Anonymous wrote:Give her Forever by Judy Blume to read. I remember checking it out of the library when I was 12, and loved it. And then I read the VC Andrews books - OMG those were insane. I also read some of my grandmother's racy romance novels that she left lying around at that age, and I'm fine.

Reading is awesome and you should encourage it as much as possible. Maybe draw the line at the really graphic hard core stuff, but some light romance should be ok.

Anonymous wrote:I never read romance novels but it’s a vast genre, right? They’re pumping out new ones all the time, some of them must be better.

Don’t forget to give her the Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. IMO one of the best at “mature” content for younger readers. I haven’t gone back to see if any of it needs to be updated though so maybe you should read them first.

Madeleine L’Engel also has some somewhat racy books that I think hold up okay even though they are genuinely old at this point.

As far as explicitness, too late, she’s 11, it’s happening. But I do think trying to steer to richer literature is good.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I allow my kids to read whatever they want on their. If they're too young for it - it will go over their heads like Judy Blume says. I know that from experience. I was "allowed" to read Interview with a Vampire when I was in 5th grade, and I think that was the right call by my parents.

+1. Reading novels is about the safest possible way for an 11 year old to be exploring her sexuality.

I agree! You could try and gift her romance novels that have more appropriate gender/relationship dynamics than they ones I read as a teen but honestly I don’t think censoring them will help her explore what she wants and reading about it is way better than Instagram or experimenting with other kids.

Anonymous wrote:This is not a romance novel, of course, but I highly recommend it.

Maybe He Just Likes You
by Barbara Dee

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07P56K21Y/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

If I were you, I'd slip this book in with a few very sweet, benign early teen romances (like Sweet Valley High - books that involve crushes, some flirting, and maybe a kiss or a date at the end . . . )

Going back to Maybe He Just Likes You, I read it first, then gave it to DD, who devoured it and then passed it on to a few friends, who read it, too.

And though DD is not a big "talker" when it comes middle school social life, we've had good conversations about the book. Not all at once - small snippets here and there -- what she thought was realistic, what wasn't, what types of similar things she's noticed/heard from/about her classmates etc.

More than anything else, it helped us talk a bit about boundaries and opened up a line of communication for the future . . . .

Anyway, sorry to co-opt this thread. But IMO, this should be required reading for all middle schoolers - girls and boys, both.