Suitable books for a 12/13 yr old boy with 16 reading age.

seven-day-weekend

Forgot to say, my son had a high reading age too and he loved Sci-Fi such as Asimov or Arthur C Clarke, also Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett. (He still reads all of these now he's 27!).

frivolous_fay

Oh yeah, I've been reading Pratchett since about 15

dora37

Thanks for all your replies - I will let him take a look at your suggestions. He has read the Harry Potter, LOTR etc.

Torchwood (the TV Series) was described a Dr Who with sexual/adult content and was therefore not suitable for children, so if the books are in the same vein, I think we will give them a miss.

Nicki - I take your point regarding self censorship, so will consider the adult section of the library.

Arthur Dent - Do you mean Viz as in the smutty comic? Hardly good reading!

seven-day-weekend wrote:

Also tell him to go the the library and have a good scout round.

He frequently goes to both the school library and local library and he could mooch for hours, however for his reading age, sadly boys do not seem as catered for as girls.

seven-day-weekend

There are plenty of good adult books he could read that have suitable content. I was reading things like the Forsyte Saga and Grapes of Wrath when I was that age (my mum was a reader and always had them on the shelf!).

He might like Spy books? Although I believe some of the James Bond ones have a large sexual element in then - don't know, my son wasn't interested in them.

Make sure you go with him to have a quick look at them, and also so that you can get them out on your ticket!

Mark7799

arthur_dent wrote:

My husband, who is as far as reading goes is not that into it, likes to read the Shaun Hutson Horror novels and Viz. Saying that he might be a bit old for Viz.

Nah, I'm 43 and still read it on subscription:D

Midget_Karen

The phillip pullman "dark trilogy" is really good, certainly recommend that. Also Susan Coopers "the dark is rising" sequence was a good read - i first read that at about 12 (i was quite an advanced reader) and loved it.

he might find the early chronicals of narnia a bit basic, but the target audience ages by about the 3rd one!

dora37

seven-day-weekend wrote:

There are plenty of good adult books he could read that have suitable content. I was reading things like the Forsyte Saga and Grapes of Wrath when I was that age (my mum was a reader and always had them on the shelf!).

He might like Spy books? Although I believe some of the James Bond ones have a large sexual element in then - don't know, my son wasn't interested in them.

Make sure you go with him to have a quick look at them, and also so that you can get them out on your ticket!

Thanks, I will take him for a venture into the adult section and 'supervise' him.

He gets such pleasure out of reading a good book, it just a shame that he is between stages and therefore doesn't seem to have as much choice - especially as he doesn't need encouraging to read, which is not alway the case with boys.

Justie

another vote for Pullman and Pratchett

also classics such as Steinbeck, Conrad, Golding, Orwell. If he's an advid reader he'll work out his own level of what he will and won't read but the wider choice you give him the more he has to explore. The Bond books are possibly a bit adult but he may skip the sex bits such as they are and love the boysie bits...

arthur_dent_2

dora37 wrote:

Arthur Dent - Do you mean Viz as in the smutty comic? Hardly good reading!

.

Actually I was only really having a sly remark at my husbands reading level, not your sons. Saying that Viz isn't as bad as you might think it is very very clever and has a lot to say about society. Young boys usually start reading it at about the same time as girls become of interest to them. A couple of years down the line maybe.

dora37

DS has just had a look at this thread and he is going to look into:

Philip Pullman
Douglas Adams - He may give Hitchhikers etc a try
Terry Pratchett - apparently about 30 books in the series.

These should keep him going for a while.

Thanks for all your replies :T