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Suggestions for Christian Novels for 11-14 year old boys


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Looking for Christian books that my older kids would like. My oldest likes the John Grisham Kid Lawyer, Bib Nate and Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. Both my two oldest like Spy School, Spaced Out and anything else by Stuart Gibbs. My middle child also likes the Wings of Fire series, Platypus Police Squad and any adventure/survival story. Any suggestions for Christian books they might like in similar styles or themes?

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Frank Peretti (sp?) has a series called the Cooper Kids adventure series. It's about the kids of an archeologist. The Sugar Creek Gang is good- about a group of boys going on adventures- takes place in the past, but not far enough to call them historical fiction I don't think.

Edited by TABmom
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I am struggling to answer your question, as a lot of Christian authors write, well, sadly, "twaddle" or poorly-written fiction.

 

About the only things I can think of that fit all your categories (fits the age of your children, the genres of interest, and are by Christian authors), and are quality books are:

- Dragon books by Donita Paul

- The Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis

- The Green Ember (Smith)

- The Hobbit; The Lord of the Rings trilogy by JRR Tolkien

 

You might browse the tween book selection at Christian Book.com. Christian authors/titles:

- Sugar Creek Gang mystery series (Hutchens)

- Captain Absolutely  Defending the Truth (O'Rear)

- Dragons in Our Midst series (Davis)

 

Books similar to those you mentioned, but not by Christian authors:

- Moon Base Alpha series -- by Stuart Gibbs, the Spy School series author

- Lunch Lady series (Krosoczka)

- Origami Yoda series (Angleberger)

- Jedi Academy series (Brown)

 

Some additional book ideas (not "Christian) in your genres:

 

mystery/detective

- Capture the Flag; Hide and Seek; Manhunt (Messner)

- The London Eye Mystery (Dowd)

- Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library series (Grabenstein)

- The Mysterious Benedict Society series (Stewart)

- P.K. Pinkerton mystery series (Lawrence)

- The Invention of Hugo Cabret (Selznick)

- The Three Detectives series (Robert Arthur wrote the original series in the 1980s)

The Hardy Boys series (Franklin Dixon -- originally written in 1930s-50s; extensively revised in 1960s to remove racial stereotypes and move the characters into a more respectful-of-the-law attitude; The Hardy Boys Casefiles series is a series of new stories with murder, violence, and espionage)

 

spy/intrigue

- Fake Moustache (Angleberger)

- N.E.R.D.S.: National Espionage Rescue and Defense Society series (Buckley)

- Templeton Twins series (Weiner)

 

kid misadventures

- How to Eat Fried Worms (Rockwell)

- The Great Brain (Fitzgerald)

- Frindle (Clements)

- Wayside School series (Sacher)

- Dinosaur Cove series (Stone) -- modern day, boys, dinosaurs and misadventures

 

dragon/fantasy

- How to Train Your Dragon series (Bright)

- Dealing with Dragons (Wrede) -- first in the Enchanted Forest Chronicles

- Dragon Keepers series (Paul)

- The Green Ember series (Smith)

 

adventure/survival

- Soul Surfer (Hamilton) -- true story of the Christian teen surfer who survived a shark attack

- Island of the Blue Dolphins (O'Dell)

- My Side of the Mountain and sequels (George)

- The Cay (Taylor) -- and others by Taylor

- Sign of the Beaver (Speare)

- The Incredible Journey (Burnford)

- Call It Courage (Armstrong)

- Heart of a Samurai (Preus)

- books by Gary Paulsen

- Big Red (Kjelgaard) -- and sequels

- Lost in the Barrens (Mowat) -- 2 brothers surviving in the Arctic
- Banner in the Sky (Ullman) -- overcoming the mountain peak that his father died on

 

for the 14yo:

- Kon Tiki (Heyersdahl)

- The Colditz Story (Reid)

- The Forgotten 500 (Freeman)

- True Spirit (Watson) -- 16yo girl who sailed around the world in 2010

- Dove (Graham) -- autobiography of 18-year who sailed around the world in the 1960s

- Sailing Alone Around the World (Slocum) -- man who sailed around the world in the the 1800s

 

 
Edited by Lori D.
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Have you considered the Wingfeather Saga by Peterson or Books by Chuck Black? My boys have loved ALL of the Chuck Black books. There are also many, many excellent books by Douglas Bond. 

 

N.D. Wilson writes intriguing fast paced novels that my sons love but I am not sure if they will meet your criteria. They can be spooky.

 

Lamplighter Publishing sells beautiful, hard cover keepsake books that are interesting and definitely Christian. Their catalog lists titles by ages of children/people so you would have a guideline.

 

Patricia St. John has written some lovely, interesting novels. However, some of my boys have not liked them (Treasures of the Snow, for example).

 

C.S. Lewis and Tolkein are favorites here. 

Marguerite Henry books - while not Christian- have also been very well loved.

 

We have also enjoyed many! Rosemary Sutcliff books. These are not Christian per se but they have been a key part of our library and literary journey. You would want to screen for content. They are powerful, moving, historical books.

 

They also loved Scripture Sleuth books and the Footprints in the Barn series (Castleberry- I think)

 

I suggest looking at Heart of Dakota's Drawn into the Heart of Reading packages. She lists selections for sons that have been carefully pre-screened. She provides a variety or Christian and secular works.

 

I hope this helps!

Rebecca

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