Recommended Reading - 14 Year Old Male

[Magic Mom]

What about Call of the Wild or All Quiet on the Western Front? Both classics.

 

[mickeywho?]

My son just finished Spud - by John van de Ruit. He loved it - wouldn't put it down.
He read both Boy with the Striped Pajamas and The Outsiders last year in school - really loved both of them - preferred The Outsiders.
I've bought him The Hunger Games for Christmas - he's mentioned a lot of his friends have been reading this series and are really enjoying it.
It's so hard to find interesting and current books for boys - especially ones without vampires! ugh!

 

[golfgal]

DS15 read a book a couple years ago called "Truancy". He loved the book. The author is 15 and I think that is part of why he liked it so much. I guess there is some swearing in the book if that is an issue or not. I don't know if it counts as a "major" novel or not.

DS18 wasn't much of a reader but he really likes the Vince Flynn books. They are about a CIA operative. I like them too. Would something like that work?

 

[disneydreamingdebby]

Tony Hawk has an autobiography http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Tony-Hawk/Tony-Hawk/e/9780060096892/?itm=1&USRI=tony+hawk

Slam by Nick Hornsby - kid talks to his Tony Hawk poster - http://www.push.ca/blogs/scottysk/archive/2009/11/10/crazy-kids-talks-to-poster-of-tony-hawk.aspx


Old standbys for my reluctant boy readers:
Tears of a Tiger (Draper)
Slam (or anything by Walter Dean Myers)

I teach juniors (high school). Recently, the boys have enjoyed these titles
Be More Chill
Spanking Shakespeare (quite crude, but hilarious for boys; preview it...)
Twisted Laurie Halse Anderson
Deadline - Crutcher
I am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to be Your President - much like Diary of a Wimpy Kid for older kids

 

[soccerchick]

Three recent YA books I liked were:

Unwind by Neil Shusterman - set in the future - kids who are bad can be unwound - literally taken apart and used for transplants, if their parents/govenment/etc deems them to be undesirable. There's an underground network of sorts to get the kids marked for unwinding to a safe place. The story follows a young man as he tries to escape his destiny.

Streams of Babel - terrorists put poison in a small town water system - a teen in Pakistan is working for the CIA via internet to help track terrorists and teens in the community "attacked" also look for answers to why everyone is getting sick - the two worlds are eventually brought together

Little Brother -by Cory Doctorow - life in California changes after terrorists blow up a bridge - the Homeland Security dept starts taking away more and more freedoms to "protect us". Teens fight back with technology. Very cool, up-to-date and a great parallel for 1984. Timely and relevant.

I also second (or third or fourth) the Hunger Games.

13 Reasons Why is also popular, but maybe more with girls

Check out AASL - they have all kinds of lists - boy readers, reluctant readers, etc.

Also check out YASLA - connected w/ALA - they have the book awards lists. Just read reviews first - the Printz awards books tend to have some mature content

 

[rkwells]

Another vote for the Hunger Games if it is allowed. My 14 yr old son doesn't enjoy reading and couldn't put the book down. He has read the whole series and enjoyed them all.

 

[momtoprincess A]

My son just read "In The Heat of the Night" for English, and couldn't put it down.

 

[sbaldasare]

Not sure if these fit into your guidelines for what is required, buy my 14 year old son loves to read - here's his favorites...
Hunger Game Series by Suzanne Collins
The Lightning Thief Series by Rick Riordan
The Red Pyramid or the The Lost Hero also by Rick Riordan
Pendragon Series by D. J. MacHale
Charlie Bone Series by Jenny Nimmo
Nicholas Flamel (Series of 4 books so far) by Michael Scott
The City of Ember Books by Jeanne DuPrau
Alex Rider Series by Anthony Horowitz (more of a kid spy, adventure series)
Guardian of Ga'hoole Series by Lathryn Lasky
Keys to the Kingdom Series by Garth Nix
100 Cupboard Series by N. D. Wilson
The Lost Journals of Ven Polypheme by Elizabeth Haydon
Lyonesse Series by Sam Llewellyn
Maximum Ride Series by James Patterson
39 Clues - written by different authors
Peter and the Starcatchers by Ridley Pearson & Dave Barry

Hoep this helps some

 

[kristina87]

Harry Potter!!!

Narnia, Percy Jackson, Kingdom Keepers, Hunger Games

 

[NHdisneylover]

A lot of boys that age who o not care for sci/fi or fantasy like Will Hobbs.

His things are about teens, generally involve lots of outdoor adventure and overcoming obstacles and are well written and engaging. Downriver is a good one:

http://www.amazon.com/Downriver-Wil...=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1292408875&sr=1-4

No Science Fiction? Good luck. Science fiction is the best hook for boys.

I recommend Ender's Game - the best book for boys that age ever written. It is Science Fiction.

It is a great one for that age. I recommended it often to reluctant readers when I taught junior high.

 

[Cindy B]

Kite Runner was mentioned, great book.

Sincey you mention the boy in the strped pajamas. Here's more Halocaust materials

My son loved the Book Thief. Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli is also good.
Steal a Pencil for Me is a love story written in letters by two survivors. (it is also an indpendent documentary)

My son is a voriacious reader. He likes History based books. Right now he's reading a book about what would happen if certain events in history never happened (ie, the Enola Gay never showed up)


I'm an English teacher and many of my 8th grade boys don't read at all. They do like Jerry Spinelli books but they are not considered classics, (Milkweed could be the exception).

In that age, my son read Animal Farm and loved it. He really got into that book. To Kill a Mockingbird is a standard for that grade as well.

Right now he's reading Obasan and enjoys it. His summer reading book was Balzac and the little Chinese Princess.

 

[golfgal]

Kite Runner was mentioned, great book.

Sincey you mention the boy in the strped pajamas. Here's more Halocaust materials

My son loved the Book Thief. Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli is also good.
Steal a Pencil for Me is a love story written in letters by two survivors. (it is also an indpendent documentary)

My son is a voriacious reader. He likes History based books. Right now he's reading a book about what would happen if certain events in history never happened (ie, the Enola Gay never showed up)

What is the name of that book-it sounds interesting

 

[Cindy B]

What is the name of that book-it sounds interesting

Its sort of mash up:

The Best Alternate History Stories of the 20th century.

 

[klacey1]

Is required Grade 12 reading so that is out, unfortunately ...

Really, grade 12? I remember reading that in 7th grade.
Hate List, by Jennifer Brown is new. It's about a school shooting and is supposed to be very gripping.
Catching Fire, which I'm pretty sure is the sequel to Hunger Games.
Lost, by Jacqueline Davies is a historical fiction about the fire in a NYC fabric factory.
I work in book publishing, so the above are new books that have been getting a lot of buzz and doing well this year. A friend's nephew (13, I think) loved Catching Fire.
As far as classics that I would personally recommend for that age group-- Catcher in the Rye (instances of offensive language, but does NOT overshadow how great the novel is), The Last Mission (Mazer-- about a boy who wants to "get back at" Hitler, great historical fiction), No Promises in the Wind (Irene Hunt) is a personal favorite, about two boys who run away to the circus during the Great Depression.

 

[Fly4free]

This summer my son read Crispin Cross of Lead, by Avi,for his 7th grade Honors reading. It was a very good book. I enjoyed it as well. It is a trilogy though. We had to (wanted to) read all 3. It's about a young boy who's mother died during the middle ages and his struggles to survive and his adventures.

 

[justjulie]

No biographies allowed - it has to be a novel study - there goes Tony Hawk - Occupation: Skateboarder

Someone mentioned The Outsiders, which he's read, but That Was Then This is Now would qualify I would think ... on top of the novel study there is an additional written or fine arts component - he chose the fine arts component of which they can choose from an original photo essay - no internet photos allowed; original choreographed dance, painting or jacket cover or a soundtrack.

 

[monsterkitty]

My male students love The Hunger Games triology. In fact, the books keep disappearing from my classroom.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

Okay, no sci-fi makes things difficult, but as someone else suggested, what about fantasy? I don't know a boy who didn't love the Lord of the Rings at age 14.

As for more serious reading, what about The Killer Angels. It's a historical novel about the battle of Gettysburg. Even more high brow? The Great Gatsby, 1984, Animal Farm, Watership Down, The Stranger.

 

[Pinkpony]

My boys are almost 18 now, but the books I remember them loving the most at 14/15 were:

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
The Hobbit
Lord of the Flies

 

[LIDisneyFan]

That was Then, This is Now.