Good Books for 11 Year Olds

There are so many fantastic book choices for 11 year old girls and boys and this article gives lots of suggestions of books which have been highly recommended for this age group.

This article contains lots of recommendations of fantasy books, popular books, books especially for girls and boys and non fiction books. There are lots of recommendations to get you started but here are some other good ways to find good books for 11 year olds.

Check out the library - The library is a great place for looking at books before you read them. It may well be worth asking the librarian if they can recommend any books that other children aged 11 are reading.

Ask family and friends - If you're an adult, what are your friend's children reading? Personal recommendations are a good way to find books your child will enjoy. 11 year olds can ask their friends at school. And don't forget teachers may have some good ideas too.

The Internet There are hundreds of websites to check out online. Some good ones include The New York Times Bestseller lists for middle school aged children. Amazon have bestselller lists too and lots of reviews to help you get some ideas. I have included some more websites to check out throughout the article.

Read on for ideas of the best books for 11 year olds.

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Below are selection of three good books for boys. There's nothing to stop girls from reading them too though!

Some that aren't mentioned here and my a be worth checking out include :

Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney.

Diary of a 6th grade Ninja by Marcus Emerson.

The Surprise Attack of Jabba the Puppett: An Origami Yoda Book by Tin Angle

For more ideas check out common sense media where you can search for books by age recommendation. As well as this filter your search with different categories and topics.

Find below three recommendations of great books for 11 year old girls.

If you want more ideas, here are a few more suggestions:

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams Garcia

Addie on the Inside by James Howe

Slumber Party Wars by Melanie Marks

It's also worth checking out the common sense media website where you can search by books by age recommendation.

Not all children love reading and sometimes it's hard to get kids to sit down and read above all the other activities they have to choose from. If this is the case, here are some tips to help.

Broaden your ideas - Many kids are not strongly attracted to fiction books and yet this is all the get offered to read at home and school. Don't be a reading snob - any material they read will help literacy from comics, to instructions, to cookbooks, to magazines to the Internet. There are lots of fantastic non fiction books for kids - some of them highlighted in this chapter. If they have a hobby perhaps you can find reading material related to that. Even if their hobby is video games, they can read about the latest games from magazines and other materials.

Make it easy for them to pick up reading material - Make sure there are books and other reading material they can pick up in their home. If you think there is a book they might like, leave it where they are sure to find it or point out a section that might really engage them. Also take the to places where there are books to look at. The library, a bookstore or a second hand bookshop.

Get them hooked on a series - One of the best ways to get them to read is to start them off with a series of books. Once they've read the first one and enjoyed it, they will be keen to read more. You could even offer to read the first book with them or to them to see if this will help get them hooked.

It's always worth checking out books which have been on the New York Times Bestseller lists. Here are a couple of good picks.

Many 11 year olds (particularly boys) like to be immersed in a world of fantasy when reading. There are absolutely tons of great fantasy books aimed at this age group.

Below, find a few top pick of fantasy books for 11 year olds.

And check out this list of more ideas of magic and fantasy books from the common sense media website.

Here is a selection of bestselling books suitable for kids aged 11.

To get more ideas of bestselling books, there are lots of besteller lists you can find online. Check out this list of 150 best selling books in 2013 from Publishers Weekly.

If you're looking for a selection of books that have stood the test of time and have already been enjoyed by generations, read on.

There are some suggestions below but there are tons more ideas.

They include:

Pippi Longstocking, Black Beauty, Anne of Green Gables, The Borrowers and Treasure Island.

Not everybody likes fiction. Here are a few non fiction ideas for 11 year olds

The Guinness Book of World Records 2013

Ripley's Believe It or Not

National Geographic Kids Almanac 2013

Lincoln's Last Days by Bill O'Reilly - a kids bestseller book which is great to get 11 year olds hooked on history.

There are lots more top classic authors suitable for 11 year olds. These include:

Roald Dahl, CS Lewis, Robert Louis Stevenson, Lemony Snicket and Phillip Pullman

Suzanne Collins is the author of the bestselling series The Hunger Games. She has recently written a new series aimed at slightly younger children. Check the first book out below.

Megan Macdonald is also a top selling author of children't books. She is author of the Judy Moody series and also the Sisters Club featured below.