books for a 12yr old

[molly1216]

A friend of mine is looking for titles for her son.
apparently he keeps rereading the same books.

since most of you were once 12 year old boys what can you recommend?

off the top of my head I recommended
Peter Maas' The Terrible Hours: The Man Behind the Greatest Submarine Rescue in History ISBN 0-06-019480-4
Because I remember reading it non stop and then going back and reading it again.

[Gabriel Girard]

It always depends on the twelve year old in question but Dumas' Three Musketeers and Count Of Monte Cristo will always be required teen reading. Same goes for Tolkien's The Hobbit (and Lord Of The Rings if he's into it).I would recommend St-Exupéry's The Little Prince, but I hate that book with a passion. Also Neil Gaiman's Stardust - his other ones might be a little too dark or messed up for a twelve year old. But then i read Dune when I was around that age... That reminds me - Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game is not to be missed. Oh and most of Bradbury's stuff.There are probably a ton more I could mention (Asimov, C.S.Lewis, The Chronicles of Prydain....)

[Dimwitted]

John Christopher's stuff is good. It's hard because it all depends on the reading level. If he's at all a reader he's probably pretty close to adult stuff now. Asimov, Niven, Bishop, the Aspirin anthologies, MacCaffrey, Mercedes Lackey, the list goes on.

If it was me, all I'd get him was a library card.

[Gabriel Girard]

I've never tried to read Heinlein's ''juvenile'' stuff but I'm sure it's as awesome as his ''serious'' novels.

[Steve T Power]

Dragons of Autumn Twilight!

[molly1216]

John Christopher's stuff is good. It's hard because it all depends on the reading level. If he's at all a reader he's probably pretty close to adult stuff now. Asimov, Niven, Bishop, the Aspirin anthologies, MacCaffrey, Mercedes Lackey, the list goes on.

If it was me, all I'd get him was a library card.

just HAVING a library card does nothing.
none of these authors are shelved in the kiddies room: Asimov, Niven, Bishop, the Aspirin anthologies, MacCaffrey, Mercedes Lackey, hell my library doesn't even have half their books so they would have to request them from another library.
he needs some ideas for REAL books..not that cloned crap they keep publishing these days.

and reading level is immaterial at his age.
he's 12. most all government documents are written for 12 year olds.
if you don't understand a word or a concept you plunge on or look it up - how else does one learn.
at 12 you can read anything at all - all that matters is if it is interesting.

this is what i have so far for non fiction

Emperors of the ice : a true story of disaster and survival in the Antarctic, 1910-13 / Richard Farr.
Never cry wolf / Farley Mowat
Lost in the Barrens / Farley Mowat
The terrible hours : the greatest submarine rescue in history / Peter Maas.
My Side of the Mountain by Jean George
Rocket Boys by Homer Hickam
Endurance: Shackleton's incredible voyage / by Alfred Lansing.

and some fiction

Tarzan of the apes / Burroughs
Something Wicked This Way Comes Bradbury
R is for Rocket / Bradbury
S is for Space / Bradbury
Farmer In The Sky / Heinlein
Starman Jones / Heinlein
Citizen of the Galaxy / Heinlein
Z for Zachariah / Robert C. O'Brien
Shane / Jack Schaefer.
The Ox-Bow Incident / Walter Van Tilburg Clark

now all he needs is a flashlight

[Gabriel Girard]

Just remembered Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle In Time, Lois Lowry's The Giver as well as any book by Robert Cormier (The Chocolate War)). I think Ursula Le Guin also has a few books appropriate for teens. Oh and Jules Verne of course. The best thing about reading at that age is that, once he gets into it, he will probably start looking for information himself and, once he's read a few different books, he'll start knowiing what he likes. I remember reading stuff like Jurassic Park or The Firm at that age - they're not really considered teen books, but they aren't that adult either. As I said it always depends on the level of maturity of the teen and on his personnal taste of course. I started reading Stephen King in grade 7, but then I started digging into Nietzsche by grade 10 or 11, most 16 year olds won't do that

[molly1216]

Just remembered Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle In Time, Lois Lowry's The Giver as well as any book by Robert Cormier (The Chocolate War)). I think Ursula Le Guin also has a few books appropriate for teens. Oh and Jules Verne of course. The best thing about reading at that age is that, once he gets into it, he will probably start looking for information himself and, once he's read a few different books, he'll start knowiing what he likes. I remember reading stuff like Jurassic Park or The Firm at that age - they're not really considered teen books, but they aren't that adult either. As I said it always depends on the level of maturity of the teen and on his personnal taste of course. I started reading Stephen King in grade 7, but then I started digging into Nietzsche by grade 10 or 11, most 16 year olds won't do that

indeed at 13 or so i was reading abbie hoffman, hunter thompson and eldridge cleaver..
if we can pull him away from the tripe that is being served to the modern child, he can certainly follow his nose.

[Dimwitted]

Yep. If he's anything like me at that age you're outta the kiddie room. There's nothing in there left that has any hold. For the most part, the Fantasy/SciFi section is pretty reasonable. The really heavy stuff probably won't appeal anyway at that age. I can't see how anyone given some Lackey, MacCaffrey or Zimmer Bradley could go wrong and there's enough there for a years worth of reading.

[Dimwitted]

BTW, does he read on the computer? If so, go to the Fifth Imperium and download a couple of the Baen CD's. I would recommend 5, 6 & 7. That's a pretty good cross section of Baen's catalogue and there's enough there that'll keep him up at night reading. Just stay away from the later Ringo stuff. Anything that has Ghost on it won't be appropriate for a 12 year old.

[Polynikes]

Historical novels: try The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff. If he reads it now, he will be in time for the film which is due to be released early next year, I believe. I would also recommend Henry Treece's Viking trilogy (Viking's Dawn,The Road to Miklagard and Viking's Sunset[/b], or The Queen's Brooch(set in the time of Boadicea). If he is an advanced reader for his age, Mary Renault's books (e.g. The King Must Die) would be another recommendation. Away from the classical world, try Ian Seraillier The Silver Sword or Anna Holme's I am David, both set in occupied Europe in World War Two.

How about Erich Kastner's Emil and the Detectives and The Flying Classroom?

To Kill A Mockingbird just in case it has not already been recommended, ditto The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings

Hugh Walters for science fiction, but he may be a little old for those books.

Of the modern authors (who should be simple to find), Philip Pullman is always praised to the skies, but I have not read his works. Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider series is highly thought of too.

I hope you manage to track some of the older works down. They are worth the effort. I wish my 11 year old would read them, but he turns them down, probably on principle because I am recommending them, therefore they must be boring.

[molly1216]

Historical novels: try The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff. If he reads it now, he will be in time for the film which is due to be released early next year, I believe. I would also recommend Henry Treece's Viking trilogy (Viking's Dawn,The Road to Miklagard and Viking's Sunset[/b], or The Queen's Brooch(set in the time of Boadicea). If he is an advanced reader for his age, Mary Renault's books (e.g. The King Must Die) would be another recommendation. Away from the classical world, try Ian Seraillier The Silver Sword or Anna Holme's I am David, both set in occupied Europe in World War Two.

How about Erich Kastner's Emil and the Detectives and The Flying Classroom?

To Kill A Mockingbird just in case it has not already been recommended, ditto The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings

Hugh Walters for science fiction, but he may be a little old for those books.

Of the modern authors (who should be simple to find), Philip Pullman is always praised to the skies, but I have not read his works. Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider series is highly thought of too.

I hope you manage to track some of the older works down. They are worth the effort. I wish my 11 year old would read them, but he turns them down, probably on principle because I am recommending them, therefore they must be boring.

thanks!
i had forgotten about Eagle of the Ninth.
personally i think Pullman is overrated and i couldn't get past the 1st alex rider but that's a good choice to recommend.
the hobbit perhaps, but i seriously think the LOTR is not for 12 year olds, at least not modern ones.
too much medieval scholarship and 'songs' - if they are looking for the movie, they have to dig too hard.
perhaps 15 is a better age to tackle it.

[Dimwitted]

What about Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie? Some Andre Norton as well. For funs get him into some of the pulps as well like Doc Savage. Good, clean fun without overstaying their welcome. The only problem is staying away from the hard sf from the first Golden Age. It really hasn't aged well.

Don't forget about H. Beam and Rob E Howard. Edgar Rice as well. Classics that he should read without the Disneyification. I envy his discoveries.

[Paul Kile]

How about "The Stainless Steel Rat" series by Harry Harrison?

A cool novella by Frederick Forsyth called "The Shepherd" - an aviation ghost story. SPOILERS: An RAF pilot flying a Vampire jet fighter at night experiences electrical problems. Suddenly an old DeHavillland Mosquito fighter appears off his wing and guides him down to an abandoned RAF base. Upon landing, the pilot inquires about the Mosquito, finds out the plane and its pilot were lost over Germany during the war. Short, well written, and a cool twist at the end. Should keep the attention of even a modern 12-year-old.

Does he like history? If so, these should hold his attention:
"God Is My Co-Pilot" - Robert L. Scott. About the author's experiences with the Flying Tigers during WWII. Talks about his feelings and emotions during the war, not a techno or shoot-em-up account.

"The Man Who Never Was" - Ewen Montagu. The story of Operation Mincemeat, a spy plot from WWII where the British planted a corpse with "official documents" off the coast of Spain. It was to appear as if the corpes was a British officer who drowned after a plane crash. The documents reached Germany and may have influenced Hitler's decision to fortify Sardinia rather than Sicily before the Allied invasion there. A creepy story that is fascinating, especially when you realize it is true!

"Day of Trinity" - Lansing Lamont. An account of the development of the atomic bomb at Los Alamos during WWII. Unlike the later books by Richard Rhodes, this one is shorter and an easier read. It was one of those books I found in my Junior High library and inhaled in one or two days. A few inaccuracies, but understandable due to the classified nature of the subject (especially when it was written in 1965.

[azul017]

I'd recommend she'd find the OOP Animorphs series. An interesting premise, exercise in psychological tension, and mature themes. It's aimed at the 10-12 year old demographic, and I remember re-reading the novels over and over again because I loved them.

[the5thghostbuster]

By about age twelve, I was digging into Stephen King and Richard Matheson when I could get my hands on their work, so if he is capable of dealing with horror novels, they are worth checking out. Probably start with some of the King short story collections, including The Night Shift, Skeleton Crew and Nightmares & Dreamscapes. As for Matheson, anything you can get your mits on is a good bet.

Beyond this, there is the works of Edgar Allen Poe (available in a number of collected editions), Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes works, and H.G. Wells. And lets not forget Douglas Adams!