Books for 14 and up, Especially Girls

1. Jane Eyre

2. Sense and Sensibility

3. Diary of Anne Frank

Worth the Effort

These books, in my opinion, take effort to get through. But it's worth it.

1. Brothers Karmozov

2. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

3. The Great Divorce by C. S. Lewis

Books for ages 10-14, Especially Boys

Teaching 7th grade English, I was constantly asked for recommendations for boys. Here are some of my top picks---girls will like them, too, of course.

1. The Great Brain Series by Fitzgerald

2. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.

3. Lemony Snicket series. Kids love the irony in this. Some adults don't get it.

4. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Books for ages 10-14, Especially Girls

If I had to come up with a required reading list for girls, ages 10-14, these would be on my list. I've put an asterisk next to the ones that I think are revisiting well into a woman's adult life.

1. *The Laura Ingalls Wilder Series

2. *Anne of Green Gables Series

3. Shoes Books by Noel Stretfield. Unlike Meg Ryan, Dancing Shoes is my Favorite. After that, I like Theatre Shoes. Skating Shoes was OK.

4. *A Little Princess

5. *The Secret Garden

6. The Great Brain Series by Fitzgerald

7. Daddy Long Legs by Webster

Mystery Series I Like

1. Laurie King's Mary Russell series

2. Number One Ladies Detective Agency

3. Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax

I just realize that all of these have strong, intelligent women as their heroines. None of these women focus on food-- (revise)

"Can you recommend a good book?"

Here are my top ten for when people ask, "Can you recommend a good book?"

1. AJ Cronin's Keys of the Kingdom

2. Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

3. Jacques Lusseryan's And There was Light

4. Sue Bender's _____________

5. Olive Ann Burn's Cold Sassy Tree (Not too keen on the sequel. The sequel is dumb. She took the best characters and made them bitter.)

6.

Anne Frank Remembered by Miep Gies

I just finished Miep Gies's book, Anne Frank Remembered. Fabulous. Read it.

Gies is the woman who helped hide Anne Frank and her family in WWII. I must admit, first off, that I've never read A Diary of Anne Frank---it's one of those books like Man's Search for Meaning (haven't read that either) that has changed the life of other people but that I haven't gotten around to yet.

I'm glad I started with this one. My friend Pat loaned it to me and now it's on my list of books to buy. This one I need on my shelves. Fabulous insights into the lives of people in Holland during the occupation of the Germans.

From her writing, I can tell that I would've liked Gies in person. Strong. Opinionated. Doing good in her own realm. I think we could've been great friends.

5 stars. Excellent. Find a copy and begin.