empowering books for preteens & teens

[all.of.me]

did we have a thread on this a while ago? a friend of mine is looking for books for her 11 year old daughter that will help her through the trying years to come.

what books would you recommend for this fragile yet strong age group?

thanks.

[cally]

1. THis is not exactly what you are looking for

but my daughters enjoyed Tamara Pierce books. Her first one is Alanna which has a female knight. All have strong female characters. I think they have a good message and are enjoyable books.

[all.of.me]

2. thanks! i'll send that info along!

[kalibex]

3. Lloyd Alexander's 'Holly Vesper' series

She's sort of a late 18th century female Indiana Jones type (pathetic, that I feel the need to describe her as compared to a male character, hah hah). But an efficient comparison - she's in her late teens, smart as a whip, has red hair, is adventurous, etc. The reason she can adventure as she does in that time period is that she's a (wealthy) orphan who has her affable guardians wrapped around her little finger. Heh. Has her own recurring nemesis, whom she handily outwits. Deliberately formulaic, yet fun reads.

I suspect that at 11, your friend's daughter's edging out of the age group this series is aimed at, but heck - would make great end of Summer beach reading. ^_^

[kalibex]

4. Diane Duane's Wizards series

Teen wizards, with a main female protagonist. Excellent stuff.

[PassingFair]

5. The "His Dark Materials" Trilogy

by Phillip Pullman.
The protagonist is a female who gets to battle GOD (and wins)!

[all.of.me]

6. these are great ideas! keep 'em coming!

thanks!

[TheProphetess]

7. NOW has books for sale on their site

There is a special section for the younger crowd:

http://www.now.org/cgi-bin/store/scan/mp=default/sf=category/se=children%27s%20book/sf=prod_group/se=books/sp=results_category/va=banner_text=Children%27s%20Books.html?id=uk9CaTPJ

[all.of.me]

8. thanks! these are great!

[MountainLaurel]

9. If you'd like

I can post this to a librarian listserv and provide the results. Just the question, not your name or anything: It's a not-just-business list for librarians, and there are several who are young adult librarians specifically. I'm sure we could pull in lots of great responses.

[all.of.me]

10. that sounds great! thanks!