books for 14 year old boy? adventure, mystery, fantasy

[Anonymous]

Red Rising (so good!)
Michael Crichton books

[Anonymous]

A second vote for Ender's Game. In the fantasy genre, I'd suggest The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams (and its two sequels). The book I'd recommend more than any other to someone this age, though, is Watership Down, a beautifully written and quite sophisticated adventure story.

[Anonymous]

Also, Roger Zelazny's Amber series perfect for a kid who likes fantasy at his age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dune.
The Martian
Jurassic Park
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
A Walk in the Woods (if he’s outdoorsy)
Steve sheinkin’s history books for middle grades (like the one about the atom bomb)
March (graphic novel set)
Ready player one
Arc of the scythe series (my son likes these but I don’t know about whether they are too disturbing — they are dystopian, I know)


I’ll check my sons shelves and report back with more.

This is a great list and I’m a junior high school librarian. Throw in Project Hail Mary.

No snark intended here but as a Librarian in this age group you don’t recommend a wider diversity of authors?

I’d like to. 14 year old boys have typically very narrow interests in reading. Maybe some sports books but they are often poorly written for that age group.

Authors of fantasy and sci fi that have appealed to boys in that age range in my circles:

Becky Chambers
Katherine Addison (Referenced above)
Ursula K Le Guin
Martha Wells (also referenced above)
Nghi Vo (Singing Hills books)
Seanan McGuire

I think it’s important that young men don’t form the habit of only reading male authors especially in this genre. They’ll read plenty of them in school.

Earthsea was mentioned above, which means LeGuin was. To your last paragraph, she mentioned much later in life she wished she had female characters at the school for wizards. It's definitely not a book that reads "female audience." Neither is much of LeGuin's adult fiction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dune.
The Martian
Jurassic Park
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
A Walk in the Woods (if he’s outdoorsy)
Steve sheinkin’s history books for middle grades (like the one about the atom bomb)
March (graphic novel set)
Ready player one
Arc of the scythe series (my son likes these but I don’t know about whether they are too disturbing — they are dystopian, I know)


I’ll check my sons shelves and report back with more.

This is a great list and I’m a junior high school librarian. Throw in Project Hail Mary.

I wonder if The Three Body Problem would be too much for 14. In some ways it's a lot like Project Hail Mary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dune.
The Martian
Jurassic Park
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
A Walk in the Woods (if he’s outdoorsy)
Steve sheinkin’s history books for middle grades (like the one about the atom bomb)
March (graphic novel set)
Ready player one
Arc of the scythe series (my son likes these but I don’t know about whether they are too disturbing — they are dystopian, I know)


I’ll check my sons shelves and report back with more.

This is a great list and I’m a junior high school librarian. Throw in Project Hail Mary.

No snark intended here but as a Librarian in this age group you don’t recommend a wider diversity of authors?

I’d like to. 14 year old boys have typically very narrow interests in reading. Maybe some sports books but they are often poorly written for that age group.

Authors of fantasy and sci fi that have appealed to boys in that age range in my circles:

Becky Chambers
Katherine Addison (Referenced above)
Ursula K Le Guin
Martha Wells (also referenced above)
Nghi Vo (Singing Hills books)
Seanan McGuire

I think it’s important that young men don’t form the habit of only reading male authors especially in this genre. They’ll read plenty of them in school.

Earthsea was mentioned above, which means LeGuin was. To your last paragraph, she mentioned much later in life she wished she had female characters at the school for wizards. It's definitely not a book that reads "female audience." Neither is much of LeGuin's adult fiction.

Neither is Murderbot or most of the rest of the list— my point is that if boys only read stories from men, they could easily reach adulthood having never read a book written by a woman or only a tiny number. Women don’t have that choice since they’re going to read Dickens, Shakespeare, Fitzgerald and Hemingway (at very least) in school. So making sure our sons get as much exposure as our daughters is something to be conscious of especially when theres such excellent sci-fi/fantasy written in the last decade.

[Anonymous]

Susan Cooper - Dark Is Rising series and Victory
Call It Courage
Hatchet
Swiss Family Robinson
Heinlein Juveniles - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinlein_juveniles
Three Investigators
Agatha Christie

Mrs. Polifax - this series written during the Cold War about a grandmother who volunteers to be a spy may seem like an odd choice for a teen, but they’re delightful and my kids (girls) loved them as teens.

[Anonymous]

Ray Bradbury.

If he is a gamer, Fallout 3 even has a reference to There will Come Soft Rains.

[Anonymous]

Susan Cooper - Dark Is Rising series

I've been thinking of pushing these on DCs... But coming off of the "re-reading childhood favorites" thread, I am wondering how they "hold" up for today's audience? I recall loving them as a preteen but not sure if they would seem too slow or convoluted now--if any DCUM'er has personally read them recently?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Susan Cooper - Dark Is Rising series

I've been thinking of pushing these on DCs... But coming off of the "re-reading childhood favorites" thread, I am wondering how they "hold" up for today's audience? I recall loving them as a preteen but not sure if they would seem too slow or convoluted now--if any DCUM'er has personally read them recently?

Also remember finding Joan Aiken books, e.g. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, very compelling at those ages, but again don't know if they still appeal today (perhaps the librarian on this thread has sense?). Very possible I was just a weird anglophile reader as a kid lol...

[Anonymous]

Marie Lu's Warcross books (or anything by her really)

[Anonymous]

Whalefall
Novel by Daniel Kraus
Aa teenage scuba diver is swallowed by a whale while searching for his deceased father's remains, leaving him with only an hour of oxygen to escape and confront his guilt. The book is praised as a suspenseful, cinematic adventure that blends survival with an exploration of a difficult father-son relationship; critically acclaimed, appearing on numerous "Best of 2023" lists

[Anonymous]

Maureen Johnson's Truly Devious series has a fun mystery.
I'm slightly on the fence about The Expanse Series as there is some violence/horror elements but probably nothing worse than a kid who plays some video games has seen.
Redwall he's probably already encountered but if not there's just a ton of those books and can keep a reader occupied.
Leigh Bardugo but I'd stick with Six of Crows. It's more fun than Shadow and Bone which had the YA Romance elements.

[Anonymous]

Got this one for xmas:
The Trail a novel
by Ethan Gallogly with illustrations by Jeremy Ashcroft

Published by Sierra Nevada Press

This unusual novel is the story of a hike by two men along the John Muir Trail in the High Sierra in California. What happens to them along the way, who they meet, and how the hike changes them make up the fictional story. Alongside this is a description of the trail and its history and what a hike along it is like. The author skilfully weaves this factual material in with the adventures of the two hikers and the two fit together comfortably.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Susan Cooper - Dark Is Rising series

I've been thinking of pushing these on DCs... But coming off of the "re-reading childhood favorites" thread, I am wondering how they "hold" up for today's audience? I recall loving them as a preteen but not sure if they would seem too slow or convoluted now--if any DCUM'er has personally read them recently?

I just re-read Over Sea, Under Stone and it has aged delightfully. I didn’t even like that one much as a kid. Highly recommended.