What books would inspire a 13yr old boy to read?

[greedygoose]

I'm really interested in this and would love suggestions!

Anthony Horowitz

what's his reading ability like? any clue as to his reading age? ds2 10yo avid reader has read all the Anthony Horowitz Alex Rider books (currently on the last one) they're brilliant. what is he interested in?

Maybe some graphic novels (Sandman, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) ?

What are his interests?

Yes, it would be helpful if you could say more about his interests and capabilities.

Is he "academic" but unwilling to read for pleasure? (So could cope with more sophisticated stuff?) Or completely uninterested in words and language? (So perhaps graphic novels or Marvel comics?)

Does he actually want to read more? Or might he prefer to spend his time in galleries or watching the stars?....

Thanks for replies, it was actually just a general question because I am a school nurse and my Husband a teacher, we look after lots of boys and he says hardly any read for pleasure...really my question is how/what would inspire them to read for pleasure?

Money; house points; competition; prizes. Have you tried all of those? You can't make them enjoy books but you can appeal to their natural instincts.

You say boys. How about pairing each of them with a girl to read and present to the class / year a certain book?

Or get them to read and then storyboard their books. For prizes...

Maggot Moon, Curious Incident of a Dog in the Nighttime, The Maximum Ride series, Cirque du Freak all go down well with boys.

If they're not readers then and you want to convert them then I think you either go for
funny books : Spud by John van de Ruit or
action books: Divergent by Veronica Roth, Maze Runner by James Dashner, Gone by Michael Grant or
Gory/horror books: Department 19 by Will Hill or Darren Shan books
books that are not too long and have short chapters: Mortal Chaos by Matt Dickinson
I've put a link to reading list I created that might be useful
www.booksteensandmagazines.com/blog/reading-list-year-8-12-to-13-year-olds

Get them reading original Sherlock Holmes when the reinvention is gracing our screens again!

You can't beat a good Roald Dahl book!

The 39 clues is great - sorry am on phone but type into Amazon .

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness and its two sequels are brilliantly written and good for boys in particular. It has graphic violence and very dark themes, though, so not for anyone younger than 13 I would say.

Holes

You can't bribe boys into liking reading. Surely what you have all done is try to engage with what the individual might like and that is what the boys themselves have to do - go into a library and pick things up and look for titles in genres that they are interested in. Getting them to do a project on themselves and their own preferences first - what am I interested in? - would help them to begin thinking about what the enjoy and then getting them to test it out, read a book of that genre and then report back - was it what they expected? Then share good titles with other boys - like a book club. Encouraging them to read, explore and talk about books is the only way to get them to engage.

Well, I thought I'd encourage my 13 year old son to read some edgy, dark, contemporary YA fiction, but he's reading.... "Paddington" and laughing like there's no tomorrow!

My DS is 12 and a reluctant reader. however, the hunger games series is being enjoyed - although very slowly.
Diary of a wimpy kid is still enjoyed.
FC is bringing some books based in the minecraft world - do not know if they are any good.

So would recommend whatever is 'in'.

When my son was thirteen he liked the Artemis Fowl books by Eoin Colfer very much, about a boy thief who is a genius, very clever and amusing. he also liked Anthony Horowitz very much, especially the Power of five series and the Alex Rider books. he also enjoyed Only You Can Save Mankind by Terry Pratchett, which is very amusing, and the two sequels Johnny and the Dead, and Johnny and the Bomb. the Jimmy Coates books by Joe Craig was another series he enjoyed - about a boy who is given bionic superpowers, he found those very amusing.

These threads always get such good feedback - thought mumsnetters would enjoy the World Book Day attempt to create an ultimate teen reading list - the link is here: www.worldbookday.com/writes-of-passage/

Anything by Louis Sachar, Patrick Ness or Phillip Pullman should be inspiring...

The Young James Bond series by Charlie Higson - cracking reads.

Although a bit young for him, they're fun - all the books by David Walliams, 'Gangsta Granny' etc.

And, there's tons of fab non-fiction out there. If you can go down to the library together and hang out for a bit, have a look at some books together, that can help.

My 12 and 10 yr old still love being read to, we're on the Swallows and Amazons books which they wouldn't read themselves but love listening to.

Hunger Games, the dark machines books (can be too dark).
Living with a Willy.
Zombie books, we had this recently: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
Mine will read Warhammer books, too .

The Aztec Code (Steve Cole)
Z-Raptor & the related books in same series
Darren Shan (very gory)
Should say mine barely reads since he got an iPad (argh).

The kindle has made a massive difference to DS (13) reading. He's always got a book on the go now.
I wanted to say thank you to the person who recommended 'Spud'. He loves it - he's on the third one. Keeps telling me how funny it is.

My DSS is 13 and whilst he isn't generally a huge reader there are a few series that have got him hooked- Skullduggery Pleasant, Artemis Fowl, Assassins Creed (I don't love these if I'm honest..), Hunger Games and Percy Jackson.