I still have mine after 25 years. They've even updated the look and colors so it's more girlie. I have the classic yellow set.
Any young girl would love these books.
Posted on 05/31/2006 6:20:08 AM PDT by dg62
My 12yo neice is graduating from grammar school on Friday, and I want to give her a good book to read for the summer.
Does anybody have any ideas? I was thinking one of the classics like Jane Eyre or something but maybe thats too old for her at this time. Also, I want to avoid giving her something Lib/PC. Any suggestions greatly appreciated.
What about the travelling pants series. My niece loved those.
Also: Madelein L'Engle (Wrinkle in Time, Wind Through the Door). Very Christian.
12 yo? I bet she could handle the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Or The Hobbit.
I liked the Narnia series at that age, "The Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgson Burnett, "My Side of the Mountain", and "Little House on the Prairie".
What is her reading level? Pride and Prejudice is very good. Also the Redwall Series is perfect for pre-teen girls. They are written by Brian Jacques.
My daughters all loved the Jungle Books, particularly Rikki Tikki Tavi. The Little House series is also great. One of my favorites was Old Yeller, but man, that book is sad at the end. In lighter reading, Peanuts collections, or The Family Circus go over well with kids that age.
Atlas Shrugged.
She's an advanced reader. But wouldn't Pride and Prejudice be a liitle fast for her? But that might be good because the movie is out on DVD.
The Hobbit, and Lord of the Rings, if she hasn't read them already. :~D
I still have mine after 25 years. They've even updated the look and colors so it's more girlie. I have the classic yellow set.
Any young girl would love these books.
I am not going to hijack your post but it does remind of the time my son did some obnoxious thing in his middle-school years. As punishment, I went to the library and checked out Emily Post's Book of Etiquette. He was required to read the entire book. Every night at dinner he had to discuss what he had read. It was probably the most constructive punishment I ever did. He even learned how to set a correct table. He still remembers having to do it.
War and Peace
I see a lot of great suggestions have been given already. I particularly agree with L'Engle, the Narnia books and Ingalls Wilder.
I liked ALAS BABYLON and I think Jerry Pournelle did a good one with someone but I've forgotten the name.
But those are not particularly geared to teens, as I recall. And, I don't think the LEFT BEHIND series is quite what I want, either . . . regardless of the theology being right or wrong.
I think a book for the teens that I'm trying to find would be:
1 --attractive to the age group and not talking down to them.
2 --have at least a partial emphasis on core values.
3 --have a well integrated solid basic Christian foundations theology woven in seamlessly and inherently.
4 --reveal the capacity and essential, crucial need for HOPE--HOPING IN GOD in the midst of walking through, even sojourning through the valley of death.
5 --highlight many creative options and creative problem solving that teens and even younger children can pray through in the midst of crises.
6 --would have many examples of an inner, underlying joy in the midst of trauma and sorrow--rooted in God's provision for joy unspeakable via Christ and His Spirit regardless of circumstances.
7 --would outline and illustrate prioritizing a heirarchy of values, choices in forced choice situations that could be a starting place foundation for such but which would also emphasize learning to hear God and obey His still small voice in all situations.
If no one knows of such a book--is there anyone who'd be interested in collaborating toward writing/creating such a book?
And, how many of you reading this thread would consider such a book worth buying for someone you know?
In a way, I'm sort of asking--if you had been Anne Frank's parents and known 1-5 years ahead what was coming, what would you have wanted to teach her? What would you have wanted her to read?
dg62, re your request . . . if the teen or near teen is interested in sci-fi at all, I still like the Edgar Rice Burroughs MARS SERIES. If the teen is advanced sufficiently in their reading . . . C.S. Lewis' SPACE TRILOGY could be worth it. But one of those can be hard slogging for some.
A passage from church this very night:
Psalms 101:5 -- Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy; No one who has a haughty look and an arrogant heart will I endure.
True, true. And such must be done. Certainly should be done.
However, it's a rare parent who can engender such and/or a rare teen that will be that attracted and excited about Biblical truths in their 'raw' Biblical form. Many more would internalize them a lot easier if 'translated' into more teen friendly . . . metaphors, stories, images etc.
PING, if you have any such input . . .
Yo, man. If you talk smack 'bout ya neighbor in the 'hood, God gonna snuff you. You got 'da big head? You dead. Think ya bad stuff, He done had enough!
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