<p>Every year I pick out about 3 books for my son to read in the summer months. This year it’s more difficult than normal. He’s 11, soon to be 12 and heading towards the 7th grade. The books that I have picked in years gone by have been very age appropriate for him. I am having trouble finding books that are not too mature for him and yet not for the younger crowd. I am looking for ideas from you guys/ladies. He is at the stage where teen sexually topics are embarrassing to him, but he is beginning to look at girls as not just another “guy” if you know what I mean. He enjoys science fiction, fantasy type books, (Harry Potter, of course, he’s read them all); books about conquering things, (but is not crazy about sports topics). He has read all of the Lemony Snicket books that are available. I would love to sneak in a classic, (not Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn as he states he does not want to read them). Thanks in advance for your help and ideas.</p>
<p>Ender’s Game, maybe? Or something by Asimov, like I, Robot (not the same as the movie!), or something by Bradbury?</p>
<p>What about something in the area of popular science? Would that be at all interesting to him?</p>
<p>What about something in the area of popular science? Would that be at all interesting to him?</p>
<p>I hadn’t thought about popular science. Any ideas on some topics I can research?</p>
<p>Ender’s Game is a great suggestion.
Philip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” trilogy is good too
Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonflight series (some sexual content) and Dragonsong trilogy (aimed at a younger audience)–shared characters
Kipling’s Captain’s Courageous was my son’s favorite at about that age</p>
<p>Anything by Bruce Coville should fit the bill.</p>
<p>Robert Cormier’s books for young adults
Madeleine L’Engle – A Wrinkle in Time
John Knowles – A Separate Peace
Sherlock Holmes stories, Edgar Allan Poe --short stories
R.L. Stevenson – Kidnapped, Treasure Island
Jack London – Call of the Wild
Nordhoff and Hall – Mutiny on the Bounty
James Hilton-- Lost Horizon, Goodbye, Mr. Chips</p>
<p>A good book of stories from Greek Mythology</p>
<p>Popular science: </p>
<p>Phantoms in the Brain (interesting things about how the brain works etc), Walk on Water (about pediatric heart surgery), and The Lost Grizzlies are a few of the types of things I was thinking about. </p>
<p>Walking around the science section in a bookstore or library should give you an idea about what’s out there, but there are lots of non-textbooks dealing with subjects like physics and biology aimed at people with different amounts of background knowledge.</p>
<p>Neville Shute’s Trustee from the Toolroom (a little old-fashioned but has both interesting mechanical stuff and conquering of an obstacle, and certainly no sex)–very readable and essentially an oceangoing adventure.</p>
<p>Eragon (by Christopher Paloni) and the sequel Eldest</p>
<p>I also agree with Ender’s Game. Walk on Water would probably be a little too dry for a 11-12 year old in my opinion, unless he’s really in to that.</p>
<p>Night by Elie Wiesel</p>
<p>Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson – A great book for a boy his age.</p>
<p>As Stevenson said of his own book: “If this don’t fetch the kids, why, they have gone rotten since my day”.</p>
<p>Also, if he is into natural history at all, John McPhee has several collections that are very good (some of the full length books are pretty esoteric topics). Some boys are intrigued by Tom Brown’s books (the Tracker), also (supposedly) nonfiction.</p>
<p>Let me also suggest you try to find out what he is likely to have as assigned reading for the few years too. My son flat out refused to “read ahead” and several of the titles suggested here were part of his curriculum.</p>
<p>Yeah, Tracker might be a good choice. </p>
<p>Is there any reason you don’t just take him to the library and let him pick stuff out? Seems like he might enjoy it more that way…</p>
<p>I second Eragon and Eldest. S2 (14 now) also liked a series called the Bartimaeus Trilogy (Jonathan Stroud) and the Chronicles of Narnia of course. He also liked Ararat by Clive Barker, but he is older than your son. As for classics, S1 loved Three Musketeers and went on to read everything by Dumas one summer. I’m not sure if S2 got all the way through it.
I advise you to be careful with “Night” and read it first yourself. It is a stunning book, but packs a huge emotional wallop for sensitive kids, even ones more mature than your son.</p>
<p>Is there any reason you don’t just take him to the library and let him pick stuff out? Seems like he might enjoy it more that way…</p>
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<p>Sure, we go to the library weekly where he sits and reads Manga comics, lol. He will read assigned materials for school and school projects, but he is not a “reader.” He also enjoys the local public library’s summer reading contest. He’s in it for the prizes, and not to really enjoy a good book. So, I got into the habit of having him read a couple of books for me each summer just to make sure his mind is stimulated with something other than Manga and Playstation, (what he would do with the rest of his life if he could, lol). It’s sort of tradition now, and we do discuss the books as I research them, so he has the opportunity to give his yay or nay. I read the Harry Potter books with him because he loves that series and I do too.</p>
<p>I was an only child as he is now. I began my love for books when I was about his age. I am hoping that it will be something he can one day share with his children.</p>
<p>And also, The Lord of The Rings, etc., the grandaddy of the fantasy series.</p>
<p>Ok. The idea seemed a little weird to me because when I was that age I read tons of books (fiction and nonfiction) on my own, and resented being told what to read during the summer, since I viewed that as my time to learn about what I wanted to learn about by deciding on my own what to read. It sounds like he’s a little bit more of an agreeable kid than I was at that age :-).</p>
<p>It sounds like he’s a little bit more of an agreeable kid than I was at that age :-).</p>
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<p>As well as me. I am still quite opinionated, lol. It may be a girl thing :).</p>
<p>I remember getting on the city bus when I was 11, and going to the public library in our little southern town. I would load up on 7 to 8 books for the week, to return them the next week, read and hungry for more. I loved magazines, and biographies, and autobiographies, all types of things. I am still that way today. Reading was my company.</p>
<p>Gerald Morris has written a delightful series of books based on the Arthurian legends; I believe that the first is The Squire’s Tale. When my son was 11-12, he read one and immediately borrowed the rest from the library. I read one of them, and it was wonderful.</p>
<p>“The Giver” by Lois Lowry</p>