finding books that are okay for your teen daughter to read

Okay, my dd has been back through reading all the little kid books so many times just because she can't find something interesting to read that is not suggestive or full of homicidal maniacs or demons of one sort o the other, lol, you know what I mean.

Is there a list of books that are college level reading but safe for a nice modest moral teen?
she has read history books, for fun even!
Big thick text book types Lol!
Needless to say she gets A's in reading and History both haha.
but I am at wits end to find a good read for her, the option is going to the inspirational romance types at the CBD , I think, or the theological stuff, but you know I would love for her to read something just for adventure at her age...any suggestions?

 

Has she read Number the Stars? It's not college level but not little kid. It's a chapter book for around Middle school age.

 

I would head toward classic literature. A few things off the top of my head:
Pride and Prejudice - my dd found it hilarious, and it was great discussing the different social standards and expectations of that time period. As far as I can remember all the Jane Austen books were similar. Also check out the Bronte sisters' books like Jane Eyre, etc.
The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge This is a wonderful book. She has also written many other books but they can be hard to come by since many are out of print. My sister-in-law assures me that all her books are lovely and perfectly appropriate for young ladies.
The Prince and the Pauper - was fun by Mark Twain.
What about James Herriot books like All Creatures Great and Small, etc?
I think all the Sherlock Holmes books would be alright, but it has been awhile since I've read them.
Jack London books - Call of the Wild, White Fang

Look for books written 50+ years ago and you'll probably have better luck. Even books written for younger children - and therefore less chance of questionable plot lines - are written in higher level language.

Good luck!

 

I bought the first couple books of "The Lost Book Series" by Ted Dekker for my nieces (17 ish) awhile back and they liked them so much they went out and bought the other two. I'm not sure what the names were, though I think one was "Chosen". They may be worth checking out.

 

Don't have her read "The Glory Cloak"! It had come highly recomended, but for some reason, I decided to read it first. MUCH MORE explicit than I wanted Rachael reading!!!

How about classics, like "Pride and Prejudice"?

 

Someone from HSP recommended this site:

http://cleanreads.blogspot.com/

I like the way the reviews are written; they give a nice breakdown.

You can also go to www.goodreads.com, which basically has a massive amount of reviews and discussion. If you find someone who is in a similar situation, you can go through their "shelf" and look. Not quite similar, but one of my friends teaches lit classes for HSed teens, so you could go through her shelves and see what she recommends. Or you or your DD could see if she can find a teen her age with similar tastes.

I've heard good things about "The Giver" but have not read it.
It's been awhile since I read "The Princess Bride" but I *think* it was pretty clean; I can't imagine an unclean situation that might have been in it.
Shannon Hale is an awesome novel with a slew of good novels, all clean from what I've seen. They are more fairy tale, but all good.

 

My daughter recently read "Do Hard Things" and "I Kissed Dating Goodbye." The next book on her list is "Boy Meets Girl," the sequel to "I Kissed Dating Goodbye." They're not fiction, but my daughter had had a hard time putting these down, and so have I.

 

I loved the Belgariad series by David Eddings. There are 5 books in the first series then 5 in the second. Then, you've got a couple that are prequels.

They're fantasy--- and just for fun. They have action, humor, romance [totally clean], etc.
The main character is about as moral as they come---- think Clark Kent from the 1950's. LOL

 

great! She has read Pride and Predjudice, then we watched three different versions of it lol, we know that story by heart by now eh?
I like thesesuggestions, I will check some of them out with the Library system and see if she likes them. My sister is sending her some for Christmas that she has that are clean just about people in general not romance or anything... her discription, so we will see how that works too.

 

Thanks for the links! Also she has read the wole series of Princess Bride, one was not so good, she bought it a couple years back I think....but we tossed it casue it had a not so good conversation going on near the begining.

 

I had this same issue...a voracious reader...and reading ++college level, but still just 12. (or 13,14,etc.)

Mysteries are often a good choice, especially the historical ones. the ones about brother Cadfeal are favorites of mine. (plus there is history in there too)
My daughter read a lot of christian fiction...although she admits that a lot more gets published than should.
I will call her in a min. and see what she recommends.

DON'T let her read "the crimson petal and the white"
whoa. dd had that on her shelf (this was post 18) when I was desperate for something to read...I got about 3 chapters in...All I could say is I hope she learned something, because I did...

 

jeanette oake
francine rivers
are the authors dd recomends.
She likes romance so she says the only "safe" ones are the christian authors.

 

Karen Kingsbury writes clean Christian fiction.

I like Terri Blackstock as well - she does a lot of crime-type fiction, sans gory bodies and blood. There *ARE* dead bodies, but they are not CSI-descriptive. (I made the mistake of reading James Patterson a couple times spotty, ugh; great writer but too much gore for me.)

Sherlock Holmes is an awesome detective, as well.

 

Okay, Dd just informed me that she has NOT read Pride and Prejudice, so I was wrong there but i do own it, so she will get to read that one! yeaaaaaaah~
she read half way through the first book of the Princess Diaries and found there was too much kissing for her taste, so I was wrong there, it was not the Princess Bride, she owns that movie thugh and we should look it up! Look how much you all are helping me! HAHA!

She is reading through this thread with me.

 

Here are some links:

Detailed Children's book reviews ( and movies) based on character traits:

http://www.discoveryjourney.com/


This one you really need to read through the descriptions, I was amazed at what some people write in teen books ( and not in a good way) !!

http://www.teenreads.com/

Also a good author is :

Gail Carson Levine. She wrote Ella Enchanted.
I just read her book Fairest. She has about 10 other books that she has written and I think they are very clean ( the 5 I have read so far have been).

Another author I like is , Cinda Williams Chima. She has written , The Wizard Heir, The Warrior Heir and The Dragon Heir. I think their is like 3 kisses in the whole series , no sex though. I haven't read the Dragon one yet so I can only say what I read about the 1st 2 books. I really enjoyed them.
here is a link to her website and you can read some of the books there also!

http://www.cindachima.com/index.htm

 

Ella Enchanted, I knwo she is reading these ones. She loves thisone too.
check the other links there too thanks! the second site has a thing about the Giver? someone else mentioned that but I dont remember if it was a yes get it or no don't one...
I am hoping to find a new list for her to follow and order tons of books again as the weather should be cooler soon.
She has been working on redoing her own room , closet and growing out of little kid toy hording, so we are gibing things away to ourlittle friends and to Christmas for Everyone.
So I am looking for something shewil love asmuch as she didthe AMerican Girl and Babysitter club series.

 

Oh, just recently we found "The Mysterious Benedict Society". We really enjoyed that one!

 

How about books about women like Abigail Adams or Mary Todd Lincoln? I read one (forgive me I can't remember the exact title) about the letters Abigail Adams wrote and it was quite interesting.

Ally Carter has written two books of a series called Gallagher Girls, about an exclusive school for girls which is actually a spy school. A little teen romance, but they were very cute stories.

Carrie Bender writes books about the Amish, and there is a series (Miriam's Journals) about an Amish gal and the years of her life. (In the first one is a gal who is pregnant and unmarried who is struggling with her faith if I remember correctly). She makes me laugh out loud sometimes, like when Miriam thinks she should get more exercise after a "friend" told her she was fat. She goes out to walk briskly on the cow path and the neighbor man comes running to help her- thinking something had happened to the husband and Miriam is in trouble. :lol:

Hope that helps! MT3

 

I am here to repeat my vote for Shannon Hale, since I was up until 12:30 last night reading "The Goose Girl", despite the fact that I had to get up at 5:30 this morning. She has some very strong teen girl characters, although her stories are very fairy-tale-esque.

 

Off the top of my head:

Divine Comedy
Arabian Nights
Wizard of Oz
Fahrenheit 451(A must for book readers)
1984
Animal Farm
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Gulliver's Travels
Don Quixote
His Dark Materials
As I Lay Dying
Holy Bible
Noble Quran