Recommend a book for a 15yo please

DS4215

z.n wrote: »

Try Ursuala Le Guin's Wizard of Earthsea series (old but still very good.) I also loved the Enders Game series but can't persuade my kids to try. I also liked Stephen Donaldson Lord Foul's Bane at age 17 or so but it is very much a marmite series. I remember Flowers in the Attic around that time as well but I am not sure I would recommend it to kids now.

A central theme of seemingly all the Donaldson books is rape, so just about every book by him is a bit dodgy (both the Thomas Covenant and Gap series).

I stand corrected about some of the content of American Gods - its been a while since I read it so had forgotten the details, but I would still recommend Sandman and probably Coraline or The Graveyard Book instead (Neil Gaiman)..

loracan1

Curious isn't it the attitude we have to what our kids read - I'm mostly of the opinion that they should be allowed to read what they 'can read', but I wouldn't leave a Richard Laymon lying about, and whilst I read Jaws when I was 11 I wouldn't let my son of the same age read it.

Or it might just be me.

Goldiegirl

Spendless wrote: »

Right name, wrong book! It was 'There is a Happy Land' by Keith Waterhouse. Out of print now, but the school reading books led both me and my son (nearly 13) to look at authors I'd never previously considered or come across.

I've heard of 'There Is A Happy Land', but I don't think I've read it yet, so that's one for my reading list.

I'm getting some good suggestions from this thread myself!

notakid

loracan1 wrote: »

Curious isn't it the attitude we have to what our kids read - I'm mostly of the opinion that they should be allowed to read what they 'can read', but I wouldn't leave a Richard Laymon lying about, and whilst I read Jaws when I was 11 I wouldn't let my son of the same age read it.

Or it might just be me.

No I agree, and would be a hypocrite if I didn't. At school the librarian seeing how much I loved books allowed me access to the "banned" list

Any way I think children have an inbuilt safety switch when it comes to reading, if they don't understand what they are reading it doesn't have such an impact unlike the telly as you need to imagine what is being written.

Both my children, sadly aren't great readers however daughter did really enjoy the hunger games series and I've got her an ebook reader with loads of good books on.

However, I do think we have to be careful recomending books from our childhood, some books just don't last the test of time, as an example I recently reread Little Women, a book I have such fond memories of, however, the style and attitudes within the book were so outdated it made reading hard work.

Several decades make a difference to what a child will relate too. I'd much rather reread Ready Player One!

fashionlover10

At your DDs age I was reading books by James Patterson and Jodi Picoult.
The first is more crime fiction with a moral/romantic dilemma running through it. And the second writes books with a controversial moral theme and makes you question your view on the situation.

I also remember Flowers in the Attic and the rest of the Virginia Andrews books. I remember my mum 'vetting' them before she let me read them too but not sure I agree with her decision now! I was about 13/14 when she let me read those.

Callie22

notakid wrote: »

However, I do think we have to be careful recomending books from our childhood, some books just don't last the test of time, as an example I recently reread Little Women, a book I have such fond memories of, however, the style and attitudes within the book were so outdated it made reading hard work.

I'm still a fan of Little women but I do agree that the way I read it now as an adult is very different to the way I read it as a child! I think it is still a 'good' book, but it's very much of its time - but having said that, I'm a big fan of 19th/early 20th Century 'moral tales', and will quite happily sit down and read something like 'The Wide, Wide World' which I think would leave most people very cold indeed. Give me something with an orphan, a contested inheritance, lots of happy tears and a few religious tracts and I'm in my element!

I think it's great too that in the past few years it's become much more accepted for adults to read 'children's books'. To me, a good book is a good book and I don't care who it's aimed at, if I like it I'll read it.

meritaten

Your DD may enjoy Jodi Picaults 'My sisters Keeper'. She would certainly be able to identify with the main character. Who is a teenage girl.

totallybored

loulou123 wrote: »

I was reading Stephen king and Richard layman at 14-15, it didn't do me any harm apart from the odd nightmare, but I do agree it depends on the child as some of the themes in these kind of books are very adult.

I was reading these at that age too. I had a pile of Stephen King books next to my bed. I've just had a look on Amazon at Richard Laymon as it seemed familiar and I remember so many of the covers so I must have read most of them too. As a younger teen I read the teen horror stuff but moved on to adult books by 15. I think I tried some Jilly Cooper but I was more interested in horror and being scared at that age.

themull1

I read any book when i was 15, my dad has about 3000 books, and i just got what i wanted, or went to the library. i never had a ''made for teenagers' book, i think mine were all either kids books then adult books. Skulduggery Pleasant is more for an 11 year old rather than a 15 year old.

I don't monitor what my 14 year old daughter reads, although it wouldn't be 50 shades of grey!! Very badly written!!

jackyann

I agree with a lot of these recommendations, especially:
The Outsiders (and SE Hinton's other books, very powerful)
His Dark Materials
The Wizard of Earthsea
The "older" Laura Ingalls Wilder books
The classics: Jane Eyre is always a favourite, and I love The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne (my grandmother thought it a good book for learning about women's rights)
Madeleine L'Engle & Marion Zimmer Bradley for sci-fi / fantasy from women's pov.
Laurie R. King for detective stories that offer a woman's perspective.
Jacqueline Winspear & Frances Brody have written some very good stories about women between the wars
Stand We at Last by Zoe Fairbairns - a feminist family saga mid 19C - 1970s.
Testament of Youth - for the wonderful idealism!

As for the "suitable reading" debate: I was lucky enough to have grandparents & parents who had a lot of books and took me to the library. Their attitude was that if I could read it, it would be OK. Whilst I do understand the people for whom this is shocking, but for me, I'm glad I read about stuff that was "too old" for me. There are books I read then Ragged Trousered Philanthropist; Tess of the d'Urbervilles) that I find difficult to read now, sometimes I think the insousiance of youth carries you through. And I certainly read books with shocking content: Forever Amber; Gone with the Wind (everyone forgets the rape in that book!) Dracula (pretty graphic!) and Carmilla (the original lesbian vampire)
I don't know that I would "recommend" some of the books discussed, but if they are about, then I think it's fine for a young person to read them. They tend to put them down if they can't cope with them. And you can discuss them: say "I found X a bit difficult to deal with"

Oh, and Callie: me too! I had to stop myself listing Charlotte M. Yonge and Mrs. Gaskell, as I am sure most modern teens would recoil! And actually, Charlotte M. Yonge's deathscenes are not for modern sensibilities!