Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Wanting my child to read a book that doesn't involve warring factions, them and us situations and children old before their time

82 replies

burntthesprouts · 12/02/2016 01:10

...that really. My DS is 12 and will devour books and then not read for months - he's gone through Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Wolf Brother, Noughts and Crosses, The Hunger Games, the Narnia series, Divergence (sp?) - I rejoice in the fact that he's reading and then realise that all the books involve outsiders battling against authority, being thrown into horribly adult, merciless situations and surviving but being damaged in some way. Please can someone give me ideas for books that are uplifting that don't involve the main character being crucified/martyred/tortured etc. And toilet humour/silliness, whilst it amuses him, won't sustain him for the length of a novel. Was thinking Great Expectations but then thought I'm just being a ponce and he might not be ready for Dickens yet! And actually Pip gets shafted on all fronts doesn't he - bloody hell Drama innit!

OP posts:
SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 12/02/2016 11:27

By my mid teens, burntthesprouts, I was reading a lot of adult fiction - from my parents' collections of books, and from the library - I loved reading, read an awful lot, and wanted to read more challenging things. It sounds as if your ds is like me, and that's not a bad thing.

My parents let me read whatever I wanted, and didn't seem to worry about what I was reading - and I don't think that reading beyond my age level, or reading more grown-up story lines did me any harm or caused me any problems. On the contrary, I think it fostered my love of books and reading.

If you could see where I am sitting now, you'd see a sea of books behind me - basically three walls of the room I'm in are lined with bookcases, and they are all pretty much full. I reckon I could live without TV or music, and probably without the internet (though I would miss MN, of course), but I couldn't live without books.

If your ds were having nightmares about the stories he is reading, or if they were causing him worry or concern, then you might be right to try to guide his reading in other directions, but from what you have said thus far, it doesn't sound as if it's causing him any issues at all.

Maybe a better approach would be to use the themes that are concerning you as a springboard for discussion, not focusing on whether he should or should not be reading about such things, but on his reaction to the stories, and his opinion of the plots.

My parents did control my reading in one area - Enid Blyton! My mum thought that her books were really badly written, so I was not allowed to read them - and I remember, to this day, the feeling of resentment that caused.

NotJanine · 12/02/2016 11:33

She is Not Invisible by Marcus Sedgwick

scarednoob · 12/02/2016 11:42

What about Adrian mole?

There's also the Georgia Nicholson series - yes they are meant for girls, but they are laugh out loud funny, and he might enjoy it even if he scorns them on the surface!

There's the David walliams books, but they might be a bit young, sorry I'm not quite sure where they are pitched.

How about Roald Dahl's autobiographies, "boy" and "going solo"? I loved tales of the unexpected at his age too (still do!).

Lemony Snickett?

I agree that he is going to read what he likes - and the Sally green "half bad" books are great if he is into what you describe - but some comedy ones might lighten it up too.

Nataleejah · 12/02/2016 11:57

Adrian Mole is great! But later novels are a bit adult...

scarednoob · 12/02/2016 11:59

Oh yes, I only meant the first two. Must admit I haven't read the older ones myself Blush

RhodaBull · 12/02/2016 12:07

What about Just William? They're really not babyish at all, and very amusing.

I think that a lot of modern children's books are depressing and all about ishoos. I was reading the synopses of a few in Waterstones and it's all transgender, divorce, cancer etc etc. The authors all seem to be going for "prizewinning" rather than just telling a good yarn.

MetalMidget · 12/02/2016 12:09

The Artemis Fowl books are good fun and not too heavy, and Terry Pratchett is fantastic.

To be honest though, most books aimed at kids/young adults are generally going to be 'teenager fighting against the system', because the 'hero's journey' is a classic story archetype that isn't going to be going anywhere anytime soon!

If it's any consolation, I was reading Stephen King by his age. The group sex scene in IT was a bit eeeww! Funnily enough, now I quite often enjoy some of the kids books like The Hunger Games series, Garth Nix's Old Kingdom books!

OneMagnumisneverenough · 12/02/2016 12:15

How about some non-fiction?

The Long Walk (the one about an escape from Russian Gulag and travelling across the Gobi) there are other books with the same name I think
The Railway man
Agent Zig Zag

Maybe not that uplifting but certainly inspiring.

or fiction:
1984
Catcher in the Rye
The Accidental Indian
The Indian in the Cupboard (maybe too young?)
The Young Bond books
Lord of the Flies

ceebie · 12/02/2016 12:28

My Mum would sympathise! I devoured the most awful books at that age. Jilly Cooper, Frederick Forsyth, Jeffery Archer. Authors who can't even string a decent sentence together, let alone a decent storyline. My mother despaired, but let us get on with it, hoping we'd move on to better things soon.

scarednoob · 12/02/2016 12:47

I LOVE just william. Richmal crompton had a brilliant grasp of the english language.

burntthesprouts · 12/02/2016 23:58

Wow! thanks everyone for the brilliant suggestions. Of course I'm delighted that he's reading at all and wouldn't veto something unless I really objected to overly adult content (whilst I have the power to veto that is). His reading has gone off the boil a bit lately and he's been spending a lot of time on the computer. I guess I'm just thinking that I could punt a few ideas his way that had a 'lighter' tone. Terry Pratchett is proving popular. I LOVED Joan Aiken as a child too and Nina Bawden. I read Jude the Obscure when I was 12 but am not going to suggest that to him as it hardly constitutes a 'light' read! I'll download a few books on the Kindle and let him choose what he fancies. Once again, thanks for all the suggestions.

OP posts:
Balaboosta · 13/02/2016 00:46

Yy to James Herriot

BernardsarenotalwaysSaints · 13/02/2016 09:13

Just thought of another, Gerald Durrell. Also Arthur Ransom. I read the Swallows & Amazons series in my late teens & still enjoyed them. I did (still do) read anything I could get my hands on.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 13/02/2016 11:40

I have my mum's copies of the Arthur Ransome books, Bernards, and I have read them as an adult too.

I think the mark of a good children's book is that you can still read it as an adult and enjoy it.

SoMuchToBits · 13/02/2016 11:52

Another vote here for Arthur Ransome. My ds read them all when he was younger (about 8), but still rereads them all at 15. He also likes P G Wodehouse.

Something else I enjoyed at about the age of 12 was the original Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Also, some other detective fiction, such as the Dorothy L Sayers 'Lord Peter Wimsey' books.

And Jules Verne might also appeal (Around the World in 80 Days, 20 000 Leagues Under the Sea etc).

MummaV · 13/02/2016 12:09

My favorite books at that ages were the Noughts and Crosses series and Garth Nix's old kingdom series(so much so when he brought out a further book a fee years ago I had it on pre-order). I still have them and read them regularly.

I think you should just let him read anything he enjoys. It's all fantasy.

Girlwhowearsglasses · 13/02/2016 12:31

I always come on to say Douglas Adams!

He's old enough for adult fiction within reason.

Gerald Durrel is brilliant.

Margaret Atwood: Cats Eye for an insight into teenage heads and how it feels to look back as an adult.

Sci Fi I loved. Seem to remember Arthur C Clarke I enjoyed a lot.

Maybe more modern thought-provoking books - I've heard the book of The Martian is good (is he sciencey?)

They don't have to be boy oriented either.

quirkychick · 13/02/2016 12:50

TheRealBarenziah The Chrysalids by John Wyndham is absolutely my favourite book too! A close second, Homeward Bounders by Diana Wynne Jones.

As others have said, the outsider questioning authority is always going to appeal to teenagers and big teenagers too. The old before their time is just exploring growing up and the adult world beyond. Watching characters find their way through difficult and dangerous situations helps us experience them from the safe distance as a reader...

Dd1 is 10 and a voracious reader, some things we've enjoyed:

The Perry Jackson books, and the later Heroes of Olympus
Joan Aiken, Wolves of Willoughby Chase
Inheritance Cycle (Eragon series)
The Hobbit
Tiffany Aching series by Terry Pratchett
Susan Cooper, Dark is Rising Series

Dd1 has also read by herself some of:

Septimus Heap series
Skullduggery Pleasant series
Eva Ibbotson books

rumbleinthrjungle · 13/02/2016 13:27

If he likes fantasy then he might enjoy David Eddings The Belgariad series, The Dragon Riders of Pern series by Anne McCaffrey, Mercerdes Lackey's Arrows of the Queen series, and TH White's Sword in the Stone.

Yy to Percy Jackson and Tiffany Aching!

OTheHugeManatee · 13/02/2016 16:07

Give him the Belgariad 5 book series by David Eddings. It's not literary but utterly gripping and IIRC (I read it around that age) not too violent or dark. It' your classic find-the-sword-and-save-the-world. I loved it. There's another 5 books in the same world if he likes them.

OTheHugeManatee · 13/02/2016 16:08

X posted Rumble!

NaughtToThreeSadOnions · 13/02/2016 16:18

Have you actually read great expectations?! I would have thought it was exactly the sort of book you didn't want him to read.

A young child meets a convict on the downs, then has his life played with by rich befactors as if he was a toy!

Pip is thrown in to very grown up situations!

OTheHugeManatee · 13/02/2016 16:31

Out of curiosity, why don' you want him reading about young people coping in difficult situations? I could understand if you didn't want him to read stories that gave a realistic/pessimistic picture of what would happen to kids in wars or post-apocalyptic scenarios or whatever but most of the books you describe show young people triumphing against impossible odds and surely that's the exciting part for a young reader?

LilaTheTiger · 13/02/2016 16:35

The Martian is fab.

Ubik1 · 13/02/2016 16:58

Dracula?

Frankenstein

Sherlock Holmes

Wizard of earthsea is amazing and hugely underrated

Swipe left for the next trending thread