Reading List | 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.

Palm Desert Sunny — Palm Desert when it's sunny!

Out by me, the kids have what is called “fall break” but this year, The Boy’s break was only two days long so we headed to Palm Desert for a weekend getaway. We also went to celebrate The Girl’s 7th birthday which is later this week. Usually this is the perfect time of year to visit. The temps are usually cooler but the skies are still blue and the sunsets are brilliant.

Well…not this time. It started with a flash flood on the way there (no pics of it) and then there was a lot of lightning which made swimming difficult even though it was a warm 95 degrees. We spent a lot of time shopping and eating, which may sound wonderful but it wasn’t the plan. Even with the rain I didn’t really get to spend much time reading. My tote bag was full of books as was my Kindle, but there were only two books that I read from and that was only once the kids crashed. I didn’t make much progress in either one of them.

Oh, and did I mention that there was no Wi-Fi? To be honest, it was nice to take a break from all of the devices that keep me connected during a normal week but I missed you all. I worried about your out-of-state moves, your four-legged friends, your kids, their kids, your health issues, etc. I’m glad to be back so I can re-connect with all of you.

On a reading note, here is what I must read within the next few weeks, and if I left one or two out it’s not surprising as I am going from memory (which is not always good).

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver ( loving it)

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (so, so hard to get through)

Kings of the Earth by Jon Clinch (loved his first book, Finn so I am looking forward to this one)

Everything is Going to Be Great by Rachel Shukert (a memoir of Shukert’s grand tour of Europe)

The Reapers are the Angels by Alden Bell (Zombies!! Lots of zombies!)

Sunset Park by Paul Auster (loved Invisible, this one comes out 11/9/10)

The Secret Lives of People in Love by Simon Van Booy (a delicious collection of short stories)

Black Hills by Dan Simmons (love Simmons but having a hard time getting into this one)

In addition to all of this reading, I have to write a paper on the poems from lit class. Yep, the lit class that I missed this week because of my weekend getaway. Don’t you worry. I’ll get it all done. I always do.

Hope your week is going well so far.