Books for boys - age 11-12

[Pondicherry]

You can't beat the classics. So ...
Treasure Island
King Solomons's Mines
The Adventurs Of Tom Sawyer

Also I would add in Hitchhikers Guide as a modern classic.

 

[Spun Cuppa]

Perhaps a little foray into 20th. Century literature, such as Orwell, Huxley, Kerouac, Steinbeck, Viz, Sartre, Greene, Camus, Burroughs

 

[Uwinsc]

My sister suggests Chris Ryan's alpha force series- 1st one is called Survival.
Michael Monpurgeo (think thats spelt wrong) is a great suggestion- although he has probably read some at school, if he likes war books Michael Foreman is good.

 

[Cosmic Joker]

Also loved the Willard Price "Adventure" books when i was about ten but probably rather dated now. A couple of years later all the boys at school were reading James Herbert horror novels. Something about a story of giant rats coming out of the ground in Epping Forest that a young mind couldn't resist. The Plague Dogs was a particularly good read.

 

[Scampi]

At that age i read Lord of the Rings for the first time. What about the Alistair McClean books. They're easy reading and full of boys own stuff.

 

[nawtygully]

try the dark is rising sequence books by susan cooper

 

[Gwylan]

At that age i read Lord of the Rings for the first time. What about the Alistair McClean books. They're easy reading and full of boys own stuff.

Ahem..

I remember I read a lot of Alistair Maclean around this time.

..but to reiterate, they're cracking reads for a boy that age, you feel like you're taking a step into adult fiction.

And science fiction is often good for boys, I remember discovering Asimov, Bradbury Vonnegut and Dick around 13.

 

[Scampi]

Ahem..



..but to reiterate, they're cracking reads for a boy that age, you feel like you're taking a step into adult fiction.

And science fiction is often good for boys, I remember discovering Asimov, Bradbury Vonnegut and Dick around 13.

Oh get over yourself. Not everyone trawls through these threads to check what your comments are.

 

[Robbie G]

I read loads of Goosebump books as a kid. Not sure what age I read them though.

 

[hart's shirt]

try the dark is rising sequence books by susan cooper

This 25-30 year old series hooked me on reading at a young age. All about Arthurian legend.
Over Sea, Under Stone
The Dark Is Rising
Greenwitch
The Grey King
Silver On The Tree

In the last 5 years, Anthony Horowitz has done more to encourage boys to read than anyone else. Stormbreaker is a compelling read - Horowitz was asked to write the Junior James Bond books, but turned them down since they would be too close to Alex Rider. There are 2 more books in the Alex Rider series to be released...can't wait.

Other contemporary authors worth considering:

Michael Morpurgo - Children's Poet Laureate - a little young for him perhaps, but Private Peaceful is an extremely moving book set around World War 1

Garth Nix - Mister Monday and the rest of the Keys Of The Kingdom series

Christopher Paolini - Eragon (he started writing this at 15)

Darren Shan - Cirque du Freak

Dav Pilkey - Captain Underpants series

Gillian Cross - The Demon Headmaster

Eoin Colfer - Artemis Fowl

Malorie Blackman - Pig-Heart Boy




Here's 10 classics worth considering:

CS Lewis - The Chronicles Of Narnia
Roald Dahl - Charlie And The Chocolate Factory
Alan Garner - The Owl Service
Raymond Briggs - Fungus The Bogeyman
Eric Kastner - Emil And The Detectives
Rosemary Sutcliff - The Eagle Of The Ninth
Rudyard Kipling - The Jungle Book
Hugh Lofting - Doctor Doolittle
John Masefield - The Box Of Delights
Michael Bond - A Bear Called Paddington

 

[Rowdey]

I loved Mr Galliano's circus by Enid Blyton as a kid.

But the best of the lot, and probably the defining factor in my life, are all the 'Adventure' books by Willard Price, just brilliant

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventure_Series_(Willard_Price)

Excellent shout - Agree with defining life factor - After reading 'African' (?) Adventure i always wanted to climb Kilimanjaro - some 25 years later when asked by my wife to be 'Where did i want to go on Honeymoon ? ' i finally got to do it.

Always thought my knowledge of flora and fauna was better than my peers, just because of these books..

 

[KZNSeagull]

Most of the goodun's have been mentioned, but if he wants things that are not so serious and are easy to read, try the Jiggy McCue series by Michael Lawrence. They are aimed at that age group and are rather silly, but well written and entertaining. Also Charlie Higson's Young Bond series. There are also a lot of graphic books (books with graphics, not hard core aimed at 11 year olds!)! coming out which may be worth a try.

The local school library struggles to get the boys to read, but they mainly go for Percy Jackson, Artemis Fowl, Eragon etc, Alex Rider, Charlie Higson, Robert Muchamore and Chris Ryan.

 

[Jahooli]

All great stuff but surely a bit younger than 11 or 12, I read most of those when I was about 8 to 10.

Good for you.
I was just giving advice to someone who was encouraging their son to read, I assumed (maybe wrongly) that his son hadn't done that much reading for entertainment before.
I would still recommend all those books as a good fun read.
I was introduced to The Silver Sword in the first year of secondary school, that's round about the right age.

Elidor by Alan Garner is another good one.
Also The Midnight Folk - a follow up to The Box of Delights I think.

 

[Gwylan]

Good for you.
I was just giving advice to someone who was encouraging their son to read, I assumed (maybe wrongly) that his son hadn't done that much reading for entertainment before.
I would still recommend all those books as a good fun read.
I was introduced to The Silver Sword in the first year of secondary school, that's round about the right age.

Elidor by Alan Garner is another good one.
Also The Midnight Folk - a follow up to The Box of Delights I think.

Sorry, that came across the wrong way, I was trying to express the idea that boys that age might not want to be seen reading young children's books. It also contradicted my previous statement that it didn't matter what kids were reading so it was a pretty dumb thing to say.

But yes, The Silver Sword is an excellent book and Alan Garner's highly recommended too. I read The Owl Service when I was about 11.

 

[Jahooli]

Sorry, that came across the wrong way.

My mistake, I think I put my son off reading by buying him The Hobbit when he was about the same age as I was reading the Doctor Doolittle books.

 

[KneeOn]

C.H.E.R.U.B is a great series, for boys. Its got girls (but not sex), kid spys, brilliant stuff. I loved it.

Horrowitz Horror is one of the best books i've ever written because hes written it in a way that makes it feel like your "reading" a film series.

 

[Biscuit]

Horrowitz Horror is one of the best books i've ever written...

Are you Anthony Horrowitz?!

 

[SUIYHP]

The Hobbit, what a great novel, not as big as the Lord of the Rings, not too patronising, just a very imaginative and great novel.

Alex Rider books are good too, I guess it explored the truth about being a spy, that it wasn't about being cool, or cars or girls, but a very cold and dangerous life, it sort of shuns the Bond movies and refers its roots to the Old Bond novels by Ian Fleming

 

[Uwinsc]

Goosebumps was mentioned and thats definetly a good idea.

 

[Bones]

The Hardy Boys!