Books I loved at that age:

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Bridge to Terabithia
Lloyd Alexander's fantasy novels
Robin McKinley's Beauty and The Door in the Hedge
The Narnia Series
The Witch of Blackbird Pond
Summer of My German Soldier
The Westing Game
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
The Secret Garden
Number the Stars
Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes
Homecoming/Dicey's Song
Across Five Aprils

Anonymous wrote:To Kill a Mockingbird
Watership Down
Animal Farm
Willa Cather novels, especially My Antonia and O Pioneers
The Giver and its sequels
A Wrinkle in Time, to be followed by When You Reach Me
The Book Thief
The Green Glass Sea
Al Capone Does My Shirts (and its sequels)

How on earth is an 11-year-old girl in the US in 2014 going to make the least bit of sense of Animal Farm?

Has she read the Roald Dahl books?

Somebody mentioned Peppermints in the Parlor, one of my old favorites! I read it in 5th or 6th grade, and once or twice in adulthood. I think it was the first dark gothic novel I'd read. Not astounding in it's reading level, but very enjoyable for a kid.

What about some Stephen King books? Or Books by Neil Gaiman (especially Coraline).

The Hiding Place and Diary of Anne Frank.

To Kill a Mockingbird
Watership Down
Animal Farm
Willa Cather novels, especially My Antonia and O Pioneers
The Giver and its sequels
A Wrinkle in Time, to be followed by When You Reach Me
The Book Thief
The Green Glass Sea
Al Capone Does My Shirts (and its sequels)

This is PP. My son started reading the Wicked History series in 5th grade, I think. He's in 7th now and still gets them out, plus now that he's studying communism in school it was helpful that he'd already read about Stalin and Mao.

I'm a historical fiction fan so I read the Royal Diary series - thought it too girly for him but great for your daughter!

OP, there is an excellent, though out of print, series by Scholastic called Wicked History. You can still find used and library copies on Amazon. I'd start with the female biographies and if she likes them, move to the men. Try "Catherine the Great: Empress of Russia" and "Mary Tudor: Courageous Queen or Bloody Mary," as well as "I've read the series too and it spurred me to read adult bios of the main characters. The Alexander the Great title is great too. If she liked the "Who Was?" Series she'll love this one. Higher reading level - though not very high - maybe 5th 6th grade - it's the content that is fascinating.

One word of caution: the stories spare few details so they can be gruesome. (my son loves them and rereads them often).

Another thought is the "Royal Diaries" series - easy but fascinating historical fiction about Eleanor of Aquitaine, Victoria; Mary, Queen of Scots; Elizabeth... Great reads. They are not gruesome like the other series and written as autobiographical memories unlike the narrative tone of Wicked History. The MCPS library has these.

Anonymous wrote:
Warriors (multiple different series)

Aren't these terrible?

If she liked Little Women, try the rest of Louisa May Alcott's books

Little Men

Jo's Boys

Eight Cousins

Also try:

Wolves of the Beyond series

Warriors (multiple different series)

From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

Peppermints in the Parlor

A Little Princess

The Secret Garden

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of good books here but not many that are over an 11-year-old's reading level. Dickens was a good suggestion--I would start with A Tale of Two Cities. Or what about The Scarlet Pimpernel (not by Dickens, obv)?

At some point reading level stops being that important. Just reading good books for the fun of it is what matters. I am sure all of us have read books below our "level" that we enjoyed, right?

Not OP, but a parent of a similar child. My DD has read everything she can get her hands on, repeatedly, so the usually book lists for 11-year-olds don't have much new for her. She also reads quickly, so books "below her level" go by so quickly. That's not all bad, but I think they can become unsatisfying after a while. That's why we like finding more challenging books that also suit her age.

I think she could try Dickens, but not Great Expectations or Tale of Two Cities. The only advantages of those are that they are shorter. I would recommend Nicholas Nickleby.

Also, I explicitly don't recommend Jane Austen. She might get the story, but she'll miss everything else.

Anonymous wrote:Has she read anything by Diana Wynne Jones? The Chrestomanci books are a great place to start.

The Diane Duane So You Want to Be a Wizard series is also good.

Big, big, big fan of the Chrestomanci books here. Also of Howl's Moving Castle, Castle In The Air, and House Of Many Ways.

Little House on the Prairie!

Anne of Green Gables