Recommendations for books to read to an 11year old boy that we will BOTH enjoy.

[MordechaiVanunu]

We've done recently Goodnight Mr Tom, Secret Garden and quite a few Michael Morpurgo, and we've just given up on Swallows and Amazons after many weeks as god it was tedious.

So what should we try next?

I've been recommended Wolf Brother? And Terry Pratchett (started separate Terry Pratchett thread) any other suggestions?

Very this minute - War Horse -

Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliffe - a legionnaire & his British slave journey north to above Hadrian's Wall to rescue his Dad's missing eagle. There's been a movie made of it recently but haven't seen it so can't say if it's as good as the book.

THe Adventures of Hugo Cabret is great (it looks dauntingly fat, but there are alot of pictures, and you can find the silent movies mentioned on You Tube). How to spot a Hadrosaur in a Bus Queue is, implausibly, a book of lists, but for some reason, this really appeals to my lad (similarly Ripley's Believe it or not, and The Guinness Book of Records) and he likes to read these out to me, rather than the other way round. We also really liked Eleanor Updale's Montmorency, Eva Ibbotson's One Dog and His Boy (a bit young for 11 though?) and I even read him A Curious Incident of the Dog at Night Time (but had to do a bit of editing on the hoof due to bad language and some sexual references -- my lad is only 7 but he has an adult reading capacity which makes it a bit tricky to find things that are written at the right conceptual level for him). Also, Louis Sachar's Holes, and The Fall of Feargal by Philip Ardagh.

The Mortal Engines series by Philip Reeve are wonderful. I think there are 7 books in the series and we all enjoyed them. The Cherub Series and The Henderson Boys books by Robert Muchamore have really captured my 11 year old son's imagination. The Northern Lights trilogy by Philip Pulman are also very good. As my children are dyslexic I have read a lot of these books to them and I've found them really readable.

The 'Nicholas' books by Goscinny. Translated from French and written in the 60s and 70s, tale about a schoolboy and his friends and family. Always ends in a scrap or schoolteacher tearing hair out or neighbours and parents arguing. I love reading these with DS - laugh out loud stuff.

Also an American series 'Encyclopedia Brown' - you have to work out how he solves the crime/mystery at the end of each story.

And have you seen the series written by Stephen Hawkings and his daughter? Space adventures - just started the first one - seem to combine some interesting facts into a child based adventure.

Also 'Haroun and the Sea of Stories' by Salman Rushdie - written for children but I read it as an adult. Not sure what age written for but a beautiful book.

Enjoy!

Echoing Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines - husband and I are gobbling up the second (Predator's Gold)for out own enjoyment. He does adventure plus empathy and character - some call this genre "steam punk" .. kind of like cyber punk (?!) apparently but with Victorian technology...

More votes here for Ali Sparkes Frozen in Time (Won the Blue Peter bk of the year award) and I enjoyed it hugely as an adult - makes you think on how health-and-safety-dominated our lives are now. And Rosemary Sutcliffe

Windsinger good, but the sequels go a bit odd

Is not Eva Ibbotson a bit girlie? Actually if you and he got on with Secret garden maybe not.

Just William and co by Richmal Crompton are well-written short stories, v amusing and Jennings hilarious if he can handle the datedness

If you want something a bit more innocent my 12 year old Nephew has just discovered James Herriot All Creatures Great and Small and - as has been mentioned -Gerald Durrell My family and other animals.

narnia - sorry if already recommended.

Just to say that you are completely right about Swallows and Amazons itself but the others are much less tedious - so worth having on his shelf, even if he won't try them at the moment. I'd suggest We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea, or Great Northern?

I'm surprised that any 12 year old boy would allow their mother to read to them! As soon as my son hit Year 7 that was it - mum banned from bedroom, no more cuddles or books. I have just bought a David Walliams today in WAterstones for our impending holiday and after having a quick flick though I think it is geared towards 9/10 year olds. Neigh mind, at this age any book is better than the ipad/xbox. :)

Can I add the Jimmy Coates series by Joe Craig? Fast paced and gripping. Lots of action. About a part-engineered boy living in a 1984esq world where he is destined to become a government assasin. Activated too early he fights against his programming and the regime.

Books so far are on Amazon