Lists | Book Chatter

Some of you may remember this post, about The Boy and how he can’t seem to find anything to read since a lot of bookstores seem to be catering to tween girls or readers who prefer reading about vampires, etc. Whew! That was a long sentence. Anyway, with your help, I was able to present The Boy with all of your recommendations.

Thank you so much for taking the time to comment on that post. First he was ~~surprised~~ shocked that anyone reads my blog. Second, he was touched that anyone would care enough to respond. Since so many of you experienced the same thing, I thought you might like to see the list.

Please note, that these were recommended for a 12-year-old tween boy. I’ve not read many of them so use your own judgment on whether or not these are appropriate for your tween.

Books

Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko
Bullyville by Francine Prose
Chrysalids by John Wyndham
Cracker!: The Best Dog in Vietnam by Cynthia Kadohata
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
Havoc by Chris Wooding
I am Number Four by Pittacus Lore
Incident at Hawk’s Hill by Allan Eckert
Last Bus Out by Beck McDowell
Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson
Lost in the Barrens by Farley Mowat
Malice by Chris Wooding
Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork
Maze Runner by Jasmes Dashner
Monster by Walter Dean Myers
Owls in the Family by Farley Mowat
Resistance by Carla Jablonski
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
Rocket Boys: A Memoir by Homer Hickam
Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi
Stuck in Neutral by Terry Trueman
Sunrise over Fallujah by Walter Dean Myers
Swim The Fly by Don Calame
Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer by John Grisham
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
The Giver by Lois Lowry
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
The Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell
The King Must Die by Mary Renault (may be sexually explicit)
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Wait Till Next Year by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

Series

Alex Rider by Anthony Horowitz
Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
Belgariad by David Eddings (Pawn of Prophecy, etc.)
Brian’s Saga by Gary Paulsen (Hatchet, The River, etc.)
Chaos Walking by Patrick Ness (The Knife of Never Letting Go, etc.)
Dark Rising by Susan Cooper
Ender Wiggin by Orson Scott Card (Ender’s Game, Speaker for the Dead, etc.)
Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
Heroes of Olympus by Rick Riordan (The Lost Hero, The Red Pyramid, etc.)
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Maximum Ride by James Patterson
Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan
Shadow Children by Margaret Peterson Haddix (Among the Hidden, etc.)
Skeleton Creek by Patrick Carman
The Edge Chronicles by Paul Stewart
The Hardy Boys by Franklin W. Dixon
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Last Apprentice by Joseph Delaney
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
The Ranger’s Apprentice by John Flanagan
The Sandman by Neil Gaiman
Warriors by Erin Hunter
Witch and Wizard by James Patterson

Authors (not book specific)

Isaac Asimov
Ray Bradbury
Arthur C. Clarke
Robert Cormier
S.E. Hinton
C.S. Lewis
Jack London
Scott O’Dell
Gary Paulsen
Terry Pratchett
Jerry Spinelli
J.R.R. Tolkien
Mark Twain

Links to Lists

Best Books (K-12 School List)
Best Children’s Books (8-12 year-olds)
Graphic Novels for a New Generation

Also, the lovely Joya sent me a list a mile long from Amazon but it was very long, and I was feeling lazy at the time, so you won’t see it here. BUT, you can search Amazon for Books for Boys and all sorts of stuff comes up (as I’m sure you already know). Thank you Joya! I did print the list off and gave it to The Boy. Readers can see her comment on the original post if you’re interested.

Right now, The Boy is reading The Hunger Games. He did not like it when he tried to read it a few months ago, but since then, I think some of his friends are reading it so now he has decided that’s it pretty good. We’ll see if the interest carries over to the other books in the series. I also did a little Christmas shopping and purchased some of the books that you all suggested. I’m crossing my fingers that something sticks.

Can I just take a moment to tell you how much I LOVE list-making? Well, I LOVE it. It has taken me weeks to complete my summer reading list because summer is summer, and summer reads have to be awesome and well, the expectation is just too high for them not to be. Some of these books, are books that I have had on my list for quite some time. For whatever reason, I just feel that some of these books need the relaxed pace of summer for me to really enjoy them.

As you can see, there aren’t any light reads here. No beach reads really, and some of them deal with “end of the world” weirdness which I seem fascinated with at this point in my life. All of these books are new to me with the exception of The Stand. I read The Stand when I was nineteen. That was a good chunk of time ago and for years I have recommended it to people but to be honest, it HAS been ages since I read it, and so many books (The Passage included) are being compared to The Stand that I feel that a re-read is in order. I will be re-reading the the uncut version which includes 400 pages that King was forced to cut due to cost.

Other tidbits of interest:

I’ve never read an Austen book and when I asked folks on Facebook which one to read first, they pushed for Pride & Prejudice.
I hear nothing but good things about Dorothy Whipple so I thought I’d give her a whirl.
I read Less Than Zero in my college days so when I heard about Imperial Bedrooms I decided that it must be read. The audio book is read by Andrew McCarthy (he played Clay in the movie), which is tempting but I think I’ll read it.
Thomas from My Porch raved about Elinor Lipman so that’s why she appears on this list.
I love the Brat Pack and grew up with them so when I read Gayle’s review of You Couldn’t Ignore Me If You Tried, I decided I had to read it.

So what do you think? Are there some good ones here? If I get through half of them, I’ll be thrilled. As you all know, summer doesn’t always mean more time. Especially for those of us that work and have kids. I’m hopeful though.

2010 Summer List #1