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Books for reluctant teenage readers....

20 replies

helluvatime · 20/12/2025 07:21

...both 15, one male, one female....nothing too hard but also nothing too fluffy. Possibly a classic that sparks the imagination. Please help!

OP posts:
samlovesdilys · 20/12/2025 07:50

What sort of thing do they seem interested in? Fantasy? History? Fiction or non? War/crime? My DS loves history so has read Bernard Cornwall, Robert Harris, conn Iggulden… but also loves Reacher books and recent crime, my other one is less keen but reads Non fiction like sporting biographies…I’m just happy they are reading anything other than their phones!

campfirenights · 20/12/2025 15:44

Watching for ideas! My teen DD has enjoyed the John Green books but is finding it difficult getting into any books lately. I ordered The Book Thief which comes highly recommended but having skimmed the first few chapters I don’t think it’s for her.

shellyleppard · 20/12/2025 15:50

Depends what sort of books they like?? Fiction/non fiction? Rick Riordan and the Percy Jackson stories are really good. Michael morpurgo has written some really good animal stories

oneplus2is3 · 20/12/2025 16:50

If you have a reluctant reader classics are not the way forward. They need something short, relevant and punchy to get them hooked.

Try anything with a media tie (Holly Jackson etc) or something trending on book tok

My reluctant reader just finished Orbiting Jupiter and loved it- she was talking about it for days

Brody77 · 20/12/2025 17:08

My dyslexic dd12 has really loved the hunger games books and dork diaries, HG mockingjay was the first book she was desperate to read on her own as she got into it and it’s sparked much more reading, I am so grateful it was on the schools list of advised books, I don’t think it will be too young for 15yrs either.

Aboutmeabouttime · 20/12/2025 17:34

There are also some great graphic novels that might feel less daunting - Lumber Janes, Lightfall, Nimona etc

HeadyLamarr · 20/12/2025 17:39

Graphic novels like Runaways, Nimona or Scott Pilgrim can be a great introduction.

Or really short punchy Sci Fi like John Wyndham (Chocky, The Chrysalids etc) or adventure mystery like The London Eye Mystery might work.

DD rebelled against her family of bookworms by not reading for quite a long time it was TV tie-ins that got her started again around 14. A Good Girl's Guide To Murder was an early success.

icedpuddles · 20/12/2025 20:28

It depends what they are interested in, lots of adult detective novels are great like the Flavia De Luca novels, lots of Sherlock Holmes, the Tommy and tuppence Agatha Christie books. Laura Wood's YA adults are briliiant in my opinion but probably not for the boy. I love them, they are extremely well writtne but easy to read and very engaging. Some are quite romantic but not all of them - A Sky Painted Gold is quite coming of age, as is Under A Dancing Star and A Snowfall of Silver. A Golden Thread of Moonlight is quite Romantic as is the first Agency of Scandal book.
Holly Jackson books are pretty good for teens too.

Mydadsbirthday · 21/12/2025 00:11

Following with interest.

I've found chat GPT really good for this as you can tell it what they've enjoyed in the past and it will recommend similar things and you can get into some quite detailed recommendations.

My DD has enjoyed the Jenny Han books (the summer I turned pretty).

My DS recently enjoyed the Perks of being a wallflower.

Neither of them reads much though. They've probably read two books each in the last year despite having a house full of books and a parent with a literature degree 😩 They did read quite a lot when younger.

helluvatime · 21/12/2025 13:31

Thanks for the suggestions. I thought a classic because DD had a phase of reading books suggested by Tiktok and says she is sick of them. I’ll have a look at some of the recommended ones, thanks.

OP posts:
everdine · 21/12/2025 13:41

I would want to choose my own books at that age. I grew up with books in the house but I also went to the library and second hand book shops. Part of the experience was reading the blurb on the back of the books to see if they looked good!

samlovesdilys · 21/12/2025 17:20

Second Hand is a great idea, near us is a huge second hand book stall in the guildhall market in Bath, mine love browsing and picking out their own choices…

helluvatime · 21/12/2025 17:32

samlovesdilys · 21/12/2025 17:20

Second Hand is a great idea, near us is a huge second hand book stall in the guildhall market in Bath, mine love browsing and picking out their own choices…

I love that place! I used to go there as a child.

OP posts:
everdine · 21/12/2025 17:40

samlovesdilys · 21/12/2025 17:20

Second Hand is a great idea, near us is a huge second hand book stall in the guildhall market in Bath, mine love browsing and picking out their own choices…

i’ve never been there but it sounds great! My dad used to take us to Hay-on-Wye to visit the second hand book shops when I was a kid.

Maryqueenofstots · 21/12/2025 17:49

I’d generally suggest take them to the library and let them have at it. if they don’t like a book/genre no biggie, and someone is doing some basic quality curation.

Some suggestions:

on the origin of findo gask - I haven’t read this but my teens recommended it to their pals and it became a bit cult - as far as I can gather half the fun is how much your parents would disapprove!

a big boy did it and ran away - high snark count and written in the vernacular (probably only relevant if you’re Scots)

Hunger Games/ divergent/ maze runner - dystopian ya

Wool trilogy - better than the above but also long books which might be too much for now.

Pushing the limits series - Katie mcgarry is pretty good and there’s plenty of teen angst and not too many long words in this series (very American culturally)

Terry Pratchett - any of them, not my genre but I know several ya male readers who got back into books through these.

Malorie Blackman- knots and crosses gets a rave review but I think boys don’t cry is a better read.

dash and Lily’s book of dares

Anything by Louis sacher - holes is a good place to start but his other books are great

Hallelujah2020 · 21/12/2025 17:51

As a teenager I loved

flowers in the attic

the clan of the cave bear series

campfirenights · 21/12/2025 19:23

Great idea about using ChatGPT
I’ve now got some great suggestions of books that match closely to DDs other favourite authors
Will be off to Waterstones tomorrow to have a browse and make my final selection

Dappy777 · 21/12/2025 22:16

Douglas Adams: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Carl Sagan: Cosmos
M. R. James: Ghost Stories
Conan Doyle: Sherlock Holmes
Tolkien: The Hobbit
Vonnegut: Slaughterhouse 5
Truman Capote: In Cold Blood
Roald Dahl: Tales of the Unexpected

How about audiobooks? A good reader can really bring a book alive. Stephen Fry reading P. G. Wodehouse is my idea of heaven. He's also done a good recording of Sherlock Holmes. Brian Blessed reads his own books, and they're very funny. He's got a wonderful voice (Absolute Pandemonium is his funniest).

Mydadsbirthday · 22/12/2025 15:00

Off topic but I couldn't get on with Stephen Fry reading PG Wodehouse. He just sounds too old to be Bertie Wooster I'm afraid! Doesn't work for me at all!

Sheeppig · 22/12/2025 18:49

To Kill a Mockingbird and Lord of the Flies (if they haven't already read these at school); The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time and Never Let Me Go. I agree with pp about Holes by Louis Sacher.
Some teenagers really like Stephen King. The novels can be a bit on the long side but some of his short stories are very good.

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