"adult" book suitable for a child to read?

[ash6605]

D.s 12 is an avid reader, quite advanced for his age. He's bored with the likes of Roald Dahl now and is desperate to read the type of book I do-Patricia Cornwall, martina cole and atm I'm reading Room which he is begging me for! Any ideas on something suitable he could read, obv no sex or adult theme but something a little more challlenging? Tia

When I got to twelve and was pestering my mum for books she gave me the grapes of wrath (steinbeck) to read. Kept me quiet for a while .

Also remember reading a lot of graham greene around then

Tolkien? - I read the Lord of the Rings about that age but that was after I loved the Hobbit and wanted to know more!

Pratchett - discworld has some younger books, but he has other series too which are more aimed at children

Agatha Christie definately a good place to start with crime - not necessarily just Poirot/Marple though, there are stand alone books too.

Second His Dark Materials

Has he read the later Harry Potters? She definately aimed them older as she went along!

And classics

Catcher in the Rye
Animal Farm
To Kill a Mockingbird
Treasure Island
etc

Another shout for James Herriot which I really enjoyed around 12. I also liked reading true stories like Anne Frank, Douglas Adams, Agatha Christie, Dick Francis, and John Wyndham.

Must just say my mother handed me over The Shining when I was ten......... there was no real development at that time into teen fiction then adult but I needed the jump from "children's horror". Freaked me out with the adult themes. Just be careful your son doesn't jump too quickly in themes too soon.

My dd age 11 has just devoured all my Kasuo Ishiguro books. She has started lending them to her classmates who are also going mad for them.

Stephen King's "The Talisman" is a great introduction to the amazing works of SK. It is all about a 12 yeard old boy.

Steinbeck's Of MICE & MEN
Jack London's CALL OF THE WILD
Louis De Berniere's RED DOG
Jane Austen's NORTHANGER ABBY
Mary Shelly's FRANKENSTEIN

~Also, HG Well "The war of the worlds" is amazing, make sure your son realises how long ago HG Wells wrote it.....

What about Dune? Saw a review here: www.english-specialist.com/english-literature-teenfiction.html

As someone who was a voracious (male - if that makes a difference) reader at that age I remember enjoying:

George Orwell, Graham Greene, Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, JD Salinger, Evelyn Waugh, PG Wodehouse

Yes to Life of Pi- both my sons read my copy of this on a wet camping trip when they were 12 and 13 because they had run out of their own books and absolutely loved it. There is a series of science fiction/adventure books which begin with Pendragon by Mc Hale- American but I think in print here now-10 in all- and they have both read the whole lot twice and been swept away.( Will go and ask if there is any sex...no, just kissing !)

Hmm...sounds a lot like my Jamie lol. I'm both pleased to know that he is nos alone, but also feel for you in this respect!

It's a conundrum indeed. You want them to read good things that stimulate them, but at the same time you do have to be careful. Saying that, recently I took a bit of a risk and passed on an ebook to Jamie and I am glad i did as i loved it, found it really refreshing and fascinating. It is newly out and called The Number 3 Mystery Book and must say that it was a great read for me, altough it is actually more for "young adults" and teenagers.

The link for the book is here: www.amazon.co.uk/Number-Mystery-Book-ebook/dp/B005457MRA/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1308085980&sr=1-1

just to give you quick idea, it is a very funny book about a boy who has the Cherubism condition and his friend who is in a wheelchair. They go on a big adventure to find a mythical creature, and though there are some more adult bit towards the end it makes up for it by being a good read and tackling lots of important issues which i think kids should be learning about. i recommend it and jamie still has my Kindle and says he wants to read it again -- i may never get it back because of that book! also it costs just 69p which is a steal!

otherwise i don'tknow, i really liked Coraline by Neil Gaiman. not sure if anyone mentioned that but is also a lovely book. Scary but good writing.

hope that helps you, best of luck -

Jenny

Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus series is challenging and very clever. DS loves all the Rick Riordan series, incl latest 'The Red Pyramid' from Kane Chronicles. Also "Goodnight Mr Tom" is a good read for that age.

I don't think anyone has mentioned the young James Bond books by Charlie Higson. DS loved them when he was 12-ish.

Nick Hornby, Tony Parsons, maybe a biography of Roald Dahl (Donald Sturrock's is fab) and his adult short stories, EH Gombrich's Little History of the World, Ian Banks and The Wasp Factory, Girl with a Pearl Earring, Alexander McCall Smith, Chaim Potok (very clean, unsentimental, well written, about coming of age a lot of the time), Donna Tartt- The Little Friend and The Secret History. Adrian Mole! :o