Feeding a bookworm: A Book list for tweens

As some of you know, I work part time at a local church library. I love recommending books to people, especially when they come back raving about how much they loved a book! :) I know it is just one week until Christmas (REALLY?? How did that happen!?) and some of you may be needing some last minute ideas for gifts. Might I recommend a good book? ;)

Several years ago, I did a blog post listing many of my favorite children's books. However, after looking back at the list, I really don't have a lot of options listed. I've had different people ask about some good books for their kids that they can't keep supplied with books! The kids just read way too fast! A few weeks ago, my sister asked if I could recommend some books for a friend of ours... so Nancy, this list was started with you in mind, but I have expanded it from there. (Hopefully many of these books will be available in your city library, since it sounds like keeping your reader supplied could be a budget breaker!) :) 

There are so many books coming out all the time - in the Christian publishing industry as well as mainstream market. But there are so many good "classics" that aren’t necessarily “mainstream” at the moment. Although I started this list with a preteen girl in mind, many of these books would be just as fun for boys.

I'll start with the ones that I feel would appeal to boys and girls.

Homer Price

• Caddie Woodlawn – Carol Ryrie Brink (Magical Melons is the sequel) 
• The Railway Children – E. Nesbit 
• Pippi Longstocking – Astrid Lingren 
• The Peterkin Papers – Lucrecia Hale 
• Homer Price – Robert McCloskey (and Centerburg Tales) Hilarious Books!! 
• The Bronze Bow – Elizabeth George Spear 
• Strawberry Girl - Lois Lenski (She wrote many books about girls from different regions, unfortunately, they have become hard to find. This one is fairly common.) 

 A few books that would more likely appeal to girls:

Betsy, Tacy and Tib

• Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace. (The series starts when the girls are 5 and go through the first year of Betsy’s marriage. I've read several of them many times over.) 
• The Pollyanna books – Eleanor Porter (There are several in the series.) Eleanor Porter has written several books, I remember enjoying some of her others, but I don’t remember what age they are geared to. 
• Pippi Longstocking – Astrid Lingren 
• What Katy Did – Susan Coolidge (I haven't actually read these yet, but they are favorites of several people.) :) 

Some more "boyish" books:

• The Kingdom Series and the Knights of Arrethtrae Series by Chuck Black. You may remember that I reviewed one of his books a while back and I was very impressed! His books the whole family would enjoy! 
• Rifles for Waite – Harold Keith 
• Johnny Tremain - Esther Forbes

 I will say, on all of these books, the enjoyment of them depends on the reading level of the child. And while I feel all these books are excellent, it has been a while since I read some of them. So don't just take my word on them, if you have any questions be sure and check them out yourself before giving them to your child. :)


Also, a couple of words of caution that I give to many mothers of preteen girls: First off, while I loved the American Girls series when I was young (my favorite was Samantha!), be careful when you get outside the main historical series - such as "Meet _____." In some of their other series, I have run into language issues (as in words we don't feel comfortable using), some PG rated content, and even tarot cards. I have written to the company personally to voice my concerns so I have no reservations sharing my concerns with you here.
Also, there is an author in the Christian fiction genre - she writes for children, teens as well as adults - that I have had some major concerns about. In fact, at one point we removed all of her teen books as well as an adult series from our library. It just shows that even in with "Christian" publisher one must use caution, as I'm sure many of you moms already know.

Well, I hope you have enjoyed my little list. Maybe it's been an inspiration anyway. :) OR maybe you have some favorites I forgot to add?