Books you can read too, for 11 and up? To talk about together.

[alsoaperson]

I'm thinking of doing a book club (of two!) with my eldest boy who's 11 and an avid reader, though I'm worried he'll lose interest if I don't feed him something good (and challenging) and fast. I wondered if some mums here might like to do it too.

The first book I'd like to read is called Wonder. It gets super excellent reviews (see link below) and I think he'll love it or hate it; so I thought it might be nice to get grown up opinions first :-)

Anyone interested?
englishtutorhome2.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/books-for-eleven-year-old-boy-who-loves.html
I've put up the whole book list on here. Wonder is third on the list. If you take a peek at the others, I'd love to know if you (or your kids) have read any of these already and what you thought.

when I say 'mums', obviously I mean 'parents'. Sorry dads...

Wonder is a brilliant book to start with.

Cosmic is also a good choice.

Ooo! I'd love to know more! Who read it and what did they think?

My DD and i have both just read Wonder and really enjoyed it. DD knew a child with a large birthmark and it made her realise just what they'd had to put up with on day to day basis.

Would also second Cosmic as i think it made my DD think about how difficult being a parent can be.

Another of our favourites is The London Eye Mystery which i recommend to loads of people.

I haven't read any of the others on your blog but i have been thinking about My Sister lives on the Mantlepiece.

Thanks OldBeanbagz! I'm going to add Cosmic and The London Eye Mystery to my list. I'll put them on the blog once I've read them as the post is too big already!

What was it you liked about the London Eye book?

Any more for this one?

Holes, by Louis Sachar.

Feather Boy, by Nicky Singer
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
His Dark Materials Trilogy by Phillip Pullman
The Garbage King by Elizabeth Laird

these have all gone down well with my Year 6 G&T book club.

A monster calls.

Varjak Paw S Said

Love the sound of The Knife of Letting Go, and A Monster Calls!
Varjak Paw S Said sounds really intriguing!
Thanks!

Any more?

Holes is a great choice too, but I know a lot of secondary schools bought this one in bulk so I was thinking to avoid.

Anyone have any thoughts on whether kids should read books likely to be studied in advance?

IMO there's no point in actively avoiding them if it's the book your child wants to read. In DS case, he chooses his reading, reads an average of eight or ten books a month and at that rate I'd be lost if I had a list of "must not touch"!! So what if he encoounters them again in a few years. He will be more mature and will read new things in them.

Ooh! This looks like a good list. DS has enjoyed Holes and Skellig, also the Noughts and Crosses series. He also read The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas -- lots to talk about.

Ah! Forgot about Skellig ! Funnily enough we do Holes in Y7 - Skellig and Boy in the Striped Pyjamas in Y8.
My son loves Malorie Blackman Noughts and Crosses, also Pig Heart Boy (Y8 also).

Now I'm thinking I should have put more books on the list.
I didn't include
A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time either and boys 11 and above who don't 'get' English often love that one (there are no - obvious - emotions in the main character!)

Oh, and Private Peaceful That's really good - used in Y6 at a private school I know and there's lots to talk about there too - plus it gets them ready for 'War Poetry in Y9.

So - to hardboiled if your DS reads a lot, which have been his favourites?

my daughter is younger, 8, and loves to read. We're reading Anne of Green Gables together as she found some of the language hard going. We're both really enjoying it, I've not read it before. She's gone as Anne to school today.

Think we'll tackle the classics together, would be grateful any recommendations.

I logged in to recommend Wonder oddly enough. I'm going to read it once I can it off dd and her friends.

alsoaperson The London Eye Mystery kept us all in suspense. I was reading it to both my DC (then 6 & 9) and when we got to the end of each chapter they'd be begging me for more. We were racking our brains trying to work out how Salim went missing but there were so many twists in the tale that we neve r worked it out.

Another book that i read chapter after chapter to my DC is Frozen in Time by Ali Sparkes. There's a cliffhanger at the end of just about every chapter!

Old fashioned, maybe, but I have always loved all the Arthur Ransome books, and they indirectly 'teach' history, nature, and sailing.

Swallows and Amazons was the first. Coot Club is set in real locations, which can all be found on the 2-1/2inch OS Broads map.

Watership Down is also a real setting and can be found on maps; the housing development that drove out the rabbits is now the outskirts of Newbury.

I think it's so hard to step up into the Classics! Sometimes kids study Frankenstein at KS3, but the language is intensely complicated and there are long boring sections (for kids, I mean - sorry Mary Shelley).

Things like Gulliver's Travels and Treasure Island are often suggested but I wonder if they'd be too complicated too. (Never read and I'm a Literature grad. Shame on me!)

Anyone found a Classic their child literally couldn't put down, I wonder?

A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time

It's terrific but I think best for age 13-14+. Frank talk about how lovely wanking is (wanking proper with a mess), for instance. In the context of a lad who is socially restricted in ways no child would grasp without firsthand experience.

Same For My Sister Lives on the Mantlepiece; terrific read but well hard, is your 11yo really mature enough to deal with the recurrent racism and maggot dick comments? Never mind when the poor lad's cat dies.

And both those books deal with parents who seriously, repeatedly, let their kids down, I think they're more difficult emotionally than any Jacqueline Wilson.

come to think of it, my 13yo is about ready to read those, maybe I will fetch for him now. I haven't heard of most the items on OP's list so will file away for the other bookworms.

My girl likes classics but DS usually not.

With 11yo DS I could have tried The Hobbit, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Horrible Histories, Watership Down, Swallows & Amazons (book1), the Machine Gunners, The Railway Children, maybe The Secret Garden. Lighter reads would be some of the JacWilson books and the popular comics like The Donut Diaries.

Ah, but I see you were happy for him to read THG already, oh well, we probably have different perspectives.

Agree that there's nothing wrong with something a little bit lighter than the more teen-y books on your list.

DD and I enjoyed the Percy Jackson and Artemis Fowl books, and we've just been reading Truckers by Terry Pratchett to the DCs - any of his younger readers ones would be good apart from the final Tiffany Aching one which has a very grim beginning.

Oh and anything by Frances Hardinge would be suitable.

Anyone found a Classic their child literally couldn't put down, I wonder?

Treasure Island when he was in Year 5. It's not that complicated for a relatively advanced reader which I suspect are the DC we are catering for on this thread.

I second the Hitchhikers series proposal, DS was hooked till he finished all the books and forced us to follow suit. However, I read Curious Incident myself and would not like him to read it yet, I thought it was very upsetting emotionally. He wants to, though.