Book Choices - Pre-teen's

[SamanosukeShiva]

Secret life of bees, Danger Zone

[Pocketrockets]

Wheel of Time (not sure if the latter books in the series are shit or not, I'm only halfwayish)

Actually, yes, the later books in the series are shit.

[Haiko]

http://www.freewebs.com/frailstar1/W...he%20clans.jpg

never read this book but its about freaking cats so yeah buy now!

[Shade]

Amazon.com: Uglies (Boxed Set): Uglies, Pretties, Specials (The Uglies): Scott Westerfeld, Rodrigo Corral: Books
"Uglies" series by Scott Westerfeld was quite excellent. Dystopian semi scifi with teen cliques and dialects, whats not to love? Very fun, but not really "fluffy" books...

Im told the Spiderwick Chronicles are good/fun light reading, but I've never read them.

[Shade]

Haha... Oh yeah, the Warriors pic reminded me, when I was little I liked the Redwall books by Brian Jacques. 500 pages of tiny forest animals getting into blood filled battles with swords and maces. It was all about the graphic violence and detailed descriptions of food. It's pretty formulaic though, so you've read some you read 'em all.

[Jotaru]

Again, its for 12 year old girls x_x I'm not sure my mom would be too keen on me bringing home books of bloodbathed battlefields for them to read.

Lots of good suggestions tho, i'll check them out tomorrow!

[Shade]

Hey I was a 12 year old girl when I liked them!
It's all cute mice and tales of valor and stuff too.

[Kaelan?]

I was probably a little older than 12, but I started reading Terry Pratchett when I was a kid and loved every bit of it (and, of course, it's even more enjoyable when you read it several years later and notice all of the details and references you never did when you first read it, making it that much better).

Would definitely recommend it. You can find the paperbacks really cheap these days too.

Amazon.com: The Color of Magic: Terry Pratchett: Books
Amazon.com: The Light Fantastic: Terry Pratchett: Books

[Pun]

I'd recommend the Keys to the Kingdom series by Garth Nix. Should entertain them well. I would highly recommend his Old Kingdom series, too, but you may want to sample them first as they may be a bit dark for 12 year olds.

[Kerberoz]

Get them some classics so they won't grow up to be drooling pop-culture zombies.

...or Palahniuk. Can never go wrong with him.

[Moridam]

if you're dead-set on fantasy, i'll echo the tolkien rec's, i was reading terry brooks around that age and in retrospect his prose is just lifeless, descriptive only in the most clinical sense of the word. plot-wise i'd say brooks is age-appropriate but his style is very dry and the scenarios tend to repeat themselves after the original trilogy (which themselves were probably 100% derivative, but it's been long enough that I couldn't say one way or the other anymore). lotr is just gorgeously written, full of heroism and all that other HQ inspirational stuff, post-tolkien fantasy fiction is largely redundant/useless.

if you want to get them into anything that is modern and worthwhile, go with any of david foster wallace's nonfiction collections (as an intro, his fiction is the main course, but probably a bit intimidating for most to start off on). he was without question the most important modern (e.g., alive and publishing within the last 50 years) writer, and while it's a bit dense for a 12 year old, keep that thought on the back-burner. a reasonably smart high-schooler could get an awful lot of out DFW.

[Senoska]

Redwall >_>

[AlexRuzhyo]

Eh, as a 12 year old I began reading Tom Clancy novels. Red Storm Rising was awesome.

I was "forced" into reading Harry Potter 1-4 for a scholastic program (they were worth the most points) and I actually enjoyed them. It may be a "unoriginal" option but it is an option.

[Warudo Ecksu]

when i was 12 i was into R. L. Stine fear street stuff
Fear Street - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

theres a ton of books. i know you said you wanted to stray away from the darker stuff but some of my friends and I were really into this shit around that age. Hella people die in harry potter so you cant get darker than that any way.

[Kryssan]

Throw some Anne McCaffery (Dragonriders of Pern/The Ship Who... series) or some Brian Jacques (Redwall) at them. Light fantasy they should be able to follow without difficulty and most of it is an enjoyable read if they like the genre.

[EternalSnow]

Twilight! lol

[Vandalhart]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that you're Mom didn't read the last couple Twilight books, from what I hear they are pretty raunchy.

[gamez]

Again, its for 12 year old girls x_x I'm not sure my mom would be too keen on me bringing home books of bloodbathed battlefields for them to read.

12 is when you think you're an adult now really, so don't be too over concerned about exposing violence and such, they see worse on a daily basis I'm sure no matter how they're raised. Anyways, touching on Redwall that Shade had mentioned, other books of a similar nature that come to mind is Watership Down and Silverwing;(I know there was atleast 2 books, so to make sure I didn't get them in the wrong order; chapters.indigo.ca: Silverwing Saga Box Set: Kenneth Oppel: Books Box Set link has them listed in order).

Other books that keep that age entertained if they're not into animal stuff, look for some books by Chris Wooding, he writes a lot of teen/pre-teen saga fantasy that's actually good stuff.(Broken Sky was suggested to me).

Otherwise, go with the defaults if they haven't read them like Golden Compass/HP/etc.

[Vigilia]

Anything by Astrid Lindrgen. Most famous for the children's series Pippi Longstocking, she also wrote books for older children mostly taking place in fantasy lands.
Ronia the Robber's Daughter, Mio my Mio and Brothers Lionheart are all awesome and funny.
When I was around 11 or 12 I read Cheaper by the Dozen, it had me laughing my sides sore. It's nothing like the shitty Steve Martin movie they supposedly based on the book. On the list of funny books the early diaries of Adrian Mole and Sempe/Goscinny's "Nicholas" series are so much win also.

[Atlasion]

His Dark Materials (Northern Lights, possibly called Golden Compass in US, Subtle Knife and Amber Spyglass) trilogy is a great choice for that age group. Don't be fooled by the movie - the books are actually very good. I'm pretty sure I was about that age when I read Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit, so those could be a good choice too.

At that age they can probably handle a good few "adult" books. So it depends what they're into. Anne Rice vampire chronicles are quite good for vampire stuff. Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy for comedy/sci fi. Lord of the Rings for fantasy. Someone already mentioned Tom Clancy. That could be a good choice. I can't remember what age I was when I read Rainbow Six though.

Harppy Potter is always a good choice for any age group anyway.