Good Books for Boys?

[FlatLandBeer]

Have you ever noticed that there are tons of books written for girls in the bookstore. American Girls, Babysitter's club. sweet valley high..etc But almost nothing for boys. It remains mostly old Tom Swift jr books & Hardy Boys. Nothing new.

Boys need good books that address their interests that reinforce good moral values and masculinity. Anyone have any suggestions for good books?

Even the comic books suck these days and are written more for adults than for kids.

[Lucretia Borgia]

My ten year ols son is currently devouring the Edge Chronicles
by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell. He will be receiving book 6 in the series for Christmans.

We also read together the Dragon Academy series when he was 8.

[Kidan]

It depends on what age you're discussing.

I'm assuming it's Early teens (middle school) as, books for beginners (elem. school) tend to be gender nuetral for the most part. Likewise, High Schoolers should feel comfortable reading 'adult' books.

Anyways, try Harry Potter, Liminy Snicket or the Eragon/Eldest duology (there may be more of this series coming out)

If you want something that's not quite so new, try A Wrinkle in Time (and its related books), EarthSea and you can never go wrong with the Chronicles of Narnia.

Likewise, there are a number of Star Wars series for the younger readers, these are Young Jedi Knights, Junior Jedi Knights, Jedi Apprentic, one about a young Boba Fett, and Jedi Quest.

[Full Court]

self ping for later

[Senator Bedfellow]

Is that a depiction of "reinforcing masculine values"? :)

[HHKrepublican_2]

I was a Camp Counselor this summer for pre-teen boys...the popular books were Harry Potter and The "PenDragon" Series.

Also look at...

Redwall-Brian Jaques
Lord of the Rings
The Narnia Series--read it before the movie kills it!
(Narnia has a strong Christian message)

[martin gibson]

Don't forget the classics -Treasure Island, Robinson Crusoe, any of the Tarzan novels, any of the Fighting Men of Mars books, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, any of the Doc Savage books, Kidnapped...

[Dante3]

There used to be a series for kids about a sheriff. The first in the series was simple and the reading level became increasingly more advance. I wish I could recall the name.

The "Snip, Snap, and Snur" series (by the author of the Flicka, Ricka and Dicka series).

Both of these are older series, might find them in libraries.

[writmeister]

One of my favorite books at that age was "Johnny Tremain".

[Joe Brower]

[Calpernia]

My middle son is allergic to reading. However he loves Captain Underpants.


Silly site for Captain Underpants
http://www.pilkey.com/index.php

[Calpernia]

That is a classic in our home too.

[garyb]

The "juveniles" or as he called them, the "Boys books" written by Robert A. Heinlein.

# ROCKET SHIP GALILEO, 1947
# SPACE CADET, 1948 - basis for the television series 'Tom Corbett: Space Cadet'
# RED PLANET, 1949
# FARMER IN THE SKY, 1950
# BETWEEN PLANETS, 1951
# UNIVERSE / ORPHANS OF THE SKY, 1951
# THE ROLLING STONES / SPACE FAMILY STONE, 1952
# STARMAN JONES, 1953
# THE STAR BEAST, 1954
# TUNNEL IN THE SKY, 1955
# TIME FOR THE STARS, 1956
# CITIZEN OF THE GALAXY, 1957
# HAVE SPACE SUIT, WILL TRAVEL, 1958

When ready to go beyond the juveniles....

# STARSHIP TROOPERS, 1959 (Hugo Award) - film 1997, dir. by Paul Verhoeven, written by Ed Nuemeyer
# PODKAYNE OF MARS, 1963

Beyond those, his titles are adult in nature.

I edited the above list from:
http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/heinlein.htm

Which has a lot more information about Heinlein and his books.

[Calpernia]

ping for insight.

[Lucretia Borgia]

Sorry, it should be Dragon Slayers Academy. 9 books in the series. We borrowed them from the library and read together when he was in second grade. Great cuddle time.

[Calpernia]

ping

[TXBSAFH]

Anarchist Cookbook.;)

[Calpernia]

ping

[Fierce Allegiance]

[Esther Ruth]

Henty books are good historical fiction.

http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/easy_find?nav_search=1&event=ESRCN&action=Search&Ntt=g%2E+a%2E+henty&N=5100+0&Ne=201400+200900+1000000+10000&D=g%2E+a%2E+henty&Nu=product%2Eendeca%5Frollup&Ns=product%2Enumber%5Fsold&Ntk=author&Nso=1


Henty books at Amazon also
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1887159339/002-9783041-5072062?v=glance&n=283155

[Dante3]

"Johnny Tremaine"