I have recently taken over the YA section at the small town public library that I work at (I am the adult reference librarian) and I am trying come up with suggestions for Junior High to High School boys and I am just hitting a wall here. Alot of the suggested reading lists that I am finding for boys are either about dragons (which seem to circulate ok) or sports (which really don't seem to be circulating at all). I know that the Cirque du Freak series is really popular so I am trying to find books similar to those. Any suggestions would be great.

My boys seemed to enjoy Will Hobb's books. They are adventure/survival stories set in the present. They also like Carl Deuker's books. They are sports books - but sports is just the vehicle for moving the plot concerning some serious issues for adolescence.

I'll comb my memory and see what else I can come up with.

What about the Artemis Fowl books? Young crime lord meets technology meets fairies. What more could any boy ask for? :-P

I think teenage boys will find more of interest in the adult fantasy section than in YA.

the cherub books? The first is the recruit. It's teenage spy series that's really popular.

The Maximum Ride series by James Patterson is very popular.

There are the Alex Rider books by Anthony Horowitz about a teenage boy working for MI6. The First book is Stormbreaker.
There's also the Young James Bond books by Charlie Higson which show James Bond as a young boy at school in the 30's and getting into the same kind of trouble as he does as a grown man. The first is Silverfin.

The Huger Games My Boyfriend who is 19 read it and loved it it is a YA Book Matthew Riley is highly recomended by him to as well as terry pratchett

My teenage son loved Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow and others in Orson Scott Card's Ender series.

My Junior High nephew loved the Bartimaeus trilogy by Jonathan Stroud and the Percy Jackson books by Rick Riordan.

You could try the Pendragon series by D. J. Machale or the Demonata series by Darren Shan.

the hunger games was amazing, but I, a teen boy, will read anything that isn't completely romance. If it has a good storyline, it is in my book pile (which is pretty large). Percy Jackson and the Olymians, Maximum Ride, and Alex Rider was Amazing. I also liked A ruby int the smoke and series from philip pullman, along with his dark materials...

john flanagan's Ranger's Apprentice series is pretty good and appeals to boys.

I agree with The Amulet of Samarkand , Artemis Fowl, the Alex Rider series and Ender's Game. Maximum Ride is awesome!

I'm a fan of Darren Shan's Cirque du Freak seires. I haven't read them but Derek Pleasant's Skulduggery Pleasant & Tunnels by Roderick Gordon seem to be popular. I'm looking forward to reading Zoo by Graham Marks which is a YA scifi adventure and Nancy Werlin's Double Helix.
I've read & recommend Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines series, William Nicolson's Wind on Fire series, Lian Hearn's Across the nightingale Floor - Tales of the Otori series, Monster Blood Tattoo by DM Cornish, Mal Peet's Keeper. Anything by Marcus Sedgwick,Melvin Burgess, Chris Wooding, Garth Nix,Nancy Farmer, Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book. Try The edge Chronicles, Neal Shusterman writes creepy scifi eg Unwind, Brian Falkner's The tomorrow code. Also worth trying for is Vince Ford's new Scorched Stone trilogy - a prehistoric adventure story set in North America and very good, it's published in New Zealand by Scholastic - I'd recommend anything by this writer - he is great for boys.
Other good writers/books for boys - Fat kid rules the world,Heavy Metal and you, Markus Zusak, Kevin Brooks, John Marsden.

I'm also in agreement on the previous recommendations on this thread, especially good is the Cherub series.

Wicked Dead series by Stefan Petrucha and Thomas Pendleton

Without wishing to sound like I am plugging my own work, you could try Natural Talent published by Big Paw Books. (www.bigpawbooks.co.uk)

As you will see from the reviews it seems to have been read by both genders of YA age ranges to some enthusaism.

Just a suggestion.
Big Paw

Black Duck --about rum-running during Prohibition.

Sunrise Over Fallujah

Cracker the Best Dog in Vietnam

also, don't forget lots of boy really like graphic novels

The Wilderking Trilogy by Jonathan Rogers (The Bark of the Bog Owl, The Secret of the Swamp King, and The Way of the Wilderking) are good. They may be a little easier read than what you are looking for. The Gregor Series by Suzanne Collins (Gregor the Overlander, Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane, Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods, Gregor and the Marks of Secret, and Gregor and the Code of Claw). The Charlie Bone Series may, again, be too easy for what you are wanting. I think there are seven in that series now. Terry Pratchett is a fun Fantasy writer (maybe a little bawdy depending on where you are located -- the Discworld novels are better for this age bracket. Septimus Heap series. Inkheart.

Evil Genius and Genius Squad do pretty well with my teens and the Vampire Beach novels are about vampires also graphic novels like Y:the last man

Message edited by its author, May 5, 2009, 4:18pm.

I've really liked Jordan Sonnenblick's books. "Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie" and "Notes From the Midnight Driver". I didn't like "Zen and The Art of Faking It" as much... They all have a teen boy as the lead character--not fantasy, not romance, no dragons.

"Birdwing" by Rafe Martin.

I just read "Of Sound Mind" by Jean Ferris----loved it!!! Teen boy of Deaf parents trying to become his own person.

Joy

I just read the first 2 books in the Promises Dr. Sigmundus trilogy The Hollow People and The Cracked Mirror by Brian Keaney. It has to do with dreams and manipulating the underlying forces of the world.

I'm a librarian with an Independent Readers Workshop for Grade 8s. Here are some books my guys are eating up. Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider Series, Young James Bond Series - Charles Higson - first book is Silverfin, Pendragon Series, by D.J. MacHale. There is a My Story series by Scholastic that has created autobiographies of boys in different war scenarios. Here's a link for you: http://www5.scholastic.co.uk/zone/book_m... They just came out with a girls series too! Meggido's Shadow by Arthur Slade is a great war story. As well, Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr - Dragon series by Paolini, but still well received. Eric Walters books, We All Fall Down -911, Safe As Houses -New Orlean's Flood, BiFocal with Deborah Ellis about racism in a highschool have all been popular. They also like Crush, Glass and there is a third. It's a really edgy poetry novel. I believe drugs and sex involved. Finally the Darren Shan werewolf stories and horror stories and good too! My readers are fairly advanced. Although in grade eight they read subject and books well above an elementary library level and some of these books I wouldn't necessarily stock in the library, but they share and read them on their own. Forgot Mortal Instruments Series City of Ashes and City of Bones. Third one just came out. Ithink it is fantasy werewolf based. Again Gordon Korman has some great new YA stuff. His Son of the Mob series is funny. Juvie Three has been out a lot and Born To Rock has a hilarious opening which nabs some more reluctant readers.
I've seen that a number of the books have been mentioned, but they are all great boys reads!

Message edited by its author, May 17, 2009, 2:34pm.

I recommend the Percy Jackson series and the 39 Clues series. I am also recommending The Hunger Games to everyone I know over age 12!
Feel free to take a look at my website http://www.Bookwink.com for video booktalks and book lists organized by subject and grade.

Message edited by its author, May 20, 2009, 10:42am.

Really like your Bookwink site. I used it to introduce searching for summer reads to my grade 4 and above. Thanks for the organzation an a great site!

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I have seen message 28 posted with the exact same information six times.

I always recommend Reading Rants for things like this. http://www.readingrants.org/category/boy...

The author of the site reviews every book and organizes them into groups (like Boy Meets Book). They're great reviews and usually extremely good books.

Hope it helps!

New writer for me this year is J A Henderson - his books Bunker 10 and Colony are exciting scifi adventures. Another fast paced scifi adventure was Blood Ties by Sophie McKenzie.

Anything by Chris Crutcher (Whale Talk), Walter Dean Myers, Pete Hautman, Orson Scott Card (Ender's Game), Isaac Asimov, and Ray Bradbury.