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Books For Boys

post #1 of 14
10/11/09 at 9:27pm
Thread Starter 
Do any of you ever feel that the majority of children’s and young adult books are orientated towards girl readers?

I was never really aware of it until I had a son.

I know there are some books that both boys and girls like. I am thinking about Harry Potter (he loves it- so do I). There are others that try to be for both, but in my opinion fail. My son just ordered a lot of books from Scholastic book order only not to like any of them.

I am wondering Mamas with sons, what books do your boys like?

For mine, up to now, his all time favourite is the Hank Zipzer series.
He also liked the Fudge books. He likes Harry Potter although he finds bit challenging…. He also liked the Naruto Manga.
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post #2 of 14
10/12/09 at 3:56pm
how old is your son?

Some of my guys favorites are (were):

The Thief Lord

The Hobbit

The Cricket in Times Square

The Mr. Putter & Tabby Series

The Giver

Call of the Wild

Robin's Country (Monica Furlong)

My Father's Dragon (all 3 books)

all the Dick King-Smith books (Babe etc.)

Those are all just off the top of my head in no particular order.

Happy Reading,

~Traci
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post #3 of 14
10/12/09 at 4:00pm
I just remembered that a bunch of 10ish boys at the school where I am the volunteer librarian are devouring the Percy Jackson series.

~traci
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post #4 of 14
10/12/09 at 5:34pm
He might like the Henry Huggins books, Dragonology and the subsequent -ology books, Percy Jackson, Captain Underpants and/or Ricky Ricotta, the Great Brain ...

What are his interests -- humor, fantasy, sci-fi, nonfiction? And how old is he?
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post #5 of 14
10/12/09 at 5:47pm
I always thought there were a lot of boy books...

I'm reading the Mad Scientists' Club books to my ds. They are older books and my ds is begging me to go to bed at night so we can read more. They are described as being for ages 9-12. My ds is 8 and not quite reading books independently. These are sure making him want to!
http://www.amazon.com/Mad-Scientists.../dp/1930900104
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post #6 of 14
10/12/09 at 5:58pm
My ds isn't really into fantasy, but I loved the Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander. You might remember The Black Cauldron which was made into a Disney movie... He has some other books like The Marvelous Misadventures of Sebastian, The First Two Lives of Lucas Kasha. They are from a boy's perspective, probably the 9-12 age range. A shorter book by him is The Cat Who Wished to be Man. Loved that one.

I did read all the Narnia books to ds, last year...
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post #7 of 14
10/13/09 at 11:11am
i definitely noticed, and am always seeking books DS will like. he is 17 now, so it's easier, but that wasn't always the case. (jalilah, how old is your DS? sorry if you posted and i missed, but i didn't think i saw a #.)

here are some titles my DS has read and enjoyed:

The Book Thief (Markus Zusak)
A Hand to Guide Me (Denzel Washington)
Into the Wild (John Krakauer)
The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
Lord of the Flies (William Golding)
The Pigman (Paul Zindel)
The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
The Road (Cormac McCartha)
The Teenage Liberation Handbook (Grace LLewellyn)

and some titles on his to-read list, that we got from a former english lit teacher who said the same thing (about it being harder to find books boys will like/enjoy) and put together a list he called "literary teen testosterone" or something like that. ) :

A Morbid Taste for Bones (Ellis Peters)
The Book of the Dun Cow (Walter Wangerin, Jr.)
Captains Courageous (Ruyard Kipling)
The Caves of Steel (Isaac Asimov)
Dandelion Wine (Ray Bradbury)
Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card)
Ivanhoe (Sir Walter Scott)
Mr. Midshipman East (Captain Frederick Marryat)
The Ox-bow Incident (Walter Van Tilberg Clark)
Shane (Jack Shaefer)
Time and Again (Jack Finney)
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post #8 of 14
10/13/09 at 9:46pm
The Goosebumps series!


We also just read The Magician's Elephant. It's a great story, and the main character is a little boy.
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post #9 of 14
10/15/09 at 4:33am
Awesome suggestion thread!
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post #10 of 14
10/15/09 at 4:21pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks! The only title I've heard of before is the Hobbit.
DS is 11
Quote:
Originally Posted by Traci mom23boys View Post
how old is your son?

Some of my guys favorites are (were):

The Thief Lord

The Hobbit

The Cricket in Times Square

The Mr. Putter & Tabby Series

The Giver

Call of the Wild

Robin's Country (Monica Furlong)

My Father's Dragon (all 3 books)

all the Dick King-Smith books (Babe etc.)

Those are all just off the top of my head in no particular order.

Happy Reading,

~Traci
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post #11 of 14
10/15/09 at 4:23pm
Thread Starter 
Another Great List! Thanks Mamas!
Quote:
Originally Posted by panamama View Post
i definitely noticed, and am always seeking books DS will like. he is 17 now, so it's easier, but that wasn't always the case. (jalilah, how old is your DS? sorry if you posted and i missed, but i didn't think i saw a #.)

here are some titles my DS has read and enjoyed:

The Book Thief (Markus Zusak)
A Hand to Guide Me (Denzel Washington)
Into the Wild (John Krakauer)
The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
Lord of the Flies (William Golding)
The Pigman (Paul Zindel)
The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
The Road (Cormac McCartha)
The Teenage Liberation Handbook (Grace LLewellyn)

and some titles on his to-read list, that we got from a former english lit teacher who said the same thing (about it being harder to find books boys will like/enjoy) and put together a list he called "literary teen testosterone" or something like that. ) :

A Morbid Taste for Bones (Ellis Peters)
The Book of the Dun Cow (Walter Wangerin, Jr.)
Captains Courageous (Ruyard Kipling)
The Caves of Steel (Isaac Asimov)
Dandelion Wine (Ray Bradbury)
Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card)
Ivanhoe (Sir Walter Scott)
Mr. Midshipman East (Captain Frederick Marryat)
The Ox-bow Incident (Walter Van Tilberg Clark)
Shane (Jack Shaefer)
Time and Again (Jack Finney)
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post #12 of 14
10/19/09 at 12:23am
He might like The Hatchet by Gary Paulsen and there is a sequel, The River.

My boys have like a lot of the books previously mentioned on this thread.

Oh, Jules Verne books...Journey to the Center of the Earth, Around the World in Eighty Days, Mysterious Island, 20,0000 Leagues Under the Sea...those might be books he would like.

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells. A bit dark, so maybe when he's older? Depends on the kid.
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post #13 of 14
10/19/09 at 10:27am
Thread Starter 
Oh I forgot to mention the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books.
I personally find them kind of gross,but DS absolutely LOVES them
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post #14 of 14
10/20/09 at 3:45pm
This has some great resources for books for boys. http://guysread.com
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