20+ Books for 11 and 12 Year Old Girls

National Park Mystery Series by Aaron Johnson
This 10 book series is perfect for readers who love exploring the great outdoors, scavenger hunts, and coded messages! Jake, Wes, Amber, and their families embark on a two-month trip to explore ten national parks. But when Jake receives a scrapbook with a mystery to solve from his late grandfather, he must decide whether to solve it alone or trust his friends with the secret.

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
I read this classic series so many times as a child and was delighted to see it show up at this event – I read it aloud to my girls a few years ago and they loved it as much as I do. A pure delight!

Wormwood Abbey series by Christmas Baehr
This one made it on to the 2025 Summer Reading Guide and for good reason! This series has been a huge hit at our house, especially for my 12 & 14 year olds. Set in Victorian England, the series follows Edith and her family, dragon protectors who inherit an abbey in Yorkshire. They discover dragons on the property and must protect them from the outside world. With a spunky protagonist, a fantastic setting, and great character development, this YA series with a touch of fantasy is an absolute delight.

Unsolved Case Files by Tom Sullivan
A graphic nonfiction series about real FBI cases that have never been solved. They’re packed with fun illustrations, newspaper clippings, and theories of what could have happened. The two older girls and I have absolutely loved this series.

 

Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt
I love Gary D. Schmidt books and this is my favorite of his! I just LOVE this middle grade about a boy suffering through his seventh grade year. The Vietnam War is raging and his home life is a complicated by his ambitious father and his teenage sister, but the worst thing is that every Wednesday every other student goes to religious education and he has to stay in the classroom and study Shakespeare with his teacher. This book is funny, smart, and 100% fantastic. I have recommended it hundreds and hundreds of times. The companion novel, Okay for Now, is just as good. (Full review here)

Lincoln’s Grave Robbers by Steve Sheinkin
If you have ever read and loved Bomb by this author, this is another one of his that’s a winner! It’s all about the unknown story of the attempt to steal President Lincoln’s body – a true crime thriller!

The Sisters Grimm series by Michael Buckley
I first heard about this series nearly a decade ago from my mother-in-law who read it with one of my nieces and Ella spent a year blazing through the ten books of the series. Two orphaned sisters are sent to live with their grandmother (who they didn’t even know existed) in a strange little town called Ferryport Landing. When they arrive they soon learn that they have descended from the Brothers Grimm and the book of fairy tales those brothers wrote? Is actually history. And as one fairy tale mystery after another pops up in their town, it’s up to the sisters to solve the mysteries. This series is just DANG fun, with all the characters from every fairy tale you know popping up. The question is, who can they trust and who is trying to take them down?

Explorer Academy series by Trudi Trueit
Cruz begins training at the Explorer Academy, an elite school for explorers. But for Cruz’s future could be in jeopardy after he discovers his family had a mysterious past with the organization. And the biggest question? Who is out to get him… and why? Embedded throughout the novels are puzzles and codes for the reader to solve. Since this series is an imprint from National Geographic, there is also section at the end of each book that profiles scientists from all over the world and does a compare and contrast with the science fiction in the book and the real science. It’s like a Harry Potter storyline with a lot of STEM elements. 

Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink
This is of my favorite books from my childhood and I re-read it aloud to my girls last summer and it was just as good as I remember! Caddie Woodlawn, a strong-willed and brave 11-year-old is growing up on the Wisconsin frontier. This Newbery winner is a fun classic that is reminiscent of Little House on the Prairie. The strong family relationships and realistic AND positive sibling dynamics makes this an excellent book for this age group!

The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
This was one of the very first books I ever wrote about on Everyday Reading and it’s still one of my all-time favorites. It’s a full-cast audio performance and our whole family loves Shannon Hale’s writing. All four books in the series are TERRIFIC and my husband and I listened to and then my older girls have LOVED listening to the whole series (most of them are included in Audible Plus and then I bought the final book in the series for them). (Full review here.)

My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
A great survival story, Sam is so unhappy living with his family in New York City that he runs away to the Catskill Mountains. He learns about courage, danger and independence as he figures out how to survive all on his own.

Five Kingdoms by Brandon Mull
Cole was trying to have some spooky fun with his friends one Halloween, when the haunted house they were at turned out to be a portal to a mysterious world called the Outskirts. The magic of the Outskirts is starting to unravel and it’s up to Cole to rescue his friends and find a way back home.

The Janitors by Tyler Whitesides
My girls and I enjoyed his books The Wishmakers and The Wishbreaker, but we haven’t read this series of his yet. When 6th grader Spencer uses the wrong soap at school, he suddenly starts seeing bizarre creatures that are draining the energy of all the students. This one is full of a secret war, magical janitors, and I love that it is based on Tyler Whitesides’ real-life experience as a school janitor.

Spy School by Stuart Gibbs
Ben Ripley’s dream job is to work for the CIA, but since he’s only a middle schooler, it’s going to be a tough sell.  Then he is recruited for a special STEM school program, but to his shock and delight the program is actually a front for a junior CIA!

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
I read this book back when I was a school librarian and have been a fan ever since. We listened to the whole 13+ hour audiobook in the car and my two older girls both LOVED it. As soon as we finished, Ella checked out the rest of the series and listened to them in a week (oh, to have that much listening time. . . ). The book begins with a strange ad in the newspaper asking super smart children to apply and when four children pass the test put before them. Now their job is to go on a secret mission at a mysterious school called the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened, and puzzles, tests, and riddles will be everywhere they turn.

A Night Divided by Jennifer Nielsen
We love Jennifer Nielsen at our house (The False Prince series has been a hit with Bart, Ella and me!), and her historical fiction doesn’t miss either! Ani, espeically, has blown through so many of her books.

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit
This one made it on to my short chapter book list at 160 pages. Winnie Foster is shocked to discover that the spring on her family’s property is magical and grants immortality to the drinker, and even more shocked to meet a family that’s drunk from the spring and now will keep living forever.

A Place to Hang the Moon by Kate Albus
This historical fiction title absolutely charmed me and it’s been one of my favorite read-alouds in the past couple of years. Three young children lose their grandmother, leaving them orphans and no place to go. Her lawyer suggests that, since so many children are being shipped out to the English countryside during the bombings, they might join the exodus and conveniently not mention that they don’t actually have a family. And just maybe the family that temporarily takes them in will want to keep them forever. This book has all the feelings of a classic and I definitely shed some tears at the end.

Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
I’d never read anything by Sharon Creech until I was an adult and then when I was making some serious progress through my lifetime goal of reading all the Newbery winners, I listened to this on audio and really loved it. Ella was reading Newbery books for a school contest, so I offered to read this one for our read-aloud and they all really enjoyed it, although I have to admit that this time around I didn’t love it as much as when I listened more than a decade ago. Maybe a professional narrator helps. (Full review here)

Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls
This was our family audiobook listen on our recent road trip to Mount Rushmore and although I read it when I was a kid and remember loving it, I don’t remember almost anything about the plot so it’s fun to re-listen with my kids who are very into it (my 8 year old especially is ALL IN). This is the same author as Where the Red Fern Grows.

City Spies by James Ponti
City Spies is the story of five kids from all over the world brought together to operate out of a secret MI6 base in Scotland, working on cases that adults can’t get anywhere near. It’s clever and funny and fast-paced and a total kid pleaser. This is the first in the series which currently has 3 books.

Framed by James Ponti
Another book by James Ponti and Ella blew through this series in a week! This book follows Florian Bates who is the only kid that the FBI Director has on speed dial (and a kid that a whole lot of criminals want taken care of). After a move to DC, Florian and his new friend Margaret uncover a mystery that involves a major crime ring, the FBI and the National Gallery. It’s up to them to solve the mystery AND get their homework done.

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