One of my greatest joys in life is seeing my children learn to love reading. Currently, I have two children completely addicted to reading, one mostly addicted to reading, one learning to read, one that sleeps with a bed full of books, and one that eats books. I grew up with books as good friends. At college, I worked in the HBLL (Harold B. Lee Library) and it was one of my greatest joys to go to work each day surrounded by books. I enjoy finding books for my own library collection (library sales, thrift stores, Scholastic orders- I am not picky as long as they are in decent shape and readable!). I felt fairly confident that I would always be able to hand my children a book and say "Here, read this, you will like it." I felt that way, that is, until Joseph began to read.
For some strange reason Joseph doesn't dig Little House on the Prairie, A Girl of the Limberlost, or Anne of Green Gables. Even some of the books that I thought all boys would love (Kildee House, Rascal, Wolves of Willoughby Chase), he doesn't really enjoy. At one point, desperate to find new books for him, I searched the Internet for Books for Boys lists. I found some good ideas- but not too many. So here is my own Books for Boys list. If anyone has any other great book ideas, please leave them in the comments! I am always searching for new books- because Pride and Prejudice just doesn't cut it with Joseph!A Long Note: This list includes books that Joseph has read and LOVED. However, I felt the need to add a couple of my own suggestions because I think that other boys may enjoy the books (i.e. Lloyd Alexander Books- so far Joseph doesn't seem to enjoy them, but I think they are great fun!). Additionally, these books are not in any specific order. Hopefully I can get around to organizing the list by age, but for now, this list is random. Also, I may not list all the books by a specific author (like Andrew Clements- he has many, many books that Joseph loves), I will just list the author. Lastly, you may notice that this list is mostly missing a huge group of books that boys love- nonfiction. It was a book about sharks that sparked Joseph's love for reading. It is a huge category and deserves a list of its own. This list is obviously just a beginning. There are many good books for boys. We are still discovering, but here is a start!
Susan Cooper (The Boggart plus The Dark is Rising)
Lloyd Alexander (All)
Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Andrew Lost by JC Greenburg
Magic Tree House by Mary Pope Osborne
Narnia by CS Lewis
Harry Potter by JK Rowling
Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
Gregor the Overlander by Susan Collins (of Hunger Games fame- I don't think JT is quite ready for Hunger Games!)
Eragon by Christopher Paolini
Fablehaven by Brandon Mull
Great Brain by John D. Fitzgerald
Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt
Of Mice and Magic by David Farland
Hardy Boys by Franklin W. Dixon
Redwall by Brian Jacques
Warriors Series by Erin Hunter (Joseph says "I think these are for girls because boys don't generally read about cats. Maybe dogs, but not cats." He may be right because he only read a few, but Rachel loves them)
The Princess Bride by William Goldman (also try The Silent Gondoliers)
Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan
Boy Scout Field Book (newly revised and both Joseph and Paul say it is "AWESOME")
Dangerous Book for Boys by Conn Iggulden
Alex Rider by Anthony Horowitz
Blood on the River by Elisa Lynn Carbone
Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
Outlaws of Sherwood by Robin McKinley
Roald Dahl
Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls (Also Where the Red Fern Grows)
Frankenstein by Mary Shelly
Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Charlie Bone by Jenny Nimmo
While Mrs. Coverlett Was Away by Mary Nash
John Bellairs (read with caution- pretty spooky!)
Bartemaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud (JT hasn't read yet)
Danny Dunn by Jay Williams
Encyclopedia Brown by Donald J Sobel
Sideway Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar (plus his other books like Holes)
Asterix by Rene Goscinny
Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
Ben and Me by Robert Lawson (many other books also!)
The White Mountains by John Christopher
Kidnapped by Robert Lewis Stevenson
Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs (JT hasn't read, but I remember my brothers loving them)
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien
Ralph S. Mouse by Beverly Cleary (All of her books)
Star Wars by Jude Watson
Brighty of Grand Canyon by Marguerite Henry (all her horse books are great)
Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck
Soup by Robert Newton Peck
Andrew Clements (books for young readers like Frindle and older readers also)
James Howe
Gordon Korman (started writing books at age twelve and is still writing- very fun!)
Ghost Who Went to School by Judith Spearing
Cricket in Times Square by George Seldon
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
Call of the Wild by Jack London
War of the Worlds by HG Wells
Freddy the Detective by Walter R Brooks
Twisted Tales From Shakespeare by Richard Willard Armour
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
The Three Investigators by Robert Arthur and MV Carey
Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko
Daniel Pinkwater
This list is dedicated to two books that I got Joseph for Christmas: The Mysterious Benedict Society and Gregor the Overlander. I am always a little hesitant to buy books for Joseph without his stamp of approval first. I found these books listed on an Amazon list and decided to try them. Joseph finished reading The Mysterious Benedict Society and came and told me it was "AWESOME"- high praise from him for a book- generally the only way I know if he likes a book is if he reads it twice. I just finished reading The Mysterious Benedict Society (three books in the series) and I concur, they are awesome. He had the same response for Gregor the Overlander. Hooray for good book choices for Christmas!
Thanks for sharing the list. I'll have to read some of them that I haven't read.
ReplyDeleteHave you tried the Alcatraz series by Brandon Sanderson yet? http://brandonsanderson.com/book/Alcatraz/
I haven't read them yet but they are supposed to be pretty funny (even over the top). I've read four of Brandon's other books (adult fantasy) in the past month. He's my current favorite author (he teaches a creative writing class at BYU). He's also a new author - his first novel was published in 2005. Warning about his adult books - they are fairly violent at times.
Anyway, I plan on starting that YA series of his once I finish this current book of his I'm reading (it's the last of his adult fantasy novels).
Aahhh! How fun! I'm also taking notes of books to read! I've read a large majority of these, but there are several I haven't.
ReplyDeleteSpencer is funny and seems to have 3 books going at once. He much prefers shorter books and will read several shorter books while still working his way through a long book.
I read The Mysterious Ben... a while ago. Amberly really liked it. I haven't read the series. For some reason I can't get the kids to read Lloyd Alexander--I'm sure they'd like them. None of my kids will read Anne. ??? We listed to a couple of Gregor books on tape on one of our trips.
Spencer likes Geronimo Stilton books (they are almost like comic books and are geared toward about 2nd/3rd graders). They're fun.
The other day we were talking about author visits. Our library sponsors an author visit every spring. The author visits the library and also the middle school. Probably about 3 years ago Rick Riordan came to visit and Amberly got to hear him. Percy who? we all said. :) Haha.
I might try a few of those books that I have never heard about before, but there are a few more that you (or JT) might want to consider:
ReplyDeleteThe Tripod books by John Christopher
Anything by Isaac Asimov
Robert Heinlein Books (I would suggest not reading anything published after 1955, he got weird after that)
The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne
Arthur C. Clark (like Heinlein, read his early books but don't read the later books, 2001 and 2010 are good, but 2061 is rather poor and 3001 definitely should not have been written, not just because the story was bad, but more because it was trashy)
Michael Crichton, his books are hit and miss, but mostly good.
Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy. Normally Tom Clancy novels have too much swearing but this one I don't remember being that much.
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
Madeleine L'Engle (Her Wrinkle in Time series was pretty good, her other books were a little weird)
I would also suggest The Illustrated Man and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury but not everyone likes those, they can be a little...different.
Also try Andre Norton, I liked some of her books.
There are a few other books that I enjoyed but they are not strictly "boy books":
The Iceberg Hermit by Arthur Roth
The Cay by Theodore Taylor
I am about halfway through The Mysterious Benedict Society, andI'm glad it made your list!
ReplyDeleteThis is a great list. I'll have to keep it in mind when my boys get a bit older.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post. We've had a hard time helping our third child learn how to read, and finally primed the pump with the Percy Jackson books, and since then he's found a bunch of things to read that he likes. I'll have to print off the list for next time we're at the library.
ReplyDelete