Ideas for a 13 year old who likes manga

[lotusbell]

DS13 has always been a good reader but he's struggling lately. He enjoyed the Percy Jackson series, has just finished the Maze Runner series but we have found a couple of prequel type books recently. He's now reading Fever Code, I think.
He has tried Stephen King but I think got a bit overwhelmed with the sheer size.
He really enjoys Manga and has lots but he takes part in Accelerated Reading at school and his teacher told him a while back he needs to be reading more novels. There are quizzes you can take and it measures your reading level etc.
As part of the English work set by school during the closure, he is supposed to be reading at least an hour a week. In a comment to his class on.some recent homework, his teacher said she was disappointed more kids aren't taking the quizzes. Not aimed specifically at him but he's one of them.
Any suggestions about what books he could maybe try?
I'm struggling myself to get into anything while I'm working from home, totally lost my reading mojo but want to keep encouraging DS as I know it's an age when a lot of kids lose interest in reading.
At the moment, pS4 and phone always win over reading!

Has he tried Harry Potter?

Other options:

• hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy
• Terry Pratchett novels
• Alex Rider
• H.I.V.E
• Artemis Fowl
• CHERUB
• Tomorrow When the War Began
• Maximum Ride
• The Hunger Games
• Ghroosham Grange
• The Tomorrow Code

He has Hunger Games Trilogy and Chaos Walking trilogy, struggling to get him interested in either, but I'm thinking it might just be an effect of lockdown, kack of focus etc
Thinking the Divergent series may be good.

It is a tricky age if he is not interested in longer novels because most of the YA novels with more complex storylines start to climb in word count (and shrink in text size).

How about graphics novels rather than manga. There are loads that are well recognised and award winning. It's not all superheroes. In YA there are excellent books by Raina Telgemeier and Victoria Jamieson - but he might find them a bit too 'girly'. In adult graphic novels I enjoy Posy Simmonds (again a bit to 'female'?).
Charley's War is an excellent series aimed at teenage boys. Originally published in 1970/80s Battle Comic but now available in book form. Popular adult ones are titles like V for Vendetta, Watchmen and From Hell by Alan Moore (they may be a bit mature for his age - I haven't read those so can't comment).
Basically type graphic novels for teenage Boyd into Google and you will get loads of titles.

Thank you,some great ideas here will look into them all.

Second Alex Rider and Artemis Fowl. For entry level Terry Pratchett I’d try Nation (great!!!) or The Amazing Maurice.

Witch hat atelier is good only 6 books out at the moment also Death note you can buy the complete box set for him

Mortal Engines series is v good, pacy like a graphic novel would be.
I love Post Simmonds, but yes, perhaps just too adult (and therefore boring to a 13yo).
I consider Watchmen as 18+ only, tbh. V for Vendetta I haven't read the book, only seen the film, which was a 15, so can't comment.
Scott Pilgrim is a graphic novel series and would be fine for a 13yo. (I think there's 6 or 8 volumes).
If he's put off by how long books seem...is it worth getting a kindle, so they seem less daunting?
Has he read Lord of the Rings?
Maus is a graphic novel about the Holocaust. It's very moving.
What about things that are YA/adult crossovers like The Book Thief?
Patrick News is good for this age.
Also Philip Pullman's Northern Lights trilogy (though he may have already read these?)

Oh, and Skulduggery Pleasant.

Neil Gaiman's Sandman might be worth a look. DS1 just read Slaughterhouse-5 which is a slim volume.

Otherwise short stories?

Terry pratchett suggestion here too, any of his disk world series, there are book versions of a lot of mangas, they're called 'light novels'

So if you google/ebay 'Japanese light novels' you should find a lot of good options, there's also a Death Note book called L which is an additional novel to go aside the manga/anime.

From a quick Google 'A light novel (ライトノベル, raito noberu) is a style of Japanese novel primarily targeting high school and middle school students (young adult demographic).'

Just research the light novel you're buying a lil first as the Japanese do tend to be a bit more loose on terms of decency, the legal age of constant is 13 so sometimes they can be overly sexual.

Thank you everyone, lots of good ideas here.
I think he has perhaps a short attention span and likes the thrill of starting a new book and he likes to read in short bursts.
I am always a bit wary of what manga he reads and watches as some of it is very overtly sexual or gory!
Will do something more research, thank.you again everyone who has offered suggestions!

He might enjoy Tao Wong. He writes "D&D" fiction, loosely based in gaming, but he does it really well - world building, characterisation are fab. I think they'd be a good follow on from Manga.

Has he read Harry pottter. (particularly the latter ones?) Lord of the Rings. I second Hitch Hikers Guide,

He has dipped in and out of Potter, @june2007 and not sure he would want to 'return' to them now, probably thinks he's too old for them. He's reading a Maze Runner prequel, now struggling to get him to make time, other than a quick 10 minutes before lights out.

Have order a few 3nd books from.various suggestions so he will have plenty to try.

My DD loves manga and is currently reading (and watching) Spirited away, she also love My neighbour Tortoro (the British museum had a special exhibition of that which we went to see last summer).

She also loved the inventions of Hugo Cabret & the Marvels.

Do they like manga drawing? There are a couple of online airbnb experiences you can buy relating to manga

Was supposed to say a few 2nd hand books..
He is a Studio Ghibli fan, not sure if he wants to read the books, although we do have Howl's Moving Castle here, its mine really.
He has had a go at drawing manga, but he's not very confident in his drawing skills unfortunately. He is very much of a 'if I can't do it brilliantly straight away, I may as well give up' type of child, it's frustrating!
One of the issues is that the manga he likes to read are not included in the accelerated reading scheme so he can't register them on his tally.

His Death Note arrived today, his best friend reads this so he's been texting her about how good it is. He's also started The Kill Order. The manga he will read by tomorrow I'm sure. Again, the problem is graphic novels and manga are not included in the scheme so I'm trying to persuade him to reply to the latest message (again, about how few have completed quizzes) and tell his teacher he is reading but one is a big book and the other is manga, which she knows he likes.

Just popping back into this thread to recommend Only You Can Save Mankind as a good Terry Pratchett book as originally I just recommended the author as a whole. Funny, not overly long, good pacing, and the start of a trilogy if he likes it enough to read more.

Would he be interested in His Dark Materials? Having the first season out might make him more interested in reading, then watching. (Or suggest he watches the first episode to see if he would like to read the series?)

I know your problem OP - as parent of a 13 yr old and a school librarian.

Maximum Ride is great - manga series AND brilliant novel series!! Even the manga version has been AR'd (assessed for reading level by Accelerated Reader). However it comes out at something like 2.0 -2.6 only.

Sometimes I can get my DS into something by reading the first chapter to him - or sometimes we read the whole thing together.

A few graphic novels are AR'd, most not though. You can look things up on the AR Book Finder website:

www.arbookfind.co.uk/

and also do filtered searching on some school (and other) booksellers' websites, eg
Peter’s

peters.co.uk/search-for-accelerated-reader-quizzed-books

there's an AR filter which then gives options for searching on different book levels (BL)