Starting a new thread. Slightly different emphasis.
Summary request: ADULT book recommendations for a 13 year old.
Context: My oldest daughter recently read her first adult book, The Andromeda Strain. Michael Crichton is now her favorite author. She enjoyed watching the movie with me and her little sister afterward and pointing out differences and similarities. I encouraged her to read Fahrenheit 451, which she didn't enjoy all that much. We look forward to watching this movie, as well.
Now she's reading McAffrey's Dragonrider series which I loved as a college student and which she's loving right now.
The Plan: I'm getting dialup access at home, specifically for the kids to use for school and mess around with during the summer. I have no limits on how much time they watch television or play video games or go on the internet. However, I have set some things for them to do. They have to keep the house straight (not clean up, just don't leave it a bigger wreck than they found it); do some extra extras I give them; and they have to read 4 - 6 books during the summer. Not a lot. I don't want to turn them into slaves, but I do want them spending a little time thinking. The actual number they have to read depends on the difficulty of the books they choose, but in the case of the older kid I she must read adult books or books that at least have an adult level. I'm reckoning to keep them busy between one and two hours each day.
Method: I make recommendations for her. We go to the library and bookstore. She examines what I recommend and decides whether it's something she's interested in. I've recommended a lot, but she's only too thrilled with most (DragonRiders is an exception.)
The Mission: Should you decide to accept it. If you had a son or daughter who was an early teen, what would you recommend to them - or if you could, think back to your own self at that age, and ask "What book do I wish I would have read back then that I would probably have actually enjoyed?"
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(It occurs to me, post facto, that this is not the appropriate category for this inquiry.)
