Hi folks,

With summer vacation clsoing in on 2/3 over, our daughter has run out of good reading materials. She's a mature 9 year old, who reads probably like an 11 year old - blew through the Harry Potter series as an 8 yo in 3rd grade, and the Wimpiest Kid series. Magic Treehouse is too easy - she likes a challenge. The catch is that her ability puts her into some "intersting" reading materials. She's also a sponge for science knowledge and historical fiction.

Any suggestions?

The Inheritance trilogy (Eragon) is pretty good for younger readers. The first two at least, I think the third one is a bit more violent from memory. Also, The Hobbit.

.... Goosebumps was what I was reading at that age. Not sure if they are still easy to come by.

Also maybe Percy Jackson? It's more Greek Mythology which I was enthralled with at a young age... I read the original stories though

When I was a kid, I really liked reading the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guardians_of_Ga%27Hoole series. I was probably around 12-13 years old. If your daughter is a mature reader and blew through the Harry Potter series like you said, she will likely enjoy the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series.

Watership Down.

Raptor Red.

that's a bit much.

The Hobbit
The Narnia series
Roald Dahl has lots of great books for kids (James and the Giant Peach, The BFG, Matilda, etc.) Just make sure you don't accidentally get one of his advlt books
The Neverending Story
Charlette's Web (although she will probably read this in school)
The http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Quartet by Madeleine L'Engle
The http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Is_Rising_Sequence by Susan Cooper

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neBftfMt5xA

Thanks for the suggestions. We're hitting the library Wed., so we'll get as many books as possible to test the waters. The wierd thing is that she didn't go for the Narnia series

resident book worm here,

"The Chronicles of Narnia" is a great series for kids her age.. It is a really good Fantasy Franchise that is very kids friendly, but advlts can enjoy as well.
however, be warned it has ALOT of Religious References and Symbolism (Specifically that of Christianity)





A book I enjoyed around her age was "No Coins Please", but it might be hard to get a copy outside of Canada...
No Coins Please is a hilarious novel about a summer camp

I will summarize the Story:
two College Students from Canada decide to Volunteer as camp counselers over the summer. it is a special camp where every Counseler is assigned a crew of Young kids (most of which are around your daughters age), and take them on a Road-trip across the USA.
they are assigned quite a few funny enjoyable characters, such as one kid who is Overly Superstitious for example.

But the Kid that most of the book Focus's upon is "Artie", who is 11.
Artie is a Genius, and using the money his mother gave him before he left for Camp, made himself a small fortune, as he keeps running away from the group (Making the Counselors extremely worried), to basically make money with all these "ideas"
these include buying:
repackaging and Selling Strawberry Jam as sort of a "pet-rock" kind of deal,
sets up a bunch of train tracks and get US Congressmen and Senators to bet on the track
turns an old factory into a disco-hall

No Coins Please is a really under-rated Book, but for the age bracket your daughter is in, I think she would really enjoy it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Coins,_Please

Well, what kind of books does she like? Does she like sci-fy and fantasy? Is she truly mature for her age(not challenging your assertion, I just don't want to recommend anything that is too advnaced or mature for her)?

I was considered mature for my age and my older siblings always gave me books to read. So at that age I was probably reading the Dragonlance, Forbidden Realms and Narnia series. At least those were the ones I thought were more age appropriate.

Anyone have an opinion on Enders Game and Enders Shadow for a mature 9 year old? I remember them being a bit dark, though engrossing when I was like 8-10 years old.

Any of the Shel Silverstein books are great, maybe the Hobbit if you think she's ready. Oh and The Chronicles of Narnia would be good for someone of that age group I think, idk though I haven't been eleven for like five years...

Aye, she's just an all around bookworm.

Quirky camp story...could be fun!

Yes, she likes Shel Silverstien as well.

Not sure why she didn't get into the Naria books.

I wondered about Ender's Game as well. She's read some holocaust stuff and didn't flinch, so it dark would be OK.

Regarding maturity, still socially a kid. So Twilight, Hunger Games, etc ... not yet.

Oh! The phantom tollbooth!!!! Easily the best book I read during my childhood, I cannot recommend it enough.

The Thief of Always by Clive Barker

Harry Potter? I remember first started reading it when I was 10-11. That a close enough age range?

LOTR.

When I was in elementary school, I remember "Where the Red Fern Grows" was pretty much the thing to read. I guess a young audience can get attached to Old Dan and Little Ann, because what kid doesn't like dogs?

If you want to force some maturity and stamp out her optimism- A Song of Ice and Fire.

Tell me about it. I especially dislike the anti Muslim/Hindu subtext of The Last Battle. I read this series as a kid it always bothered me on a subconscious level. Never knew why until I was old enough to connect the dots. [VEHK] C.S. Lewis.

The Seventh Tower, or the long sun series

Dammit stole my smart-[censored] answer from me >_>

In all seriousness, I'd recommend The Chronicles of Narnia, The Hobbit, Chrestomanci and Harry Potter. All great books by great authors, all of them well worth reading. I would specifically recommend Narnia. I think I first started reading them around 9-10 years old and I was blown away by how great they were. I still have my original (and somewhat battered) copies of the books that I still give a read-through every year or so. Great books from a great author.

Hobbit, hell yeah.

Yeah, it can get a little dicey towards the end. I was raised by both a Catholic and an Atheist, so that series was a bit awkward when I was growing up. Hehe, then I read the Ramayana, Upanishads, Vedas and the Quran. Anyways, I can definitely see why it would bother you. I kind of just glossed over a lot of the overtones that were present in the books.

I think Harry Potter might be more violent and mature than the hunger games. HP gets dark as hell book 5+