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Hi, folks!

My not-quite-10-year-old is a very picky reader. She devours each new Sarah Mlynowski "Whatever After" book, but kind of bounced off of the Upside-Down Magic series. She recently enjoyed Jake and Lily and Sailor Moon, Vol. 1 books are always a pretty good bet.

Any thoughts?

I haven't personally read the Whatever After series, so I don't have a perfect sense of the reading level and I apologize if any of these are insultingly below her level or ridiculously above it...but here are a few suggestions that spring immediately to mind:

Half Upon a Time
Hocus Pocus & The All New Sequel
The Crowns of Croswald
The Lightning Thief
Wonder Woman: Warbringer
Reflection
Lumberjanes, Vol. 1: Beware the Kitten Holy
Goldie Vance Vol. 1
Jim Henson's The Storyteller: Witches
Artemis Fowl

My #1 recommendation is to get to know your local Youth Services librarian- they can get to know her and give all sorts of recommendations as they do. There are a bunch of different series out there that are retellings or twists on fairy tales and mythology that might spark her interest if she enjoyed Whatever After.

I personally hit the Redwall books hard at that age, and Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians is just a ton of fun, especially if she's enjoyed Harry Potter and Percy Jackson.

My two daughters totally loved the Warriors: Cats of the Clans (that link is probably not to the first in the series). As pre-teens they would go down to the state park at the end of the road with friends, to the big meadow, and play Warrior Cats and set up Clans in different areas of the field.

But I agree with Sarah - get to know the library. My older daughter got a job as a library page at age 15 and worked there until she left for college.

Princess Academy by Shannon Hale might be worth a try, although it's a good bit longer than the Whatever After books....

What about the Edward Eager books, like Half-Magic?

If she likes graphic novels, there are a bunch of fun middle grade ones.
Click by Kayla Miller (5th graders)
El Deafo by Cece Bell
Real Friends by Shannon Hale
All's Faire in Middle School by Victoria Jamieson

Here are some of our recommendations, from my 10, 15 and 17 year olds.

Fabelhaven series -Brandon Mull
Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos (4 books) -R.L. LeFevers
Wings of Fire series (dragons kind of like Warriors series) -Tui T. Sutherland (also has graphic novels)
Song of the Lioness series -Tamora Pierce
Mysterious Benedict Society series -Trenton Lee Stewart
Search for Wondla series Tony DiTerLizzi
Spiderwick Chronicles -Holly Black and Tony DiTerLizzi
Dealing with Dragons (Enchanted Forest Chronicals) Patricia C Wrede
The Dark Hills Divide (Land of Elyon Series) Patrick Carman
Lionboy -Zizou Corder
Fish -Gregory Mone
The Magic Thief (series) Sarah Prineas
The Adventurer's Guide to Sucessful Escapes Wade Albert White
Mabel Opal Pear and the Rules for Spying by Amanda Hosch