in terms of books for 11 year olds, i was a big fan of the redwall books at that age, in addition to a lot of the books listed in the previous comments. i also read ender’s game at that age, which is still one of my favorite books. right now im a big fan of jim butcher’s the dresden files, and i think his books would be suitable for an 11 year old.

I started reading Piers Anthony’s Xanth series in fifth grade and very much enjoyed the early books. He writes with a childlike humor and handles “adult” topics in such a way that I would be comfortable with a tween reading that, personally.

I just looked your forthcoming stuff up. Augh. Too bad I didn’t know; I could have primed them!

I think there’s a lot of great Scandinavian literature for that age group. My sons in particular adored the Moomin books. And when I was a girl I read Astrid Lingren. Not Pippi Longsticking, which I never care for, but the Bullerby children and my absolute favorite, Mio min Mio.

Catie, I was conservative in that regard, and in my (rather brief) conversation with these two mothers I judged them as being much as I was at that time. I did not let my children see R-rated films, or indeed any film I thought was too intense, graphic, or violent, until they were, say, 13, and even then I would still vet stuff that I had reason to think might be inappropriate or simply too violent or disturbing; but then, I think film by its visual nature can be really forceful. While I would never have stopped them from reading anything they wanted to tackle at 11, if they asked my opinion I might well have said, ‘oh, I think you’ll like that better if you wait a year or two’ (or not, depending on the book). Once they turned 16, all bets were off.

There is no lack of books. There is a lack of knowledge and/or access.

Outside of fantasy, there’re the Anne books, particularly the earlier ones for a tween reader, ditto with LM Montgomery’s Emily books, there’s Katherine Paterson (who, out of everyone listed so far, is the one I’d consider the most emotionally difficult, but man, I read JACOB HAVE I LOVED when I was about eleven and I have never stopped adoring that book), there are the Green Knowe books, there are Noel Streatfield’s Shoes books, there are (though I’d put these on the earlier end of a tween readership) the Boxcar Children–and these are just from /my/ childhood, twenty-odd years ago. I mean, I understand she said there’s not enough being published now for kids that age, but none of the things I just listed haven’t aged well, and I have a really hard time believing there’s not new material coming out for tweens, especially if they read fantasy. I spend more time in the YA section of bookstores these days than in the grown-up section because the pickings are so rich. *boggle*

…of course, I’d never buy a book and put it aside for a couple of years, either, not for a kid that age. I’d let her read the back and the first few pages and if she liked it she could have it and read it. So possibly I’m just coming from an entirely different universe, and of course either way there are never too many books.