Don’t be afraid to recommend middle grade for this age group too, it’s probably where I would pull from especially for the 10-11/12 year olds. Peter and the starcatchers, Artemis fowl, flavia de luce series, control freaks, the house on mango street, Gordon Korman books, city spies, Alex rider, the vanderbeekers of 141st street, a series of unfortunate events, the mysterious Benedict society, Gregor the overlander, holes, the outsiders, inkheart, the greenglass house, Jason Reynolds books, the school for good and evil, the giver, hatchet, Stuart Gibbs books, city of ember, keeper of lost cities

Hi fellow librarian! Elatsoe is one of my favorite to recommend to my middle grade kids reading YA. It also has a lovely prequel Sheine Lende. When I first read Elatsoe it read to me exactly like a YA book written for middle grade kids reading YA.

The MC is asexual so there's no sex/romance part in the book. The violence in the book isn't particularly graphic either. The MC has a ghost dog companion (and my middle grade kids LOVE animal companion books). I also love that the MC and her family are Native American (as is the author) and Native American folklore is blended beautifully with a world of magical realism. All in all a fun book.

I often find the parents of middle grade kids reading YA asking me for YA that has no romance/sex, so this kind of book that isn't about and doesn't feature romance/sex is definitely a winner.

Frances Hardinge is an absolutely amazing British author. She mostly writes MG fantasy standalones. 11-13 is her average protagonist age, but the writing is textured and dynamic and the plot lines cover serious topics like political rebellion and genocide. I can't recommend her enough.

legendborn series by tracy deonn

six of crows and shadow and bone series by leigh bardugo

an ember in the ashes series by sabaa tahir

six crimson cranes and spin the dawn series by elizabeth lim

his dark materials series by philip pullman

inkheart series by cornelia funke

I would say The Lunar Chronicles, The Percy Jackson series (anything about Rick Riordan) I’m also a librarian!

The last book series I really got into was the Artemis Fowl books. They just really captured me.

The mortal instruments(prequels and sequels included)

Eragon was the shit my man. That ending almost made me cry ngl.

fuck yeah Eragon brother

Tough. Harry Potter’s the obvious choice, but A Series Of Unfortunate Events, Ranger’s Apprentice, and The Unwanteds are great series too. Inheritance Cycle is an excellent choice as well.

Eragon. It's kinda bad but good fun; the writing style improves in the later books.

aside from harry potter idk

Lemony Snickets A Series of Unfortunate Events

Harry Potter

Calvin and hobbes

Try her on Tamora Pierce. Three very large series made up (mostly) of sets of quartets. Note there is discussion of a birth control amulet in the Alanna books. Keladry in the Defender of the Small books ends up uninterested in boys (or girls).

My Dad read me The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings when I was a bit younger than her. He had to hide the books so I wouldn't read ahead. 

The Princess Bride by William Goldman. Great movie, too. Not a series.

His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman.

Okay VERY little romance, but I think she needs to start up some Redwall. GREAT villains, tons of combat, ZERO dystopia (honestly the coziest reads I can think of, 10/10 escapism), and Brian Jacques was a prolific king. She can start out the first few reading in the order he wrote them, then consider focusing on the ones with heroines. 

The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett and its three sequels (the Tiffany Aching series). Then if she likes that, there are other YA books he's written and she might even like some of the non-YA books (the "witches" series, for example).

How about Phillip Pullman His Dark Materials?

I was about to say the exact same thing! If she really enjoys it and finishes the three main books, she can move on to either The Book of Dust and the short stories + the series adaptations by the BBC.

Yes! These books are great! Terry Pratchett is pretty appropriate for all ages in most of his books. One off books of his that your daughter might also like are Nation, Dodger and The Amazing Maurice. Monstrous Regiment is part of the Disc World and is very good as well.

The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

Riordan still, and Collins too when the new Hunger Games is released next Tuesday. Pretty consistently Harry Potter but not the merch (which shows up anyway :( )

Also (YA) Realm Breaker by Victoria Aveyard, Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo, and Legendborn by Tracy Deon (Middle grade) Keeper of the Lost Cities by Sharon Messenger, Wings of Fire by Tui T Sutherland, and some of Riordan’s franchised series

Mostly though the book store I work at can’t keep Kelly Yang & Stuart Gibb’s middle grade books and Holly Jackson & Katherine McManus’s YA books on the shelf and those aren’t fantasy. Yang writes stories set in the real world, with Asian girls as the protagonists, while Jackson and McManus write suspense/thrillers and Gibbs writers humorous stories & spy books for kids.

I think Wings of Fire is filling the niche that Warrior cats did for me (although the Erin Hunters are still at it): a million books about a species of anthropomorphic animals you like and there’s a new one every year!!! Wow!! And they come from groups so you can sort yourself but it’s not as rigid as Harry Potter!! Cool!! And it’s easy to make a cool OC or even a cool OC clan!! (This is less surprising when you find out that Sutherland used to be one of the Erin Hunters).

As someone who is actually part of that teen demographic:

Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Hunger Games, Divergent, Twilight are all still being read. Keeper of the Lost Cities is also a popular one in my experience. Arc of a Scythe by Neal Shusterman, also Talon by Julie Kagawa

I know peers who have read A Court of Thorns and Roses but none of them had anything good to say about it which kinda shocked me.

I don't have many specific titles since I don't read them, but graphic novels are extremely popular, Heartstopper by Alice Oseman being one I see a lot. Also a lot of manga

Other series like The Selection, Matched, Delirium. I only finished The Selection, the other series I couldn't get into.

I work in a bookstore Percy Jackson and Harry Potter were consistently our best selling kid/ YA titles for like 2 years. Harry Potter has fallen off a bit recently and right now Hunger Games is picking up due to the next book coming out soon.

I teach in a middle school. My kids are mostly reading below grade level, so these are more middle grade, not ya. 

My students read Manga and graphic novels as their number 1 picks. Dog man, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Dork Diaries

Some Percy Jackson and Harry Potter. But not as much as there used to be. If their parents read those books they might, but they're not picking them up on their own anymore. 

Sharon Creech is pretty popular, as is Raina Telgemeier. 

In class they have read books like A Long Walk to Water, Wonder, Eaperanza Rising and they tend to like them. 

Well the one kid in my classes I've had a conversation with about it this month is reading Mistborn

Forgive me if you’re ace and the following doesn’t accurately reflect your experience of adolescence, but otherwise, do you remember being a hormone-addled teenager? Being shocked that kids in the grip of puberty are interested in smut seems willfully ignorant. Fiction is the safest way to explore emerging desires and fantasies, even and especially ones that would be problematic in real life. The worst it’ll do is give you a sore wrist from overuse.

Luckily most kids, when given the freedom to navigate the world of literature at their own pace, are confident enough in their choice of books not to care if older people “like that” about what they’re reading.

Sabriel by Garth Nix. I grabbed the audiobooks from the library because they are read by Tim Curry. Didn't realize they were for kids until halfway through the second book, because they are so good.

The Wee Free Men

A Hat Full of Sky

Wintersmith

I Shall Wear Midnight

The Shepherd's Crown

They are Terry Pratchett's witch novels for that age group.

Sabriel

Lirael

Abhorsen

by Garth Nix for a fantastic trilogy with

Clariel

Goldenhand

Terciel and Elinor

as sequels/prequels if she loves them. Also his series The Seventh Tower and Keys to the Kingdom but they have boys as protagonists.

Diana Wynne Jones has already been mentioned and could not be more fantastic. A few of her books have been adapted into beautiful animated features as well.

So You Want to Be a Wizard

Deep Wizardry

High Wizardry

A Wizard Abroad

The Wizard's Dilemma

A Wizard Alone

Wizard's Holiday

Wizards at War

A Wizard of Mars

Interim Errantry

Games Wizards Play

by Diane Duane are absolutely perfect, and star a thirteen year old girl as the lead.

She's probably already read it but

The Golden Compass

The Subtle Knife

The Amber Spyglass

by Philip Pullman should be on any young readers shelf.

His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman. I was around this age when I read them and I loved them so much.

Diana Wynne Jones books are magical, incredibly funny and easy to read.

• Howl's Moving Castle is a decent starting point.
• She's going to love Fire and Hemlock - it is basically a girl's coming of age story

Yeah, it definitely depends on the individual teen. I was reading books like Wuthering Heights, Flowers in the Attic, Red Dragon, and Carrie (to name a few) at that age but it can definitely be upsetting if you’re not emotionally able to handle it.

Yes, Diana Wynne Jones is truly the GOAT

They’re easier reads, but I absolutely loved the Wayside School books at that age (e.g. Wayside School is Falling Down)

The last book in the Universe, Rodman Philbrick (Fictional dystopia, easier read)

Midnight for Charlie Bone series, Jenny Nimmo (Fictional magic, easier read)

Rebel of the Sands series, Alwyn Hamilton (Fictional Western, gunslingers/magic, great for all levels)

Hardy Boys series, Franklin W. Dixon (Fictional mystery, detective readers)

Artemis fowl series, Eoin Colfer (Fiction, advanced readers)

Personal 5th grade list, besides Harry Potter and Series of Unfortunate Events lol

The Dark is Rising series

The Prydain Chronicles

Talking to Dragons by Patricia Wrede (it's the fourth of a series, but you can start there)

The Belgariad by David and Leigh Eddings

The Redwall books

The Animorphs series

The first three books of the Earthsea series by Ursula Le Guin

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Dragonhaven by Robin McKinley

A lot of Garth Nix's work

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Any of the James Patterson books for kids. They're are different types of books that will appeal to the different interests of the readers. Also, the Last Kids on Earth series is one that kids that age seem to enjoy as well.

I always enjoyed artemis fowl at that age

Not a series but Roald Dahl (Matilda, the witches, BFG, Danny champion of the world, James and the giant peach, George’s marvelous medicine), Lynne Reid banks (Indian in the cupboard, farthest away mountain, fairy rebel), a wrinkle in time, little house on the prairie

I don't have kids that age, but I loved the Artemis Fowl Series. And the 7th Tower Series by Garth Nix is excellent. I read these books first when I was like 18, so I can't say for certain if a kid would love them. Still worth looking into!

Check out the Fablehaven series!

Have you read the Fudge series by Judy Blume? Or Ramona Quimby? They’re definitely shorter and more light hearted but still great books! I also loved Bunnicula and since Halloween is coming, this is the perfect time! I was also very in to the Little House books.

The Airborn trilogy by Kenneth Oppel! It’s kind of an old school alternate future - very fun, original adventure.

The Queen’s Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner

The first book reads young, but it quickly grows up in the second. The series is just so good in terms of plotting and character development.

Graceling by Kristin Cashore. His dark materials by Phillip Pullman.

I loved all the books you mentioned, and recently enjoyed A Deadly Education (Scholomance Trilogy). I avoided it for a while because it sounded a bit like a Harry Potter ripoff but it was actually so good!!! (if you don’t mind the main character/narration style - she is a bit self-deprecating due to her belief that she is destined to be a dark sorceress and you will know quickly whether you find it annoying or not!)

The Giver. There are 4 books, the first three are loosely connected and the fourth brings them all together. The fourth was also written years later so it might seem a bit different.

Mysterious Benedict Society isn’t really young adult or dystopian, but a great series. The first book is a bit slow.