Kim in SouthGa Posted August 2, 2008 Share Posted August 2, 2008 My son is an avid reader, and it is becoming increasingly harder to find appropriate books for him. He got a book from the library the other day, in the juv. fiction section but one we were not familiar with (although I did check the Amazon.com review and there was no mention of foul language), and it had so much bad language in it (I mean things like f*** you!) that he didn't get past the 2nd chapter. He is really good about letting us know when something inappropriate is in the book. He has already read all of the following series: Narnia, Lord of the Rings, Warrior Cat, Edge Chronicles, most of the Hardy Boys, most of the Star Wars, Alex Rider, Artemis Fowl, and more I can't think of. He tried Redwall but couldn't get into them. I want books that are clean-no bad language or s*x, and I really don't like a lot of magic stuff, but if it is good vs. evil and good wins, I can live with it. He likes a lot of action and battle scenes. He loves the Alex Rider books, and Lord of the Rings. Christian books would be great, but I am looking for stuff easy to find at the library...he often finishes a book in one day, so I would go broke trying to buy stuff for him (especially since I have a 9dd who is the same way!). Thanks!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baseballmom Posted August 2, 2008 Share Posted August 2, 2008 My 12 year old has loved the same books. How about the Terrestria Chronicles. It is a christian allegory similiar to Pilgrims Progress. It is for children 10 and up. My son really enjoyed the first book, I need to go order the rest. Here is the link. http://www.dunlopministries.com/ Good luck, Dorothy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted August 2, 2008 Share Posted August 2, 2008 My 12 yos absolutely loved the Mysterious Benedict Society books and can't wait for a new one to come out. I am trying to remember when my older boys were younger. One really like Lloyd Alexander's books. Not enough coffee.....I can't think of any more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cajun.classical Posted August 2, 2008 Share Posted August 2, 2008 How about the Redwall series? There are tons of these and very likely in your library. They are Medieval adventure stories about animals. My son has really enjoyed them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacy in NJ Posted August 2, 2008 Share Posted August 2, 2008 I posted on the "10 yo boy thread", but I'll offer up my suggestions here, as well. Percy Jackson and the Olympians, the Rangers Apprentice, and I'll second Momof7's The Mysterious Benedict Socity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JennW in SoCal Posted August 2, 2008 Share Posted August 2, 2008 I've been in the same boat with my 13yo ds for a while now. Here's some titles he has enjoyed: Absolute favorites: Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathon Stroud Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan Also loved: Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliet Keys to the Kingdom series by Garth Nix The Pendragon series by DJ MacHale City of Ember and a sequel by Jean DuPrau I've also looked for older books outside of the fantasy genre: Sherlock Holmes short stories and Hound of the Baskervilles All Creatures Great and Small and other titles by James Herriot Agatha Christie mysteries Tom Sawyer Oh! Watership Down! We read that aloud together and loved it. We have also recently read together the Philip Pullman books -- Golden Compass, Subtle Knife and Amber Spyglass. I know those are very controversial titles, but it was fascinating to read and discuss them together, to hear his take on whether they were subversive or not and to see what aspects of the book captivated him. Happy hunting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melanie Posted August 2, 2008 Share Posted August 2, 2008 You might try some collections of older (1940's and 50's) science fiction short stories. Also, Heinlein wrote a lot of sci-fi books for young adults. My son's favorite is Tunnel in the Sky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacy in NJ Posted August 2, 2008 Share Posted August 2, 2008 My 12 yos absolutely loved the Mysterious Benedict Society books and can't wait for a new one to come out. I am trying to remember when my older boys were younger. One really like Lloyd Alexander's books. Not enough coffee.....I can't think of any more. The second book in TMBS was released about a month ago. There will be a third book, as well. *I* loved this book. Thanks for the recommendation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sixmeadows Posted August 2, 2008 Share Posted August 2, 2008 Both my 12 year old and 9 year old loved this one. Another one may be "Raising Dragons" , it is part of a series. Christian theme throughout I believe. Cheri Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest corylynn Posted August 2, 2008 Share Posted August 2, 2008 My son also is an avid reader. He has enjoyed reading several of the GA Henty books. Also, a series called Crown & Covenant- three books, Duncan's War, Rebel's Keep, and King's Arrow. Author George MacDonald also is great. Happy Reading! Cory-Lynn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunshine State Sue Posted August 2, 2008 Share Posted August 2, 2008 I'll 3rd Mysterious Benedict Society. We've just started listening to the Septimus Heap series. It's great, but if you object to magic/wizards, it probably would not be acceptable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacia Posted August 2, 2008 Share Posted August 2, 2008 Books by Lloyd Alexander? And, personally, I loved The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear by Walter Moers, but it may be doubtful that your library has it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted August 2, 2008 Share Posted August 2, 2008 This list includes titles probably a little below his reading level, and some a little above, but hopefully you'll find a few that might connect for him! Congrats on having such an avid reader! Warmest regards, Lori D. NON FICTION - The Way Things Work (MacCauley) - Pyramid; Cathedral; Roman City; etc. (MacCauley) - Commodore Perry in the Land of the Shogun (Blumberg) - Profiles in Courage (Kennedy) - Bruchko (Olson REAL LIFE - From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (Konigsburg) - The View from Saturday (Konigsburg - Little Britches series (Moody) - In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson (Lord) - The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (Robinson) - Summer of the Monkeys - Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (Taylor) - Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Twain) - Born in the Year of Courage (Crofford) - Island of the Blue Dolphins (O'Dell) - The Black Pearl (O'Dell) -The King's Fifth (O'Dell) - The Hiding Place (ten Boom) MYSTERY/DETECTIVE - Five on a Treasure Island (Blyton) - Chasing Vermeer - Samurai Mysteries (Ghost in the Tokaido Inn and others by Hoobler) - The Westing Game (Raskin) - Ides of April (Ray) -- Ancient Rome setting - Case of the Baker Street Irregular (Newman) -- 1890s boy helps Sherlock Holmes - Case of the Vanishing Corpse (Newman) - Case of the Threatened King (Newman) - Sherlock Holmes short stories (Doyle) - Brother Cadfael series (Peters) -- 1100s monk solves mysteries - "minute mystery" collections by Sobol, Conrad, Sukach, Houdunitz, and others ADVENTURE - The Wolves of Willoughby Chase (Aiken) - The Great and Terrible Quest (Lovett) -- medieval Europe type setting - Land I Lost; Water Buffalo Days (Nhuong) -- true adventures in pre-war rural Vietnam - The Terrible Wave -- true adventure; surviving aftermath of 1870s Jonestown flood - Horatio Hornblower series - Treasure Island (Stevenson) - Merry Adventures of Robin Hood (and others by Howard Pyle) - The Ranger's Apprentice series - Ben Hur (Wallace) - Count of Monte Cristo (Dumas) - Three Musketeers (Dumas) - Oliver Twist (Dickens) - Tale of Two Cities (Dickens) - Escape From Colditz -- true story; living in/trying to escape from German WW2 POW camp FANTASY - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Carroll) - Half Magic; Magic by the Lake, Knight's Castle; Time Garden; Seven Day Magic (Eager) - Five Children and It; The Phoenix and the Carpet; The Amulet (Nesbit) - The Book of Dragons (Nesbit) -- 7 short stories; very fun and creative - The Secret of Platform 13 (Ibbotson) - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Fleming) - The Phantom Tollbooth (Juster) -- boy journeys through a mathematical land - The Never Ending Story (Ende) - Farmer Giles of Ham (Tolkien) short story - Percy Jackson series - Children of the Lamp series - Wrinkle in Time; Wind in the Door; Swiftly Tilting Planet(L'Engle) (but NOT the 4th book -- Many Waters -- adult themes; not well written) SCIENCE FICTION - City of Ember; People of Sparks (Du Prau) - Star Soldiers (Norton) - Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Stevenson) - War of the Worlds; The Time Machine (Wells) - Mysterious Island; 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea; Journey to the Center of the Earth (Verne) FUN TALL TALE - Just So Stories (Kipling) - Adventures of TinTin (Herge) - The Great Turkey Walk (Karr) - By the Great Horn Spoon (Fleischman) - Holes (Sachar) - The Twenty-One Balloons (DuBois) -- Jules Verne-like story, 1800s inventor ADVENTURE -- HISTORICAL SETTINGS - The Golden Goblet (McGraw) -- Ancient Egypt - Shadow Hawk (Norton) -- Ancient Egypt - The Bronze Bow (Speare) -- Ancient Rome/Israel - Eagle of the Ninth (Sutcliffe) -- Ancient Rome/Brittian - Hittite Warrior (Williamson) -- ancient Israel/Hittite - Ides of April; Beyond the Desert Gate (Ray) -- Ancient Rome - Story of Rolf and the Viking Bow (French) -- Viking times - Ivanhoe (Scott) -- Norman/Saxon England - Adam of the Road (Gray) -- Medieval England - The Door in the Wall (de Angeli) -- Medieval England - Otto of the Silver Hand (Pyle) -- medieval Europe - Shakespeare Stealer (Blackwood) -- Renaissance England - The Master Puppeteer (Paterson) - 1700s Japan - The Samurai's Tale (Haugaard) -- samurai Japan - The Sign of the Beaver (Speare) -- Colonial US/Native American - Carry On, Mr. Bowditch (Latham) biography of US man who improved naval navigation - Johnny Tremain (Forbes) -- Colonial US - Across Five Aprils (Hunt) -- Civil War - Sounder (Armstrong) -- post Civil War South - The Great Wheel (Lawson) -- building of the first Ferris Wheel in 1893 - Twenty and Ten (Bishop) -- WWII French children hide Jewish children - Number the Stars (Lenski)-- WWII Dutch girl helps her Jewish friend - Winged Watchman (Van Stockum) -- WWII - Snow Treasure (McSwigan)-- WWII Norweigan children hide the country's gold - Escape From Warsaw -- WWII and after; Polish children try to reunite with their parents ANIMALS (real) - Rascal (North) - Shiloh (Naylor) - Owls in the Family (Mowat) - Sounder (Armstrong) - The Black Stallion, The Black Stallion Returns, Island Stallion (Farley) - My Side of the Mountain (and others in the series) (George) - Where the Red Fern Grows (Rawls) - All Creatures Great and Small (and sequels) (Herriot) - White Fang (London) - Call of the Wild (London) ANIMALS (talking) - Ben and I (Lawson) - The Rescuers, Miss Bianca, Miss Bianca in the Orient (Sharpe) - Basil of Baker Street (Titus) - Rikki Tikki Tavi (Kipling) - The Jungle Book (Kipling) - The Reluctant Dragon (Grahame) - Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (O'Brien) - Watership Down (Adams) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annabanana1992 Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 Thank you, thank you, thank you for this list. We have an avid reader too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baseballmom Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 Wow! Great list. Thank you. Dorothy This list includes titles probably a little below his reading level, and some a little above, but hopefully you'll find a few that might connect for him! Congrats on having such an avid reader! Warmest regards, Lori D. NON FICTION - The Way Things Work (MacCauley) - Pyramid; Cathedral; Roman City; etc. (MacCauley) - Commodore Perry in the Land of the Shogun (Blumberg) - Profiles in Courage (Kennedy) - Bruchko (Olson REAL LIFE - From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (Konigsburg) - The View from Saturday (Konigsburg - Little Britches series (Moody) - In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson (Lord) - The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (Robinson) - Summer of the Monkeys - Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (Taylor) - Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Twain) - Born in the Year of Courage (Crofford) - Island of the Blue Dolphins (O'Dell) - The Black Pearl (O'Dell) -The King's Fifth (O'Dell) - The Hiding Place (ten Boom) MYSTERY/DETECTIVE - Five on a Treasure Island (Blyton) - Chasing Vermeer - Samurai Mysteries (Ghost in the Tokaido Inn and others by Hoobler) - The Westing Game (Raskin) - Ides of April (Ray) -- Ancient Rome setting - Case of the Baker Street Irregular (Newman) -- 1890s boy helps Sherlock Holmes - Case of the Vanishing Corpse (Newman) - Case of the Threatened King (Newman) - Sherlock Holmes short stories (Doyle) - Brother Cadfael series (Peters) -- 1100s monk solves mysteries - "minute mystery" collections by Sobol, Conrad, Sukach, Houdunitz, and others ADVENTURE - The Wolves of Willoughby Chase (Aiken) - The Great and Terrible Quest (Lovett) -- medieval Europe type setting - Land I Lost; Water Buffalo Days (Nhuong) -- true adventures in pre-war rural Vietnam - The Terrible Wave -- true adventure; surviving aftermath of 1870s Jonestown flood - Horatio Hornblower series - Treasure Island (Stevenson) - Merry Adventures of Robin Hood (and others by Howard Pyle) - The Ranger's Apprentice series - Ben Hur (Wallace) - Count of Monte Cristo (Dumas) - Three Musketeers (Dumas) - Oliver Twist (Dickens) - Tale of Two Cities (Dickens) - Escape From Colditz -- true story; living in/trying to escape from German WW2 POW camp FANTASY - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Carroll) - Half Magic; Magic by the Lake, Knight's Castle; Time Garden; Seven Day Magic (Eager) - Five Children and It; The Phoenix and the Carpet; The Amulet (Nesbit) - The Book of Dragons (Nesbit) -- 7 short stories; very fun and creative - The Secret of Platform 13 (Ibbotson) - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Fleming) - The Phantom Tollbooth (Juster) -- boy journeys through a mathematical land - The Never Ending Story (Ende) - Farmer Giles of Ham (Tolkien) short story - Percy Jackson series - Children of the Lamp series - Wrinkle in Time; Wind in the Door; Swiftly Tilting Planet(L'Engle) (but NOT the 4th book -- Many Waters -- adult themes; not well written) SCIENCE FICTION - City of Ember; People of Sparks (Du Prau) - Star Soldiers (Norton) - Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Stevenson) - War of the Worlds; The Time Machine (Wells) - Mysterious Island; 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea; Journey to the Center of the Earth (Verne) FUN TALL TALE - Just So Stories (Kipling) - Adventures of TinTin (Herge) - The Great Turkey Walk (Karr) - By the Great Horn Spoon (Fleischman) - Holes (Sachar) - The Twenty-One Balloons (DuBois) -- Jules Verne-like story, 1800s inventor ADVENTURE -- HISTORICAL SETTINGS - The Golden Goblet (McGraw) -- Ancient Egypt - Shadow Hawk (Norton) -- Ancient Egypt - The Bronze Bow (Speare) -- Ancient Rome/Israel - Eagle of the Ninth (Sutcliffe) -- Ancient Rome/Brittian - Hittite Warrior (Williamson) -- ancient Israel/Hittite - Ides of April; Beyond the Desert Gate (Ray) -- Ancient Rome - Story of Rolf and the Viking Bow (French) -- Viking times - Ivanhoe (Scott) -- Norman/Saxon England - Adam of the Road (Gray) -- Medieval England - The Door in the Wall (de Angeli) -- Medieval England - Otto of the Silver Hand (Pyle) -- medieval Europe - Shakespeare Stealer (Blackwood) -- Renaissance England - The Master Puppeteer (Paterson) - 1700s Japan - The Samurai's Tale (Haugaard) -- samurai Japan - The Sign of the Beaver (Speare) -- Colonial US/Native American - Carry On, Mr. Bowditch (Latham) biography of US man who improved naval navigation - Johnny Tremain (Forbes) -- Colonial US - Across Five Aprils (Hunt) -- Civil War - Sounder (Armstrong) -- post Civil War South - The Great Wheel (Lawson) -- building of the first Ferris Wheel in 1893 - Twenty and Ten (Bishop) -- WWII French children hide Jewish children - Number the Stars (Lenski)-- WWII Dutch girl helps her Jewish friend - Winged Watchman (Van Stockum) -- WWII - Snow Treasure (McSwigan)-- WWII Norweigan children hide the country's gold - Escape From Warsaw -- WWII and after; Polish children try to reunite with their parents ANIMALS (real) - Rascal (North) - Shiloh (Naylor) - Owls in the Family (Mowat) - Sounder (Armstrong) - The Black Stallion, The Black Stallion Returns, Island Stallion (Farley) - My Side of the Mountain (and others in the series) (George) - Where the Red Fern Grows (Rawls) - All Creatures Great and Small (and sequels) (Herriot) - White Fang (London) - Call of the Wild (London) ANIMALS (talking) - Ben and I (Lawson) - The Rescuers, Miss Bianca, Miss Bianca in the Orient (Sharpe) - Basil of Baker Street (Titus) - Rikki Tikki Tavi (Kipling) - The Jungle Book (Kipling) - The Reluctant Dragon (Grahame) - Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (O'Brien) - Watership Down (Adams) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kim in SouthGa Posted August 4, 2008 Author Share Posted August 4, 2008 thank you for all the suggestions....I should be able to get most of these through interlibrary loan. :thumbup1: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinder Posted August 4, 2008 Share Posted August 4, 2008 He tried Redwall but couldn't get into them. [/color] My ds didn't get into Redwall until after he listened to the audiobook. If that might interest your ds be sure to get the version performed by a full cast, which includes the author. It's a great performance. There is also a version by just one reader, but that one doesn't really bring the story to life like the full-cast recording. Cinder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clwcain Posted August 4, 2008 Share Posted August 4, 2008 Hmmm...12 years old, male, already smacked down LoTR...sounds like me, once upon a time... Here are my author recommendations, fwiw. Most aren't fantasy/medieval since I wouldn't recommend now most of what I spent my time reading back then. C.S. Foerster -- Horatio Hornblower books, although these might come off as "childish" for him. Patrick O'Brien -- start with Master & Commander Frederick Marryat Ellis Peters -- Cadfael mysteries (set in a 12th century English Benedictine monastery) Dorothy L. Sayers -- Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries (set in 1920s & 1930s England) O'Brien, Foerster, & Marryat cover the same time period, with eerily similar characters, so I'd advise picking one. Foerster is definitely age-appropriate, and well written in a modern idiom, but might be too young for your son. He was writing for the 9-10 year old, reading-on-grade-level crowd. O'Brien might get into some mature themes in the later books and his language is deliberately archaic (he died recently, but wrote in a 19th century voice). Marryat was a contemporary, and sometimes witness, of the events he chronicles in his fictional tales. Foerster & O'Brien cribbed from his work a great deal, but he's a bit difficult to find these days. If your son is insistent on fantasy, and you don't object to twaddle, then the initial Dragonlance novels by Margaret Wies & Tracy Hickman might fit the bill. Dragons of Autumn Twilight Dragons of Winter Night Dragons of Spring Dawning I also think he might enjoy the first Wheel of Time book, but the rest of the series becomes increasingly problematic, to say nothing of tedious and poorly written. Avoid, at all costs, George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice & Fire novels if you're concerned about s*xuality, graphic violence, and dockside language. I didn't enjoy the one I tried to read, and I have a pretty high tolerance for such things. If I think of any more, I'll add to the list. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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