Since I know that this topic comes up from time to time, and I'm a good Book Obsessor (and the panel I was going to attend at the time was cancelled :lol:), I went to the Books for Boys panel at Dragon*con and came back with a whole long list of suggestions for those of you looking for books for your middle grade and young adult boys to read.

First, go to guysread.com. Apparently you'll get a lot of suggestions from that site. :shrug:

Second, the American Library Association has a Quick Fic List and a Reluctant Readers List, both of which will have great suggestions as well.

A lot of boys like non-fiction – biographies (in story form) of people they're interested in and how-to books. Some great sources of those are DK Publishers and Roark Publishers.

They're also going to enjoy books full of humor and/or action, and pulp fiction type books. (The genre, not the movie. :lol:)

Don't overlook comic books and graphic novels.

Graphic Novels

Bone Series by Jeff Smith
Out from Boneville
The Great Cow Race
Eyes of the Storm
The Dragonslayer
Rock Jaw: Master of the Eastern Border
Old Man's Cave
Ghost Circles
Treasure Hunters
Crown of Horns

City of Lights by Tim Vicary

I didn't get the titles, but there are some great new graphic novels of Shakespeare's works that keep the language, and also one about Queen Elizabeth 1's Reign. (And apparently some of the boys of people in the panel were reading them.) :shrug:

Follett also has a list of recommended graphic novels.

Other Books

Deltora Quest by Emily Rodda
The Forests of Silence
The Lake of Tears
City of the Rats
The Shifting Sands
Dread Mountain
The Maze of the Beasts
The Valley of the Lost
Return to Del

Deltora Shadowlands by Emily Rodda
Cavern of Fear
The Isle of Illusion
The Shadowland

Dragons of Deltora by Emily Rodda
Dragon's Nest
Shadowgate
Isle of the Dead
The Sister of the South

Dragon Chronicles by Susan Fletcher
Dragon's Milk
Flight of the Dragon Kyn
Sign of the Dove

Magic Shop Series by Bruce Coville
The Monster's Ring
Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher
Jennifer Murdley's Toad
Goblins in the Castle
The Skull of Truth
Juliet Dove, Queen of Love

Pendragon Series by D. J. MacHale
The Merchant of Death
The Lost City of Faar
The Never War
The Reality Bug
Black Water
The Rivers of Zadaa
The Quillan Game
The Pilgrims of Rayne

Lionboy by Zizou Corder
Lionboy
The Chase
The Truth

Diadem Series by John Peel
Book of Names
Book of Signs
Book of Magic
Book of Thunder
Book of Earth
Book of Nightmares
Book of War
Book of Oceans
Book of Reality
Book of Doom

The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl by Barry Lyga
The Dangerous Book for Boys by Conn Iggulden
*How to Get Suspended and Influence People by Adam Selzer
*Something Rotten by Alan Gratz
*Samurai Shortshop by Alan Gratz

Authors
Matt Christopher
Brian Jaques
Lemony Snickett
Bill Wallace
Gary Paulson
Anthony Harwitz
Garth Nix
Phillip Pullman


I hope that helps someone. It was a very interesting panel. The three starred titles at the end are by two of the panelists... very interesting guys. :D

Hmmmm :thinking:

When I was a children's librarian I always had guys about that age ask me for Brian Jacques stuff...which I can't remember anything about except they had really cool covers. I think it's with dragons and such as well..but don't quote me.

graphic novels were just kinda coming into their own when i did that..but yeah i pushed the library to have those.

Is that a good hmm or a bad hmm Cheesy?

This is what librarians and teachers said the boys were reading! (And some of the parents too...)

Neither good or bad. :P Just found it interesting. I guess my boys have to be different. :rolleyes: :giggle:

and there's nothing wrong with that. i hated on the children's required reading (even for boys) was little house on the prarie. that was never my type of reading or show so i don't see how many boys would want to read that..required or not.

so nothing wrong with that just as long as they are reading.

Hey, so long as they're reading.. :lol:

That was a big topic of discussion... how teachers/schools taught so many books that just didn't appeal to boys...and then a lot of boys didn't want to read. :(

i would always ask their interest and then try to find one suited from there. cam jansen usually involved sports and always a detective story. it's hard because so many more are geared towards girls than boys.

in my experience boys tend to have a shorter span for reading..that's why i encouraged the graphic novels because it seemed to move at a pace fitted for them.

it's a great discussion to have, and their needs need to be made.

We came to the conclusion that you tend to loose young boys with lots of exposition... particularly of the emotional type. Yes, people have emotional growth in novels that boys tend to enjoy more, but it happens WHILE the action or humor is going on... and that's when it's discussed as well. The boys don't have the attention span to get through the emotional "junk" that bores them, so you have to slip it in and cleverly disguise it.

Or put the word "breasts" on the page. That'll keep their attention too. :rofl:

or them still being juvenille.."boobies" would do good. =) LOL That's funny!

wish i could have gone to a discussion like that when i was a children's librarian. that would have been great!

maybe one day i'll get back in that field and be able to go to things that matter.

Mine too. My husband like chick lit and my son is nuts about Hello Kitty right now. Me, I like Clive Cussler and Harriet likes books about trucks and other big machines. :shrug: