Books for Young Adults?

[crazydiamondsue]

Dear stoney321, a2zmom, rubywisp and other assorted moms, English teachers, librarians and avid readers:

My BFF's thirteen-year-old son is struggling in English and Lit, big time. He's a bright kid, but he lacks direction, attention, self-discipline (as I said, he's 13) and views reading as a chore or punishment (does not compute, but his mileage and all that.) Can you guys suggest some YA books (or even just genre) that would interest a young teen who is into anime and fantasy? I know there are several, but beyond "Ender's Game" and Neil Gaiman, I'm pretty tapped out. At that age I was Shakespeare, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Jane Austen and historical romance porn, pretty elusively.

Websites with fantasy or YA book recommendations? His dad passed away a year ago last month and he's a pretty easy middle school target (red hair, pudgy, band geek) so I'd love to pass a love of fantasy/horror/sci-fic genre with the message, "See these books? All written by geeks. Successful, well-adjusted geeks." Anything helps. *g*

ETA: Thank you all so much! I have given his mom a preliminary list and anything you want to add will be forwarded. *squish*

Comments

[vichan.livejournal.com]

*scratches head* I was pretty into Christopher Pike at that age, but I'm not sure if his books are considered geared towards girls or are more gender neutral. They're more horror than fantasy, but fantasy often intertwined the stories. (Hell, I still pull out the first 'Remember Me' every couple of years.)

Stephen King was one of my staples at 13, I think, though some of his books I couldn't get into until I was older. That's another 'horror' one, though. *sigh* (You can so tell what I read the most of growing up.)

The Elric Saga, maybe? Though I didn't read that until I was about 16, it's a pretty terrific fantasy series. (Edit: Written by Michael Moorcock, if that helps. It's not even terribly dated considering the genre.)

(ps. I am only speaking as someone who was 13 once. O_O)

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Runescape is a good place for him to hang out online.

Books that might be really engaging for him (in a good way) would be "The Curious Incident of the Dog at Nighttime." It's very Asbergian/Autistic friendly, seeing as the protagonist is. :D But I say that because it's written in a very straightforward manner that would most likely suck in M. Artemis Fowl is another series he'd most likely enjoy, as well as this one series about a Sherlock Holmes style kid that I can't remember. The Boy will clue me in when he gets home in a few hours.

Orson Scott Card did a graphic novel that's pretty sweet, Robotica.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

OH. And the one that has hooked all manner of kids, Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie. Plus, it deals with a parent leaving in a gentle way.

The Outsiders is another great one (plus, Oklahoma!) Red Badge of Courage, The Pigman (the series) or Where The Red Fern Grows. Pearl by Salinger (the boy has been reading all of Salinger. *beams*)

I'll ask him when he gets home for more suggestions. The Star Wars books might be something for him, too.

[ladycat777.livejournal.com]

I'd ask fox1013, if she doesn't have you friended, about this. She's a huge YA person. She's a girl, obvs, so her views may be skewed that way, but I know she'd have some fantastic suggestions.

For me:

Piers Anthony's Xanth books
anything at all by William Sleator (especially if he likes vaguely creepy/mysterious stuff)
Diana Wynn Jones - antyhing at all by her, but Charmed Life is a good start, or Howl's Moving Castle
Diane Duane - So You Want To Be A Wizard (to start with)

I like this list of good books that boys will like too (said because I am biased towards girly proto-romance novels and have a hard time separating out what boys would like...) http://birdbrainbb.net/2009/02/06/10-ya-fantasy-novels-everyone-should-read-yes-even-you/

There's also always the classics: Tolkien; T.H.White (<3333) plus lots and LOTS of other Arthur series out there, I forget the name of the one I'm thinking of in particular will come back; LeGuin; C.S. Lewis (narnia or the sci fi one, either); Anne McCaffery (sort of girly, though I know guys who like it too); the Wrinkle in Time series by Madeline L'Engle; The Dark Is Rising triology by Susan Cooper (one of my favorite series OF ALL TIME); Lloydd Alexanders serie's (he's got several, but the series with the Black Cauldron is a favorite).

I hope these help!

[essene.livejournal.com]

OHhhhhh! God, how could I have forgotten the Xanth books??? *loves*

[byrne.livejournal.com]

Stephen King, the Artemis Fowl books, Old Skool Fantasy like Eddings and Lackey if he's into that kind of thing. At that age I was hard into mysteries and not fantasy so I say you can't go wrong with the ancient pulp novels by Rex Stout. :D The Nero Wolfe books are my comfort reading, still.

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

Yes! David Eddings Belgariad and Mallorean series! (Not coincidentally, my Yuletide offerings this year LOL)

[byrne.livejournal.com]

Oh and the Myth books by Robert Asprin! Funny and silly and clever and easy.

[ladycat777.livejournal.com]

Oh, and - I'd talk to his mom about this because there's some sex and some more adult graphic stuff going on, but Jim Butcher is awesome for fast, entertaining, foot-in-the-door reads. His Dreden Files series is more complicated, granted, but his series of Codex Alera books are things I literally cannot put down. Not technically YA, but very good books nonetheless.

Robert Jordan - his books are thick and not easy reads, though, and there are a whole god damned lot of them, ugh but something to offer a well. Wheel of Time series.

Any of the Star Trek related books. There are lots of them, and some of them suck a lot, but as a way to start reading I see no badness.

Man, I wish I was organized and can think. There are tons more out there.

Oh - Terry Pratchett! Oh my god, how could I forget that? He's got several young adults series - Tiffany Aching is one, Maurice is another, I forget the third - but the disc world books are good for YA as well as adult. They're sort of ageless. Again, talk to her about vetting and levels, but Pratchett isn't anywhere near as graphic as Gaiman ever gets, and while a lot may go past his information, they're funny as hell, and very insightful.

[elizaria.livejournal.com]

Problem with Wheel of time is that it's a WIP and with an author who died last year (?) and it's not sure whether it'll ever be finished :(

[anelith.livejournal.com]

Hey there Sue. I will tell you about some of the books that 11-year old Evan has enjoyed. These are all popular at the entire middle school level so I think a bright 13-year old would enjoy them.

The Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz is *very* popular with boys in that age range. Spy/intrigue sort of stuff.

James Patterson's Maximum Ride series is a huge hit also. This has more of a science fiction aspect to it. Kids who are mutants and have special powers, outcasts, in danger, running for their lives... You can see why these books fly off the library shelves.

Margaret Peterson Haddix writes a ton of YA stuff, but the series that Evan devoured was her Shadow Children series. Science fiction, starting with the premise (familiar from Ender's Game) of a society where "extra" children are forbidden. Any third (I think it's third, rather than second) children that are born illegally have to live their lives hidden or on the run.

The above series were like popcorn to my boy; fast reads, very absorbing, probably won't read them again. Now for some that sit on his shelves at home and are more beloved:

He *loved* the Artemis Fowl series. Owns most of those books and has reread them. Genius boy becomes criminal mastermind; fairies are involved and not the pretty kind ones either. Fantasy, obviously.

OH!! Got to recommend Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series. These are *so* good. I've read them myself. Evan's copies are falling apart he's read them so many times. Fantasy here; plot centers around some kids who are the sons and daughters of Olympian gods. In the present day. No kidding.

Derek Landry has two Skullduggery Pleasant books out, and Evan is anxiously awaiting the third. The hero is, apparently, a living skeleton. ???

Evan just finished a series that is very well-loved by his parents. Jonathan Stroud's Bartimeus trilogy. EXCELLENT books. They sit on *my* shelves. Fantasy, alternate world present day but a changed Europe. The protagonist of these books is not necessarily a nice person; I think quite complex characterizations going on here. These books make one think.

OK, I could name more but I think I'll stop there. Whew!

[essene.livejournal.com]

Oh! I second the Maximum Ride series. Kinda Dean Koontz for kids.

Recs from a recovering middle-school teacher

[essene.livejournal.com]

First, this site is really really awesome: Guys Read. It's a site specifically aimed at getting boys reading.

Stephen King. I was reading him at 12--it's mature stuff sometimes, but it's also scary and gory and suspenseful. If you find that's above his reading level, or you're just not comfortable, then try RL Stine.

The Giver
The Chocolate War
Frindle
Hatchet
Hoops
Ghost Soldiers
The Illustrated Man
Artemis Fowl --though, I actually recommend Cofer's non-related Half-Moon Investigations even more strongly
The Lemony Snicket novels
Tender Morsels
The Belgariad series by David Eddings
The Graveyard Book (Gaiman)
The Outsiders
Give a Boy a Gun
Crank
Monster (omg, my kids LOVED this one and the one above...but perhaps that's because I taught in a suburb of DC....)
Fat Kid Rules the World
The Lightning Thief
The Amulet of Samarkand (first in a series)
Gregor the Overlander (1st in a series)



Authors:
Roald Dahl
RL Stine
Louis Sachar
Gary Paulsen
Jerry Spinelli

And please, don't forget that graphic novels count as reading too. In that vein, I recommend:

Bones (several LARGE books in the series)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Grease Monkey
Flight, Volume One (there are more volumes after the 1st)
ElfQuest (again, the latter has some mature themes: Elves having sex!), but I was reading it at 14, and I think I turned out okay...*twitches*

Let me know if you need more suggestions!!!

Re: Recs from a recovering middle-school teacher

[ladycat777.livejournal.com]

Oh, man, the Lightning Thief. I heartily second that, especially since the movie is coming out soon (and it actually looks good, surprisingly).

[elizaria.livejournal.com]

Well, tries to remember what I use at work when I promote reading/books/livens up the day for students as one kid said...

I'd recommend the Darren Shan vampire/horror saga. It's several books (we wait for them to be translated to Swedish here so I'm not sure how many they're up to as of now). It's easy reading, it's got that kind of horror that fits teenage boys (spiders, ick and monsters and fun) and is exciting.
www.darrenshan.com

Ally Kennen's trilogy; Beast, Berserk and Bedlam. Unless maybe he should wait a year or two? Exciting, like thriller kind and fast and scary and awesome. I'd recommend this to adults as well even if it's about teens.
http://allykennen.blogspot.com/

Tom Becker's Darkside series. Monsters that live underground in the dark side and scary and exciting and horror-ish.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Becker

David Eddings; Belgariad and Mallorean is always a fun read to start fantasy with. Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl as well.

Lian Hearn's Tale of the Otori. Samurai/ninja inspired fantasy with a love story as well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_of_the_Otori

Suzanne Collins the Hunger Games trilogy, a cruel twist to reality tv
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hunger_Games

Rick Riordan's series of Percy Jackson, fantasy with a greek mythology twist
http://www.rickriordan.com/

... don't think I can come up with so many more since I can't really tip off Swedish names LoL

Also, if he wants really light books, as in fast reads and few pages as a lighter start on reading I'd recommend the Barrington Stoke publishings (http://www.barringtonstoke.co.uk/) with authors as Robert Swindells, (his Stone Cold and Branded are short and thriller kind of exciting, you need to know what happens), Michael Morpurgo, Kevin Brooks, Nigel Hinton, Chris Powling... I tend to use these as a starter bite for the teenage guys who says everything's boring and they get tired just looking at books. This way they've done a book in thirty pages and want to try another. And finally they're reading as easy as pie once they find that books can be very un!boring actually.

[anelith.livejournal.com]

I'm going to make a note of the series here that I'm not familiar with -- the Shan, Kennen, and Becker especially. They sound like stuff Evan would enjoy, and maybe me too!

[trepkos.livejournal.com]

Only You Can Save Mankind by Terry Pratchett?

About a kid who plays video games and the aliens he's trying to kill keep trying to surrender ...

[katekat]

"A Series of Unfortunate Events" (although it might seem a little too young for him)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Series_of_Unfortunate_Events

the Artemis Fowl series (it's a kid who is also a super genus and teenage criminal mastermind)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis_Fowl_%28series%29

His Dark Materials by Pullman (though not if the parents are religious as the author is atheist and kidn of outspoken about it)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/His_Dark_Materials

lighter side stuff:

anything by Terry Pratchett! who is funny and literate and ribald and British without making anyone feel dumb for reading him.

Cory Doctorow's Little Brother (it's about a high school kid set slightly into the future who is attacked by the government for being a hacker when bombs go off in San Francisco and is FABULOUS YA READING!) and can be downloaded for free here:
http://craphound.com/littlebrother/download/

I saw someone else rec Robert Jordan and I have to say that I love fantasy and I hated his first book - couldn't get past it and found it really frustrating. For someone who isn't a big reader I think the length and the fact that not much happens in the story will probably put him *off* completely.

[anelith.livejournal.com]

My husband and myself loved, loved, LOVED Little Brother. I think it's very good for a teenage reader. I will not recommend it for my 11-year old until he's a bit older, as the kids in that book are put through some harrowing experiences, including what amounts to torture from gov't agents.

On the other hand, once he's old enough, I'm going to really push him to read it as I think the ideas in the book are well worth talking about.

[tabaqui]

Would he like S.E. Hinton, do you think? Outsiders who make good, very straight-forward 'kids against the world/adults' kind of thing.... All her books are good, though Tex was my very favorite.

The Rob Thurman books are good, too - Nightlife is the first one in the series. Caliban Leandros is half-'monster', and he and his brother do monster fighting in a New York populated with all kinds of monsters and things like werewolves, etc.

http://www.robthurman.net/

[a2zmom.livejournal.com]

Lots of great suggestions already

The Tripod trilogy is an excellent SF series.

Both my kids read Animal Farm at that age and really liked it.

The Robot books by Asimov.

[ewokgirl.livejournal.com]

Try the Keys to the Kingdom series by Garth Nix!

[elizaria.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, seconding this. Or I should say the Abhorsen Trilogy or aka http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Kingdom_series which is the series I've read of him so far. I bought the trilogy on a trip to UK because I fell in love with the covers LoL and found them very awesome.

[spikedluv]

I asked Pip's sister, who is a English teacher (not teaching full-time, but substituting, and also worked with a small group of students during the summer). She got a reluctant reader interested in the Spiderwick Chronicles. The two protaganists are young twin boys, which might help. Good luck to your friend.

("Reading as punishment" Does Not Compute *g*)

(Would the Eragon books be considered YA? Possibly too long for him to get in to?)

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

Ursula K LeGuin's Earthsea novels. Very rich and complex but the prose style is so simple. A third grader could probably read them and comprehend on the most basic level.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/s/pamela-f-service/under-alien-stars.htm Under Alien Stars
I loved this book as a kid. It's sorta kinda V but not (the conquerors don't want to *eat* Earthlings). The protagonist has lost his father if I remember correctly, but this is just a damn good kids kicking ass book.

[molly_may]

You obviously already have a TON of great suggestions here, but I can't resist throwing in my 2 cents worth:

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. I know when I was that age, my (boy) cousin and I obsessed over that series, and they're still really popular.

Holes by Louis Sachar - About a boy who gets sent to a juvenile detention camp for a crime he didn't commit. It sounds like a downer, but it's incredibly fun and clever

The Eragon/Eldest/Brisingr series by Christopher Paolini is really popular with that age group, and the first book was written when the author was only 17.

I saw someone upthread suggested Star Trek books, which are good; there's also Star Wars books, which are really pretty popular. Oh, and Halo books too, if he's in to video games.

Anything by Scott Westerfeld is good.

Or, if he's really anti-reading, graphic novels are a great gateway drug! X-Men is perfect for kids who feel like they're mutants sometimes.

This website has some pretty good suggestions.

[strchsr.livejournal.com]

I'm sure you already heard of these but here it goes:

Hatchet by Paulsen
A Wrinkle in Time by L'Engle
My Side of the Mountain (don't remmeber the author at the moment)
Howl's Moving Castle (ditto)

*

[viciouswishes.livejournal.com]

The following comic books (which I love too): Runaways by Brian K. Vaughan, X-Men First Class by Jeff Parker, Mouse Guard by David Peterson, Pride of Baghdad by Brian K. Vaughn, Young Avengers by Allen Heinberg, Batgirl: Year One by Scott Beatty and Chuck Dixon, Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane by Sean McKeever, and Marvels by Kurt Busiek

[fatbird33.livejournal.com]

I didn't read all the comments so i don't know what everyone's suggested to you or not, but I worked at a library for four years, so hopefully I'll be able to help.
When i was younger i loved books by L.J. Smith. They're vampire stories though, i don't know if he's into that or not.
A lot of kids love Artimis Fowl by Eoin Colfer. Its about this kid that's a rebel and a criminal, but he's really smart. and if i'm not mistaken there's a lot of fantastical elements to the story. the books in the series aren't long, and not difficult to read.
another series that are easy readers are Lemony Snicket's "series of unfourtunate events". it's about a three children, whose parents just died. They go on a lot of fantastical adventures.
many kids love the redwall books by Brain Jacques. The main characters are rodents though, i don't know if he's into that or not...
i would also suggest the Eragon series. It's not my personal favorite (because i'm an english major and i'm picky about writing styles) but kids Loooooove the series by christopher Paolini.
Hopefully that helps! :)

[crazydiamondsue.livejournal.com]

Thank you for these!