Looking for book suggestions for 9 year old girl that loves sad books.
Looking for book suggestions for 9 year old girl that loves sad books. The kind, quoting her, “that suck you in and spit you out.”
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The Grapes of Wrath had me eating nothing but boiled potatoes all the way through. I think I was in 4th grade. Boo hoo too.
Stone Fox, Where the Red Fern Grows, Sounder, Bridge to Terabithia, Charlotte’s Web, Tuck Everlasting
Bridge to Terabitha? Where the red Fern Grows?
Lauren Wolk’s Wolf Hollow and Beyond the Bright Sea. My daughter and I loved them and they are definite heart breakers?
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.
For a NINE year old??
Yep.
Hmm.
The POV is perfect.
Similar to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime
The POV may be, though I don’t know about the subject matter. Every kid is different, but as a librarian who works with kids I would think that the majority would not be into it. Not like I’d take it away from them or anything.
Loss. Exploration and discovery. And finally acceptance and the Oz-ish ‘there’s no place like home’ circular narrative. Both books are layered.
Not for a nine year old. Neither of them.
So…no Wizard of Oz then either.
The Girl Who Could Fly, Counting by 7s
How about the Art of Racing in the Rain? Not a YA book but I bet she could handle it.
There is a younger version out. I think it’s just called Racing in the Rain
Wonder, and a second vote for Bridge to Terabithia!
Suck you in and spit you out … love it!!
No suggestions- just love this kid from her quote!
Agree…. that’s pretty deep! ?
The Changeling by Zylpha Keatly Snyder
Old Yeller by Fred Gipson
Tuck Everlasting
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell ?
Something for Joey
I love that kid!!!
Sounder
Old Yeller
Where the Red Fern Grows
Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes (Puffin Modern Classics) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0142401137/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_6DxiAbDQJMCRF
Also, Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry
She’s not ready for them yet, but my middle schooler went through a Lurlene McDaniel phase. You might want to bookmark this author for later if she still feels like a good cry in a few years.
I read these in elementary.
@Gwendolyn you may be right. It’s been so long ago I can’t remember the level, but they are YA and full of endless tragedy.
Hachiko Waits. https://www.google.com/search?q=hachiko+waits&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari
The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0316380849/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_twi_pap_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1512143667&sr=8-1&keywords=thing+about+jellyfish
This list also has some good titles (some are not “suck you in and spit you out sad”, but have sad/thoughtful aspects) http://www.readbrightly.com/sad-books-that-give-fourth-and-fifth-graders-all-the-feels/
The Giver, The Outsiders, Among the Hidden Series
There are two more to the Giver series.
yeah and she just published a 4th prequel recently. They just aren’t as good as the first. ?
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27064348-ms-bixby-s-last-day
Old Yeller
Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin
Where the Red Fern Grows. She can have an all-day sob fest!
The One and Only Ivan, Katherine Applegate. Also, a classic that actually just made me cry a few months ago reading it to my 8 yo: Tuck Everlasting
Goodbye Mr. Chips
Serafina
The Infernal Devices. Not for now, but when she’s older, maybe in her teens. It made me cry a lot. It was beautiful. You absolutely fall in love with the characters and their stories.
Series of Unfortunate Events
Flowers for Algernon. Shudder.
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas ??
The Book Thief…
Lurlene McDaniel has a bunch of sad books geared toward young girls.
‘Dorp Dead’. So sad
What a great description! I would recommend Out of My Mind. I read it to my third grade classes, and each year it was the favorite book
1.Faith, Hope & Ivy June
2.Dash by Kirby Lawson
3.How to steal a Dog
The secret life of Bees
Ida B: …and Her Plans to Maximize Fun, Avoid Disaster, and Save the World
Bridge to Terabithia
Summer of the Monkeys
The Yearling
Sounder
The Cay
The Diary of Anne Frank
Where the Red Fern Grows
Love That Dog, and lots of other novels by Sharon Creech
Tiger Rising
And so many more. I know these are old, but they are classics!
Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Because of Winn Dixie, Freak the Mighty
Freak The Mighty
Road To Tater Hill
The Seventh Most Important Thing
Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan.
Keeper by Kathi Appelt
Try the I Survived series. They’re historical fiction and set around things like 9/11 (I can’t believe that’s history already) so they’ll be plenty sad.
She LOVES these.
Then try the Home Front Heroes series by Teresa Funke https://www.goodreads.com/series/72580-home-front-heroes
My friend is a school librarian and had her in to talk to the students and they loved it!
Bone Gap. Laura Ruby
Bridge to terabithia and goodbye days (though goodbye days spits you at at the very beginning).
Thanks everyone for all of the great suggestions.
But mine was the best right?
The Fault is in our Stars.
Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White.
Anything with or about an animal, because 9 times out of 10 something bad happens to the animal. I would never read books about dogs or horses because I couldn’t stand it when they died. I didn’t read “Black Beauty” until I was grown and teaching children’s lit. And surprise! it turns out happily!
But I cried lots before I got to the happy ending!
I made the mistake of reading Where the Red Fern Grows in third grade. Who allows an 8-year-old to experience that kind of trauma?!?
I have s vivid childhood memory of hysterical crying after the movie.
I felt the same way about Old Yeller.
My daughter remembers 7th grade English as “the year of the dead dogs” because they had to read those! And she objected to “Wonder” because the dog had to die to salvage a rough patch in the family’s relationship. She said that it was just like when the cat, Picky-Picky, died in the Beezus and Ramona series.
But speaking of dead dogs, have any of you read “Love That Dog,” by Sharon Creech? It’s one of my favorites!
Number the stars is a historical fiction about the holocaust…I can’t remember how old I was when I read it, but it definitely sucks you in and spits you out. Not sure if it’s too intense for a 9yo but she sounds a little wise beyond her years! Also I loved island of the blue dolphins which was based on a true story.
Also “green book” science fiction about a family making an off earth settlement I remember being super sad.
Bridge to Terabithia
Tuck Everlasting
Trumpet of the Swan
This is not majorly sad, but it has its moments. Try the Inkheart trilogy
The Once series and the Bow Down Shadrach series
The Same Stuff as Stars by Katherine Paterson. It chewed ME up, anyway. A newer title is Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine. Layers of meaning in this one.
Bridge to Terrebithia
I don’t know how she would feel about Mrs. Perigrines home for peculiar children.
I thought it was great!!
Me too!
@RebeccaLynn I loved the photos!!! How great was that??!!!
A Summer to Die by Lois Lowry…I read it when I was 9 or 10 and it was so sad…I remember it to this day.
Water for Elephants! !
I loved this book! Yes! Great suggestion Julia!!
I would say the things in the book are not for a 9 year old….imho
Depends on the kid… yeah it is kinda intense but that’s the opinion of someone who was reading Stephen King at age 9 ☺
Wonder….. where the Red Fern Grows
What about Margaret Peterson Haddix books. Ex the Among The Hidden series.
Also The Giver by Lois Lowry and the tree following books Messenger, Gathering blue and Son