[frostybabygurl]

My daugter just turned 11 and she is mature in the way that she thinks and speaks, however she still loves to play with her barbies or sit and colour for hours on end and she has no interest in having a boyfriend yet even though her friends are a little boy crazy (thank God).

My ex's girlfriend recommended the "Flowers in the attic" series for her to read because she loves reading so much. I read those books when I was younger and I remember them being fairly racy and dealing with things like incest and pedophilia, I don't feel that these topics are age appropriate for my daughter. I spoke with my ex about this and he said he would look into it and decide from there (translation, he doesn't care and I'm making a big deal out of nothing).

My daughter wanted to read the "Twilight" series, so I bought them and read them all prior to giving her permission to read them. I monitor not only the books she reads but also the kind of TV shoes/movies she watches.

I was wondering what others oppinions might be on this?

[Cat1864]

You might try Emily Rodda's series: Deltora Quest, Rowan of the Rin, and Fairy Realm.
Emily Rodda

John Peel's Diadem series
John Peel

Patricia C Wrede's Enchanted Forest series
Patricia C Wrede

She is probably beyond Pony Pals.

There is always the older series like Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys.

[Wondergirl]

Definitely DO NOT allow her to read books by V.C. Andrews!

Has she read Lewis's Narnia series? At her age I was reading every horse book I could get my hands on. I also loved mythology and Grimm's Fairy Tales. She might enjoy many of the Newbery winners. How about Lemony Snicket's books in A Series of Unfortunate Events?

There are fantasy series that might interest her. Go with her to your local public library and talk with one of the children's librarians.

[frostybabygurl]

Thanks for responding. I have no troubles getting my daughter to read, she'll pick up just about any book and read it straight away. That's why this concerned me so much. She lives with me so the majority of reading is done with me around, which means any questions she has I'm there to answer and help her understand about a word or a situation, sometimes she'll talk to me and say she doesn't understand why someone made the choice they did or what woud I have done and it leads to her telling me how she feels and what she would have done.
When she's at her fathers house, she's pretty much left to do what she wants with little to no interaction with him.
She's read everything from the Harry potter series, Twilight series, Sweet Valley series, Babysitters club series, Night World series etc...
I just ordered her some books from school that will be in soon for her to read.
I was just looking to find out if anyone would allow their 11 yr old to read VC Andrews. Sometyimes I feel like I'm the over protective parent, trying to shield her from stuff, I thought maybe I might've been over reacting, so it's nice to hear that someone else agrees with me.

[jmjoseph]

I think you are wise to monitor your child's reading.

Try these :Detailed Children's Book Reviews and Parent Movie Ratings based on Character Traits Children's Books and Young Adult Books for 9-12 Year Olds and Older

I'm watching what my children read, and the shows they watch on TV, but it sure is hard isn't it?

Television today is way more vulgar and racy than when I was a kid in the 60's.

Good luck to you, and GOD bless the little ones.

[Fr_Chuck]

I guess I will travel a little off topic, first I would not recommend those books for an 11 year old, there is just too many other great clasics out there.

But also be careful not to shield her too much, it is common today for 12 year olds and younger at times to be very sexually active. In the school systems here many 12 year olds have babies every year and way to large a percent are experimenting with sex.

[frostybabygurl]

I certainly understand where you are coming from in regards to shielding her too much. What I do is talk with her and answer any questions she has about whatever it is that we're watching or reading. I've talked with her about waiting for sex, gotten her books for her age that talk about puberty and feelings etc.. we've even discussed safe sex. I don't want to shield her from everything, but there are something's that are just too racy or too vulgar. I think I'm doing a good job so far, she thinks girls (celebrities/models) that show a lot of skin are disgusting and don't respect themselves. She has no interest in having a boyfriend anytime soon. She says she wants to focus on her studies and spend time with her friends and family. The other night she went to a youth dance for grades 5-8, a boy in her grade asked her to slow dance and she said no, I asked her why and she said the 1st reason was because she didn't know him and her 2nd reason was she wasn't ready to slow dance yet (I thought that was cute).

I know some people try to shield their children and they mean well, but it ends up pushing their children to rebel and do everything they taught them not to. I always tell her that I don't forbid things, but I would prefer she didn't do them. I know the more you are against something the more appealing it can be to them.

Sometimes it's hard to find a balance.

I guess I will travel alittle off topic, first I would not recommend those books for an 11 year old, there is just too many other great clasics out there.

But also be careful not to shield her too much, it is common today for 12 year olds and younger at times to be very sexually active. In the school systems here many 12 year olds have babies every year and way to large a percent are experimenting with sex.

[frostybabygurl]

Thanks for the suggestion. I will definitely look into those. I agree it is so hard to monitor what they hear and see, I try my best, I also try to go with what she is comfortable with. She knows she can ask me questions or tell me that something makes her uncomfortable and we'll stop watching it. For example today we watched Bride Wars and I know she's uncomfortable watching racy scenes, and there's a scene where the girls are at a strip club, I just fast forwarded to the next scene, and we just picked up from there.

We watch the Dr's show everyday and one day they had an episode geared towards tweens/teens about sex and puberty. Someone called in asking about oral sex, she asked me what that was and I explained it to her. Her response... EWWWW!! Why would anyone want to so that? The only reason I told her is I don't want her to either bring it up at school or get incorrect info from a friend.

I think you are wise to monitor your child's reading.

Try these :Detailed Children's Book Reviews and Parent Movie Ratings based on Character Traits Children's Books and Young Adult Books for 9-12 Year Olds and Older

I'm watching what my children read, and the shows they watch on TV, but it sure is hard isn't it?

Television today is way more vulgar and racy than when I was a kid in the 60's.

Good luck to you, and GOD bless the little ones.

[jmjoseph]

Thanks for the suggestion. I will definately look into those. I agree it is so hard to monitor what they hear and see, I try my best, I also try to go with what she is comfortable with. She knows she can ask me questions or tell me that something makes her uncomfortable and we'll stop watching it. For example today we watched Bride Wars and I know she's uncomfortable watching racy scenes, and there's a scene where the girls are at a strip club, I just fast forwarded to the next scene, and we just picked up from there.

We watch the Dr's show everyday and one day they had an episode geared towards tweens/teens about sex and puberty. Someone called in asking about oral sex, she asked me what that was and I explained it to her. Her response... EWWWW!!! Why would anyone want to so that? The only reason I told her is I don't want her to either bring it up at school or get incorrect info from a friend.

Yes, I agree about learning stuff at school. Once, when I was in the 10th grade, a fellow student asked a guy in our class if he liked oral sex. He answered," you mean out loud?".

[XOXOlove]

When I was 12 I liked reading Goosebumps by RL Stein. I also loved harry potter. There is also a series called Artimis Fowl. I only read some of 1 of the books but I think it is suitable for 12 year olds. Another one is A Series of Unfortunate Events. The series was made into a single movie several years ago.

[firmbeliever]

I agree with wondergirl, VC Andrews is too mature for eleven year olds.
Narnia chronicles always a good read.
The Lion,The witch and the wardrobe by C. S. Lewis

Nancy Drew detective books by Carolyn Keene
Also maybe a good try to check out Arthur Conan Doyle books on Sherlock Holmes.

Maybe classics like David Copperfield by Charles Di*ckens
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett


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