I have a pretty smart 11 year old boy on my hands that loves to read. We are starting his "library' this year. Instead of friends and family buying him toys that he is too old for we are asking for books.
The challenge: I want the books to be more the type that he will want to keep into adulthood. We can get the one-time readers from the library. His grandpa is getting him the
Lord of the Ring series for Christmas.
Anyone have any ideas?
I think
The Count of Monte Cristo is pretty heavy for an 11-year-old! Of course I would advocate an unabridged version. (And I suppose I
did read
War and Peace at thirteen...)
I think Mary Norton's Borrowers series is worth keeping throughout life, even though it's written for a younger audience. I know I am always wanting to reread my copies, and I'm in my mid-twenties.
The Chronicles of Narnia are definite keepers!
Ronia, the Robber's Daughter is another book I reread a lot.
Smokey, the Cow Horse by Will James
ETA: Check out Jon Scieszka's website "Guys Read." He has some great suggestions for every age and interest.
Message edited by its author, Dec 19, 2008, 2:52pm.
He's a pretty mature reader. He's already read all the Lord of the Rings books, he loves Garth Nix and George Orwell. I think he would actually like
Count of Monte Christo if I could talk him into reading it - which is often a challenge.
Message edited by its author, Dec 19, 2008, 4:03pm.
I read abridged versions at that age, but never the full version until this year. And reading the full version this year was a bit of a challenge! Very rewarding, but I'd hate for a kid to decide he doesn't like a certain classic just because he tried it too early.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians.
There are four books in that series so far.
The Lightning Thief
Sea of Monsters
The Titan's Curse
Battle of the Labyrinth.
Also the Maximum Ride series.
Angel Experiment
School's Out--Forever
Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports
Final Warning
Wow, you guys are amazing. I'm compiling a list of all of your suggestions. I LOVE that he's become such a reader (takes after his old mum, sniff sniff). It really is great for him to receive gifts I know he'll enjoy for life.
John Mardsen's
Tomorrow Series is a great read that I enjoyed as a teen as well as an adult. Given that in the book Australia is invaded by a neighbouring country, the book deals with many issues including the emotional and physical ramifications of violence... so perhaps it may be better to keep this series in mind for Chirstmas a few years from now. (I think I was about 13 or 14 when I first read it).
To this day, this series is still one of my favourites.
Message edited by its author, Dec 21, 2008, 8:47am.
As usual in these requests, I'd like to know more...what types of books, what subject matter does he like? It's a big world out there, with all sorts of types and interests. Anyway, some great YA books I can't say enough about:
The Maestro by Tim Wynne-Jones is great. (NOT Gerard Hoffnung, as the touchstone listing I've created has offered! I must be doing this wrong...?) Music is involved. The bush. Mr. Wynne-Jones, who has also written some amazing adult material (the creepy
Odd's End, also edited a classy collection called
Boys' Own (no, NOT by Edmund White!), whose female equivalent
Girls' Own was edited not by Lois Browne but by
Sarah Ellis. Also, I don't much differentiate between boys' books and girls' books...I'd also recommend Kit Pearson's trilogy about London in wartime (
The sky is falling,
Looking at the moon, and
The Lights go on again). Just off the top of my head.
#19 -- When you put a touchstone into your post, as you are typing it should appear in the "Touchstones" box to the right of the box where you enter text. For example, I tried
The Maestro. As with you, it gave me the book by Gerard Hoffnung, but then after the title was the word "(others)" which, when clicked, gives a list of other books with that title or similar titles. By clicking on that, I was able to come up with the Tim Wynne-Jones book (third on the list). This doesn't always work, but it often does!
And thanks for the recommendation of Tim Wynne-Jones. He's an author I've been meaning to read for a while now.
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Again, we have an author (JuanR) promoting his own book without disclosing his conflict of interest. Not good ton. If you want to talk about your book, guy, be up front about it and tell the group why we would be interested. All you do this way is inspire a resolution to ignore the book, regardless of the merits.
Ditto that. Shameless self-promotion — and attempting to be deceptive about it — is pretty much enough to make me avoid the book forever.
Personally, I would include books in the following two catagories:
1) Arthurian legends - Start with
T. H. White's Sword and the Stone and eventually work up to the entire
Once and Future King. These tales are the back bone for much of today's fantasy and myth writing.
2)Greek and Roman Myths - There are many children's versions available but eventually he should have a copy of
Edith Hamilton's Mythology; (and Bulfinch in later years).
These will give him a good grounding in the fundamentals of Western European Culture.
(A good collection of bible stories and stories from other religions and cultures wouldn't hurt either.) You can see where I'm going with this thought.
These are what I belieave are good books. I'm 11 and I like to read so I think your son will enjoy these too! This is only what I have read so work with me. :)
Chasing Vermeer,City of Ember,The Series of Unfortunte Events,Hatchet,Heat,Skelton Man, The Chronicles of Narnia, Hardy Boys (since he is a boy),SOS Titantic,The Lighting Theif,Harry Potter,Charlie Bone,and The Three Musketters,also Victory By Susan Cooper. I hope you think this are good books. I hope he finds books he likes! :)
-Taylor Brooks 5th Grade
Taylor: That was a great list. Thanks for your expert opinion. HOWEVER, my dear, you are underage for this site. Sorry. Wait until you're a little older. (Not our rule - some sort of government rule.)
Definitely the
Ranger's Apprentice series - truth, honesty, loyalty, bravery, and all that good stuff we want to get across!
Message edited by its author, Mar 12, 2009, 11:48am.
Why has no one mentioned ((Terry Pratchett)) yet. I recommend (Johnny and the Dead). - or is he too english!?
Also, for myths, there's (The Heroes, or Greek Fairy tales) by ((Charles Kingsley))
Glad to see someone else likes (Smoky).
((Carl Hiaasen)) writes juveniles too - (Flush)
Sorry about repeat, have found right choice of parenthesis.
Why has no one mentioned Terry Pratchett yet. I recommend
Johnny and the Dead. - or is he too english!?
Also, for myths, there's
The Heroes, or Greek Fairy tales by Charles Kingsley
Glad to see someone else likes
Smoky.
Carl Hiaasen writes juveniles too -
FlushMe again. (@ 17.48 our time) Just remembered
Our Island Storyfor anyone my side of the pond. It fills all the gaps in our history education system. Recently republished over here but I have the 1930 edition.
Gateaupain, if you click on the pencil at the top right of a message you added, you can amend it that way. :)
Thanks, Hermee; I'm a beginner at this stuff.
While I'm on line can I suggest almost anything by
Gerald Durrell. He can read brother Lawrence later.
You're welcome, Gateaupain. If you're wondering how to do something, feel free to ask. Have figured out a lot of it now.
The Anybodies by N.E. Bode is a great book for readers who like fiction fantasy. Young readers like it very much.
I started my 9yr old grandson on (Waggit's Tale) and it had a lot of pages. It took him awhile to finish it but he really found out he could read many pages! I bought (Waggit Again). ( Peter Howe) is the author and there is even a web page. It is a great book about working together. The next besides small ones we would pick up was (Cross Roads) by (Chris Gabenstein)
SallyRose: Try square brackets instead of parentheses. You'll get a cool touchstone - usually!
Waggit's TaleThank you, MerryMary.
I highly recommend the
Belgariad series by David Eddings, the first one is
Pawn of Prophesy, I still have those books and read them through out my teenage years and my DBF read them for the first time at age 24.
I second the suggestion of John Marsden
Tomorrow when the war began series (i read those at age 13 - 15) and the
Hatchet books by Gary Paulsen (I read those at age 11 and 12).
The Hobbit by Tolkein is a great way to get into
Lord of the Rings - my teacher read that out loud to my class when I was 10... I was about 14 before I tackled
Lord of the Rings.
He's a little young now but
To Kill a Mockingbird would be great for a teenage girl or boy.
"Christmasville" - although the novel features a heroine (Mary Jane Higgins), many of my young aduklt readers enjoy the novel because model trains are involved (Mr. Lionel is an actual charater).
I would point out that - unbeknownst to (most) of the characters, it's only the reader who discovers, at the conclusion of chapter one, that the town of Christmasville is actually situated on a 4 x 8 model train platform.
If you're interested, readers comments on Amazon, B&N, etc.
Cheers,
Michael
I must say, I very much like some of the names here:
"MerryMary" and "SallyRose".
Very nice!
47) You might have told us that you were the author. Well at least you told us about the book.
Tex by S. E. Hinton is a pretty good book. All of her books are great reads for YA boys (and girls); I read most of her books at the library and then ended up buying them because I wanted to be able to keep a copy. You might want to wait until he's a little older to give him some of her other books though just because of content.
How about Leatherstocking Tales, Sherlock Holmes stories, and my favorite Good ole Boy by Willie Morris young and old alike love the book
This message has been deleted by its author.
(Months later...I haven't been on LT for ages) Thanks for that Touchstone tip, foggidawn.
Also, I wanted to recommend Message 18's
John Marsden's Tomorrow series to my niece (starts with Tomorrow When the War Began, but felt it would freak her right out. But it really is gripping war stuff. I wouldn't foist it on the unsuspecting.
If you got him that
Boys' Own title mentioned, he might find something he liked in that and that would be a direction for you.
And hey, heck with sticking to kids' books. It's a mistake to worry, I think, if they're ready. And you did stipulate they be of interest into adulthood. On that point, my very favourite read this year was
Herman Hesse's Narcissus and Goldmund and, almost as good for me,
Siddhartha. (I just prefer northern climes and locales in my novels; that's just me.) These were my first rereadings of this hugely-popular-in-the-1970s author since I was a teen. Wow.
Now for a crossover 'hit' author (he's got youth and adults in his sights), check out
Paul St. Pierre. He's a BC author/journalist whose books are set in the Cariboo/Chilcotin country of our fair province....read, cowboys and First Nations (I don't use "Indians"). His teen book--likely too young for your son--is Boss of the Namko Drive, which I haven't read. But I devoured his pitch-perfect Breaking Smith's Quarter Horse and its follow-up, Smith and Other Events. However, I feel we're going all over the map. I think we need to know your boy likes, say, outdoorsy subjects or inner-city ones, fantasy or olde England. So I'll stop. Incidentally, LT is 'loading' many of these authors/titles, but not very quickly. I'm pressing 'send.'
I am 13 and not advanced, so if your 11 year old is advanced he may like the books i love.
1)
Fledgling Jason Steed, my favorite book, a book about a baby who grows up to be almost liek a teen spy, it has good family values.
2)
Cherub Recruit, book 1 from the series, a great book, and start to the series, all the normal stuff, action, some curse words, but not heavy mostly words like 'Fart'.
3)
Alex Rider Stormbreaker, a great book, no emotion like Jason Steed, but a good story and good start to the series.
Message edited by its author, Oct 24, 2009, 9:32am.
The Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer
The Fire Stone: Book One of The Reign of the Elements by Riley Carney
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Stewart
Pendragon series by D.J. McHale
Rangers's Apprentice series by John Flanigan
They're all great for a boy that age!
Way back at #33...I second
The Ranger's Apprentice series. I work with middle schoolers and they loved the series! Not all of the books are out in America yet, so I had to order the last 4 books of the series from Australia. After I read them I donated them to our media center. I highly recommend!
I also like the Chet Gecko series.. it could be a gateway to other noir reads later.
Chelsye - You could set up a wish list for (and with) him on Amazon. Let everyone know they can order a book from him there. That way you get the binding you want.
I would agree with a lot of what's already been suggested, but my son also loved the
Redwall series by Brian Jacques, which has the advantage of being lo-o-o-ong! He also read
The Ship That Flew by
Hilda Lewis until it disintegrated.
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