The Daring Book for Girls - Andrea J. Buchanan [137]
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. Yes, another boy-hero-rescues-the-princesses plot (though here the princesses are Rhyme and Reason), but a great book nonetheless.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
A Tree Groes in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi
Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne. The original books, and the poems.
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Frank Baum
SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY BOOKS
Lloyd Alexander’s The Chronicles of Prydain
Isaac Asimov’s Foundation and Robot series
Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine and Fahrenheit 451
Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game and all the books in the Ender series
Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising sequence
Lois Lowry’s The Giver, Gathering Blue, and Messenger
Ursula K. LeGuin’s The Tombs of Atuan and her Earthsea trilogy
Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonsong trilogy
Robin McKinley’s The Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown
Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials
CLASSIC GIRL-AND-HER-HORSE BOOKS
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry
My Friend Flicka by Mary O’Hara
National Velvet by Enid Bagnold
The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses by Paul Goble
MYTHOLOGIES AND FAIRY TALES
Bullfinch’s Mythology is a start. Some might say it’s for grown-ups, but read a few lines to yourself out loud and you’ll see whether or not it works for you.
The Complete Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen
One Thousand and One Arabian Nights
The Complete Grimm’s Fairy Tales by Brothers Grimm
The Adventures of Robin Hood
The Once and Future King by T.H. White, about King Arthur’s Court.
Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast by Robin McKinley
The Odyssey by Homer
OLD-FASHIONED GIRL-DETECTIVE SERIES
Nancy Drew by Carolyn Keene. Starting with The Secret of the Old Clock, all the mysteries in River Heights end in Nancy’s lap, and with her girlfriends George and Bess at her side, she always finds the secret passageways to solve them. The series began in the 1920s, and was revised twice, in the 1950s and the 2000s, each time becoming slightly less intrepid.
Trixie Belden. An even better girl detective series is the Trixie Belden books, featuring Trixie, a teenaged, freckle-faced tomboy from upstate New York whose down-to-earth nature, pluck, and quick thinking aid her in solving mysteries with her friends Honey and Jim. Julie Campbell started the series in 1948 and wrote the first six books; after that the books were written by a series of writers using the pseudonym Kathryn Kenny.
NONFICTION
When we were young and bored, our parents told us, “Go read the dictionary!” We did, and look where it got us. One should never underestimate the pleasure to be found flipping through a dictionary, an encyclopedia, or an old science book.
Miscellanea
AS WE REACH the end, there are some additional things one really should know, and here they are, in no particular order.
1. Skipping Stones. Find a rock as close to smooth, flat, and round as you can. Hold it flattest-side down, index finger curled around one edge, and throw it sidearm, low and parallel to the water, snapping the wrist at the last possible moment before you let go to give it some spin. The stone should hit the water at a low, 20 degree angle or so. Keep practicing till the stone bounces off the water a few times.
2. Steering a Sled. We’ll tell you here in case you do not know: it’s opposite to how you steer a bicycle or a car, and akin to a kayak or canoe. Lean left to go right. Lean right to go left.
3. Flying a Kite. Toss the kite into the wind, or run with the kite behind you until the wind catches it, then unhurriedly let the string out. If the kite swoops, pull on the string. Extra ribbons on the tail help to stabilize, and they are pretty too. Make sure there’s enough wind, then practice so the string in your hand feels like second nature.
4. Water Balloons.