I couldn't find Coraline on the shelf, so I handed her Half-Magic (I have the whole set of Eager books from some lovely Buffista). She's head deep in it right now. I have 13 Clocks standing by as well, which was also a Buffista gift.

Fay, she is! Crazy, isn't it? I think MM folded time when he was supposed to be transporting someone or something.

That sounds awesome, Hil. I'd like it whether she would or not.

Spiderwick Chronicles is a great idea. She loved the movie. I'll try her on Lemony Snicket, and I'm glad to get the Skulduggery Pleasant rec again because I've been meaning to read that myself.

Going back a bit, what about Little Women? I mean, we've got the whole consumption angle there.

Abby's been a huge fan of The Warriors series and The Five Ancestors. If she can handle Harry Potter, she can probably handle The Tapestry. (She's sitting next to me offering recs as fast as I can type-- I'll dig up the links in a second.) Oh and Nate tore through the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.

Oh, and she just said, "I'm really enjoying My Most Excellent Year but that one's recommended for older readers.

And she's ten, btw.

I was a pioneer girl, too. I read Caddie Woodlawn, the Little House Books, etc.

I also had this really great book from Scholastic called The Seventh Princess, which was about a modern girl transported into a fairy realm and treated like a princess. Eventually she learns that although she was a princess, she was also a sacrifice, and would be carried away to be eaten by a big bird. But she was plucky, and she saves herself and all the former princesses! I loved it. [link] Ut says 9-12, but I am pretty sure I read it earlier

I also adored the Boxcar Children, The Five Little Peppers, The All of a Kind Family, Little Women as well as the Bobbsey Twins by that age. This was second/third gradish, and some of them were read to me, but my mom read me chapter books almost always (she hated kids books). I also read Jane Eyre in 4th grade so I was a little precocious, but I suspect Kara is too. Actually, she would probably (or in a few years) love the beginning of Jane Eyre, where Jane had the cruel aunt, threw tantrums in a red room, and went to school with Helen Burns, who died of consumption. For many years, this was all I got out of the book.

I loved Half-Magic. They find a charm that gives them half of what they ask for, but they never know what half, so they end up having to double everything they ask for. At one point, one child says something like "I never thought there'd be math."

Half-Magic was definitely a favorite of mine. And hey, she could try the Little House books--maybe some of the terror of being a pioneer (Indians! fire! shooting wild animals! scarlet fever!) would appeal, even if it's not consumption?

Terry Pratchett's got some kid's books out, too.

The great thing about the Little House books is that their level of sophistication matches Laura's at the time.

Barb, thank your daughter for me.

I always thought of Little Women as older, but I can certainly try her on it. I liked the pioneer books too.

Okay, now I'm just writing them all down. We'll get them, throw them at her, and see what sticks; except not the sparkly vampires. She has enough problems figuring out that she can be whomever she wants and there are no "girl rules". Even after we started going to a female pediatrician, she thought doctors were supposed to be boys and our doctor was an exception that proved the rule or something.

I love having a kid who loves to read. Nick reads, but not quite as omnivorously as Kara already is.

Would Lucy Boston's Green Knowe series work? It's sort of fantastic/historical, with time travel and an ancient house full of secrets.

I do have to say that my mother recently told me that she just realized that I probably should not have been reading Erica Jong and The Clan of the Cave Bear Series in 5th and 6th grade. I told her it did not really leave any lasting scars, that it was probably better that she did not get involved in my reading! Plus, I watched Soap Operas with my grandma.