My niece is 13 and is a bookworm! She loves to read and always has a book in hand. I found the Charlie Bone series at a garage sale and bought them for her as part of her Christmas gift. But I know nothing about it! Would it be a good series for a 13 year old girl? She loves Harry Potter, mystery and science fiction. Not really into the whole teen romance thing. I did look at online reviews and it said grades 4-6, she is in 7th. What do you think mamas? Age appropriate? Thanks for all your help!
It's a great series!
I've read them all.
She'll really enjoy it!
Hi M.,
I have actually listened to several of these books on audio...the first 4.
I really enjoyed them. I would say they are like Harry Potter lite. ;)
The only reason I haven't finished the series is because our library only carries the others on those silly little MP3 player things and that won't work for me. (I like to listen while I make dinner.)
If she is an avid reader she will probably read them super quick...but they are interesting and entertaining.
At 13, I started reading the classics. Maybe she would also enjoy some Jules Verne or H.G. Wells. :)
When buying a new set of books or a series for a child I read a couple of the volumes myself. That way I can decide if I want my child reading the material. Just a thought! : )
You should get her a Kindle. My daughter got one last year when she was 13. She loves it! I give her $20 a month to buy books. She has read 75 books since Christmas last year! She started out with series books but expanded to many others. The good thing with Kindle is that AMAZON has so many books to choose from. And they can get books for 99 cents.
It is worth looking into for the kids that enjoy reading so much.
Good luck!!
D.
She might like them because they're similar to Harry Potter -- they're about "special" kids learning to use their abilities at a special and somewhat spooky school; however, that similarity to Harry Potter is what made my daughter (10) get a bit bored with them, and she did not finish the series. I read the first one and skimmed the second and they were OK, and have some amusing characters, but are nowhere near as dense with backstory and characterization as the HP books. So if she is a huge and deep HP fan, she may find these books a pale imitation; however, if she is missing having any new HP to read, she might just like the Charlie Bone books as something new. I think 13 is a fine age for it. It could be for kids from 9-14 depending on their interests.
You're a good aunt : )
I've heard of the Charlie Bone books (maybe my nephew, 10, has read them) but don't know what age they're geared towards, so I took a look on Scholastic.com's site. One page of reviews on the second book had ages listed of the reviewers, and they went from 8 to 15 (with some over 20 thrown in.) The average age seemed to be about 11 or 12.
Also, I checked out Amazon.com, where they list the reading level a book is geared towards, and for some of the "Bones" books they list 9 - 12 years, and some 9 years and up. Harry Potter books are listed for "9 years and up" with a reading level of "4th grade and Up."
From the reviews I read, these are interesting books, many mentioned they also love Harry Potter, like your niece, and I noticed some reviewers said they are different than the Harry Potter books. I'd say 99%+ of the reviews say they're excellent books.
Sorry I can't advise if they're age-appropriate for your niece as I don't know her, but wanted to give you some insight.
