secular novels for teens (girls)

rachel6543

Wed, Aug 17 2016, 2:19 am

When I was a teenager, I discovered the "Enchanted Forest Chronicles" by Patricia C. Wrede. It's a series of 4 books. The first book ("Dealings with Dragons") is about a princess who doesn't want to be forced into a silly marriage and runs off to volunteer as a dragon's princess. This is a fun, light series that makes fun of fairy tales. I still really enjoy the series and reread it every few years to this day.

I also recommend Pride and Prejuidice by Jane Austen. I was 16 or 17 yrs old the first time I read it. Such a wonderful classic. I reread it almost every year, I love this novel that much!

I also love Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. Another wonderful classic I first read when I was 15 or 16 yrs old. I still reread this book every few yrs.

Other books & classics I enjoyed In Middle & High school (and as an adult) are:
Little House on the Prairie series
Little Women
Anne of Green Gables series
Wizard of Oz series
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
Beauty by Robin McKinley (a sweet, clean classic retelling of Beauty & the Beast)
Spindle's End by Robin McKinley (retelling of Sleeping Beauty)
A Little Princess
The Princess Bride
Black Beauty
Treasure Island
Catherine, Called Birdy (journal of a young teen girl in the Middle Ages)
The Black Stallion books (these might be for more upper elementary age kids?. I want to say I was 10-11 yrs old when I went thru my "horse phase" of novels from the local library)
The Witch of Blackbird Pond
Anne Frank's diary
The Secret Garden
The Naria series by C.S. Lewis
The Chosen by Chaim Potok

gp2.0

Wed, Aug 17 2016, 10:31 am

Love and agree with Rachel's list. Some more:

Cleaner books:

The lord of the rings series
His dark materials series
The book thief
The giver
The hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy
Eragon series
The bartimaeus trilogy
Miss peregrines home for peculiar children (amazing style of book)

Some light to medium graphic material:
Uglies series
The infernal devices series
Divergent series
Mortal instruments series
Sisterhood of the traveling pants
Princess diaries series
Any other books by Meg Cabot
Any books by Sarah dessen
The house of the scorpion
From the mixed up files of Mrs basil e frankweiler
The catcher in the rye

Medium to Heavier graphic material:
The fault in our stars or anything else by John green
The hunger games
Books by Maureen Johnson or libba bray or Judy Blume or Laurie halse Anderson
Noughts and crosses

Amarante

Wed, Aug 17 2016, 10:34 am

I agree with imasinger as within reason, a 14 year old should be able to choose reading material. My parents were not upset when I read Catcher in the Rye at that age but that book is terribly dated.

Hard to make a recommendation without knowing interests and reading levels. The previous posters long list had great books but both myself and kids I know read most of them in elementary school as they are considered to be children's books. I loved Black Brauty and Little Women but I read it in third grade for th first time. Witch of black bird pond and little house series even earlier.

By that age I was reading the books from school. For recreation, I just read adult books that weren't particularly racy. I loved historical fiction and it was a wonderful way to learn history. I would probably have loved Hunger Games at that age and of course Harry Potter. I read Tolkein but was never as big a fan as some. I would have read books like those by Jodi Picoult which were adult themes but not explicitly s&exusl. I read Dickens at that age but didn't appreciate until I retread as an adult.

Loved A Separate Peace but not sure if the theme of adolescent friendship would now resonate with the new generation.

Last edited by Amarante on Wed, Aug 17 2016, 1:44 pm; edited 1 time in total

petiteruchy

Wed, Aug 17 2016, 12:23 pm

I'm looking for books for mostly older girls - Grade 8/9. A chassidishe crowd, so no hint of relationships, etc.

They study The Pearl, Animal Farm, Lord of the Flies, etc at school. I'm interested in finding supplemental materials to use in a school setting. I grew up reading anything and everything and I am having a hard time finding books that are mature enough in reading level and theme, but not dealing with things that the school isn't comfortable with.

Did anyone do any Shakespeare at school? Other novels I might not have thought of?

Amarante

Wed, Aug 17 2016, 1:42 pm

singleagain wrote:

Lord of the Flies made me sick and gave me nightmares! -- srsly why do they make kids read that.

two books mostly focusing on sister relationship I remember from when I was a kid,

"Jacob have I loved" & "A summer to die"
(a summer to die, has some mention of a the relationship between the couple next door, and if they are married etc, but it is discussed in the book

Lord of the Flies is read because it involves a group of teenagers so kids theoretically relate to them.

The boys are ultra civilized and therefore are the perfect vehicle for showing how easily the trappings of civilization are tossed off.

Depending on the sophistication of the audience, discussions can involve teen centric issues of peer pressure and bullying or metaphors of larger society. How does a society completely break down and commit despicable acts?

Once a book makes it into the high school classics, it pretty much stays there unless something equally strong displaces it from the curriculum.

Amarante

Wed, Aug 17 2016, 1:57 pm

Some thoughts

A Dog's Purpose - very sweet novel told from the viewpoint of a dog as he cycles through lives. This is not a child's book at all but is clean and would appeal to a teenage girl. I read and cried when it came out a few years ago I admit

Sisterhood of Traveling Pants - these are a series of books about a group of friends who share the same pair of jeans.

Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot. Irresistible to a teenage girl and clean.

Are Yiu There G-od by Judy Blume. Because the protagonist is a secular 11 year old Jewish girl, this might offend some but it's a classic book about an 11 year old girl dealing first period and other problems of being 11😀

Margaret Simon, almost twelve, likes long hair, tuna fish, the smell of rain, and things that are pink. She’s just moved from New York City to Farbook, New Jersey, and is anxious to fit in with her new friends—Nancy, Gretchen, and Janie. When they form a secret club to talk about private subjects like boys, bras, and getting their first periods, Margaret is happy to belong.

But none of them can believe Margaret doesn’t have religion, and that she isn’t going to the Y or the Jewish Community Center. What they don’t know is Margaret has her own very special relationship with God. She can talk to God about everything—family, friends, even Moose Freed, her secret crush.

Margaret is funny and real, and her thoughts and feelings are oh-so-relatable—you’ll feel like she’s talking right to you, sharing her secrets with a friend. (less)

My sisters keeper by Jodi picoult.

Anna is not sick, but she might as well be. By age thirteen, she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her older sister, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since childhood. The product of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for Kate -- a life and a role that she has never challenged... until now. Like most teenagers, Anna is beginning to question who she truly is. But unlike most teenagers, she has always been defined in terms of her sister—and so Anna makes a decision that for most would be unthinkable, a decision that will tear her family apart and have perhaps fatal consequences for the sister she loves.

A provocative novel that raises some important ethical issues, My Sister's Keeper is the story of one family's struggle for survival at all human costs and a stunning parable for all time. (less)

gp2.0

Wed, Aug 17 2016, 2:12 pm

petiteruchy wrote:

Have you ruled out all the classics? Anything written from 1700-1950?

I wouldn't describe Shakespeare as having no hint of relationships...though I'll admit I'm not acquainted with all of his work.

Jane Austen
Charlotte bronte
Emily bronte
Charles dickens
Robert Louis Stevenson
Jules Verne
Alexandre Dumas
Mark twain
Jonathan swift
Daniel Defoe
Agatha Christie

petiteruchy

Wed, Aug 17 2016, 3:05 pm

No, my memories of Shakespeare were mostly of the bawdy or romantic aspects. I never studied them past high school though so I might be missing one that is easily censored. King Lear is an interesting idea though.

I didn't read My Sister's Keeper when it first came out. The concept sounds perfect, I'll look into it.

Classics were my first thought when I started looking. We actually already do 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and some Sherlock stories. The language can be difficult though, and the ones that are completely tznius in the relationship department tend to have male or unrelatable characters. They were begging me last year after we slogged though Verne to read a book about a normal 15 year old girl. But for the life of me I can't find one!

Amarante

Wed, Aug 17 2016, 3:11 pm

Might be interesting to read King Lear and Thousand Acres together.

A Thousand Acres is a 1991 novel by American author Jane Smiley. It won the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction in 1991 and was adapted to a 1997 film of the same name.

The novel is a modernized retelling of Shakespeare's King Lear and is set on a thousand-acre (four hundred hectares) farm in Iowa that is owned by a family of a father and his three daughters. It is told through the point of view of the oldest daughter, Ginny

Amarante

Wed, Aug 17 2016, 3:18 pm

petiteruchy wrote:

So what you are looking for are books for a literate 14 or 15 year old that she would enjoy reading but don't deal with adult stuff that might be acceptable to an older women but might offend parents of your students.

Not a value judgment but trying to get a sense of what you need.

I can't imagine being forced to read Verne in high school or anytime. Some classics don't merit remaining read least of all by hapless girls with no choice 😀

Is this specifically for classroom or also to recommend to your students for recreation?

Amarante

Wed, Aug 17 2016, 3:29 pm

Some random thoughts

To Kill A Mockingbird. There is the trial that centers around alleged rape so I don't know if this is too much although it's completely non prurient and I dint recall there being a description of anything s&exual.

The Crucible. I suggest because the dynamic involves teenage girls and peer pressure but like Lord of the Flies is really about larger issues of society.

Grapes of Wrath. Not sure how dated it is but I liked it. Can also be tied into the wonderful movie which is completely clean and deal with issues of the Great Depression and even refugees since the Joads were completely mistreated when they emigrated to California.

Flowers for Algernon. Loved as a teenager.

The Good Earth. I loved as a kid but nit sure if too dated.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Lived as a teenager and it's a classic coming of age story of a young bookish girl. Very mild stuff about aunt who has several husbands but nothing graphic is described. This was published in 1940or so after all 😀😱 Bookish teenage girls seem to identify with the protagonists of semi-autobiographical novels like this Francie Dolan or Jo March. The descriptions of turn of the century Brooklyn tenement life are fascinating as well as a wonderful bit of social history.

Last edited by Amarante on Wed, Aug 17 2016, 6:24 pm; edited 2 times in total