, try Lauren St John's The One Dollar Horse, which I thought was excellent (possibly better if she's horse-mad).

She might also find Suzanne de Montigny's unicorn series, starting with The Legacy very enjoyable.

And they're all series, if she likes them ;)

David wrote: "Simona wrote: "Hello everyone,
I'm co-leading a Middle Grade book group for kids in grades 6-9. I welcome any suggestions for great books and any genre."

I feel your pain -- I have one book club t..."

Thank you for the suggestion!

Simona, I was thinking about the age range you have, and wondering if fantasy might work better than reality for them. I'm thinking of the Redwall books, or even LOTR/the Hobbit. That moves you away from issues of adolescence where the kids may be all over the place, and they are also, I think, appealing to both boys and girls.

A gentle reminder to authors that you should not use threads such as this to advertise your own books.

I love The Hero's of Olympus series. It's kind of like a sequel series to Percy Jackson, and it even has Percy in it!