Daughter is a bookworm. Very Chasidish. Which gentile books?

amother

Royalblue

Sun, Feb 24 2019, 5:14 pm

I’m not the op but following this thread for my 12yr old bookworm. Thanks to all who suggested options here.

Ravenclaw

Sun, Feb 24 2019, 6:06 pm

youngishbear wrote:

Please tell me more about this. Why do you think this theme was Christie's intention?

Am gonna try answering without posting spoilers, but basically many of her villains (especially in the more well known books) have noble motives and she (and the other characters) therefore do not always condemn said villains.

amother

Tangerine

Sun, Feb 24 2019, 6:13 pm

amother wrote:

Honestly, other than absolute classics you wont find anything up to those standards. Not even Anne of Green Gables or Agatha Christie would qualify.
Marcus Lehman, maybe?? Though technically those have a bit of romance in them, too.
Maybe Sherlock Holmes, but I can't imagine a lot of teenage girls really enjoying Arthur Conan Doyle, to be honest.

Why not? I enjoyed Sherlock Holmes as a kid. And there’s nothing wrong with reading the classics.

librarygirl

Sun, Feb 24 2019, 6:28 pm

youngishbear wrote:

I have read the following and think they should be fine. Many are for younger kids but she might enjoy them if she doesn't have much exposure to secular books.

A Separate Peace
Fahrenheit 451
Animal Farm
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
The Phantom Tollbooth
Frindle
Hatchet
Holes
Island of the Blue Dolphins
Maniac Magee
Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry
Matilda - (some people are appalled by the chutzpah)
Number the Stars
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Ender's Game
The Secret Garden
The Prince and the Pauper
Stuart Little
The Westing Game
The Whipping Boy

I must pipe up here and say that Enders game has very inappropriate language.

I would also remove holes, it has a bandit called kissing Kate that kissed all the men she robbed

mommy3b2c

Sun, Feb 24 2019, 6:32 pm

Fish in a tree is a beautiful book. I really can’t think of anything inappropriate at all. I’ve read it a few times and I love it more each time.

librarygirl

Sun, Feb 24 2019, 6:34 pm

I would say very good historic fiction:
Journey down the river sea, by eve ibbotsen
Currents by smolik
Lacemaker and the princess, and the war that saved my life by bradley brubaker
One handed catch by auch
Listen to the moon by morpurgo

I loved the night diary, which just won the newbury, but it is about a hindu girl and has about 4 instances where she prays to vishnu, or the gods

Last edited by librarygirl on Mon, Feb 25 2019, 10:19 am; edited 1 time in total

amother

Olive

Sun, Feb 24 2019, 6:53 pm

There's nothing wrong with Sherlock Holmes but the only fans I've come across are male. Sure there are some exceptions but I doubt most teen girls would enjoy it. And all those classics I mentioned are ones I would recommend except that OP seems super picky and doesnt even want the mention of kissing. Certainly there are embraces and references to kissing in Anne of Green Gables. There is talk of love but no kissing in Jane Austen or Marcus Lehman as far as I can recall. Maybe Heidi would be ok, but I am sure there are Christian references.

amother

Forestgreen

Sun, Feb 24 2019, 7:29 pm

I loved Enid Blyton as a teen: especially Mallory Towers and Famous Five. (I recently found one of Blytons books that referred to different g-ds though so I guess everything needs to be looked at prior.

forgetit

Sun, Feb 24 2019, 9:45 pm

I liked Mark Twain and Hardy Boys as a teen. As far as I remember they were ok. I think OP might even feel more comfortable with them than with some of Marcus Lehman's books.

amother

Lemon

Sun, Feb 24 2019, 10:00 pm

I like Sherlock Holmes, and I did as a teen too.

The Phantom Tollbooth is good and clean.

So is Tom's Midnight Garden, by Philippa Pearce. (A couple does have a conversation and they later marry each other, but it doesn't tell you anything inappropriate IIRC.)

The Melendy Quartet is great- it's 4 books by Elizabeth Enright about the Melendy family. The Saturdays, The Four story Mistake, and 2 others that I can;t think of the names right now. She also wrote Gone Away Lake and Return to Gone Away, 2 of my favorite books.

Frances Hodgeson Burnett has 3 great books that I know of- The Little Princess, Little Lord Fauntleroy, and the Secret Garden.

I enjoy reading Agatha Christie and find no problem with most of them. I think And Then There Were None might fit your hashkafos the best.

karat

Sun, Feb 24 2019, 10:03 pm

Ravenclaw wrote:

Interesting, I’m a big fan of the Christie books, have been reading them since I was a teen and I never picked up on this.

doodlesmom

Sun, Feb 24 2019, 10:10 pm

In elementary we read Enid Blyton books that my mom vetted for us.
Also Heidi, Mandy etc
Chassidish family
Try to get a hold of high school literature books used by Jewish highs schools

karat

Sun, Feb 24 2019, 10:17 pm

doodlesmom wrote:

In elementary we read Enid Blyton books that my mom vetted for us.
Also Heidi, Mandy etc
Chassidish family
Try to get a hold of high school literature books used by Jewish highs schools

Do the public libraries carry the Enid Blyton books?

baltomom

Sun, Feb 24 2019, 10:23 pm

I remember reading and enjoying several books by Jean Little when I was a preteen/teenager. They are all about children with disabilities or siblings with disabilities and are very moving with very good lessons. As far as I remember they were totally clean, although they may have included some X-tian holiday scenes. Unfortunately they seem to be out of print, but I've bought a couple used on Amazon for $4 or 5.

malki2

Sun, Feb 24 2019, 10:31 pm

OP, per my experience with bookworms, no matter how many books you can supply them with, they will always run out and be asking for more. Is she the type of girl that you can get eventually to read non-fiction like history? Science even? Many more options there.

mommy3b2c

Sun, Feb 24 2019, 10:55 pm

amother wrote:

What about the Little house books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. They may be written for a younger age but I think they're timeless.

They're squeaky clean.

Not the later ones. It explores the courtship of almonzo and Laura.