So I'm asking you, dear reader, to help me compile a list of books, new and old. In particular, I have in mind my 10 year old boy cousin, an advanced reader, having a hard time finding things to read.
Let's build this list! Leave your recommendation in the comments, and I'll update this very post with our new list, which all of us can revisit as needed. Indicate the genre, whether you think it's best for boys, girls, or both, and the age group.
Updated 8/22/11
The List: Most I have not read, but all of these come highly recommended by my readers. Please feel free to comment on which you love the best, and I'll add a * for those that get multiple recommendations, a ** means it got very high recs.
This list will be a work in progress, meaning I will be cleaning it up, adding genres and ages, titles and authors when I have time. Please continue to suggest books and vote for your favorites!
Also, a great blog post by Literary Rambles, recommended by one of my commenters: YA Books in Libraries (click here).
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid
- RL Stine's Goosebumps or Nightmare Room series
- Anything by Rick Riordan*
- The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini*
- The Alchemyst: The secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott
- Absolute True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexi (YA or upper MG, parental discretion advised)*
- The Dark is Rising*
- Number the Stars
- The Enchanted Forest Chronicles (fantasy, not YA or MG)*
- Eragon
- How to Train Your Dragon
- Fablehaven
- Mudville by Kurtis Scaletta
- Mamba Point by Kurtis Scaletta
- Deltora Quest
- The Seventh Tower series
- Charlie Bone series
- Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld (I highly recommend as well)*
- The Circle of Magic series (I remember reading these--loved them!)
- Tyger, Tyger and the rest of the Goblin Wars trilogy by Kerstin Hamelton (Irish mythology)
- Gary Paulsen's The Hatchet series
- Anything by Brandon Mull
- Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer**
- The Healing Wars Trilogy by Janice Hardy
- Percy Jackson books
- Pendragon books
- Harry Potter*
- Black and Blue Magic, by Zylpha Keatley Snyder (and anything else by Snyder)
- The White Mountains trilogy by John Christopher
- Brian Jacques Redwall Series - Upper MG for Boys*
- Lloyd Alexander The Black Cauldron series - MG for Boys
- The Chicken Doesn't Skate - MG Boys
- Who Put That Hair On My Tooth Brush - MG Boys and Girls
- The Golden Compass Trilogy
- Ender's Game
- Georgia Byng (sp?)'s MOLLY MOON books
- Zazu Corder's LIONBOY series
- Cordelia Funke's DRAGONRIDER
- Louis Sacher's Sideways School books
- THE MYSTERIOUS BENEDICT SOCIETY
- Terry Pratchett's DISCWORLD books (Start with the Tiffany Aching books, then move onto the books about the City Guards (with Sam Vines), then give him the witches)
- Edward Eager's books
- Roald Dahl
- Narnia series
- Brandon Sanderson, young-YA series Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians, epic fantasy series Mistborn, The Way of Kings, stand alone Elantris
- The Genius Files by Dan Gutman
- Jake Maddox, sports themed books
- Barbara Park, Junie B. Jones
- Mary Pope Osborne, Magic Treehouse
- The Queen's Thief series, adventure
- N.E.R.D.S. by Michael Buckley, spy adventure
- The Cherub series by Robert Muchamore, upper MG spy adventures
- The Gallagher Girl series Ally Carter, spy adventures for girls
- His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman*
- Shonen manga
- The Maze Runner trilogy by James Dashner*
- The Uglies by Scott Westerfeld, younger to upper YA*
- Chaos Walking by Patrick Ness
- The Giver by Lois Lowry*
- The Warriors series by Erin Hunter*
- Anything by Louis Sachar
- Peter Pan books by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson
- Kiki and the Shadow City, detective/adventure, MG
- Harriet the Spy, for girls
- The 39 Clues
- The Ranger's Apprentice series
- Chris D'Lacey's The Last Dragon chronicles starting with The Fire Within
- Escape at Night - a civil war adventure by Laurie Myers
- Murder Afloat by Jane Leslie Conly about a boy in 1880's Baltimore who's shanghaied and forced to work on an oyster schooner
- Dark Life by Kat Falls about people who colonize the ocean floor after global warming forces everyone under - it's kind of a western underwater.
- Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz, spy adventure
- The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke about young pickpockets in 18th century Venice
- Inkheart series - Cornelia Funke, boys and girls
- Savvy - Ingrid Law, girls
- Emma Jean Lazarus Fell Out of A Tree - Lauren Tarshis, girls
- Small Persons With Wings - Ellen Booraem, girls
- Shug - Jenny Han, girls
- Coraline - Neil Gaiman, boys and girls
- The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin - Josh Berk, boys
- Chronicles of Ancient Darkness - Michelle Paver, boys and girls
- The Unwanteds by Lisa McMann, MG dystopian for boys
Happy reading!
44 comments:
A 10 yo boy would like the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. They are novels in comic and ridiculously fun.
If he's looking for thrills, any of RL Stine's books would work for him. Especially the Goosebumps and the Nightmare Room series.
I'll come back with more recs!
Anything by Rick Riordan. He writes for his sons and the two of them are very young.
Plus, I love his books. Filled with mythology and adventure!
I didn't read Nathan Bransford's book, JACOB WONDERBAR AND THE COSMIC SPACE KAPOW, but I know it's for younger readers.
Ranger Apprentice Series by John Flanagan. It's on my TBR list, so I didn't get to it yet, but it's listed as children's book on amazon and goodreads.
Oh, I love The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini. It's filled with action, and there are quite a few deaths, so that's something to be cautious about.
Happy readings!
The Alchemyst: The secrets of the immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott (series). Urban fantasy with a girl and boy MC. My boys loved it.
Absolute True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie. Love. love, love this book--funny and deep all at the same time. It even has a few pictures. There are a couple of maybe-too-mature moments, so make sure you're comfortable with those!
Number the Stars is pretty exciting, even if the main characters are girls. Also consider the Dark is Rising series.
Thinking back to when my brother was ten, he would read THE ENCHANTED FOREST CHRONICLES (Dealing with Dragons, Searching for Dragons, Talking to Dragons, Calling on Dragons) and ERAGON. A few other series that are fun: HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, FABLEHAVEN, etc.
Mudville by Kurtis Scaletta. Mamba Point by Kurtis Scaletta.
Both great books!
Those are all Fantasy, and I'd recommend them to either gender of MG or up readers. The Enchanted Forest Chronicles don't have a young protag, but it never bothered us as kids (because it had dragons in it!)
I would probably recommend the following for boys and girls:
Deltora Quest
Enchanted Forest Chronicles
The Seventh Tower series
Charlie Bone series
Leviathan (for older MG)
Possibly the Circle of Magic series (focus on Briar for your cousin)
I read all of these throughout elementary and middle school, and I loved them. If he likes mystery books I could find some others (but I read them too young so I don't know if they're appropriate).
Sorry. I posted before I mentioned that those are all fantasy books with a high level of action, adventure, and suspense.
Tyger,Tyger and the rest of the Goblin Wars trilogy by Kerstin Hamelton.
It has a girl main character, but there are guys in it as well, fun creatures, gross things, loads of duct tape and action. The writing is wonderful. It's YA, but definately fine for younger readers--particularly those interested in Irish mythology.
I always loved Gary Paulsen's novels although they are written for boys with male MCs. The 'Hatchet' series and 'Canyons' were my favourites but I see he has written many more since I was a teenager.
My own 10 year old loves:
The Healing Wars Trilogy by Janice Hardy
Anything by Ric Riordan
Anything by Brandon Mull
Artemis Fowl Series by Eoin Colfer
Happy reading :)
My brother loved: Harry Potter, the Inheritance series, the Percy Jackson books, the Pendragon books...I'm sure there's more but I'll have to ask him.
Black and Blue Magic, by Zylpha Keatley Snyder. The main character is a very clumsy boy who's given a magic ointment that makes him sprout wings. Urban fantasy, before the genre was actually named.
Actually, I recommend anything by Snyder. Her books have a strange, almost ethereal quality to them, and many are from a boy's point of view.
Also, The White Mountains trilogy by John Christopher. That one's sci-fi/distopian. The Hunger Games reminded me of it, except it's aliens taking the kids instead of other humans.
Brian Jacques Redwall Series - Upper MG for Boys.
Lloyd Alexander The Black Cauldron series - MG for Boys
The Chicken Doesn't Skate - MG Boys
Who Put That Hair On My Tooth Brush - MG Boys and Girls
And in a year or two The Golden Compass Trilogy, and Ender Game.
Oh, this is fun! Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl. Georgia Byng (sp?)'s MOLLY MOON books. Zazu Corder's LIONBOY series. Cordelia Funke's DRAGONRIDER. Louis Sacher's Sideways School books. If he likes puzzles, THE MYSTERIOUS BENEDICT SOCIETY is perfect. You can also start him on Terry Pratchett's DISCWORLD books which will keep him going for a while! Start with the Tiffany Aching books, then move onto the books about the City Guards (with Sam Vines), then give him the witches. (All this from my son's favorites!) If he'll do old-fashioned, give him all of Edward Eager's books. Roald Dahl.
Can you tell I LOVE books for this age. This is when my son (now 15) and I just swapped books back and forth on a weekly basis. Now he reads much grimmer than me, so it doesn't happen as often.
Oh, I missed the part about posting who these are for--mostly fantasy, but almost all of them with some comedy as well. All books that my son absolutely loved, so, yes, good for boys, but I think girls would like most of them, too. I did!
I second Ru on the Dark is Rising series. Also the Narnia series is good for that age and Harry Potter, of course.
Depending on how advanced he is, he might enjoy The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings, as well as the collected works of Brandon Sanderson--he has a young-YA series (Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians) as well as excellent epic fantasy series (Mistborn, The Way of Kings) and a stand-alone that might be a series someday (Elantris)
My ten-year-old son loves The Genius Files by Dan Gutman (only one out so far), the various sport-themed books by Jake Maddox, and the authors Barbara Park (Junie B. Jones, etc), and Mary Pope Osborne (Magic Treehouse).
In addition to everything listed above, The Queen's Thief series (The Thief, The Queen of Attolia, The King of Attolia, and A Conspiracy of Kings-by Megan Whalen Turner) are phenomenal. They're set in a byzantine-type era but with guns, not sure what genre that'd fall into...adventure for sure.
N.E.R.D.S. (Michael Buckley) are fun and easy reads-of which there are 3 books so far. It's about an elite team of kid spies.
The Cherub series (Robert Muchamore) are really good but the language and scenarios are a little coarser, so that may have to wait a couple years-though the protagonist is 12 years old. This series is also about a youth spy organization.
The Gallagher Girl series (Ally Carter) is also really good, and about kid spies (I've been reading a lot of Middle Grade spy books lately if you couldn't tell) but more for girls.
The His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman is incredible. The books are The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass. I'd say they're upper MG, but they're so classic, adults love them too. I'm rereading them right now, and they're some of those rare books where you can enjoy the killer plot and great characters when you're young, and you can reread them when you're older and understand the more subtle themes and philosophical stuff. Top notch books!
Hmm. Well, shonen manga is a good bet -- he'll like the action and the visual nature, and at 10 he won't have the worldliness to be annoyed by the cliches and repetitive storylines. Subscribe him to Shonen Jump for his birthday and he'll be happy as a pea in a pod.
-LupLun
Shooting for the Moon
In addition to the above, I recommend the The Maze Runner Trilogy by James Dashner, The Uglies by Scott Westerfield, and Chaos Walking by Patrick Ness. A more thorough list can be found here: YA Books in Libraries
I agree with Becca C. -- The His Dark Materials trilogy is amazing. Also, The Giver by Lois Lowry (which is the first in a trilogy but I've never read the other 2).
The Warriors series by Erin Hunter or the Redwall series by Brian Jacques.
Anything by Louis Sachar. He's amazing. Also, I enjoyed the Peter Pan books by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. They're a lot of fun
(though reading the original Peter Pan first is recommended). Kiki and the Shadow City is great MG detective/adventure fare. My favorite at that age? The always awesome Harriet the Spy.
I see Lindsey mentioned the WARRIOR series, which my 12 yr. old loves. My 9 year old boy is totally addicted to THE 39 CLUES, which are sequels and written by various authors.
Kudos to kids who love books!!
I have a 10 year old daughter who likes boy books. :)
Some favorites:
The Ranger's Apprentice series
Chris D'Lacey's The Last Dragon chronicles starting with The Fire Within
Escape at Night - a civil war adventure by Laurie Myers
Murder Afloat by Jane Leslie Conly about a boy in 1880's Baltimore who's shanghaied and forced to work on an oyster schooner
Dark Life by Kat Falls about people who colonize the ocean floor after global warming forces everyone under - it's kind of a western underwater.
Hope that helps!
PS I really loved Sherman Alexie's Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian - but it's YA and quite YA. I wouldn't want my 10 year old reading it just yet. I'd think at least 13, and a sophisticated 13, probably.
What great list you have going here. Goood idea!
I wish my cp's MG ms was in print so I could recommend it. It's soo good! Maybe soon--She's gained a lot of interest from agents.
I'll cast another vote for the Redwall Series by Brian Jacques - fantasy/adventure/humor with all characters being animals.
Also mentioned, the Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer. More modern fantasy in the vein of a young James Bond who hangs with Fairies and such.
My son loved the Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz, too. This is more of a spy adventure series.
Another great one not mentioned is The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke about young pickpockets in 18th century Venice.
Here are some of the MG novels my daughter and I have enjoyed over the last 2 years.
Inkheart series - Cornelia Funke (boys/girls)
Savvy - Ingrid Law (girls)
Emma Jean Lazarus Fell Out of A Tree - Lauren Tarshis (girls)
Small Persons With Wings - Ellen Booraem (girls)
Shug - Jenny Han (girls)
Coraline - Neil Gaiman (boys/girls)
The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin - Josh Berk (boys)
Leviathan - Scott Westerfeld (boys/girls)
Uglies series - Scott Westerfeld (girls)
Chronicles of Ancient Darkness - Michelle Paver (boys/girls)
THE UNWANTEDS by NYT bestseller Lisa McMann. An excellent MG dystopian fantasy for a young man.
The entire Fablehaven series is incredible. I'd also recommend the Nightmare Academy series by Dean Lorey.
The book Slob by Ellen Potter is fabulous. And my other favorite is Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
When he was ten my son loved The Roar by Emma Clayton, 13th Reality series by James Dashner, the Droon series (which was below his reading level, but he read them over and over anyway), A Wrinkle in Time, and Farworld by J Scott Savage. There are a lot of books on your list he loved too.
My daughter is ten now. She just finished reading The Secret Garden and loved it. In fact she won't stop talking about it. lol
I'll say Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Mayberry. Also Scott Westerfield's Midnighters trilogy and if Dashner's in there, I'd say to also include The Hunger Games (if it's already been said I second that ;)).
Ninja Girl
Lots of great books up there. The Faeries of Dreamdark by Laini Taylor are fantastic MG books- good for boys or girls.
Here's a few more...
The Familiars (1 & 2) by Adam Jay Epstein and Andrew Jacobson
The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents - Terry Pratchett
The Magic Thief trilogy - Sarah Prineas
The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman
Yes to: Harry Potter, Roald Dahl, The Giver, and Coraline.
Dear George Clooney Please Marry My Mom is absolutely hilarious and it's something I recommend to parents every time I'm at work.
Lots of good recommendations (Lowry, Jaques, Pullman, Sacher, Pierce, Paulsen) but I am stunned that K. A. Applegate's Animorphs series has not been mentioned yet. I adored that series as a kid.
Holes by Louis Sachar
Allie Finkle's Rules for girls - Meg Cabot
Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen - Lauren Myracle
What a great list!
I think the Bruce Coville books (Starting with Aliens Ate My Homework or Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher) would have a lot of appeal for a ten-year-old. My brother and I both loved these books.
The Graveyard Book is another great Neil Gaiman for kids.
I'm adding The Iceberg Hermit;
Shipwrecked in 1757 on an iceberg in the Arctic seas with only an orphaned polar bear cub for companionship, seventeen-year-old Allan begins a seemingly hopeless struggle for survival.
As a child, I cried and thought about this boy every night after finishing the book. I have no idea how many times I have read it since. I just got out my copy and gave it to my husband to read.
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