# Book Recommendations for 12 year old boy



## Mama Soltera (Dec 13, 2009)

Something that has action, murder mysteries, humor, romance (aka "sexy time"), etc. PG-13 though.


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## ErinYay (Aug 21, 2008)

Piers Anthony's Xanth novels, for sure! They're racy-ish, fantasy-based books that are pretty funny. Some might object to them for the young teens, but they're firmly PG-13, and there's like a zillion of them now.

His Incarnations of Immortality series is great, too, though a bit more mature than the Xanth books. They're a little closer to R rated.

For real grown-up books, I used to like Lawrence Sanders' Archy McNally (playboy lawyer) books at 11-13 (though I read a lot of age-inappropriate stuff.) Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer Books are a lot of good fun (very noir crime books.)


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## raksmama (Feb 20, 2005)

Percy Jackson and the Olympians is a series of 5 books.
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/r/...ning-thief.htm
The Lightning Thief is the first. My DS 12 loves them!


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## Mama Soltera (Dec 13, 2009)

Thank you for the recommendations! I will get a hold of those for him. He's an avid reader, so please keep the suggestions coming.


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## Bobbys (Mar 24, 2010)

I'm a teen librarian so I am burning to answer this question.

I second the Percy Jackson series. It is a huge hit with middle school boys. Also a huge hit are: Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz (think James Bond for 7th grade boys) as well as his Diamond Brother mystery series. He also writes horror. Another huge hit for boys, girls and adults is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. The protagonist is female but it's never seemed to bother any of the boys who have read it. I booktalked it at the middle school and had a lot of requests for it. It's a dystopic science fiction novel about a girl who is forced to compete in a reality show/competition that is to the death. It's incredible and recommended for ages 12 and up. There is a second book in that series and a third one finishing up the trilogy due out in August. It's a very popular series.

Also big hits are most books by Eoin Colfer, Philip Reeve (science fiction and steampunk), Neil Gaiman and Pete Hautman (he writes mysteries). For sports fiction try Mike Lupica and Tim Green.

Michael Scott's The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel (fantasy), HIVE (The Higher Institute of Villaneous Education) by Mark Walden, Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld are also big hits.

If you want more recs or a specific recommendation, pm me.
I love to talk about this stuff.


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## skreader (Nov 19, 2008)

My 12 year-old boy is very fond of the Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz. Sort of James Bond-ish for pre-teens and teens. My son LOVES them, although they leave me pretty cold.

http://www.anthonyhorowitz.com/

If you're in the USA you can see his stuff here:
http://www.anthonyhorowitz.com/shop/usa.html

I suppose they're also available on amazon.

The Bartimaeus trilogy is also great, first book is The Amulet of Samarkand
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Amulet_of_Samarkand

Also James Patterson "Maximum Ride" series
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_P...n#Maximum_Ride

Also, both my kids (girl 14; boy 12) are getting into Terry Pratchett's Disc World series - mostly the books that involve Sam Vimes and the City Watch
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disc_world#The_City_Watch

The ones with Rincewind are not so good (IMHO).

The ones that feature Susan and her grandfather, Death are also pretty good (Soul Music, The Hogfather, & Thief of Time)


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## proudmomof4 (Aug 29, 2006)

- Harry Potter series, if he hasn't read them
- the "ink" books by Cornelia Funke (Ink Heart, Ink Blood, Ink Death - I hope the translations were correct, I'm German and thus more familiar with the original titles.)
- The Chronicles of Narnia
- "A week in the woods"
- "Holes"


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## Mama Soltera (Dec 13, 2009)

Thank you! These recommendations are so helpful. He has read the Potter, Ink, and Narnia, but everything else will be new. I'll let you all know what he thinks of them.


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## QueeTheBean (Aug 6, 2002)

Def. the Percy Jackson series if he hasn't read them yet!


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## zinemama (Feb 2, 2002)

_The Graveyard Book_ by Neil Gaiman, last year's Newbery.


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## momshelper (Jun 6, 2010)

Robert Muchamore's Cherub series have been a bit hit with my 13 year old also the Maximum Ride books by James Patterson. Darren Shan also has one or two series with quite a lot of books in them and he has really enjoyed, them another author he enjoys is Steven Feasy. He reads at quite a high level so Dick Francis books appeal to him.

Check with your local library they are very helpful at suggesting books.


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## greenmama (Feb 8, 2002)

We've been enjoying this series by Michelle Paver. It is a series about a pre-historic boy (Torak). It has a little of everything you are looking for except perhaps "sexy-time". It has the hints of Romance but nothing particularly sexual.


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## Mama Soltera (Dec 13, 2009)

Thank you! He is loving them so far. Keep them coming -- I'm sure there are plenty of other kids benefiting from this thread too.


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## ChristaN (Feb 14, 2003)

He might like the Hunger Games and the sequel, Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins. They are kind of dark futuristic reality TV. The main characters is a teen who is living in a very oppressive society and winds up in this "game" where a bunch of teens have to fight to the death on live TV for the entertainment of the capitol audience. It sounds gory, but they are well written and definitely geared toward teens so not truly terribly gory.

In re to the Piers Anthony books someone mentioned earlier, I tried to get dd11 to read the Xanth novels a while back b/c she likes sci fi. She immediately went for the Incarnations of Immortality series b/c it sounded better to her. She liked it a lot until she got to For Love of Evil at which point she felt that the content was too mature for her. It includes some rape scenes as I recall her saying and a few other sexual violence descriptions that probably weren't appropriate. Even the first book in that series, as mentioned, is probably "R" rated in that it has a suicide and an allusion to incest.


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## Evan&Anna's_Mom (Jun 12, 2003)

Seconding and thirding the Percy Jackson series and the Torak series -- we loved them! Also, the same author the Percy Jackson series has a new one out -- The Red Pyramid. DS picked it up and pretty much never put it down.

DS also loves most of the Anne McCauffry Pern books. These can get a little racy if you can read between the lines but nothing overt. We found the Dragon Singer/Dragon Song/Dragon Drums series was a great starting place.


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## ollyoxenfree (Jun 11, 2009)

How about some classic adventure?

_The Time Machine_ by H.G. Wells
_20,000 Leagues Under the Sea_ by Jules Verne
Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle

Neil Gaiman is a great choice - _Neverwhere_ has adventure, mystery, humour. It's a little adult, but not R-rated.

Ken Oppel's trilogy - _Airbor_, _Skybreaker_ and _Starclimber_


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## Milo (Dec 5, 2001)

Jean Craighead George, Rosemary Sutcliff and Scott O'Dell have many books we have enjoyed, in a variety of lengths. These are older, and many titles feature early to mid teen boys in adventures of all kinds.

My Side to the Mountain, The Other Side of the Mountain and Frightful's Mountain, Going to the Sun, and Who Really Killed Cock Robin? by George

Sword Song, The Shining Company, Frontier Wolf, The Eagle of the Ninth series and others by Sutcliff - historical ACTION fiction with male protaganist who develop physically and mentally throughout the story.

The Black Pearl, The 290, The King's Fifth and many others by O'dell

Happy Reading,
Milo


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## heartmama (Nov 27, 2001)

I'm always looking for non-fantasy non-animal (no dog stories) oriented stuff. Ds does not like adventure themes either. Ds likes first person real kind of accounts that are very funny and perhaps edgy. His favorite tv show is The Office. He likes quick fast humor. He is 14--any idea's?


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## Mama Soltera (Dec 13, 2009)

This is to Heartmama:

I'm thinking he would really like Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris. Give it a try and let me know what he thinks. I'll re-post if any others come to mind. It's for adults but I can't recall anything that would be too much for a 14 year old.


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## AAK (Aug 12, 2004)

Has he read anything by Chris Crutcher?

I have also just finished book three of the Kindom Keepers (the kingdom being disney world). They are great adventure stories. If you hate everything disney, you might not want to read about it, but the action is great. It was rec. to me by a 12 year old boy so I read book one thinking "ok, I'll read it for him" and was hooked.

Amy


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## Soul Mama (Mar 6, 2013)

Mallory Blackman has a whole series my 12 year old son went through like fire. Callum, Noughts and Crosses, Knife Edge, Checkmate, Double Cross. Not sure of the order. He is a very fast reader, likes comedy, adventure, mystery. Doesn't like Fantasy.

Sophie McKenzie has a whole load he has read. Set up, Hostage, The Thief, The Resue, Hunted, Double Cross, Hit Squad, Girl missing, Sister

David Walliams has a few funny books my son keeps on his shelf.

Dermot Milligan - Donut Dairies - comedy

Mr Gum books, read those when he was 10 years old.

The whole of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid range - comedy

Loves Simpsons Cartoon strip books he has them on his shelf and reads and sometimes reads again. He started reading them a few years ago, have them in the library. I used to worry about him watching the Simpsons but I have lost count of the times I have asked my son where he learnt something I hadn't taught him, all down to Simpsons on TV I was amazed the interesting and intellectual things he has picked up from there.

I'm grateful he has 6 books sitting on his shelf waiting to be read  phew!! He should be ok for 4-5 weeks. ha, ha!!

I will keep an eye on other recommedations from everyone too! THANKS.


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## Escaping (Nov 13, 2012)

I read an article while I was still pregnant (right after I found out I was having a boy) that one way to get boys to read was to get them books from the "banned books" list.

Anyone have any experience with this?


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## Soul Mama (Mar 6, 2013)

My son is a great reader but for a month or so we didn't have any new books. Then his secondary scoop library had a book with "shit" in it well it made him keen to read it as he isn't allowed to use such words. This got him excited to read again as friends where talking about the book in school.... The hype syndrome! Does work!


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