10-year-old DD only wants to read YA fantasy novels

[Anonymous]

http://www.amightygirl.com/books/fiction/fantasy-science-fiction

This link has lots of great books for 10 year olds, including some others have already mentioned.

I censor which movies my 10 year old watches, I don't see why books would be any different.

I know the "let them choose what they read" school of thought is powerful, but I took that to mean her Garfield and graphic novel obsession.

When she's 12, I'll broaden her options, same for 14. But at 10, YA fiction with sex is out.

[Anonymous]

I remember when I was around that age and loved these type of books. Maybe I was a little older, but I loved the sexual content because I was curious and it excited me. That didn't mean I was screwing around - they were just books. Fantasy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"I'm the PP and read Perilous Gard over and over and over some more. Such a good story! Same for anything by Diana Wynne Jones. I had free reign of my parents bookshelves, but I don't think reading Fear of Flying and Serenissima at 11 added much to my life (eye opening though it was). But OP's DD is already reading that type of 'stolen by fairies' theme, so Perilous Gard with its smart, brave heroine is likely a good bet. More generally, I also got into Jane Austen at that age, and would recommend it - could start with the movies, then there is a world of regency romances out there. A few even have magic crossover, like Sorcery & Cecelia. Also could be a good age to introduce Agatha Christie books/movies"


hahahaha I read Justine

I found it curious, but boring after around 70 pages.

Oh man I would be upset if my kid read that or Story of O, or anything similar.

[Anonymous]

I read a lot of Mary Renault when I was quite young. I remember finding it disturbing, but the plots were so compelling that I kept reading. Frankly, I think it made me less likely to experiment sexually. It made it all seem rather sordid to my young mind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:http://www.amightygirl.com/books/fiction/fantasy-science-fiction

This link has lots of great books for 10 year olds, including some others have already mentioned.

I censor which movies my 10 year old watches, I don't see why books would be any different.

I know the "let them choose what they read" school of thought is powerful, but I took that to mean her Garfield and graphic novel obsession.

When she's 12, I'll broaden her options, same for 14. But at 10, YA fiction with sex is out.

Because there's a difference between reading words on a page and seeing images on a large screen, with a soundtrack designed to manipulate emotion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"I'm the PP and read Perilous Gard over and over and over some more. Such a good story! Same for anything by Diana Wynne Jones. I had free reign of my parents bookshelves, but I don't think reading Fear of Flying and Serenissima at 11 added much to my life (eye opening though it was). But OP's DD is already reading that type of 'stolen by fairies' theme, so Perilous Gard with its smart, brave heroine is likely a good bet. More generally, I also got into Jane Austen at that age, and would recommend it - could start with the movies, then there is a world of regency romances out there. A few even have magic crossover, like Sorcery & Cecelia. Also could be a good age to introduce Agatha Christie books/movies"


hahahaha I read Justine

I found it curious, but boring after around 70 pages.

Oh man I would be upset if my kid read that or Story of O, or anything similar.

read that, too. had no impact whatsoever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:http://www.amightygirl.com/books/fiction/fantasy-science-fiction

This link has lots of great books for 10 year olds, including some others have already mentioned.

I censor which movies my 10 year old watches, I don't see why books would be any different.

I know the "let them choose what they read" school of thought is powerful, but I took that to mean her Garfield and graphic novel obsession.

When she's 12, I'll broaden her options, same for 14. But at 10, YA fiction with sex is out.

Because there's a difference between reading words on a page and seeing images on a large screen, with a soundtrack designed to manipulate emotion.

This - the images you conjure are likely not as lurid - because you don't know it - so you fill in the blanks or you skip over that part if you're reading - you can't block it out if it's on the big screen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has she read Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series? Very likely to appeal to a YA fantasy fan, but much tamer! Plus the series has a metric ton of books (really, there's like 20) so they will keep her going for a while.

Get her one for a holiday gift and she'll be hooked.

Thanks! I remembered reading those, so I tried them, with no luck. Maybe I'll give it another go.

Start with the Drangonsinger trilogy, which is specifically YA (in fact, I think the protagonist starts at about that age). Dragonsong is the first book.

I had fond memories of those books from when I was 11, so I tried Dragonsong on my kid last year when she was 11, and she rolled her eyes. Then I reread it, and I rolled my eyes. It was sad.

LOL okay I better reread them myself before my kids are old enough

[Anonymous]

There's tons of good YA fantasy/sci-fi.

Madeleine L'Engle's Wrinkle in Time.
Robin McKinley--the Blue Sword, The Hero and the Crown, etc.
Tuck Everlasting
Shannon Hale
Terry Prachett's The Wee Free Men (with sequels)
When You Reach Me
Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising sequence
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making (with sequels)
Alison Croggon's Pellinore series
Gail Carson Levine's Ella Enchanted and others

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's tons of good YA fantasy/sci-fi.

Madeleine L'Engle's Wrinkle in Time.
Robin McKinley--the Blue Sword, The Hero and the Crown, etc.
Tuck Everlasting
Shannon Hale
Terry Prachett's The Wee Free Men (with sequels)
When You Reach Me
Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising sequence
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making (with sequels)
Alison Croggon's Pellinore series
Gail Carson Levine's Ella Enchanted and others

I liked these as a child but found them creepily elitist as an adult.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OF COURSE it's not a "fight" worth having. She's reading!

She'll read enough "fundamental" books in school. You should thank your lucky stars that she is picking up books on her own for pleasure and entertainment, instead of only wanting to be on a device.

OK, so it's a little on the "older" side...but it's probably much healthier to explore that kind of thing in a book rather than online...

If she likes fantasy/science fiction/YA, try to ALSO encourage her to read some more "traditional" books in that genre, like "Hunger Games," Tolkein, etc., but make it in addition to what she's reading on her own, not "instead of."

--An English MA holder who has helped run a youth reading grant and knows that kids reading ANYTHING on their own is tremendously valuable

Perhaps add some older fantasy/sci-fi too, like McCaffrey's Pern or Anthony's Incarnations or Xanth. Plot becomes more important in adult fantasy/sci-fi, and while relationships are discussed, it's a much better model.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get her the Graceling books. Great stories and the romantic relationships are handled well - sex is not explicit and there is a focus on consent and preventing pregnancy.

Thanks, she has read those, but I appreciate all the suggestions on this thread because some of the titles/authors are new to me. I just ordered some books by Tamora Pierce and Diana Wynne Jones, and by the magic of Amazon, they should be here later today. I'm hopeful we'll find some books--ideally with dozens of sequels--we both feel good about.

The only ones I would suggest holding off for now of Tamora Pierce's would be the Beka Cooper trilogy of Terrier, Bloodhound, Mastiff. Beka is a little older at the beginning of the trilogy that Pierce's other heroines, and it's a little more mature.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"I'm the PP and read Perilous Gard over and over and over some more. Such a good story! Same for anything by Diana Wynne Jones. I had free reign of my parents bookshelves, but I don't think reading Fear of Flying and Serenissima at 11 added much to my life (eye opening though it was). But OP's DD is already reading that type of 'stolen by fairies' theme, so Perilous Gard with its smart, brave heroine is likely a good bet. More generally, I also got into Jane Austen at that age, and would recommend it - could start with the movies, then there is a world of regency romances out there. A few even have magic crossover, like Sorcery & Cecelia. Also could be a good age to introduce Agatha Christie books/movies"


hahahaha I read Justine

I found it curious, but boring after around 70 pages.

Oh man I would be upset if my kid read that or Story of O, or anything similar.

read that, too. had no impact whatsoever.

I read Story of O at 11, de Sade at 12. My mother's rule was that I had to tell her what I was reading, and if she wanted to read it first, she had dibs, so that we could talk about it as I read.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Books have changed along with the culture. Many--maybe not all--of the books that were considered too "old" when we were 10 or 12 or 14 seem relatively tame today. I don't think reading "The Thorn Birds" as a 13-year-old is really in the same category as reading "A Court of Thorn and Roses" as a 10-year-old.

Evidently you didn't read the rape-ier parts of Marion Zimmer Bradley and Anne McCaffrey.

Incidentally, did I take any notice of those parts, when I was an eleven-year-old reading those books? Nope. I skipped right over them without notice. I was reading for the plot.

That's my thought. Unfortunately, all the YA books dwell on unhealthy relationships (Twilight) and sex (most of the others). I read the first trilogy for Pern at 9, reread it at 12 only to realize that it really is rape because the dragonriders can't consent.

[Anonymous]

A couple of series my DD loves that have not yet been mentioned

Sisters Gri