help! books for my 12yo

[serendipitous journey]

This is for my older child.  My goal is to continue building a love of reading, and ideally also build up his stamina for classics.  He read Peter Pan years ago and liked it, and also The Secret Garden; but he tends to skim as he reads, and so I stopped handing classic books off to him while we built up skill in comprehension.  He's doing Memoria Press' literature program quite loosely, I use their guides as a comprehension check for his reading but we don't do written work for them.  So with MP this year he's reading: Coolidge's Trojan War, The Hobbit, Anne of Green Gables, The Bronze Bow. 

I'm ordering Literary Lessons from the Lord of the Rings soon, and may use it to finish out literature this year (our year is running right through the summer, because our dear little puppy & other Life Events prevented us from making headway in our subjects during the fall -- we just kept up with math, reading, and Latin) or do it next year.  His literature next year will include the Iliad & the Odyssey as well as an American Short Story/Poetry unit. 

Also, we're studying biology this year, and any fun bio books would be welcome: he doesn't enjoy "The Way We Work", and his main text is "The Way Life Works" .  His science love is things engineering/aerospace. 

 

Books he's liked as read-aloud:

• Asimov's I Robot (but was disappointed in it as an independent read -- he often re-reads books we've done aloud, but not this one.  Note that the plot of the book is entirely different to the plot of the movie, not at all overlapping, )
• Sherlock Holmes stories: we're working through Doyle's whole set, alternating them with Asimov's Robot series for now. 
• The Hobbit
• The Neverending Story (first section -- I hate the second part)

 

Books he's liked as IRs (ones we read-aloud first are marked with an *)

• Evolution of Calpurnia Tate* & Curious World of*
• The Martian*
• Julius Zebra series
• Dog Man graphic novels (+ Captain Underpants, etc.)
• Templeton Twins books
• Gerald Morris' Knights' Tales (doesn't like his Squires Tales)
• Thrifty Guide to Ancient Rome
• Julius Lester's Uncle Remus Tales
• Philip Pullman's Grimm's Fairy Tales (otherwise tends to hate fairy tales -- Lang was a bust here)
• Hosler's sciencey graphic novels: Last of the Sandwalkers, Evolution, the one about bees
• Soonish (science)
• What If? (also science; he didn't cotton to Monroe's Thing Explainer)
• Mathematicians are People, Too (vols 1 & 2) -- these are assigned 1 chapter/week, but he'd tear right through them if I let him.  Esp. during his "school time"!
• Calvin and Hobbes
• Smithsonian Book of Flight
• Penderwicks*
• He loved the Harry Potter series, of course.  Hated Lemony Snickett and never connected with Riordan's books. 
• The Way Things Work Now

... thank you for ideas!

 

 

 

[SilverMoon]

Maybe Imaginarium Geographica? :)

[serendipitous journey]

17 minutes ago, SilverMoon said:

Maybe Imaginarium Geographica? :)

ooooh!  Not sure about my older -- I'll try it from the library, or maybe a Kindle sample -- but it's a sure bet for my younger in a couple of years. 

Here's a link to book 1: Here Be Dragons (Imaginarium Geographica) by James Owen.  Note: it references Inklings Tolkien, Lewis, and Williams which might make it fun for children who know [some of] those authors. 

[SilverMoon]

My oldest found them in 8th or 9th and fell in love with them. He met the author and had all his books signed even... lol 

 

I'd say familiarity with Lewis and Tolkien is likely enough. Loads of them have probably been covered well enough by classic movies for him to spot them in the story. As mine read and discussed the story with me I'd point out literary characters as I noticed them. Randomly one of the alluded classics would peek his interest and he'd read them. We had loads of fun discussing it even though I never got around to reading it myself. 

[happypamama]

My newly 13yo son likes Harry Potter, Eragon, My Side of the Mountain, LOTR. . . All of my kids like Mr. Lemoncello because it’s funny and has literary references. He just read Tom Sawyer and enjoyed it. He has also very much enjoyed several of the Roger Lancelyn Greene legend stories. Actually, he’s loved pretty much everything from the Pandia Press Level 2 Ancients and Medieval lists. 

 

Also on my list for him are A Wrinkle in Time and Basher 5-2. 

[Lori D.]

5 hours ago, serendipitous journey said:

This is for my older child.  My goal is to continue building a love of reading, and ideally also build up his stamina for classics..

I'd suggest some works at a slightly lower reading level but high interest to build a love of reading, and doing some of the works that are at- or slightly above-reading level aloud together "popcorn style" ("you read a page, I read a page") to help build stamina for classics. (Just noting that the choice of the Lord of the Rings trilogy (LLftLotR) and the Iliad and Odyssey for next year's formal literature are all STOUT going for middle school (unless the student is advanced, or you are doing them aloud together), so it might be a good idea to balance with some lighter easier young adult works for balance, so not ALL the reading is a slog. ;) ... Just a thought!) Some ideas: 

 

The Westing Game (Raskin)

Mr. Lemonchello's Library (Grabenstein)

Alex Rider series (Horowitz)

Hoot (Hiaasen)

The Toothpaste Millionaire (Merrill)

The Pushcart War (Merrill)

The Black Stallion (Farley)

Island Stallion (Farley)

The Cay (Taylor)

My Side of the Mountain (George)

Hatchet (Paulsen)

I am David (Holm)

War Horse (Morpurgo)

 

Real People

Little Britches (Moody)

The Great Brain (Fitzgerald)

All Creatures Great and Small (Herriot)

The Land I Lost (Huynh)

Owls in the Family (Moffat) 

The Silver Sword (Serraillier) -- fictionalized story of real siblings who survived WW2 in Poland without their parents

 

Non-Fiction

Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—The World's Most Dangerous Weapon (Sheinkin)

The Colditz Story (Reid)

The Last Mission (Mazer)

Code Talker (Bruchac)

Isaac the Alchemist (Losure)

Wild Boy (Losure)

Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage (Lansing)

Kon-Tiki (Heyersdahl)

books by Albert Marrin

American Boy's Handy Book (Beard)

The Dangerous Book for Boys (Iggulden)

 

Fiction that is slightly Mathy or Science-y 

The Phantom Tollbooth (Juster)

Pi in the Sky (Mass)

A Wrinkle in Time (L'Engle)

Leviathan (Westerfeld) -- rollicking steam-punk/alternate WW1 history; first of a trilogy

Foundation (Asimov) -- Asimov's 1950s sci-fi classic; series of short stories that keep jumping forward in time and are loosely connected

 

Fantasy or World-building Adventure

Watership Down (Adams)

Holes (Sachar)

The Graveyard Book (Gaiman)

Gregor the Overlander (Collins)

 

Typical middle school classics (older language/sentence structure):

Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Twain)

Call of the Wild (London)

Treasure Island (Robert Louis Stevenson)

[Tanaqui]

Brandon Mull's works feature a lot of unfortunately  racist writing choices. I don't mean that I think he, personally, is a bigot - but I was so uncomfortable with how he describes non-white characters (when they even show up!)  that there is no way I'd recommend them for my own biracial kids.

Give me a bit, I can come up with some recommendations that are perhaps a bit more diverse than what's already been suggested.

[LMD]

Are you talking about assigned/literature books or just general free reading books?

Any content objections?

My 12 year old is currently obsessed with James Dashner (Maze Runner and Mortality Doctrine), they're hardly high literature but decent stories.

[CAtoVA]

My now 14 yo DS loved There Will be Bears when he was 13. He just finished Project 1065 by Alan Gratz and loved that. He loved the Sisters Grimm series and the Land of Stories, too.Al Capone Does my Shirts and the other books in the series are some I plan on having my DS read. Margaret Haddix writes interesting sci-fi novels for middle grades/teens (I read  them, too!).

 I second Lori's advice to try books that are exciting but easier for your DS to read than the "classics" in order to build a love for reading without it seeming too onerous. 

[Kareni]

Has he seen Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe  by Theodore Gray?

The author also has several other titles that look good:  Molecules: The Elements and the Architecture of Everything  and  Reactions: An Illustrated Exploration of Elements, Molecules, and Change in the Universe

 

Regards,

Kareni

[serendipitous journey]

Thank you, everyone!  I'm slow to get going on this, but have just requested a whole bunch of y'all's suggestions from our library. 

Lori D., that was a terrific list & I requested several.  If you know of any fantasy/sci-fi books that might esp. be good for a somewhat-sensitive fellow, could you let me know?  Gaiman is a bit dark for him; I think Holes might even be intense, but we have a copy & I can try it out this week.  He has liked Sputnik's Guide to Life on Earth ...

Paradox5 & Tanaqui, I appreciate both the mention of the Hull books & the mention of the racial concerns.  Do you have any other suggestions, Tanaqui? 

LMD, these could be assigned reading/literature OR independent reads.  I wouldn't have a problem with him reading Maze Runner but I think he's "young" for it now -- I'll try to remember it in a year or two.  This child runs, if anything, young in his tastes and tends to like books for which he is in the middle of the suggested age range or near the top of it. 

Kareni, no, we don't have those!  They are expensive, so I've been putting off buying them, but it occurs to me I can request them from the library.

I'm very, very grateful for the help with this.  One more particular request: biology-relevant books.  We've done the Hosler books (most of them) which are graphic-novel, and I've requested Herriott's All Creatures Great and Small, but any other suggestions for science-y reading are very welcome!  The child is not a biology lover, but that's our current science focus. 

thank you so very much. 

[Kareni]

2 hours ago, serendipitous journey said:

One more particular request: biology-relevant books

You mentioned  The Way Things Work Now above.  Are you also familiar with David Macaulay's The Way We Work: Getting to Know the Amazing Human Body?

ETA: Oops, I see now that you said in your first post that your son does not like this book.

Regards,
Kareni

[Tanaqui]

Shoot, I actually forgot you! Sorry. Been a bit busy.

Younger middle-grade, you say? Let me see. These are all fun reads - I am tired out from tax season and not in the mood to try to sort by literary value! And it does seem to me that you've assigned some pretty heavy-duty books. It's good to take breaks. However, you may find that some or others have great value as assigned reads, I'll leave that to your own judgment.

Note: If you're concerned about Holes being a bit intense then I definitely recommend you double check my suggestions. I'll put notes where I remember, but I can't be perfect. I also enthusiastically agree that Gregor the Overlander is going to be a bit much. Also, alas, The Sisters Grimm.

Brendan Buckley's Universe and Everything In It (this is probably better as an assigned read than a free read unless he quite likes realistic contemporary fiction.)

The First Rule of Punk

Kinda Like Brothers (deals in part with a child's foster sibling looking for his missing father - it's handled pretty easily, but worth a pre-read)

The Greenglass House (one character turns out to be a ghost. She died in a tragic accident, but when the man tangentially guilty of it sees her, he panics and tries to shoot her. This is the climax of the book, the rest is not that intense.)

Stef Soto, Taco Queen

Save Me a Seat

How Lamar's Bad Prank Won a Bubba-Sized Trophy (some talk about crushes and dating. The older brother has a poorly-treated mood disorder, which is treated by the end of the book)

Dog Days

If I Ever Get Out of Here (some racist bullying, a one-liner masturbation joke)

Dragonwings (right in the middle of everything is the San Francisco Earthquake. All main characters survive unharmed)

Allie, First at Last

Mission Mumbai (some background family issues)

Geeks, Girls, and Secret Identities (this book is just fun)

Pickle by Kim Baker (this one too.)

How Tia Lola Came to Stay

The Great Greene Heist

The Misadventures of the Family Fletcher (a great contemporary family book - absolutely fantastic for anybody who liked The Penderwicks)

Squirrel Girl: Squirrel Meets World (every kid I've handed these to loves them, even the non-readers.)

That's a fairly short list for me! To round it out, I'll list some of the books I didn't list and explain why.

My current favorite middle grade reads are Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer and Oddity. I rejected the first because, although it's extremely light-hearted and skews "young" it's an epistolary novel and a kid who doesn't love reading might have trouble getting into it. I rejected the second because I thought the subject matter is quite a bit too serious if you're concerned about him getting through Holes.

For pure fluff for this age group you can't beat Gordon Korman (his Swindle series and his Gifted series are pretty recent, but you can dig deep into the back catalog if you like, go real old school with his books) and, slightly more seriously, Andrew Clements. However, those authors violate the rule behind this list: more diversity! (For that reason I also didn't list Charlie Joe Jackson's guides nor the Origami Yoda series. Actually, I haven't read that last one.)

I could've listed a ton more fantasy and sci-fi, however, as those tend to be a bit more intense I held back.

[Lori D.]

5 hours ago, serendipitous journey said:

...If you know of any fantasy/sci-fi books that might esp. be good for a somewhat-sensitive fellow, could you let me know?  Gaiman is a bit dark for him; I think Holes might even be intense, but we have a copy & I can try it out this week.  He has liked Sputnik's Guide to Life on Earth ...

... One more particular request: biology-relevant books...

 

I ** starred books that have scenes of intensity or death of major characters to preview for intensity for a sensitive reader

Fantasy

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (O'Brien)

Knight's Castle (Eager) -- humorous; magic adventures

Chronicles of Narnia series (Lewis)

Howl's Moving Castle (Wynn) -- and then enjoy the animated movie

Dragon Keepers Chronicles (Paul) -- Christian author

Secret of Platform 13 (Ibbotson) -- a "gentler kinder Harry Potter", lol

The Light Princess (MacDonald) -- Christian; whimsical; fairytale-feel; older Victorian language/sentence structure

The Princess and the Goblins (MacDonald) -- Christian; older Victorian language/sentence structure

Farmer Giles of Ham (Tolkien) -- humorous; once you get over the hump of the older language in the first few pages, it's a lot of fun)

Book of Dragons (Nesbit) -- humorous collection of short stories

The Reluctant Dragon (Grahame) -- humorous short story by the Wind in the Willows author

** Percy Jackson and the Olympians series (Riordan)

** Harry Potter (Rawling)

** The Hobbit (Tolkien)

** Watership Down (Adams)

Sci-Fi

The Iron Giant (Hughes) -- more at a gr. 3-5 level, but may still be appealing to a gentle 12yo ;)

The Green Book (Walsh) -- gr. 4-5 level

The City of Ember (duPrau) -- gr. 4-6 level

Below the Root (Snyder)

A Wrinkle in Time; A Wind in the Door (L'Engle)

When the Tripods Came (Christopher)

The Missing series (Haddix)

The Ear, The Eye, and the Arm (Farmer) -- love the ethnic/racial diversity of this one; really disappointed in the low writing quality

Leviathan; Behemoth; Goliath (Westerfeld) -- rollicking fun "popcorn" read -- steam-punk alternative WW1 world

** The Giver -- and sequels (Lowry)

Classic Older Sci-Fi

Star Soldiers (Norton)

Out of the Silent Planet (C.S. Lewis)

R is for Robot (Bradbury) -- short stories

The Martian Chronicles (Bradbury)

Lucky Starr (Asimov)

Foundation (Asimov)

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Verne)

War of the Worlds (Wells)

Speculative Fiction (here, I mean a sort of mix of both fantasy/sci-fi, OR, has a fantastical element)

Tuck Everlasting (Babbitt)

Below the Root (Snyder)

Enchantress from the Stars (Engdahl)

Bromeliad trilogy: Truckers; Diggers; Wings (Pratchett) -- light, humorous, slightly irreverant

possibly Biology-related books

My Side of the Mountain (George) -- fiction

Kildee House (Montgomery) -- fiction

Julie of the Wolves (George) -- fiction

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate (Kelly) -- fiction

Hoot (Hiaasen) -- fiction

The Cay (Taylor), or, Island of the Blue Dolphins (O'Dell) -- shipwreck survival

Exploring the History of Medicine (Tiner) -- nonfiction; Christian perspective

Exploring the World of Biology (Tiner) -- nonfiction; Christian perspective

Ten Plants That Shook the World (Richardson) -- nonfiction

Paddle to the Sea; Tree in the Trail; and esp. Minn of the Mississippi (Holling)

My Family and Other Animals (Durrell) -- fiction -- along the lines of All Creatures

All Creatures Great and Small -- may be stout going as an independent reading book, due to a LOT of British vocabulary, veterinarian/medical terms, and writing in British accents, so this may be much more enjoyable as a read-aloud, and be sure to watch some of the 1980s TV series of the books!