Need to get my 13 year old DS reading again

[MyBoysAreFab]

I'm looking for recommendations to get my 13, nearly 14 year old (in November) DS reading again. He hardly reads at all, much to my sadness, and his English teacher is trying to get him to read at home too.

I think he would like crime/thrillers/ murder type books - he's not keen on fantasy/magic type books. I'd like to find something he would really love to get his enthusiasm for reading back. Any suggestions, please!

not great literature, but my DS raced through CHERUB last year, are child spies, sort of thrillers. DS was nearly 13 when he read them all.

ActuallyPanda funnily enough I was just looking at them on Amazon and thought I would order the first one - it would be good to get him into a series of books, and they do get quite good reviews. Thanks!

Ooh I noticed those too on Amazon - will look at them again. Thanks!

DS has also read and very much enjoyed Gone series too.

what about watching Sherlock together, and then suggesting reading the original books - perhaps one of the collections of short stories rather than one of the novels?

How about John Buchan (39 Steps) or Neville Shute? They are grown up books dealing with adult storylines, but written so long ago there is no actual sex in them and the violence is pretty tame by Ben Ten standards.

have you thought about autobiographies? people like Steve Redgrave. I loved reading them from about that sort of age. or some of the WW2 spy ones. The Shetland Bus, that kind of thing. Or 'In War Heroes Wake'. Obviously it depends on his maturity whether you might need to check the content but if you pick the older books then they will probably not be too graphic. There is one called Secret Classrooms about how they trained people during the war - code breakers etc. Or Enigma, Cracking the Code books. They can be quite heavy reading some of the code cracking ones but if you pick carefully or he is particularly sciencey minded then you will be fine. 39 Steps is a good suggestions and there is another one I am trying to remember the name of which was like the original James Bond type book. that probably makes no sense but I will have a look for it tomorrow, I think I know where it is.

Has he read the Alex Rider series (Anthony Horowitz) or the Young Bond series (Charlie Higson)?

My DSS2 loved Cherub and Alex Rider at that age.

Ds has been reading Charlie Higson's "The Enemy" series.

Anthony Horowitz has also been a favourite, especially his "Power of Five" series.

ooh, good luck with that one. DS (also 14 in November) only reads stuff on ipad now.
Warhammer novels most recently.

The Cherub series and the Henderson Boys series are great for engaging readers, especially boys, and especially reluctant readers.

The Gone series is good and there is also the more recent Divergent series by Veronica Roth (ignore girly looking cover - they appeal to boys too and are being made into films)

I've been finding it hard to find good modern, real life crime/thriller books to recommend - there are a few out there and I have reviewed them on my website but I'm not sure if they'd get a reluctant reader going. This is the link if you want to check it out and I've also added my link with a reading list for 13/14 years olds - I've graded the books by difficulty and given a brief outline of the type of book.

Good luck.

www.booksteensandmagazines.com/browse/play-detective

www.booksteensandmagazines.com/blog/reading-list-year-9-13--14-year-olds

Thanks very much for all your great suggestions. I am going to sit and look at them with DS over the weekend, and order some for him. That's a great help books thanks so much.

The one I was thinking of (which I have to confess I haven't actually read myself) was The Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers.

Thanks Periwinkle - not heard of it but will look it up.

Watching thread with interest!

What about the Time Riders series by Alex Scarrow?

Agree with the above about Cherub, Alex Rider and Anthony Hotowitz being popular.

Darren Shan is another popular kids horror author.

I've just dragged ds to the library-he choose Horowitz books and is reading now I'd almost given up!

I recently asked about books - funny ones - for my 13 year old and got some great suggestions here. Maybe some of these might be interesting for your son, too. www.mumsnet.com/Talk/childrens_books/1792457-Funny-books-for-a-13-year-old-boy

oh, PS - my son has just started the Agent 21 series by Chris Ryan and seems to be enjoying the first book so far.

Another vote for Cherub, Horowitz and Young James Bond. Also, the Hunger Games books and the Young Sherlock Holmes got ds reading last summer. Ds is 12/nearly 13 and despite coming from a family of bookworms doesn't willingly pick up a book to read to himself (unless it is the argos catalogue!) I was determined to get him to read over the holidays, so thinking along the lines of the library reading challenge, I offered him £10 if he read 6 books. It worked - he finished his sixth book this week! I have explained that I will not be paying him to read books for the rest of his life!

Ooh good idea MrsBartlet - DS is always amenable to a bit of blatant bribery.

My younger DS2 - 12 in August - reads like mad. He has read all the Hunger Games books but his older brother just wasn't interested. DS2 is currently reading his way through the Game of Thrones books. I also read all the time, (mostly lightweight shite mind you!) so hate the fact that DS1 doesn't.

My DH used to read all the time but not so much now. I have said I am instigating a "reading evening" where we will all sit in the living room and read books, even if only once a week. I can only imagine how well that will go.....

Have you read Game of Thrones? Quite adult content for a 12 year old. I would not have wanted mine to read them at 12.

Have you read Game of Thrones? Quite adult content for a 12 year old. I would not have wanted mine to read them at 12.

Cherub & Hunger Games are good places to start. Also perhaps Malorie Blackman's Noughts and Crosses trilogy?

Also, depending on his maturity and interests, it might be worth looking at some adult fiction - when DS was 13/14 he read some Nick Hornby (eg High Fidelity - he's a bit of a music nerd so it appealed), and some spy/crime fiction, eg he was interested in WW2 and the cold war, and we visited Berlin and Vienna last year, so he read a series of novels by David Downing set in that era & those locations.

Is there anything he is interested in that you might find a fictional tie-in for?