book suggestions for my son

Maiden · May 26, 2009

Summer is here and tomorrow is his next day. I was wondering if anyone had any book suggestions for him.

A little about him:

He is 12 but reads on a high school level.
He likes fantasy books (but wouldn't mind branching him out.)
He can read a book in a day and often does.

I prefer nothing that has sex or drugs in it. Mild language is okay and violence is fine. Nothing too scary either but horror elements shouldn't hurt.

He has read most of the popular books out now. It is hard to find books on his reading level. He loves to read a LOT so I am hard pressed keeping him in books and even harder for me to figure out what he would like to read next.

Any suggestions are welcome and I thank you in advance!

Calla Lily · May 26, 2009

Myeteries:

Sherlock Holmes
Dorothy Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey series
Dick Francis' horse racing books (I think some get a little adult-ish; you might want to check them first)
Laurie R. King's Holmes/Russell series--but only after he's made it completely through the original Doyle books.

I'll let the fantasy folks weigh in on that genre. I won't recommend the horror I read--definitely too much for a 12yo.

scarletpeaches · May 26, 2009

The Narnia books? Oldies but goodies, and I still read them at age 33.

alleycat · May 26, 2009

Maybe . . .

The Count of Monte Cristo

Life of the Mississippi or Huckleberry Finn

Peter and the Starcatchers

The Invention of Hugo Cabret

My Dog Skip

Ender's Game

One of the Lemony Snicket books.

Kitty Pryde · May 26, 2009

Adult fantasy that's mostly G-rated:

Piers Anthony's Xanth novels (but NOT the non-Xanth ones, those are filthy!)--they're sort of silly but I loved them ferociously at that age. He avoids any mention of sex so studiously that it's almost an in-joke within later books of the series. (There's one book called 'the color of her panties' but i swear to you that it's PG-rated)

all of Terry Pratchett's stuff-loads of fun, hilarious and deep at the same time

There are over thirty Xanth books, and over thirty Pratchett novels, so that should keep him occupied for, uhh, two months!

Hitchhiker's Guide trilogy by Doug Adams--mind-expanding craziness. minimal sex and violence. You can also watch the movie and the other movie of it after you've read it!

Some recent stuff he may or may not have read yet:
Zoe's Tale, by John Scalzi
Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow (this is mandatory reading for smart kids. It has approximately 1 page of awkward PG rated teen sex)
Cornelia Funke's Inkheart trilogy

benbradley · May 26, 2009

I'm in favor of "converting" him to SF. There's a huge amount of good and appropriate stuff from decades ago. James White's "Sector General" series is great:
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3620376&postcount=2130

LAWolf · May 26, 2009

Sabriel by Garth Nix
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Bourne series by Robert Ludlum
The Uglies by Scott Westerfield

Mumut · May 26, 2009

Any day now, literally, you can buy The Guardian of the Gate by Richard Blackburn from Lachesis Books. The print format book's ISBN is 1-897370-81-4 and the e-bbok is
1-908370-82-2. I recommend it, of course. I wrote it. It is included in the New South Wales Premier's Reading Challenge for highschool students in that state. It has only now become available outside Australia.

Zipotes · May 26, 2009

Hunger Games
The Giver
The Mortal Instruments Trilogy

nevada · May 26, 2009

I work at a book wholesaler and see a lot of YA right now because we sell to libraries and schools. A couple of books have stood out to me.

Fallen Angels, an old book but a classic one about a 17 yr old who joins the army and gets shipped to Vietnam.

The Tomorrow Series which starts with "Tomorrow, When The War Broke out" about a group of friends who go camping only to come home to find their town abandoned. Turns out the country was invaded and everyone taken prisoners. It's a 7 books series that deals with their struggles to survive and things. I believe it takes place in England. It looks very good.

City of Bone, City of Ashes, City of Glass. Series of urban fantasy books dealing with demon hunters. The main character is a girl though so I'm not sure how geared towards boys it might be. The endorsement on the cover is by steph meyer which probably says it all.

Night Time Over Fallujah. A YA book about the Iraqi War.

Warrior Horse. It looks really good. It's written from the POV of a horse who serves in the army in WWI.

Andy McNabb writes a series of YA books. McNabb was an SAS soldier and writes a very successful adult series about an ex SAS soldier. His YA series deals with a kid whose father was in the SAS or something like that. I read the first one and it talks a lot about SAS techniques and black ops practices such as surveillance and things. Very enjoyable. He can practice in his neighbourhood. lol

C.bronco · May 26, 2009

The Once and Future King by T.H. White
The White Gold Wielder Series by Stephen R. Donaldson (Lord Foul's Bane, etc.)

Other than that, I was reading Stephen King, The Amityville Horror and The Exorcist at his age, but the above are safer.

Lyra Jean · May 26, 2009

Moving Mars by Greg Bear. It mentions sex but no sex scenes. Something along the lines of we knew why were in the room together and fade to black or something like that. It really only happens once. She does get married but never goes into the sex thing. Deals with politics and math. MC is female but there are plenty of strong male supporting characters.

Jurrasic Park and Lost World both by Micheal Crichton. I loved these books more than the movies and the movies were awesome. Also Timeline by Micheal Crichton has medieval violence and no sex. Very different from the movie as well.

Emberverse series by S.M. Stirling mentions sex and has innuendo so you might want to check it out first before letting him read.

If he likes manga there is Samuari Champloo and Cowboy Bebop both are humerous and while there is minimal violence there is no sex. Each series is three books long so not a lot of investment like a lot of manga.

dancingandflying · May 26, 2009

"The Book Thief" and/or "I am the Messenger" (references sex, but no sex scenes, I believe) by Markus Zusak.
"Time's Arrow" by Martin Amis.
"The Princess Bride" by William Goldman.

d&f.

mattymarv · May 26, 2009

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman!!

spamwarrior · May 26, 2009

Definitely Sherlock Holmes. Definitely The Princess Bride. Has he tried Lord of the Rings? He also should try the fantasy/sci fi novels by Timothy Zahn. All of them are good, no sex.

I'd recommend the Dresden Files, which are excellent. But they have sex and language.

EFCollins · May 26, 2009

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon-- Stephen King. My 9 year old son who is into fantasy absolutely loved it. It's not too scary, he handled it very well. It was his first SK book.

The Hobbit and LoTR-- Tolkien-- great at any age.

Agree with others on Doyle's Holmes stories.

If he hasn't already read the classics (and some of these may have already been done at school), I'd hand him The Yearling, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, and Cujo. (Yeah, I know... vast difference there). And of course, Journey to the Center of the Earth and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. I bet he's probably read them, though.

If he's more into hardcore fantasy, like Forgotten Realms/D&D type stuff, you might try him with Elaine Cunningham's work. Her books: Elf Shadow, Elf Song and Silver Shadows are excellent and don't even get steamy. Chaste kisses, if that, although Silver Shadows does say that MC Arilyn Moonblade gives in to a summer festival "rapport" or something with another elf. No details or showing after a kiss or two. Very discreet. There are others in the series, but I've yet to read them so I couldn't say if anything racy happens in them. But those three are some that I'd let my 7 year old read, if I thought he could understand them. Your son should have no trouble, especially if he's an avid reader.

TheRightEyedDeer · May 26, 2009

Count of Monte Cristo, for sure.

I'd also add Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. And The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon.

Maiden · May 26, 2009

He has read LORT and Narnia books. A good chunk of the D&D/FR stuff. A lot of the classics To Kill a Mocking Bird, White Fang, etc (you know the stuff they made us read in school.) I will ahve to ask him aftet school tomorrow what he has read. I am already writing all the suggestions down and he can get them this weekend. He works at the library so he has plenty access to everything.

Getting him into SF should be easy since my nephew loves the genre and enjoys writing stories. Actually my son and him have been working on a book.

If anyone else comes up with something keep it coming.

The kid can go through 13 books a week sometimes.

Thank you all for the suggestions so far!

Lyra Jean · May 26, 2009

Tad Williams Otherland series four doorstopper books in the series. I don't remember there being any sex in it at all.

Ziljon · May 26, 2009

If he's into the outdoors, I'd suggest "My Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George.

It may be below his reading level (I think it's mg--the MC is 12), but I bet it's above his survival/naturalist skill-set level.

He has to love learning how to live in a hollowed out Hemlock, training a falcon, and making his own deerskin clothing. What boy wouldn't?

Kitty Pryde · May 26, 2009

IN WHICH I TALK ABOUT NAUGHTY THINGS IN BOOKS:

C.bronco said:
The White Gold Wielder Series by Stephen R. Donaldson (Lord Foul's Bane, etc.)

On page 77 of Lord Foul's Bane the protagonist graphically rapes a woman who has been kind to him, just because the mood randomly strikes him. I dunno how much more sex is in it, because I threw it against the wall after that. I'm just saying.

rosemerry said:
Tad Williams Otherland series four doorstopper books in the series. I don't remember there being any sex in it at all.

I'm pretty sure John Dread is a serial killer who fetishistically murders a ton of women in this series. He was raised by his mother to be a soulless monster (I forget why). I think the other villain is a rapist/murderer, but he might be just a murderer who thinks rape is really neat. The Other kills a lot of people too, bless his heart.

That said, I read all sorts of filthy novels at that age, and I turned out mostly ok. But the OP said she wanted the clean stuff, so I'm just passing on the info.

trocadero · May 27, 2009

I also recommend the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. My 12 year old son and I are reading it together. The latter part of the book is quite violent, but it's a great story with lots to discuss. The sequel comes out in September.

Tomorrow when the War Began is Australian, but I thought it was a bit saucy for my 6th graders, and had trouble finding a chapter-long excerpt that didn't have some kind of teen sex kind of stuff.

The Maximum Ride series is fun, by James Paterson. A lot of kids in my class are into the Warriors series, but I haven't read it, since all the characters are cats, and I can't quite get my head around that.

Yes to The Book Thief. It's a dark read, but a lot of children in my class have liked it.

Everyone in the world should read Stargirl, by Jerry Spinelli. MC is a boy, by the way. I love that book.

Amarie · May 27, 2009

My son read Watership Down last year (he's 13 now), and he really enjoyed it. Has your son read the Gregor the Overlander series? Suzanne Collins wrote the series before she wrote Hunger Games

How about Animal Farm and 1984?

RichardB · May 27, 2009

Maiden said:
He has read most of the popular books out now. It is hard to find books on his reading level. He loves to read a LOT so I am hard pressed keeping him in books

Perhaps he would like to read my serial webnovel?

It's set in AD 800 so it has a lot in common with fantasy books he's read. If he subscribes to the RSS feed he'll get about 500 fresh words three times a week--bite-sized chunks, yes, but there will always be something new to look at.

There's violence but not graphic, cursing is mild, and it might even teach him something about medieval Venice.

Link is in my sig!

Maiden · May 27, 2009

I limit his computer time so he wouldn't have time to read a book online. Yeah I am one of those horrid parents who think kids have better things to do than watch television and play video games.

I know I have seen the Warrior series laying about so he probably has that one read completely.

I am sure he has read plenty that I would prefer him not to. He is 12 and with him working at the library he reads plenty I have no idea about. But there are plenty good books that don't have sex and drugs in it that he can read.

I have a huge list now to do research on. Thanks guys and gals!

Any more ideas are certainly welcome.

book suggestions for my son

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