Christmas Books for Pre-Teens

Yesterday, at Target, I was browsing through the book section looking for possible candidates to put on my Christmas list, when a very lost and hopeless-looking woman came up to me and asked, "Do you know anything about these pre-teen books? I'm looking for a book for an 11-year-old girl." (In case you are wondering, I suggested the book "Uglies" by Scott Westerfield, and warned her that "Twilight" was a good series, but most likely too mature for an 11-year-old girl.)

But, this all got me to thinking. Instead of scrambling to find a Wii in stock, or focusing on snatching one of those copies of Guitar Hero 3 before they sell out (yes, it's on my xmas list okay?!), here's some good book ideas for pre-teens.


Uglies by Scott Westerfield -- This book is really, really, good. I read them a few years ago and they are fantastic. The main character's name is Tally, and it takes place in a sort of futuristic world. When kids turn 16, they undergo a type of plastic surgery that makes them "Pretty". Very, very pretty. So, Tally is 15 and about to have this process performed on her, but her new friend Shay, is the typical rebel who doesn't WANT to turn pretty. And so Tally gets mixed up in the whole "running away" thing and it's all the angst and stuff -- it might sound lame, but it's REALLY cool. This book has two sequels, "Pretties" and "Specials".

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray -- Unlike Uglies, this book is more for girls. It's a very mystical, witch-crafty type book that follows the life of Gemma, who has been sent from her home in Africa to a London boarding school in early 20th century England. She finds out that she has these visions of the future, almost, and she and her three friends, Felicity, Pippa and Anne find a way to enter the Realms, a type of magical land where they can become anyone they want to be. It's sort of Neverland-ish. It's kind of hard to explain, but it's really fascinating, and lots of girls would get a kick out of it and relate to all the catty, girlish situations that happen. This book also has two sequels called "Rebel Angels" and "The Sweet Far Thing."

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer -- Haha, no duh, right? In case you don't know what it's about, Twilight follows the story of 17-year-old Bella Swan, who moves from sunny Phoenix, Arizona to the rainy and isolated town of Forks, Washington. There she meets Edward Cullen, a mysterious and very good-looking boy that turns out to be a vampire. Unfortunately, it's a very tricky situation with this book. It has a lot of adult, sexual situations that take place, especially in its three sequels (New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn), and some mild violent scenes as well, making it a book more for 14 and up. However, if the girl is 14 and up and hasn't read these books, even just to see what they are like, she's probably not interested.

Eragon by Christopher Paolini -- Here we go, a nice book for guys. This book is very Lord-of-the-Rings-ish, and takes place in a world and time period very similar to said books, but the author was only 15 when he wrote it, which is kind of cool. A boy named Eragon (go figure) comes across a strange-looking stone that turns out to be a dragon egg. This automatically makes him a "Dragon Rider". He can communicate telephathically with his dragon and make things move with his mind... okay, so it's a total rip-off of The Dragon Riders of Pern mixed with Star Wars, but pre-teen boys usually don't care about that kind of stuff, and they would still enjoy it. Even girls will enjoy this book, if you get it for them. This book also has two sequels "Eldest" and "Brisingr" (pronounced Brih-zing-er.) I'm seeing a trend here...

Holes by Louis Sachar -- This book is good for boys and girls alike. In "Holes", a boy named Stanley Yelnats III is sent to a Camp Green Lake(a "camp" for juvenile delinquent boys, and an alternative to jail) for stealing a pair of shoes. (In actuality, Stanley was framed for "stealing" the shoes when they hit him on the head as he was walking under a bridge.) At Camp Green Lake, boys are made to dig holes in the hot sun all day (5 feet wide and 5 feet deep). It is soon made very obvious that the warden of the camp is looking for something, using the boys as her own personal diggers. As you can probably guess, the point of the story is to find the treasure, but also a quest to end the curse of bad luck that has plagued the Yelnats family for generations. It is a FANTASTIC book. One of the best I've ever read, and it remains one of my favorite books of all time.

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry -- This is kind of an obscure one, but one that should be pointed out because of that. This book takes place in World War II, where ten year old Annemarie Johansen and her best friend Ellen Rosen live in Nazi-occupied Denmark. The only problem is that Ellen is Jewish. In order to protect her, the Johansens take Ellen into their home to pretend she is part of their family. But in order to keep the rest of the Rosens safe, Annemarie has to partake in a very dangerous mission. It's a historical fiction novel that could get a pre-teen interested in that time period and aware of the Nazi prejudice against Jews, but doesn't deal with any of the really intense parts of World War II such as the Holocaust or the bombings. It's rather short, but good for a younger sort of reader.

Riding Freedom by Pam Munoz Ryan -- This books was read to my entire class by our teacher in fifth grade, but still remains in my memory has one of the best books ever. It's based on the true story of Charlotte Darkey Parkhurst. It takes place in the mid-1800s, where an orphaned tomboy named Charlotte has a distinct love for horses. It follows her story as she poses as a man, becomes a legendary horse rider and stagecoach driver, and the first woman to ever vote. It's fantastic, and good for both boys and girls, but maybe for a slightly younger age, such as 8-12.

Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan -- Another book read to my class in fifth grade, very good book. This takes place in early 1920s Mexico, where a girl named Esperanza lives on her family's ranch as the spoiled, pampered only child. But when her father dies, she and her mother are forced to flee to California and work as farmers. Obviously, this pisses of Esperanza, and she doesn't go into this new life quielty. But when her mother falls ill, she has to rise above her differences and face her new life. This is a great, inspirational story for girls, but I'm pretty sure boys would enjoy it too.

The Watsons Go to Birmingham, 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis -- This is more of a comedic book following the life of a fictional family during actual events. When a semi-dysfunctional family decide to visit their grandmother in southern Birmingham, Alabama, they witness one of the darkest moments in the Civil Rights Movement. It's a fantastic book with great messages, as it is told all through the eyes of a young boy, but it's a wonderful historical fiction book. (Yeah, we read this in 5th grade too...)

Fever, 1773 by Laurie Halse Anderson -- Another great historical fiction book that's set during the Philadelphia yellow fever epidemic. The main character is a girl named Matilda who must witness the death of many of her close friends and relatives as she struggles to fight for her life out of yellow fever. It's really exciting and suspenseful, because you never know if she's going to catch it or not... it's really good.

Alright, well that's all I'm going to write about today. I didn't realize there were so many books I liked. I know the whole "This book is really good" thing got repetetive, but I was running out of creative adjectives. Just trust my judgement, okay? Love and hugs.