AboutMadeline Expertise I can answer questions regarding "tween", teen, and young adult literature and make recommendations about books you may like based on genres and authors you've read and liked in the past. I'm most familiar with fantasy (and science fiction, to a certain extent), but I've read plenty of other genres as well, and I will make an effort to find the answer to your question even if I don't know it off the top of my head. However, I do not answer homework questions (so please don't bother asking them), and I'm not very good at finding obscure books---the best I can suggest is a Google search! Thanks!
Experience I am an avid reader, and I am trusted by all my friends for my taste in books. I have read books in all of the following genres (though I do not claim to be an expert in all of them): fantasy (I term any book with a fantastical element to it to be "fantasy"), sci-fi, historical fiction, classics, realistic fiction, mysteries, and whodunits.
Expert: Madeline Date: 7/22/2007 Subject: Good books
Question Hello
My daughter (13) is a great reader (tested 2 grades a head). I'm looking for
good books that you can't put down. There is so much trash out here in
books. It's getting harder to find GOOD books that don't have Black magic,
killing,sex,ect..... Please no Harry Potter!
She likes books that are funny,stories that you make your own ending,,diary
books,orphaned books. I'm open to suggestion of other books.
PS. At night I have to tell her toput the book down and go to bed.
Answer Hello Tae!
Hmm...good, wholesome, interesting books, eh? I'll see what I can do...:D
I'd have to say that most Newbery Award-winning books fit your description. I'll give you a few favorites of mine, but I highly recommend you check out the entire list of books (it's an annual award that has been around for a long time now).
May I just say that if your daughter has not read "Holes", by Louis Sachar, it is most definitely worth reading! It is certainly one of the most unusual books to win a Newbery Medal, but it deserves it. "Holes" tells the story of Stanley Yelnats (a boy whose last name is his first name spelled backwards) and his punishment for a crime he did not commit. The juvenile court sentences him to go to Camp Green Lake. There is no lake at Camp Green Lake. And there is no green either. But there are hundreds of thousands of holes, which are dug by the inmates every single day---five feet wide and five feet deep. And nobody knows why. :)
"The Giver", by Lois Lowry, is definitely another book I would recommend. It's a Newbery Medal award winning book about...well, it's actually a bit difficult to explain exactly what it's about. It takes place in a utopia, where life is perfect...almost. As the main character, Jonas, discovers with the help of a mysterious man called the Giver, his world was not always as it seems. A truly fascinating book---I would highly recommend it.
"The Door in the Wall", (another Newberry Medal-winner) by Marguerite De Angeli, is set in Medieval England. The story follows Robin, a young boy crippled by disease, as he learns not only to cope with his disability, but to appreciate what he has been given instead. As preachy as that last sentence sounds, this is really a very good book (books don't win Newberry Awards for nothing, after all!), and I enjoyed it. :D
Karen Cushman's "The Midwife's Apprentice" (yet another Newberry Medal-winner!) is a window into a medieval English village, and the life of a girl with no name who soon finds a place as the apprentice of the town midwife, Jane Sharp. Witty and fascinating, I immensely enjoyed this book. Ms. Cushman has also written another award-winning medieval novel, "Catherine, Called Birdy", which is also a fun read.
"Shabanu, Daughter of the Wind" by Suzanne Fisher Staples, is a simply beautiful book. It's set in Pakistan, and is the coming-of-age story of a free-spirited young girl in the harsh Cholistan desert. In a similar vein, if your daughter hasn't read "Island of the Blue Dolphins" by Scott O'Dell, she simply must. Both are excellent books.
Two other historical novels with a similar theme are "The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle", by Avi, and "Bloody Jack", by Louis A. Meyer. Both are stories of young girls living on the high seas in the 1700-1800s. Both are extremely interesting, quick-paced reads, if your daughter likes something a little more exciting...
"Gypsy Rizka" by Lloyd Alexander, is a fun, funny, lighthearted book which is great fun to read, I highly recommend it!
I hope you find something on this list that works for you, and as I said before, don't feel shy about looking up other Newbery-Award winners (they're all great books!). :) Oh, and if it's not too much trouble, let me know what books you end up choosing! I'm always curious to hear what people choose based on my recommendations...
