At age ten, I adored Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink. Of course, the Little House books, Heidi, Peter Pan, all the old favorites if you don't already have them.

There have been threads on the forum before on children's books. If you look back through earlier discussions, you may find some of them.

Two favorites that I read to my favorite niece when she was that age: Cinderedna (a great send up of Cinderella) and The Paper Bag Princess. They are books they can enjoy now, and later be able to read on their own.

Some old favorites with girl protagonists: Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher, Shadow Castle by Marian Cockrell, Frances Hodgson Burnett's Secret Garden and A Little Princess (there's an earlier, simpler version titled Sara Crewe) and her less-known Racketty-Packetty House about dolls. More recent, E.L.Konigberg's From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, Patricia MacLachan's Sarah, Plain and Tall and Kate DiCamillo's Because of Winn-Dixie.

Some of the old series books may work as well. My mother used to read the early Judy Boltons to me at that age, as well as the "Maida's Little.." series.

I'm trying to remember if the Moomintroll series feature girls, but in any case, I recommend them too. Whimsical and lots of fun.

Here is a link that might be useful: Children's Literature Web Guide - list of recommended books

My 11 year old daughter love the Chicken Soup for the Soul for preteen girls books.

Donnamira, the Moomintroll series doesn't feature girls in the conventional sense (i.e. humans). I love those books, but they are a bit low on good female role-models; the Snork maiden (Moomin's girlfriend) is very girly and vain, while Moominmamma just does the maternal bit whereas Moominpappa gets to have adventures. However, all is redeemed by the wonderfully anarchic character of Little My. Beautifully inventive, magical stories anyway.

Sticking with the Scandinavian authors, how about Astrid Lindgren's books? Stuffed full with strong girls, such as 'Pippi Longstocking' and 'Ronia the Robber's Daughter'.

Little Women and the Anne of Green Gables series are oldies but goodies, as are the two series that feature a character named Betsy-the B is for Betsy series by Carolyn Haywood, and the Betsy, Tacy and Tib series by Maud Hart Lovelace
and the Series of Unfortunate Events books are inhaled by 2-4th graders.

I've already seen several books mentioned here that my wife says she wants to read to our daughter when she is a little older (she's 5 1/2 now). Another I haven't seen mentioned that she loved as a girl is a series by Sydney Taylor that starts with "All-of-a-Kind Family" about a Jewish family with several girls that I think is set in the late 1800s or early 1900s in NY.

My wife is looking forward to reading some girl books since our older son is into a lot of fantasy and reading on his own now. She also wants our daughter to read "Little Women" when she is much older.

Roller Skates - which I just now remembered, and really loved as a girl. It's a good historical time piece.

She doesn't need to be too much older-9 is a good age to start Little Women

I remember loving all of the Pippi Longstocking books.
My daughter and I both read Island of the Blue Dolphins several times
Both of my kids (now 18 and 20) liked the Boxcar Children series.

If anyone is interested, I found this interesting list (see link) of series fiction published between 1840 and 1991 that is marketed toward girls. It's quite lengthy.

Here is a link that might be useful: Girls Series Books 1840-1991

For older girls: Jean Webster's Daddy-Long-Legs and Dear Enemy, and Just Patty and the sequel Patty and Priscilla. I have just ordered the first two in one volume.

where? I have ancient copies of both, and they are in danger of falling apart...I'd love a nice reading copy.

Another one you might want to explore for when she's a little older is Gypsy Rizka by Lloyd Alexander. Rizka lives on her own in a gypsy caravan. Her mother is deceased and she doesn't know where her father is. (He wen off with his gypsy relatives and is supposed to be returning at any time) She is smart and wily and keeps the townspeople under her wing. She outwits the bullies (even the adult ones) and her antics will keep your daughters amused. Actually, now that I think about it, your daughters may very well enjoy having you read it to them. My father read stories to us that were beyond our reading abilities, but we enjoyed hearing the stories.

I'd put in a vote for the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, especially LITTLE HOUSE IN THE BIG WOODS. This series gradually gets more complex, maturing as the heroine matures. You could also hardly go wrong with any of the Beverly Cleary books, RAMONA or ELLEN TEBBITS or RIBSY.

Zooming off in quite another direction, the Harry Potter books are wildly popular among girls (I had three nieces all of whom were vowing to marry Harry when they grew up, quite unbothered by the fact that he'd have to commit trigamy). The Narnia books are classics and have got a tremendous boost from the movie.

Brenda

Brenda

How could I have forgotten Tiffany Aching? :) Terry Pratchett's series about the young witch-in-training has the bonus of being funny as well as good reading: The Wee Free Men, A Hat Full of Sky, and the latest Wintersmith.

Amazon has the Penguin Classics edition of Daddy-Long-Legs plus Dear Enemy, although I got mine from a Swedish internet bookseller. I read them in Swedish many years ago and suddenly realized that I would like to read the original. The best thing is that the parcel arrived by mail last Friday when I had a rare day off from work, and the weather was bad, such perfect timing.

got it! thanks....wish I could zap it right away for "snow reading" as our first big storm has arrived!

Read the classic girl books-I read Little Women at 7, but that's just me. I'd recomend pretty much all the Lloyd Alexander books. The Castle of Llyr series (the name escapes me now) gave me a few nightmares but that may have been because I read them under the covers with a flashlight at midnight. The Arcadians is one of his best books, in my opinion. Definitely read them Tamora Pierce books, especially the Circle Of Magic quartet. Also, the American Girl books-the original 7 girls-and the History Mysteries, if they like that kind of literature. The Dear America books are also really good, and they're in a great read-aloud format; reading a diary entry each night is what I used to do for myself. have fun!

The Anastasia books by Lois Lowry and a little later, the Tillerman series by Cynthia Voight are sure to be successful choices. The Moffat series by Eleanor estes and the One-of -a Kind-Family series by elizabeth Enright, she could start right away.

Jean Webster's Jerry Junior and both of her Patty books are now available as etexts on the online books page. I know that it is never quite so satisfying to read on screen as having the actual book is, but still..

Eight Cousins and Rose in Bloom by Louisa May Alcott

Baby Island by Carol Ryrie Brink

Matilda - Roald Dahl

There are quite a few wonderful books with female protagonists that have been coming out recently, but who knows if they'll stand the test of time...