What books have your teens loved?

[TerrorAustralis]

DS's 13th birthday is coming up. He's asked me for some new books. He's been a voracious reader in the past, but hasn't loved anything recently.

He's clever and reads above his age, but is very much still a kid at heart and isn't interested in relationships or teen angst (yet). Loves history and has enjoyed historical fiction by Morris Gleitzman and Michael Morpurgo in the past.

He's read all the Percy Jacksons and loved those. Not so much the other Rick Riordan series. Liked Skullduggery Pleasant a few years ago, but found them a bit boring after book 3. Liked the Hunger Games, but lost interest in book three when it was 'just Katniss being depressed'.

Any recommendations for standalone books or series would be much appreciated.

Terry Pratchett

Good idea. DH has a few kicking around, so I’ll suggest he gives one a go.

Adrian Mole Series

Do they stand the test of time? I haven’t read those since the 80s!

DD really likes poetry and reading plays and that interest started around that age. Other wise she's enjoyed Dorian Gray and Animal Farm and Roald Dahls short stories.

Have they tried Alex Rider series? There are quite a few shorter series, eg AF Steadman Skandar books, slightly older (my 12 year old reports there is a bit of swearing). a series called empyrean series by Rebecca Yarros including fourth wing and iron flame. Robert muchamore has a couple of series, one is called cherub series. I can’t remember the name of the other one. 21% monster by PJ CANNING. The Hatmakers, Map Makers by Tamzin Merchant

There are definitely some some out of date references (even I don't get some of them as I read them as an older teen) but my DS read them as a 14 year old and loved them.

I think he’s a bit old for Alex Rider, but I’ll take a look. I need to take this thread to the bookshop!

DS has also enjoyed A Good Girl's Guide to Murder and Five Survive, not sure about the appropriacy as I'm quite lenient with books.

I think Adrian might have been the original wimpy kid.

Charlie Higson The Enemy series kept ds reading well into the night at that age.

I’m relatively non-censorial with books, but have said he’s too young to read the Godfather. I read it when I was about 15 and the sex and violence was a lot!

Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy series is good for that age along with Pratchetts work. Neil Gaimans books might also appeal particularly the Norse Mythology one if he liked Percy

There's a great adaptation of Alex Rider that you can stream I think it's on ITV or FreeVee, definitely for teens rather than younger children. Remember not all books need to be challenging, sometimes reading a well written but less challenging book is enjoyable just for readings sake

DS enjoyed Animal Farm and 1984 in his teens.
He also loved the Gone Series and the Chaos Walking trilogy (Patrick Ness).
Neil Gaiman is also a good shout - Neverwhere, The Graveyard Book.

Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell

Wonderscape and Legendarium by Jennifer Bell

Has he read the Once series by Morris Gleitzman?

How about the dark materials series by Philip Pulman. Or The Martian or Ready Player One? The Sharpe books by Bernard Cromwell? Dracula or Frankenstein maybe? Think I was reading Frank Herbert and Stephen King when I was a young teen too - not all of them are schlock horror.
My dh said he started reading sherlock holmes as a young teen. He also liked dragon fantasy books by Anne mccaffrey, and the Earthsea books by Ursula k Le Guin. Also a fan of Arthur c Clarke and Philip K Dick. Now reads a lot of hard sci fi!

Yes he devoured the Once series. I did too!

I bought him His Dark Materials a while back but I don’t think he got into it. He brought Dune home from the school library recently, but the door stopper size was a bit daunting. There was no way he was going to finish it in two weeks!

Your DS seems to have similar tastes to mine. Have a look at Lockwood & Co. DS really enjoyed this series of books, and then watched the series on Netflix.

Robert Muchamore's Cherub series got my DS into reading. Similar to the Alex Rider series inasmuch as it involves child spies, but a little grittier and quite credible too! He also wrote a spinoff series, The Henderson Boys, set in WWII and was essentially a history of the Cherub organisation and how it came into being.

My DS likes epic fantasy (& huge books!)
Lots of Anthony Ryan & he especially loves John Gwynne (Norse based high fantasy )

Corneila Funke (Mirrorworld series)& Taran Matharu have both been loved & are easier going/more accessible.

Was going to suggest Hitch Hikers or Dracula. I loved Terry Pratchett too.

How about Day of the Triffids? It's still a great story. I read it at about the sane age.

To update, it’s his birthday today, so bought the books on Friday. I got:
Gone, Michael Grant
Norse Mythology, Neil Gaiman
The Knife of Never Letting Go, Patrick Ness
The Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, Holly Jackson

When I paid for them the sales assistant at the bookshop said, “Good choices,” so I’m hopeful that he’ll enjoy them! He did mention the Good Girl’s Guide to Murder “looks like a girls’ book.” So I asked him to read the blurb and he said it looks interesting.

I’ll report back once he’s started reading!

Lord of the Rings?