re: Anne Rice
Can we stay on topic?

Anne Rice is most definitely not for 9 year old readers. There's no need to discuss her books here.
Thanks.

I cannot believe I blanked on this but...Redwall. The entire series is actually pretty decent. It is not serious, it is kind if simple but in a good way, it has character and since it is about talking animals it is still well within little girl territory. There are some mature themes but they are harmless and subtle.

She may become biased against Rats and Wildcats though...

I really liked those books when I was younger and it has become a pretty big series with quite a few books. Although Brian Jacques, the author, passed away a couple years back unfortunately. There are not a whole lot of actual direct pre/sequels. More like different time periods and such. So it wasn't like one big overarching plot or anything. Most books are self-contained stories that have ties in elsewhere in the series but are not really necessary.

These books were aimed at older children so your daughter should be right about the perfect age for them. They are quite robust for children's books and very descriptive.

Honestly, I don't think I recommend any other series of books for a 9 year old girl more than those. At least insofar as books that have themes that will make her think a bit anyways. They don't have much science-y stuff and are not really historical fiction either. But there are similar draws for the latter. Providing a different perspective on a world like our own.

Tom Sawyer

Animorphs

I resent that characterization! I didn't discover Redwall until I was around 50 (and male)...and I loved it. I have a bunch of them.

I still read them. They are great books. They also have pretty wide appeal. Wasn't saying they are only for young girls, just that they do have aspects that would appeal to such a group, so long as I am stereotyping.

I gobbled up Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys mystery novels when I was that age.

Yeah, sorry bout that Pluto.

I remember Marlfox. They are definately well written, the have a medieval like setting but with animals instead of humans. In a way it always made me think of Secret of Nimh. Some themes are aimed for young teens or older as there are battles and murder.

Well humans are there but they are never mentioned or shown except for buildings and some other things like the Horse Cart in Redwall (the book).

Most of those themes are there, true. But they are presented as bad things and are not overdone or over the top. Which not all books do. The violence is minimal and the amount of detail that goes into the books do not make the leap to descriptive violence, thankfully. Which is why I say the books are very appropriate for a girl who has read Harry Potter. Which has quite a lot of really dark themes, especially in the latter books. Uhm...not that you were indicating otherwise though.

You're right on those accounts. Granted I read Marlfox when I was in middle school over a decade ago and many of the details are vague in my memory I do remember some of the events. It was a very intertaining book and what violence I do remember was not graphically described, but done so just enough to get the point across. Like in a scene where I remember this one guy getting impaled with a javelin, at the beginning of a battle, that was hurled by his own comrade who wanted him dead.

From what I remember of the writing it seemed to be more focused on character development and progression rather than graphic description.

I've never read the Redwall books for reasons unknown to me.

Perhaps I shall pick one up sometime.

Any of Brian Jaques' books in the Redwall word is a good book to series to read. I love them, the show is quite awesome too.

I might pick up a few of the books then. I always meant to try Redwall, but never got a chance.

The Boxcar Children

(removed by poster)

^Agreed. If she's into science, this is a great little novel and will surely spark interest in dinosaurs.

Also, I'm kind of excited that someone else knows about Raptor Red. As somewhat of a dinosaur nerd, it's one of my favorite books ever. Not very well-known though, unfortunately.

Wow, I'm humbled by the help. Thanks!

Unfortunately, the library trip is on hold until someone finds a missing book that was due Wed.

That makes two of us.

It was great to have a mature piece of xenofiction involving dinosaurs, and especially to have one written by someone, a paleontologist even, who knew his stuff. The book also singlehandedly made Utahraptor my favorite dinosaur (or at least put it on an equal level with T. rex).

I don't know if it's been said already but maybe The Alchemist or The Little Prince.

The Anne of Avonlea books might be a possibility. If ebooks are in the running, Amazon has all 12 books and all the short stories in one collection: http://www.amazon.com/The-Anne-Stories-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B00BBIT1BO/ref=pd_sim_kstore_20 There are a lot of "classic" collections; all Lousia May Alcott's books, all the Oz books, Bronte sisters, Sherlock Holmes, Edgar Rice Burroughs, well, you get the idea. The prices aren't bad; to the point if she does pick something she decides she doesn't like, it isn't a catastrophe.

Redwall sounds awesome. Besides, I like anything(within reason) with anthropomorphic animals. Kind of a win-win for me if something is good and involves anthro.

Watership Down actually was a book the author wanted to make for his kids. Yeah, I don't wanna know what his thinking is. I certainly wouldn't be making any kid read that one. *waves at the thread maker's daughter in case she is reading my post* See, I type in peace and do not wish to recommend disturbing reading material outside of my horror stories that will never be finished or written.

I probably would have been all over some good old horror in between the darkness of the Series of Unfortunate Events books. I always have liked creepy and scary stuff and always have been prone to drawing demons and monsters, so stuff like Dracula would have been awesome for me. I usually read stuff like educational things and self help books for fun, though. These days, I'd love to get a few self-help books again just to see what odd stuff is in them. From the Seanbaby articles I've read, they've gotten weird. Also always read the handouts my school gave that were meant for parents. I read them and my mom usually didn't.

Maybe I just wanted to see how many times the phrase "Your child" would be said.

Sounds good to me. I've also read a book on sports making people get into fights over if their kid would win or not. I was fairly young at the time when I read it. I don't know why I learned to read so late yet moved up in the ranks of it so fast. Guess being a visual learner as opposed to a verbal one who also learns well with hands on stuff might explain that.

I would tell stories to my stuffed animals before I could talk. I just babbled out the stories, but my family somehow noticed that wasn't random babbling, but probably me making up stories with picture books. I even used to write joke stories about my teachers in middle school and let them know I made a story about them transforming into a bird or doing other fantastical things.

I would recommend the Joey Pigza books, especially if your kid has ADHD. My fourth grade teacher read them to his class and I loved every minute of it. I could identify with Joey because I have ADHD, so my friends were calling me Joey Pigza if I did anything that related to ADHD or seemed to relate to it. I found the little nickname quite a compliment.

The books do have swearing, but it's not strong. The series is about a kid with ADHD who has a dysfunctional family. He also tries to use a pencil sharpener to sharpen his finger at one point.

I also really enjoyed most of Ronald Dahl's work. His books often have a dark sense of humor, but also are still very kid friendly. He even wrote his own autobiography in children's novel form. Just remembered another good book. I forgot what this one was about, but it is about a semi-feral child. I think. It's called Dogboy and is by Christopher Russel.

I quite enjoyed it. There's A Boy in the Girl's Bathroom was pretty good, too. Not challenging at all, but it's enjoyable.

I remember reading Roald Dahl. I've always liked some of his more obscure books, like Matilda (or whatever it's called; it's been a while). My absolute favourite Roald Dahl book would have to be The Witches. Not entirely sure why, I think I liked the overall message, being that sticking your nose in other people's business can do harm onto you. But it also had this "make self sacrifices for the good of others" message, I think. I can't really remember, it's been a long time.

My 9yo daughter loves the Emily Rodda books. By modern comparison, they're very well written. A lot of the novels for children aren't necessarily grammatically correct or well structured. Ms. Rodda's books are good examples for young, budding readers and writers in the fantasy genre.

Aye, one of the reasons I detest the Dora and Diego TV shows is their poor grammar.

Y'all have been very kind with the suggestions. The missing item was found, so it's probably off to the library...

Hear ya on Dora, and most children's TV nowadays, actually. The worst children's books I've read with my daughter were a series about a particular little girl who was very much a smart aleck, but the writing was atrocious and we (well I) gave up on them. I never believed in talking to my child like a child myself, nor would I suggest validating childhood peer grammar in writing. Pretty much, the author of these novels wrote like a child, not just in a child's voice, but as a child would write. There's also the magic tree house series, although those may be a little on the young side at this point.

This is how all children should be raised. No annoying TV shows, no dumb children's books. Give them all decent, grammar-correct chapter books by the age of five. Let them watch something that doesn't involved mentally challenged, schizophrenic children running away from home every two hours for something wholly stupid.

Then again, I plan to never have children if I can help it. The fact that I think like this proves that I can't be around children. :/