Recommended reading for young teen boy

[fohat.digs]

Every year or so I ask for recommendations for books for my son.

He is 14 now, and about to start summer vacation. He is very intelligent and reads well beyond his level, but is not "worldly" so I want to avoid sex & drugs & violence as much as possible.

After several years in the fantasy/dragon realm he has mostly moved on.

He likes the "steampunk" genre pretty well and his most recent book was "Ready Player One" which he loved.

Personally, I am deeply into science fiction, but unfortunately (or not) he finds the stuff that I loved at his age, Clarke, Asimov, Heinlein, Vance, etc, hopelessly old-fashioned and plodding. But, what I moved on to next, Zelazny, Delaney, Niven, Pohl, etc, is still well over his head. But, obviously, that was during the Johnson/Nixon era so I am out to pasture now.

So give me some recommendations that are fun and challenging but not too racy.

Thanks!

[Candyflip]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_series
Great sci-fi, if I had a kid I would give him/her these to read :DD

[hwood34]

A series that has a slight fantasy element to it is "The Dark Tower" by Stephen King. I've always loved Stephen King's writing style, really anything by him is a great read, especially "The Stand"

[riotonthebay]

Brandon Sanderson's works are quite good. They're in the fantasy realm, but with more interesting worlds than your usual "wizards and dragons." All of them avoid sex, drugs (seen in a positive light), and major scenes of violence. There are scenes of fantasy violence and fighting, but much is left to the imagination. I'd recommend the Mistborn trilogy first.

[esko997]

Not sure if this strays too far from what you are comfortable with him reading, but I would recommend Dune.

[Noko]

Hey, I asked my resident husband-expert for you (he is a voracious reader of this kind of stuff):

"Shadows of the Apt - Adrian Tchaikovsky, I'd highly recommend this series to YA readers, and I enjoy the crap out of them as a 30 year old as well! Fantasy series about humans that have magic based on insects.

Codex Alera - Jim Butcher, Butcher was bet that he couldn't write a series fantasy series based on the concept of the lost roman legion, and pokemon. Well, here's that series! A good bridge between YA and adult fantasy.

Mistborn - Brandon Sanderson, another great fantasy. Sanderson has a great mind for logical magic systems, which will be enjoyable for him to wrap his head around.

The Farseer - Robin Hobb, Classic fantasy series, coming of age story. I can't see a kid, or adult, not loving it.

Prince of Nothing - R Scott Bakker, philosophically bent fantasy. A little higher level, but the concepts will make him feel smart and superior, which will probably push him to read the entire series!

Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson, classic cyberpunk that ages well. Can't recommend this enough for a young reader as well.

Chronicles of Amber - Roger Zelazny, I know you think Zelasny is old, and possibly too high level, but it's actually pretty low level compared to other books these days. Always a classic!

This is for the father but also for the kid:
Revelation Space series - Alastair Reynolds, the Mass Effect series was probably based off of the concept in these books

For the father:
Uplift series - David Brin, a little past the books you've read, but modern enough
Old Man's War - John Scalzi, in the same vein as Starship Troopers, but modern.


There's a lot more out there, and I've mixed in some more difficult reads, but overall, this should keep him busy until he can pick up the heavy hitters. "

edit: more..

[Tarzan]

If he's interested in steampunk, the novels by Cherie Priest (Boneshaker, Dreadnought, etc.) are pretty much all that.  As far as sax and violins, the first one - and only one I've read - has zombie violence and gun battles.  May be too intense for younger teens.

The Anubis Gates, by Tim Powers, is a superb book, highly recommended for both yourself and your son.  Steampunk themes, with time travel, Egyptian gods, and high adventure.

If he's open to graphic novels, the Girl Genius series by Phil and Kaja Folio is smartly written, and not too violent - some fisticuffs and sword fights.  Although it does feature some romance, it's pretty tame, nothing too suggestive.  And it's available as a web-comic, although I'd recommend getting some of the printed works.

http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20021104

[riotonthebay]

For the father:
Old Man's War - John Scalzi, in the same vein as Starship Troopers, but modern.

+1 Old Man's War. Great series.

[iri]

What about the classics for teenage boys? Jerome Salinger, Jack London?

[paicrai]

artemis fowl!!!

[tbc]

everyone needs to read ender's game and ender's shadow series.  no matter what genre you normally read

[paicrai]

ARTEMIS FOWL!

[sth]

this is one of my favorite books from high school but it's pretty depressing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boy_Detective_Fails
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/578343.The_Adventures_of_Blue_Avenger is also really good. sort of surreal but easy to approach.

[mauri]

ARTEMIS FOWL!

+1

[paicrai]

ARTEMIS FOWL!

+1

+1

mauri understands

[balanar]

everyone needs to read ender's game and ender's shadow series.  no matter what genre you normally read

THIS. Also The Wheel of Time series.

[paicrai]

mein kampf

[McWilloughby]

ARTEMIS FOWL!

Definitely Artemis Fowl, great series for his age imo.

Ultimate recommendation: His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman (three part trilogy: The Northern Lights (or The Golden Compass if in the US), The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass). A really great teen book series that is sort of half in a steampunk-ish world (supposed to be an alternate universe where technology progressed differently). If I remember correctly the US version has some stuff censored (I can't actually remember what though I don't think there is anything in there that actually needs censoring for its target audience) so it could be worth trying to get a hold of UK copies of the series if interested. There was a really bad film made of the first book a few years ago, I assure you that the books are vastly better than the film.

Although not down the steampunk route, the Maximum Ride series (by James Patterson) was something I read when I was about 14. It's about a group of teenagers/kids that are on the run from a genetic experimentation facility.

Someone else mentioned Jim Butcher for the Codex Alera series (which I haven't read) but he also wrote the Dresden Files series which is about a wizard/private detective. That series is maybe verging on young adult rather than teen (I think I read the first one when I was about 17) and I don't think I'd recommend it for a 14 year old but it really is a great series for when he is a little older. It isn't exactly fantasy as it seems quite "realistic" when you read it and the magic is treated in a very scientific way rather than just being a fix-all tool.

I've read quite a lot of YA/teen stuff in the last few years because I like burning through series' when I have nothing to do so if I think of anything else then I'll post here.

[StylinGreymon]

I would recommend Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel.
Also the Sword of Truth series, by Terry Goodkind.

[tbc]

COUGH sword of mass plagiarism COUGH dies from blatant lack of originality

[StylinGreymon]

COUGH sword of mass plagiarism COUGH dies from blatant lack of originality

I'm not saying it's the best, but I definitely don't regret reading it.
I liked the concepts of Additive and Subtractive magic.

[Krogenar]

A series that has a slight fantasy element to it is "The Dark Tower" by Stephen King. I've always loved Stephen King's writing style, really anything by him is a great read, especially "The Stand"

I agree that those are great books, but... there are some sexual elements to those stories, unfortunately. What about 'Dune' series -- I don't recall them being particularly sexualized. How about Fritz Leiber's 'Gather Darkness'? It's about a future society ruled by scientists who cloak their advanced tech from the feudalized masses by calling it 'holy magic'? Leiber's other sword and sorcery stuff (Ill Met in Lankhmar, Swords Against Deviltry, etc.) are fun because it's low fantasy -- no elf lords, very little magic -- it's like a fantasy version of Lethal Weapon.

[bueller]

Not steam punk but one of my favourite books as a teen and adult has been Fahrenheit 451, might be worth a look.

[CPTBadAss]

SM Stirling's Emberverse series.

Oh wait, you said no violence. Never mind.

[Tarzan]

Not steam punk but one of my favourite books as a teen and adult has been Fahrenheit 451, might be worth a look.

One of my favorite books as well, but if I recall correctly, there are some scenes of violence that are fairly shocking.  I think of Fahrenheit 451 as closer in tone to Animal Farm, 1984, or The Count of Monte Cristo - possibly because I read them all around the same time.  All excellent novels, but all themes of state-imposed oppression.

A couple of novels that I'd add to the list; The Stars My Destination, by Alred Bester, and The Shockwave Rider, by John Brunner.

(But please don't suggest Lord of the Flies until he's much older.  I read that as a young teen and it scarred me for life.  Maybe that was the point...)   

[exitfire401]

If he's interested in steampunk, the novels by Cherie Priest (Boneshaker, Dreadnought, etc.) are pretty much all that.  As far as sax and violins, the first one - and only one I've read - has zombie violence and gun battles.  May be too intense for younger teens.

I can't recommend this series enough. You don't even have to be into steampunk, these books hold their own as sci-fi novels.

[Findecanor]

I don't think you should be afraid of sex and violence in these books. Learning about these topics by reading about good and bad examples would only help him grow as a person. I think that 14 y/o is precisely the right time to start. Expose him to books (and other media) with good messages. Avoid Manga/Anime and high school movies about teenage sex (American Pie, Revenge of the Nerds etc.) until he is older.

The Wheel of Time series.

The series is long. It also loses traction in the middle ... before Brian Sanderson (who wrote the Mistborn trilogy) took over after Robert Jordan's passing and put things in motion again in the last three. You would have to read several boring novels just to get to the last three.

I would recommend Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel.

Overrated IMHO.

Uplift series - David Brin, a little past the books you've read, but modern enough

I read Startide Rising when I was 14 and loved it. Each book has a different set of people, but they are all set in the same time period. Sundiver is the weakest of the three.
Then there are other books set in the same universe that I have not read.

[iri]

Avoid Manga/Anime and high school movies about teenage sex (American Pie, Revenge of the Nerds etc.)

ftfy.

[baldgye]

Well if he is reading and he hasn't read The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy then you've made some seriously bad life choices. Assuming he has;


Philip K **** - Currently reading his books now and they are great, they are less do with relationships between people (so not much sex that I've come across yet) and more involved with bigger questions about humanity, should get him thinking a bit anyway.

[Tarzan]

Well if he is reading and he hasn't read The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy then you've made some seriously bad life choices. Assuming he has;


Philip K **** - Currently reading his books now and they are great, they are less do with relationships between people (so not much sex that I've come across yet) and more involved with bigger questions about humanity, should get him thinking a bit anyway.

PKD is a bit of an acquired taste, some like his work a lot, others not so much.  But along the lines of YA reading material,  The Warlock in Spite of Himself, by Christopher Stasheff, is a fast-paced adventure yarn that reads well for teens and adults, and if he likes it, it's the first in a series.  The Dragon and the George (Gordon R. ****son) is one that turns the familiar mythical trope of knights and dragons upside down, also followed by several sequels.

Oh, and absolutely anything by Eric Frank Russell; The Space Willies is still one of the funniest sci-fi novels I've ever read. (But it's not really steam-punk, if that's the chosen theme.)

[paicrai]

Avoid Manga/Anime and high school movies about teenage sex (American Pie, Revenge of the Nerds etc.)

ftfy.

word

[jonathanyu]

Life of Pi?

[paicrai]

this is a good thread

[sth]

Well if he is reading and he hasn't read The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy then you've made some seriously bad life choices. Assuming he has;

i gained 10 pounds of muscle lugging around the complete guide in middle school.

[hoggy]

I listened to The Martian by Andy Weir recently. Very entertaining and not overly heavy on the science.

[microsoft windows]

Every year or so I ask for recommendations for books for my son.

He is 14 now, and about to start summer vacation. He is very intelligent and reads well beyond his level, but is not "worldly" so I want to avoid sex & drugs & violence as much as possible.

After several years in the fantasy/dragon realm he has mostly moved on.

He likes the "steampunk" genre pretty well and his most recent book was "Ready Player One" which he loved.

Personally, I am deeply into science fiction, but unfortunately (or not) he finds the stuff that I loved at his age, Clarke, Asimov, Heinlein, Vance, etc, hopelessly old-fashioned and plodding. But, what I moved on to next, Zelazny, Delaney, Niven, Pohl, etc, is still well over his head. But, obviously, that was during the Johnson/Nixon era so I am out to pasture now.

So give me some recommendations that are fun and challenging but not too racy.

Thanks!

Your son should read some good books about Windows. I think this one would be perfect for him:
http://www.textbooks.com/BooksDescription.php?BKN=287167&mcid=XCS-Shopzilla-9780134563770-M&utm_medium=shoppingengine&utm_term=9780134563770M&utm_source=shopzilla&utm_campaign=mplink

[vivalarevolución]

Resisting urge to troll.
Resisting urge to troll.
Resisting urge to troll.

Ok good.

I recommend John Green.  Because he is one of the few famous authors from Indianapolis.  He writes teen fiction at the moment and most of his stuff can be rather emotional.

I had a strict anti-fiction policy until I was 22, so I read little teen fiction as a teen, and cannot contribute anything more.

[Beca]

His Dark Materials is a really good series for kids! It's a fantasy series, though.

I'm not sure if Ender's Game is too violent, but I loved that book when I was his age.

[noisyturtle]

Flatland
Hitchhikers Guide series
LotR, if he hasn't read it already although some kids hate it
Stranger in a Strange Land
Watership Down
1984
Down and Out in Paris and London
Collected works of Arthur Conan Doyal (Sherlock Holmes)
Catcher in the Rye
Masters of Doom (if he's into video game culture)
Ender's Game
Snowcrash

and I would also recommend I Jan Cremer, even though you said he's really sheltered. It's a good read, and my dad gave it to me right around that age and it helped me a lot and I'll probably try to give it to my son in his young teens as well, if that day ever comes.

[baldgye]

Well if he is reading and he hasn't read The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy then you've made some seriously bad life choices. Assuming he has;

i gained 10 pounds of muscle lugging around the complete guide in middle school.

Yeah, but it made you a better person. Also, I'm reading it as separate books rather than the whole collection joined together. Far easier to digest

[Tarzan]

Flatland
Hitchhikers Guide series
LotR, if he hasn't read it already although some kids hate it
Ender's Game
Snowcrash

I'd suggest the edited list above is more suitable for a 14-year old interested in sci-fi and steampunk.  Personally, I'd elide Ender's Game, but it is technically YA fiction.  Flatland is a great novel, but it may seem dated to a younger teen.

[jonathanyu]

Every year or so I ask for recommendations for books for my son.

He is 14 now, and about to start summer vacation. He is very intelligent and reads well beyond his level, but is not "worldly" so I want to avoid sex & drugs & violence as much as possible.

After several years in the fantasy/dragon realm he has mostly moved on.

He likes the "steampunk" genre pretty well and his most recent book was "Ready Player One" which he loved.

Personally, I am deeply into science fiction, but unfortunately (or not) he finds the stuff that I loved at his age, Clarke, Asimov, Heinlein, Vance, etc, hopelessly old-fashioned and plodding. But, what I moved on to next, Zelazny, Delaney, Niven, Pohl, etc, is still well over his head. But, obviously, that was during the Johnson/Nixon era so I am out to pasture now.

So give me some recommendations that are fun and challenging but not too racy.

Thanks!

Your son should read some good books about Windows. I think this one would be perfect for him:
http://www.textbooks.com/BooksDescription.php?BKN=287167&mcid=XCS-Shopzilla-9780134563770-M&utm_medium=shoppingengine&utm_term=9780134563770M&utm_source=shopzilla&utm_campaign=mplink

Windows 3.0 user manual

[fohat.digs]

Thanks for all the thoughtful replies.

I will skim this for recommendations for my own reading, a lot of this interests me, too.

Revelation Space by Reynolds easily makes it into my top 5 books of all time, but my son is not ready for that level of sophistication yet.

Dune, etc, is also probably a couple of years out.

He tried "The Chronicles of Amber" a year or 2 ago, but it was too slow and convoluted. I, however, re-read it for the first time in decades and loved it.

He also tried Artemis Fowl on the recommendation of friends but did not get into it.

Snow Crash and Anubis Gate are on my own reserve list at the library, I will pass them on to him if they seem appropriate.

He has read the core books of the Ender's series, but I thought that after the main 3 or so, they got pretty lame and contrived. As an aside, I thought that the movie was an absolute abomination and that it was 100% the fault of allowing the original author to do the screenplay.

Fritz Lieber is a great choice, I had forgotten about him but some of those might be good.

The Stars My Destination by Bester is an incredible classic, and really moved me as a teen. I will try that one, too.

Philip K **** is one of my favorite writers, and I have read dozens of his. Too bad that there is not one "best" book (if pressed, I would take the Valis trilogy as a whole) but rather his entire body of work. This, too, is probably a bit to schizo for him right now.

We watched the movie "Life of Pi" as a family and we all enjoyed it.

His sister (16) reads John Green and is enthralled, so he probably avoids it on principle.

We have that all-in-one volume of Hitchiker's Guide and he worked his way through it at least halfway, but set it aside. It is a bit much, I doubt that I ever got any farther.

No one has yet mentioned LeGuin's Hainish novels or Niven's Known Space, but these will be on my list eventually, if not soon. I read LeGuin's Earthsea books to them as children (~8-10 years old) and that is the conception of magic that strikes the most resonance with me.

Thanks again for all your help.

[tbc]

The Wheel of Time series.

The series is long. It also loses traction in the middle ... before Brian Sanderson (who wrote the Mistborn trilogy) took over after Robert Jordan's passing and put things in motion again in the last three. You would have to read several boring novels just to get to the last three.

I don't think he would necessarily need to finish it.

that series is a 'meat grinder' and really pushes your concentration - both because the story arcs are complex AND because they are long.  there is more than enough material to improve your comprehension way before that ugly mid-late section is hit.

things like fahrenheit make you work hard to understand higher level concepts and interpret someone else's interpretation of those high level concepts.  yes, it's pretty vague and I'm not sure how to make it more clear.

then there are things like 'morals' and political viewpoints that certain books are themed on.

simply put, there are many things a book can teach (both social concepts and literacy skills), but any single book/series will generally only teach a small subset.  if you have time, read everything.  otherwise, it might be helpful to think about what learning you want to get from a book and make sure your chosen material matches up.  a book is more than just a parental guidance rating and a storyline.


interestingly enough, I was 14 or so when I started that series.  after finshing shannara and sword of truth.  finished it roughly a decade later lol.  ps, the last book was horrible; it was basically fanfiction and written by the forums.

[HoffmanMyster]

Ultimate recommendation: His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman (three part trilogy: The Northern Lights (or The Golden Compass if in the US), The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass). A really great teen book series that is sort of half in a steampunk-ish world (supposed to be an alternate universe where technology progressed differently). If I remember correctly the US version has some stuff censored (I can't actually remember what though I don't think there is anything in there that actually needs censoring for its target audience) so it could be worth trying to get a hold of UK copies of the series if interested. There was a really bad film made of the first book a few years ago, I assure you that the books are vastly better than the film.

Yes yes yes yes yes.

[sth]

hitchhikers

i read the series originally in digest form over the 5 separate books. it's much less daunting that way, and i read a book or two in between each so it seemed to stretch out the story a bit more.