How inspiring,it only takes one person at a time to make a change in their community.TFS Kathi

I will always recommend the Harry Potter books. They are long, but most kids cannot put them down. 10 is a good age to read the first one. The series has been known to turn the hardest cases of non-readers into bookworms. ;o) The Goosebump series (R.L. Stein) was hugely popular a few years ago, but is still a favorite on the bookshelf at my kids' school. Creepy stories, haunted houses, kids caught in supernatural mysteries. Fast reads, and so many books in the series that if she likes one she'll find a lot more like it. New books are still coming out, too. Diary of a Wimpy Kid (Jeff Kinney) is very popular series right now, but I have not read any of these yet. It's very new, there are only 2 out, but another is coming. They are humorous. I LOVE the kids' novels by Carl Hiaasen, "Hoot" and "Flush." They are stories of environmental wrong-doing adults foiled by the earth-conscious kids in the funniest, most ironic, "poetic justice" situations. Smart kids will get the irony. My 11 y/o DS is also a bright kid, but really not much of a reader. He loved both those books, laughed through them, and stole a couple one-liners. They are risque enough to be "cool" to kids, defiant kids question authority, a coupls "damns" and "hells" in the text. But the prevailing message is "Do the right thing." Great books, in my opinion. (But know that kids' books is not Hiaasen's main genre. If she likes the author, don't let her get into the other books he writes for adults. Those are for mature readers, R-rated situations and language including the f-bomb.) She might like books by Kate DiCamillo (Because of Winn-Dixie, Tale of Desperaux, and others). They are either realistic fiction featuring animals/pets, or fantasy with animal characters. There is the Redwall series (Brian Jacques). Those are fantasy about animals, rodents mostly, and set in a sort of medieval setting, with castles and heroic battles to save the village, sort of mice as knights. Varjak Paw (SF Said) is a fantasy/mystery about a house cat who goes into the world to save his family. I didn't read it, but my 11 y/o read it twice, so it must have impressed him! The poetry collections of Shel Silverstein. I was given Where the Sidewalk Ends when I was 10, I still have it, dated and inscribed "Love, Mom and Dad." My kids read it. They all like hearing the poems, but it's my 11 y/o that gets the humor and play on words. Some more titles/authors that might appeal to her b/c they are fantasty and some feature animals. A Cricket in Times Square, George Seldon Indian in the Cupbord, Lynne Reid Banks James and the Giant Peach, Ronald Dahl Rats of NIHM series, Robert C. O'Brien Well, sorry to go so long, you hit one of my favorite topics. Hope there is something there that helps.

Without getting sexist about the issue, now you have me thinking part of this might be a girl thing men don't understand. Men and women communicate differently, we all know that. And it starts young. Yeah, our sons and daughters both need verbal stimuli and physical stimuli. But there really is a difference in the equation. Girls and women generally need that verbal release of stress every day. Boys need a physical release of stress. I know mothers suddenly frustrated by their 10-12 y/o son's intense physical expression. Someone new to boys might be annoyed by the natural change level of aggression that comes on pre-puberty. Boys are more likely to naturally release their daily stress by wrestling with each other, hitting a ball as hard as they can, running for no reason. I've seen it with my boys. Girls have to tell stories to someone to get the feelings out. Sometimes the same story over and over again. But of course we don't make that an excuse to let our boys aggression or physical expressions run rampant. They have to learn to focus and release it in healthy ways, or without taking it out on other people. So I can see that girls need to do the same thing, learn to focus that need to release in words, without taking it out too much on the people around them. ;o) I don't think I'd get her a cell phone either. I'd get a journal. I can see that she would learn to use the talking to control you sometimes, hold you hostage just to test the limits of your patience or even if she's angry at your control over her as a parent so she flexes control where she can. I will admit to having done that a few times in my life. I remember my mother having conversations with me about how I was using words to control other people's feelings. So I think the trick would be to recognize when 1)she truly needs to be heard, 2)when she's manipulating you, and 3) when it's casual conversation that only seems manipulative b/c you're worn out from your own day before she even saw you. My 13 y/o is a boy and doesn't do the talking thing. But he does the physical bully thing to his siblings. I send him outside to release that energy in a better way. He is learning to recognize in himself the energy building in him that will either come out as anger or controlled with exercise. My 10 y/o is a boy, too, and is starting to feel that physical energy he doesn't know what to do with. DD is only 7, but talks a lot, especially in the car! Sometimes when the AC is running I really cannot hear what she is saying. I had to tell her the other day I can either listen to her or run the AC, "Is what you're saying important enough to let the car get hot?" It wasn't. LOL, she chose the AC. Sometimes at home I've sat and listened to her for 20 minutes. But then it's like it encouraged her and she doesn't stop, she follows me right to the bathroom door and keeps talking. I have to tell her "It's not your turn anymore." Or if I'm trying to get dinner going and can't pay attention to so many things at once, or the kitchen noises make it impossible to have conversation at the same time, I just tell her "Is this really more important that our family having some dinner?" She needs to learn when it can wait. I think this sounds like an issue of family dynamics. While you don't want to let one member's habit control the family dynamics, you can't let resentment of that person's habit control the family dynamics either. You have to be careful not to generalize and define that person by that one annoying habit.

I just loved the box car chilren when i was a kid. i know you asked for series, but Holes and how to eat fried worms are both great books to read. if she likes a mystery, 'The Cat who....' books might not be too far beyond her reach. I read the original Tarzan books at that age and was captivated. as well as nacy drew and the hardy boys. also the series about budding astronauts "Tom ???" after that i slid into Narnia, and then the lord of the rings. Horatio Hornblower would be great, (but O'brian's Master and Commander series was a heavy, but wonderful read for me this past year) I also remember a series about a boy named henry, he as always in trouble(or was it a Homer?) diggerb