To celebrate CBCA Book Week 2018, I’ve asked some of my favourite bloggers to share a book that one or more of their children adores. Bron from Mumlyfe has not just one recommendation for tween girls, but five!
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It can be hard to get books for tween girls right. Tween girls are caught between the innocence of childhood and the sophistication of the teenage years. Many tweenies feel very much like they are pulled in both directions, and certainly this is obvious when parenting them.
Girls of this age want ‘real’ characters they can relate to, but not in a clichéd way. Tween girls aren’t keen on ‘girl stereotypes’, and these days that can also include the gutsy, go-getter girl defying societal expectations, just as easily as what we traditionally considered a girl stereotype. There have just been so many books out there with characters like that that our tweens feel a bit saturated.
No wonder keeping books for tween girls age-appropriate, but still entertaining, is so tough!
Enter the adventure book. A good edge-of-your-seat, rip-roaring plot keeps tween girls glued, and allows an author to introduce unique characters girls can relate to. These are all books that use action as a convention to introduce strong, gutsy girl traits. Not a single cliché in the bunch.
Try one of these adventure books for tween girls and see what you think.
The Book of Secrets – by AL Tait
A disclaimer straight-up: the author of this book is actually my sister. But don’t let that put you off! In this book in Al’s Ateban Cipher series, The Book of Secrets, a young novice monk is handed a mysterious book by a dying monk. In order to unlock the important secrets contained in the book, Gabe must run from the monastery, leaving behind the only life he has ever known. He is quickly taken under the wing of four forest-dwelling girls, including sisters Gwyn and Merry, who protect and guide Gabe during his quest. The girls are smart, resourceful and kind. In other words, fantastic role models for a modern-day tween. This book’s dedication says it all: ‘‘For all the girls who go where they want, when they want. Or will, one day.” I’ve got a feeling you’ll be needing the sequel, The Book of Answers straight away…
Kensy and Max: Breaking News – by Jacqueline Harvey
Jacqueline Harvey is the much-loved author of series like Clementine Rose and Alice Miranda. The Kensy and Max series is her first dip into spy-adventure books and she really delivers. Kensy and Max are 11-year-old twins who bicker and love each other in equal measure – sound familiar? Their lives take a sudden turn when they moved to London and discover that their parents are missing. So many things don’t add up and the twins work through all the secrets to discover the truth. Harvey has always penned strong, interesting girl characters and Kensy is one of her most likeable yet. Book 2, Kensy and Max: Disappearing Act is out in September.
Nevermoor – Jessica Townsend
Book 1 of the Nevermoor series took the world by storm last year, with many hailing Jessica Townsend as the next JK Rowling. I’ve got a feeling we’ll be hearing that said for many years to come, but in this case, it could just be warranted. Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow (the sequel Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow is out in October) is a dazzling tale that grips the reader hard. It’s just as complex a storyline as Harry Potter and the characters are equally as memorable. The book is funny and exciting with plenty of twists and turns.
The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits and a Very Interesting Boy – by Jeanne Birdsall
The Penderwicks won multiple awards when it was published in 2005, including the US National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. Often a golden badge of literary endorsement can be a death knell for kids actually liking a book, but this book is so endlessly appealing that tween girls will love it anyway. The series (there are four books so far) is rather old-fashioned, in that it has the same kind of joy and curiosity that books by Enid Blyton and the Little Women series were so loved for. In this first book, the Penderwick girls find themselves spending a summer in a strange estate with sprawling gardens, unusual companions and virtually no supervision. A recipe for adventure if ever there was one.
Harriet the Spy – by Louise Fitzhugh
I read the Harriet the Spy books as a tween myself and it was a great moment when I introduced them to my own girls and they loved them just as much. Harriet is just so clever and full of spunk. She turns the most random things into cool spy gear and she really doesn’t care what anyone else thinks of her. The books (there are many in the series) remind kids to look beyond the obvious, practise if they want to improve at something and always be resourceful so you can rely on yourself no matter what. Some great messages for tween girls, though be warned that the writing doesn’t pull any punches.
What books are have your tween girls loved?
Bron is the editor of Mumlyfe, a parenting site for mums of older kids. She is a passionate advocate for working parents, writing extensively on life balance, common sense and strengths-based parenting and the ‘good enough’ parent. Bron has been writing lifestyle and parenting content online for over eight years, and has been an editor at Kidspot, Mumtastic and SBS. Her new eBook Screen Freedom gives parents winning strategies to get their kids to switch off screens and switch on their potential.
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