Book suggestion needed

Does anyone know of a good book to buy a 5th grader, girl, loves sports and horses, and she has read all the Diary of Wimpy Kid books?
I like the idea of buying classics but anything new would work too.

My favorite book at that age was Island of the Blue Dolphin. No sports or horses, which I love, but still a favorite book.

Even as a horse lover, I dont read a lot of horse books. My daughter loved the encyclopedia style book with all the different breeds and statistics on each.

National Velvet

I forgot about that one. I dont know that I ever read the books, but have watched the movies.

There's also the Black Stallion, its an entire series. And Black Beauty.

Don't know if you can find it anymore, but I read one called "Pounding Hooves" around that age that was pretty good. I tended to read above my age group though so it was probably more intended to be for high-schoolers. Honestly - decent horse books are few and far between. I vaguely recall reading a lot of classics around that time period: Where the Red Fern Grows, The Yearling, etc.

Oh, yeah - I can't believe I forgot those! I think I read them way younger than that....

You beat me to it, so I'll second it.

Marguerite Henry's Chincoteague Pony series were quite good, if I remember correctly. I think the first one was Misty of Chincoteague.

It has nothing to do with horses or sports but my 5th grader has been reading the Big Nate books by Lincoln Peirce. He has also read all of the Diary of the Wimpy kid books too.

Nothing to do with horses either, but how about The Secret Garden, or the Anne of Green Gables series?

The current craze with my son's peers (6th grade) is the Fablehaven series and the Hunger Games series.

the current craze at my house is




Captain Underpants

for both my 3rd grader and now my kindergartener.

Has she read CS Lewis Narnia series? They have talking horses!

Also, if she loves animals, what about Watership Down?

Has she done all the Harry Potter and Percy Jackson books?

There's the "Thoroughbred" series by Joanna Campbell. I think my niece read and loved these in either 4th or 5th grade.

There's a great book I loved about that age called "Julie of the Wolves" by Jean Craighead George. It must have been published in the early 1970's. I read it several times. I read somewhere that the author put out 2 more books in the Julie series much later (late 90's?). Check it out.

My son is a 5th grader and he really enjoys the Warrior Series by Erin Hunter.

Dexter.

How about Judy Blume or VC Andrews?

I second the "Ann of Green Gables" suggestion. That book series was my favorite when I was 11-13 and it remains one of my favorites.

I loved those!

When I was that age I went through every animal-centric book and series under the sun. The "Lad: A Dog" series by Albert Payson Terhune was good as were the animal books by Farley Mowat such as "The Dog Who Wouldn't Be" and "Never Cry Wolf".

Then there were the one-offs such as "Beautiful Joe" which was actually written back around the 1900's and is one of the first books to decry animal abuse, "Bel Ria" the life story of a little dog, and of course the original version of "The Incredible Journey" where the cat and two dogs make their way across hundreds of miles of Canadian Wilderness.

Anything by James Herriott beginning with "All Creatures Great and Small".

As a matter of fact, I still enjoy good animal-centric stories and have several other animal books both in my book case at home and in my Amazon Wish List.

If she liked the diary of a wimply kid books, there is a new series out called the Dork Diaries. its along the same lines as wimpy kid, but it's written from a girls perspective.

Louder And Slower by Harry Reid
Christmas Art by National Portrait Gallery
Art of Coercion Persusion by Julian Assange

VC Andrews? Have you read those? Don't think they're quite appropriate for that age.

I read these too, as my mom had read them as a kid. Don't rememebr much about them, but remember liking them. I think I read the oen about Misty and the one abotu Stormy.

I agree!

My kids like captain underpant too.

anything by Stephen King or Clive Barker

My nephew loved the Lemony Snicket series. He might have been a little older that your daughter when he read them though.

I second what Duchess Skittles said... VC Andrews is in no way appropriate for a 5th grader!

More suggestions:

Big Red & Irish Red & Outlaw Red
A trilogy about Irish setter dogs by Jim Kjelgaard - loved these as a child... didn't remember the names until just now.

There were two more by the smae author Kjelgaard called Stormy and Snow Dog which I also loved and read and re-read.

How about Little Women and Little Men and Hans Brinker & The Silver Skates and The "Little House" book series? Those were all classics that I loved dearly. From age 5 until 13, if someone gave me some free time, a book, a quiet corner and an apple... I was completely in heaven!

I liked "Call of the Wild" too...along with many suggestions already mentioned here.

I used to love mysteries; I read all the Nancy Drew type books.

I also loved James Herriott - all of his books are about his veterinary practice in England, although not all of the stories had the happiest of endings.

And the Hardy Boys!

I don't remember James Herriott being on a 5th grade level, but I did enjoy his writing.

My daughter loved the Junie B. Jones series, but I am not sure what age level that was. It seemed like she jumped from that to Twilight overnight

I read some of the James Herriott books too, but I was in my 30's when I did.

The Sugar Creek Gang books were great. I read them all the summer bfore sixth grade.

I agree with it not being on a 5th grade level, but if she's reading a few grade levels ahead, she'll be fine.

I also agree with the Misty recommendation...but I cant remember much about them except the baby being separated in the sale pen.

Third point I'll agree with is that VC Andrews is probably not appropriate for a 5th grader. I ready a lot of her books, in JR High and High School.