Books for very clever but unmotivated 11 yr old boy!

[theusualwednesday]

I love the recent thread about a voraciously reading girl and have saved it for closer perusal.

My problem is I have a boy who is super academic but much less of a page-turning reader!!!

I would love help putting together a list for the next few years - books everyone ‘should’ have read. It’s really important to me that he has a foundation or some kind of canon of books he’s read, because I think that there are some books that change the world!

What books should EVERYONE have read, especially a boy who would not e.g. touch Anne of green gables?

@Newuser75 what history books does your son read? I have tried the Dominic sandbrook kids series which I think is brilliant if quite advanced, but he didn’t take to it. DS apparently wrote it for his ten year old!

Maybe go to an independent comic shop where they may have graphic novels and manga . Really reading anything is good, my DD got into the hunger games books and then soaked up fantasy dystopian books that seemed to have about 30 massive books in a series, but all good. If you think it's a bit grim or weird that's probably good . Agree also to model reading show it as a leisure activity

The Dark Is Rising books

Is he inclined towards maths / science / computers / technical stuff? If so, try suggesting non-fiction, factual books. You might find they are much more his thing.

I’m a STEM graduate and though I do read a lot, I have never been a big fan of fiction, or of arty stuff more generally. I still find reading most non fact-based literary fiction boring & pointless. I can’t stand poetry. Fact-based, properly researched historical fiction (eg Robert Harris) is more my thing.

The library at my daughter's secondary had a leaflet printed up with "50 books to read before you're 14".
Just type that into Google and see what comes up.

Sophie's World

Sophie's World - Wikipedia

DS’s son is just like him and v academic though. Love Dominic Sandbrook!

As a pp mentioned, Holes by Louis Sachar is fantastic for year 6 age. I’d also recommend his ‘There’s a Boy in the Girls’ Bathroom’ and the others he wrote that are aimed at this age group.

How about Anthony Horowitz’s Diamond Brothers series? Plus the Artemis Fowl books were well liked by the bright year 6 boys I once taught.

@theusualwednesday anything really, he loves history. He has read all the horrible history books, has recently had the who was series and my story history books.

This might help you to help him.

https://www.booktrust.org.uk/books-and-reading/our-recommendations/

And 9-11
https://www.booktrust.org.uk/books-and-reading/bookfinder/

12+
https://www.booktrust.org.uk/books-and-reading/bookfinder/

DS doesn't like to read but has enjoyed:

Holes by Louise Sachar
Puzzled - a series of about 10 books by PJ Nichols

This is all super interesting.

I loved Dominic sandbrook’s books about the 50s-80s! DS loved horrible histories a couple of years ago and then sort of fell off in between - too old for HH, too not quite interested enough for Dominic sandbrooks kids ones.

i might read the Second World War one out to them actually.

S1 was a bit older when he got into the Cherub series (they get quite strong themes quite quickly, apparently... doesn't seem to have done him any harm). The Spook series was a bit later.

S2 was in the middle of Skulduggery Pleasant at that age. He enjoyed Michele Paver's Wolf Brother series, and Simon Scarrow's Gladiator.

As others have mentioned, Young Bond, Alex Rider and the Diamond brothers.

How to Train Your Dragon.

Asterix was a big hit, though neither of them took to Tintin in the same way.

Couldn't persuade them to read the Chronicles of Prydain, which I'm still annoyed about

I did buy a cool chose your own adventure book with clues to solve for my nephew (10)

Ditto. Lots of teens who don't want to read as such enjoy manga/anime. My son has really liked avatar/the last air bender.
He has just finished the Demon Slayer but that may be a bit adultforca preteen depending on his maturity.

Also, you could perhaps try audio books? DS used to to listen to Andy Serkis reading Lord of the rings before bed.

My 11yo has just devoured Christopher Paolini's Eragon series. Others he's loved recently are Hunger Games, A Single Stone and the Usborne Choose Your Own Adventure books.

Boy in the Tower is a brilliant must read.

The Boy in the Tower | BookTrust

Ds doesn't read, really, and I gave up worrying about it age about 14. But he did show some enjoyment for the Cherub series, Young Bond, Noughts and Crosses first book, and I am Pilgrim.

Year 6 is a bit tricky because those are all quite dark. The only classic of my childhood that we all enjoyed was the Narnia series (books 1-5 anyway, he proved resistant to the evangelism and we didn't read The Last Battle). He did engage with Tolkein unfortunately, I went from mild liking to active hatred while reading the Hobbit to him.

He did have patches of enjoying audiobooks but How To Train Your Dragon spoiled us for any other audiobooks.

Oh he did like the Guinness book of records.

My 11 year old has just read The Martian and loved it (the book the film was based on).
If your son enjoyed the Famous Five books has he read the Enid Blyton Adventure Series? A less well known, but more interesting set of 7 books by her.

London Eye Mystery.
Wonder, and the sequel.
The Lost Bear.
The Boy At The Back of the Class.
I Am Malala.
Noughts and Crosses.
Eoin Colfer books.
Frank Cotterell Boyce books.
I Am David.
Shapeshifters series by Ali Sparkes.
The White Giraffe plus others in series by Lauren St John.

Eragon a big hit here, and Young Bond and Alex Rider. What about Artemis Fowl? I'd say he a bit young yet for Cherub, they do get pretty dark pretty quickly, but in a couple of year's time maybe. I was definitely reading Agatha Christie at 10, I'd read everything in the children's section of the library, some multiple times, and was allowed an adult ticket, but stayed within Christie, Marsh and similar for a few years.

Dark is Rising is good, if a bit creepy - BBC did a brilliant dramatised audio version over Christmas which I think is still available - I listened to it while crafting and thoroughly enjoyed it myself, perhaps if he listens he might want to read sequels?

I wanted to share a little story with you about my son's ( 11 yrs old) journey with reading. Initially, he wasn't too fond of picking up books and reading. But I decided to try something different and got him an activity book from Amazon. Surprisingly, he really took to it and enjoyed completing the activities. Even though it wasn't traditional reading, the activity book helped improve his comprehension skills, as his teacher pointed out.

Recently, my son developed a keen interest in geography, particularly the rainforest. So, I got him a rainforest activity book, and the impact it has had on him has been amazing. He not only learns a great deal from the book but also goes off to do his own research on the topic. In a way, he may not realize it, but he is engaging with reading through these activities.

My advice to you is to encourage your son to read something or engage in an activity that truly interests him. It might not look like traditional reading at first, but the learning and growth that can come from it are invaluable.

The book i started off with, with my son is called Fun activity book for kids by H.N.D on Amazon