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

Savvy_Sue

Stephen Donaldson, the Thomas Covenant trilogies, will keep him quiet for a while ...

Also Terry Brooks, he's written loads in a Shannara series I think, not quite up to Tolkien's standards but still good and clean, IIRC.

John Buchan's books, they're dated but if he can cope with that ...

And how many times has he read all the Sherlock Holmes books? I know I'm a girl, but I'd read them at least 3 times before I was 13 ...

Has he read the Redwall books, if not they may be a bit young for him now.

Ursula K LeGuin. Definitely Susan Cooper. Alan Garner, Mary Renault (historical fiction), Rosemary Sutcliffe (ditto)

What about Ellis Peters' Brother Cadfael series?

What sort of things does he like?

arthur_dent_2

In the same vain as the above, Anne McCaffrey and possibly even Dan Brown's books. I too am a girl and I have read, read and read again the Sherlock holmes stories, the great thing about them is they aren't too long and each story can be finished quite quickly.

P.S. Savvy Sue you have exactley the same taste in books as my mum it seems, Mary Stewart is also good I believe.

buxtonrabbitgreen

Darren shan books. These are vampire books and my 14 yo DS has now read loads of these. He went from not reading anything except for instructions when absolutely neccessary to these books recommended by the school librarian. He now often has his head in a book and is starting to branch out a bit.

[Deleted User]

I'd agree with Pratchett, I've been reading them for over 10 years - the Discworld series is an amazingly in depth and imaginative story world. I started reading them when i was 13/14 and still buy every new book at 26. You just appreciate them on different levels as you get older.

My personal favorite is Good Omens - not part of the discworld series but excellent in it's own right.

Avoid Dan Brown, it's trashy writing and won't be of any benefit. You might want to get some old 2nd hand copy of classics such as 1984, Catcher in the Rye, Brave New World.

I also enjoyed Isaac Asimov, one suggestion would be I, Robot - a collection of short stories

Lillibet_2

Anther vote for Philip Pullman, Terry Pratchett & Toilkien, if he has read LOTR & the Hobbit try the Silmarillion as that's not as long but much meatier than the others.

Possibly a bit unsuatable for a 13 YO but how about Anne Rice's Vampire novels? I was reading these at 14 but some parents might consider them unsuitable as they are very adult although not explicit just in implication.

How about birgraphies? Everything from Steve Irwin to Charles Darwin to Billy Connolly (and there are several Tolkien ones about; my hubby has the one by Micahel White & even I enjoyed it), I always seem to find men like biographies (I guess they are just to shy to read Hello:D).

What about the early Ben Elton novels, Past Mortem might be a bit to graphic but This Other Eden, Gridlocked, Blast from the Past, Dead Famous would all be suitable & are amusing.

HTH & good luck;)

benood

Do you get a daily newspaper delivered? How about a subscription to the Economist - I started reading that at 16, don't know what my reading age was though.

play2day

My DS always had a much higher reading age than his chronological one. He had devoured LOTR by 9! I decided long ago to allow him to choose his own books. When they scared him he put them down and what he didn't understand he asked about.
It is important to remember that sometimes he will still enjoy books that are 'beneath' his ability and that the joy of reading is because of the content of the material not its difficulty.
My Ds is now 15. Thinking back a few years he raved over The Davinci Code, To Kill a Spider and most Phillip Pullman books. This year I have seen him reading The Rightous Men, The Historian and quite a few biographies.

hopingforahouse

I would vote as well for letting him roam around the library as he sees fit! I had a good reading age when I was younger (not that I've forgotton how now), and my Mum just let me get whatever I picked. Until I was a bit older I certainly wasn't interested in anything with too much in the way of 'adult' themes, and even when I was, it taught me a lot about life. If you're worried about what he might pick up, why don't you check the books he's taking out for the first few months, and ensure he's not reading anything too inappropriate. If he's got a reading age of sixteen at the age of twelve then he's probably smart enought to enjoy reading a broad variety of books without thinking that the contents are an exact reflection on everyday life.

amyandoli

i was a secondary school librarian for 2 years. id ask your school librarian (phone in, i used to get a few calls a week), and ask them to compile a list of suitable reads and post it to you, or organise to meet your son and suggest books in person. also local libraries have school liason officers who have lists and advice for parents and educators and are always polite in my opinion. badger books do a good catalogue divided into 'actual reading age' and 'interest age', individual books and bulk packages. the gifted and talented co-ordinator in school should be of help too, although if there anything like ours was, he'd just ask the librarian and get back to you with her list! i had to stock books suitable for all the pupils - gifted and talented, special ed needs, ethnic minorities, different languages... i'll stop writing now!

dora37

benood wrote:

Do you get a daily newspaper delivered? How about a subscription to the Economist - I started reading that at 16, don't know what my reading age was though.

We've progressed from The Express to The Times as there are more interesting articles (also got fed up of being told we were going to die of bird flu and the daily Princess Di saga!)

He seems to enjoy that.