Thursday, March 24, 2011

Girl Books

Are you looking for the perfect book for your daughter, niece or other middle grade to young adult girl in your life? Here are a few of my favorites that you might enjoy too. Rather than writing out detailed descriptions, I've got links to the book on Amazon so you can read the description there.


Juvenile FictionDark Life by Kat Falls - science fiction, but nothing to be afraid of. It's basically a pioneer story, but the frontier is on the bottom of the ocean in the future when water covers the planet.

I, Coriander by Sally Gardner - Similar to a cinderella story, an orphan girl is raised by an awful stepmother. 


The Faeries of Dreamdark by Laini Taylor (Blackbringer and Silksinger)


Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin - Chinese fables that are woven together to create a lovely story. 


Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones - Fantasy 


When you Reach Me by Rebecca Stead - This won the Newbery last year and is wonderful. 


The Airborn Trilogy by Kenneth Oppel (Airborn, Skybreaker and Starclimber) Fantasy/alternate history 


Bat 6 by Virginia Euwer Wolff - Local Historical Fiction of a girls softball team after WWII.  


Young Adult
The Fiddler's Gun by AS Peterson - Historical Fiction (Revolutionary War) Adventure 


Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly - Historical Fiction, French Revolution An awesome book, well written, but just a heads up that some of the themes may be a little heavy. Definitely for the more mature teen. 


The Seven Realms books by Cinda Williams Chima (The Demon King and Exiled Queen) Super great! Fantasy, adventure


The Braid by Helen Frost - a book in verse, so if you have someone who might not be thrilled to read, this is a quick one. Well done. Tells the story with a beautiful economy of words. I guess you could call it historical fiction. 



Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier a retelling of the 12 Dancing Girls and the Frog Prince. One of my favorites. 

Cybele's Secret by Juliet Marillier, a companion book to Wildwood dancing. Follows one of the sisters on an adventure to Turkey. LOVED IT! 


The Hollow Kingdom Trilogy by Clare Dunkle - really loved this series 


Any Shannon Hale book, but especially Goose Girl.

Kiki Strike by Kirsten Miller - Kick-butt Girl Scouts with some skills solve the mystery of an underground city in NY. Great characters. 


Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson, an orphan girl inherits a Montana homestead prior to WWI. She has a year to improve upon the land and it's hers for the keeping.

Dairy Queen by Catherin Murdock Gilbert, the main character is a great girl who isn't afraid to be herself. 

3 comments:

Emily said...

Great list! I'm passing it onto my daughter as we speak.

Our Family said...

Thank you for posting this. My good friend is looking for a book club book, and this gives her a bunch of good suggestions. : )

Erika said...

Oh thank you! This is so helpful for my daughter--last time we went to the library she came home empty handed not knowing what to get. Thanks for the fresh ideas.