Adler's How to Read a Book: Suggestions for Practicing His Methods?

A comment and question from Henry Cate of Why Homeschool on my "Reading Readiness" post:

Our first two daughters were late readers. The first didn't really start reading until she was eight. She went from second grade level to twelve in one year. Our second didn't catch on until about nine, and she is busy doing the same thing.

For some reason our third daughter seems to take after my wife, and has been doing fairly well at five.

Do you have any suggestions for short, good, non-fiction books for an eleven year old? I've had my daughter read the first part of Adler's book, and now I want her to put into practice what she has read. I'm looking for something around 100 pages which teaches interesting and useful things.

I first thought of Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? by Richard Maybury, recently read by 3 of our daughters. I also thought that a history chronicle (Bede? Asser's Life of Alfred? The Magna Charta?) or a short biography might be appropriate. Other nonfiction books our children enjoy are nature books, like Life of a Spider by Fabre or Wild Animals I Have Known by Seton.

I would like to take time to browse my bookshelves and booklists for more specific ideas, but I thought I would ask for help from other booklovers who may be reading this, especially those who have put Adler's methods into practice with your own students. What suggestions would you give Henry? Please leave ideas in the comments to this post. atdhvaannkcse!