Recommendations for 12 yo : realistic fiction ?

[EIisheva]

My son is mad about reading but struggling to find books he likes at the moment

He hates all things fantasy and goblin zombie related - you know.

Just enjoys a good yarn with decent characters and a good plot.

Recently loved When Hitler Stole Ponk Rabbit and before that some Roddy Doyle books

Is really appreciate some recommendations - I was reading Maeve Binchy and Virginia Andrews by that age 🙄 so have a gap in my knowledge

Thanks

Goodnight Mr Tom is one I always call a "good solid read".

Arthur Ransome?

Watership Down?

To be honest they're seen as girls books but jaqueline wilson does fantastic books for children that age. He may also enjoy the famous five despite them being a bit old fashioned. If he likes Sci fi I would recommend hero.com and villian.net books or Sophie mackensies medusa project series

At that age non fantasy wise I was reading Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Christie, The Thirty Nine Steps, 1984, Swallows and Amazons, Bill Bryson, the Alex Ryder series.

@Legoisthebest

Goodnight Mr Tom is one I always call a "good solid read".

Goodnight Mr Tom traumatised me for years 😂 I loved Point Horror at that age 😊

The Silver Sword
Carrie’s War
The Machine Gunners
Midnight is a Place
Eagle of the Ninth
Journey to the River Sea

Ds is the same. He likes books by Dan Smith and Alan Gratz. Have a look at books by them. Ds has loved all of them.

I, Claudius
Gerald Durrell?
The Owl Service

The Book Thief
Wonder
Holes
Private Peaceful

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
Oranges in No Man’s Land
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime
The Kite Runner
The Boy Who Steals Houses

Cherub series? I think S1 started them around that age, but you might want to have a look at them first with your child in mind. A brief google brings up The first books have a small, yet noticeable, amount of moderate swearing and foul language, as well as reference to drugs, violence and teenage relationships.

The set-up is that children go undercover to find things out. They're kids who don't have proper adult protection (I remember one of the early books pointed out quite strongly that the children of some of the adults involved on the periphery were actively kept out of it). Adventure, danger, friendship, bit of rebellion.

Alex Rider, on a similar theme. Possibly Young Bond? though I haven't read any of those. Oh, the Falcon's Malteser series - the Diamond Brothers.

Arthur Ransome was my first thought too. Gerald Durrell?

Mr Gum was a favourite with my two. (Struggling to remember the ones which didn't have fantasy elements... )

If he liked Pink Rabbit, maybe Sandi Toksvig's Hitler's Canary.

George's Secret Key to the Universe, by Stephen and Lucy Hawking.

Ooops, pressed post instead of preview. That first paragraph should have the additional caveat that the later [Cherub] books are probably on the stronger side!

Horned Helmet by Henry Treece
Cue for Treason by Geoffrey Trease

(Just because I enjoyed them myself)

The Once series by Moris Gleitzman. Set during/after WW2. Quite gritty and emotional but absolutely brilliant.

The Owl Service is definitely fantasy-oriented.

1984 is amazing

Thanks so much - this is amazingly helpful

My son is mature academically but in some aye really young for his age - really squeamish about swearing (no idea why because I swear like a fecking sailor) snogging ... death ... dead pets .... he’s just very hard to gauge. He loves Alex Ryder and many of the suggestions already made so I think we’re on the right track now.

The chaos walking trilogy by Patrick Ness

Just remembered S2 really liked the Gladiator series by Simon Scarrow (who I see has also written a whole load of others)

I second The boy who steals houses by C.G Drew, it’s one of the best books I’ve read over the last few years. Orbiting Jupiter by Gary D. Schmidt is another great book and was on the Carnegie Medal long list a few years back.
Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds and One by Sarah Crossan

Have a look at books by -

Onjali Raouf
Jan Mark esp The Dolphin Crossing
Anne Fine - some a bit young but some like The Granny Project v thought provoking
Michelle Magorian
Emma Carroll esp The Somerset Tsunami and Letters from the Lighthouse
Eva Ibbotson
Berlie Doherty
Ian Serallier - The Silver Sword
Louis Sarchar
Frank Cottrell Boyce
Kiran Millward Hargrave

Also -
Stig of the Dump - Clive
The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tyler - Gene Kemp
Moondial by Helen Cresswell
Tom's Midnight Garden and The Way to Sattin Shore by Philippa Pearce
After the War by Tom Palmer
Wonder

If I remember rightly the Kite Runner features male rape in so maybe cross that of the list for this age.

How about The Young Bond series?
Spy school series?
Michael Morpurgo books
Treason by Berlie Doherty
Eleven
Books by Malorie Blackman - e.g. Hacker, Operation Badman
The Secret of the Night Train
Dickens - Great Expectations?

*off

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Author : C. Silva
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