Gifts for 10-12 Year Olds

I am stunned to realize that the holidays are upon us. In fact, my reminder was from a mother whose 11 year old is getting a Kindle for Hanukkah and she wanted to load it up with good reads. I will be very curious to see what impact the Kindle and other e-readers have on elementary children's reading. Herewith, then, my second annual list of suggestions for gift giving, a batch for the upper elementary crowd. These are just a few of the ones that I read and enjoyed in the past year. (All descriptions and images are from our library catalog.)

Remember to look at last year's list (click here) and the list of 100 greatest children's novels (click here). I have a print version of the 100 in the library that a few methodical girls are checking off each week. They remind me of me.

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin. Minli, an adventurous girl from a poor village, buys a magical goldfish, and then joins a dragon who cannot fly on a quest to find the Old Man of the Moon in hopes of bringing life to Fruitless Mountain and freshness to Jade River.


The 13th Reality: Journal of Curious Letters by James Dashner. Thirteen-year-old Atticus "Tick" Higginbottom begins receiving mysterious letters from around the world signed only "M.G.," and the clues contained therein lead him on a journey to the perilous 13th Reality and a confrontation with evil Mistress Jane.


Fern Verdant and the Silver Rose by Diana Leczczynski. Fern Verdant’s mother, a famous botanist, disappears just before Fern’s thirteenth birthday, and when Fern discovers that she has inherited the ability to communicate with plants, she realizes that this is the only way she will be able to find and save her mother.


The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly. In central Texas in 1899, eleven-year-old Callie Vee Tate is instructed to be a lady by her mother, learns about love from the older three of her six brothers, and studies the natural world with her grandfather, the latter of which leads to an important discovery.


Go Big or Go Home by Will Hobbs. Fourteen-year-old Brady and his cousin Quinn love extreme sports, but nothing could prepare them for the aftermath of Brady’s close encounter with a meteorite after it crashes into his Black Hills, South Dakota, bedroom.


Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos. Theodosia and the Staff of Osiris by R. L. LaFevers. Eleven-year-old Theodosia has the ability to detect black magic and ancient curses that are attached to objects in the Museum of Legends and Antiquities, which her father is the curator of, and discovers that a new artifact from Egypt is cursed and she must return it to the tomb it was excavated from before it destroys the British Empire.

The Georges and the Jewels by Jane Smiley. Seventh-grader Abby Lovitt grows up on her family’s California horse ranch in the 1960s, learning to train the horses her father sells and trying to reconcile her strict religious upbringing with her own ideas about life.


The Rock and the River by Kekla Magoon. In 1968 Chicago, fourteen-year-old Sam Childs is caught in a conflict between his father’s nonviolent approach to seeking civil rights for African-Americans and his older brother, who has joined the Black Panther Party.


The Secret of Zoom by Lynne Jonell. Ten-year-old Christina lives a sheltered life until she discovers a secret tunnel, an evil plot to enslave orphans, and a mysterious source of energy known as zoom.



The Giant Slayer by Iain Lawrence. When her eight-year-old neighbor is stricken with polio in 1955, eleven-year-old Laurie discovers that there is power in her imagination as she weaves a story during her visits with him and other patients confined to iron lung machines.


The Missing, Book 1: Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix. When thirteen-year-olds Jonah and Chip, who are both adopted, learn they were discovered on a plane that appeared out of nowhere, full of babies with no adults on board, they realize that they have uncovered a mystery involving time travel and two opposing forces, each trying to repair the fabric of time.

The Double Life of Zoe Flynn by Janet Lee Carey. When Zoe’s family has to live in their van for months after moving from California to Oregon so her father can find work, Zoe tries to keep her sixth-grade classmates from discovering that she is homeless.


Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George. A retelling of the tale of twelve princesses who wear out their shoes dancing every night, and of Galen, a former soldier now working in the king’s gardens, who follows them in hopes of breaking the curse.


One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia. In the summer of 1968, after traveling from Brooklyn to Oakland, California, to spend a month with the mother they barely know, eleven-year-old Delphine and her two younger sisters arrive to a cold welcome as they discover that their mother, a dedicated poet and printer, is resentful of the intrusion of their visit and wants them to attend a nearby Black Panther summer camp.

Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine. Ten-year-old Caitlin, who has Asperger’s Syndrome, struggles to understand emotions, show empathy, and make friends at school, while at home she seeks closure by working on a project with her father.



Falcon Quinn and the Black Mirror by Jennifer Finney Boylan. Thirteen-year-old Falcon Quinn and his friends, Max and Megan get on the bus expecting to be taken to school, but they soon find themselves at a place called Shadow Island, a training ground for monsters.


A Faraway Island by Annika Thor. In 1939 Sweden, two Jewish sisters wait for their parents to flee the Nazis in Austria, but while eight-year-old Nellie settles in quickly, twelve-year-old Stephie feels stranded at the end of the world, with a foster mother who is as cold and unforgiving as the island on which they live.


Leviathan by Scott Westerfield. In an alternate 1914 Europe, fifteen-year-old Austrian Prince Alek, on the run from the Clanker Powers who are attempting to take over the globe using mechanical machinery, forms an uneasy alliance with Deryn who, disguised as a boy to join the British Air Service, is learning to fly genetically-engineered beasts.

Zora and Me by Victoria Bond and T.R. Simon. A fictionalized account of Zora Neale Hurston’s childhood with her best friend Carrie, in Eatonville, Florida, as they learn about life, death, and the differences between truth, lies, and pretending. Includes an annotated bibliography of the works of Zora Neale Hurston, a short biography of the author, and information about Eatonville, Florida.

Check back next week for suggestions for younger children. A holiday without a new book is not much of a holiday at all.