Book Suggestions For 9 Year Old Girls

[2Boys4Me]

My son has a birthday party on Saturday for one of his friends. She just turned 9 and enjoys reading. She's in grade 4, is a good reader and enjoys mysteries.

Any ideas? If it was one of my boys, I'd have no problem choosing a book.

[MySuicidalTurtle]

The Westing Game was a favourite of mine when I was 10.

[elye]

I was entranced by all of the books by Madeleine L'Engle as a child (I still am), and my nine-year old son is devouring his third in the first series. A Wrinkle in Time is the first book in her first series...it is timeless, mysterious, had me laughing and crying. Great for boys or girls, nine years old or ninety!

[momandgirls]

Here are some suggestions from my daughter, age 9, a good reader, who also likes mysteries, and is in grade four: Nancy Drew Notebook series (they've redone the books so they're more updated now), American Girl mystery series and the Sammy Keyes mystery series. There's a cute book called Mini Mysteries or Mini Mysteries 2 by American Girl. It's one book with 5 or so mini mystery stories in it. My kids love it. As for other books she likes and would recommend: Molly Moon series (by Georgia Byng), Ruby Lavender (by Deborah Wiles), Princess Academy (by Shannon Hale) and the Animal Ark series (by Ben M.Bagilo).

[lorka150]

Instead of a book, what about a magazine subscription? When I was a kid, I subscribed to "Owl" (I think they still make it), but I loved to read and they often had a few short stories, activities, a lot of neat information... That way, it's a gift she can look forward to every month!

I can't quite recommend many books, but I did love the Narnia books as a kid, and since they are 'back', it might be neat to get the set.

[Guest ~jules~]

I have a 9 year old boy, he loves the same kinds of books. I would consider goosebumps, lemony snickets series of unfortunate events (he loved those weird ones) Nancy drew, or on a lighter note I haven't met a child that age who doesn't love the Junie B. Jones stories they are very funny....

[gfp]

C.S. Lewis ? in general...

"Mystery" wise and somewhat funny in its antiquated style Enid Blighton

[nikki-uk]

Although not mystery books I defy any 9 yr old girl not to enjoy Jacqueline Wilson books!

Open Original Shared Link .com/s/ref=nb_ss_b/002-69...=11&Go.y=12

Also,would have to agree with the suggestion of the goosebump books-my son loved them!

[gfp]

forgot to say Harry Potter books rock.....

not only are then fun but they are exceptionally well written AND she writes them to expand reading ability.

Book 1 is aimed at 10yr olds.... (well a 9yr old girl is usually reading at 10yr old guy level) and book 2 at 11 etc. etc. so the vocabulary is (added, aggrandized, amassed, augmented, deepened, enhanced, exceeded, expanded, extended, freshened, furthered , highered, raised, supplemented, widened) each book.

I read the French ones and the writing style is excellent (supplimented, combined, augmented... you get the idea) with the vocabulary with each book.

[blueeyedmanda]

Nancy Drew was always one of my favorites, I am not sure if The Box Car children are mystery or off the top what reading level they are either. I enjoyed the Goosebumps series and RL Stine also makes other books that have the creepy feel to them.

When I was 10, The Baby-sitters Club books were hot, think that has faded now and they may not even still make them. They were a hit with me though.

[momandgirls]

I just had a look through my girls bookshelves and had some more ideas for you (though I'm not sure you need any more ideas given how many people posted answers already!). Anyway...Though not mysteries, classics are always a good choice - Cricket in Times Square, Mr. Popper's Penguins, Trumpet of the Swan, Stuart Little or Charlotte's Web. What about the Ramona series (Beverly Cleary)? Or Judy Blume (Fudge, Super Fudge, Otherwise Known at Shiela the Great, etc.)? How about Roald Dahl (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, BFG, etc.)? Eleanor Estes (Ginger Pye, Pinky Pye, the Moffats)? My girls love the author Sharon Creech (especially Granny Torelli Makes Soup or Ruby Holler). What about something like the Guinness Book of World Records or the Scholastic Book of Lists - those are always fun to read. American Girl makes lots of puzzle books - my girls love them. They're great for the car or they bring them to school and do them with friends at recess or quiet time. Please let us know what you picked out!

[jkmunchkin]

When I was a kid I loved the Christopher Pike books, but that might be a bit old for her.

One of my favorite books when I was that age was a book called The Root Cellar.

Open Original Shared Link .com/Root-Cellar-Janet-Lu...TF8&s=books

[GFBetsy]

These aren't mystery stories, really, but they are WONDERFUL. As an author, she knocks the socks off JK Rowling:

Books By Diana Wynne Jones -

Howl's Moving Castle (it was made into a film by Studio Ghibli . . . but the book's WAY better)

Charmed Life

Witch Week

The Lives of Christopher Chant

Magicians of Caprona

She has written several books, but those are some good ones to start with. They are Fantastic!

[2Boys4Me]

After all the suggestions we went with A Wrinkle In Time - Madeleine L'Engle (a favourite when I was younger...I should read it again!) and Anne of Green Gables - Lucy Maud Montgomery.

Neither are mysteries, but both classics in their own right. I looked for The Westing Game and couldn't find it, but Walker thought it sounded great (we read an excerpt on Amazon). In the process of looking for books I did find a couple of good sites for "read alikes". If you like x then you may like y type of suggestion lists. The teacher-librarian at school usually has excellent suggestions. We almost bought her Lois Lowry's Number the Stars which the librarian recommended. It sounds great. In the end Walker picked the two mentioned above. He used my recommendation of A Wrinkle in Time and he read Anne of Green Gables this summer. The language and style might be a bit old fashioned and hard to understand sometimes, but he figured if he enjoyed it then his friend certainly would.

Now I have this thread to refer to for next time. So Thanks!

[momandgirls]

Great choices - my daughter's read both of them and also Number the Stars. She really liked it. She was just reading over my shoulder and said that her teacher just bought The Westing Game for the classroom. She hasn't read it yet, though.