Re: HIT: Books for Boys Part 1

[Jan Creasey <JCreasey@AOL.COM>]

Hello and Wow!  What a great group!  This is an amazing booklist--I decided
to keep everyone's suggestions intact, so that you all can see how many times
a particular author, title, were suggested!  Maybe we will start a
non-fiction boys' suggested list next!
Thank you to all for taking the time and making suggestions.  If you think of
others, let me know and I'll compile them again!
Jan Creasey
Alta Loma Junior High
7th Grade Language Arts
jcreasey@aol.com

Jan, Have you tried Kathy Odean's book, Great Books for Boys?
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Jan,
 I don't know if you  have seen my book, Great Books for Boys (Ballantine,
 1998), in which I annotate 600 books for boys ages 2-14.  I have been a
 school librarian for 12 years, and drew on my knowledge of what boys like.
 My goal was to compile books that would encourage boys to read and keep
 them reading.  (It's a companion to Great Books for Girls, in which I
 looked for books about strong females.)
 Here are a few thoughts, a bit heavy on survival books, but I find them
 very popular:
 Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
 Fallen Angels; and Slam! by Walter Dean Myers
 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. Rowling
 Oddballs by William Sleator
 Freak the Mighty by Philbrick
 Last Mission by Harry Mazer
 Z for Zachariah by O'Brien
 Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
 sports books by Thomas Dygard are good
 Kathleen Odean
 Providence, RI
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How about?
Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
Holes by Louis Sachar
Wringer by Jerry Spinelli
Crash by Jerry Spinelli
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And, of course, Gary Paulsen....
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Anything by Gary Paulsen like "The Hatchet" or series like Matt Christopher's
sports stories, Animorphs, or My Name is America (the boy verision of Dear
America).  On the older side, I thought Encyclopedia Brown books were super
cool when I was a kid eventhough I am a girl.
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Dear Jan,
Gary Paulsen books are bound to be big with the boys!
Pam
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Holes is good. All of Tolkien and the Narnia Chronicles, The Chocolate Wars,
Catcher in the Rye if they're older (I had 2 kids in summer school tell me
that was the first book they'd ever finished!) and everything by Robert
Cormier. Also, for some reason, my son became addicted to Ed McBain through
8th or 9th grade - then, probably never read another mystery! My middle school
boys, when left to their own devices, hardly ever choose fiction unless
directed to - then, all the above worked well (don't know about the Ed
McBain!)
Anita
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Our school is a 7-12 high school.  Grades 7-10 are on AR, so I see them
pretty often.  Here are some authors our boys like:
Gary Paulsen
R L Stine
Joan Lowery Nixon
Paul Zindel (especially Loch)
Terry Brooks (Shannara series) for the better students
Avi
Matt Christopher
Thomas Dygard
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Christopher Pike
John Grisham, also for the better students
Lois Duncan
S E Hinton (some of my boys are real disappointed we already have all her
books--and yes, they know she's a woman)
Carolyn Cooney

These are the ones I can think of off the top of my head.  I'm thinking they
account for probably 2/3 or more of junior high boy checkouts.  Since we're
not automated, I can't be more exact.  Most of these authors have a lot of AR
books, if y'all are doing that.

Good luck!  I look forward to seeing the hit!

Cindy Denning
cynden744@aol.com
Ponder HS, Ponder, TX
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How about THE VIEW FROM THE CHERRY TREE (Roberts), the books by John
Christopher starting with THE WHITE MOUNTAIN, look at Theodore Taylor,
THE BOMB , good luck from Helen Dittmer, Redwood Day School Oakland, Ca
<hdittme@ix.netcom.com>
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There's an excellent website about children's and adolescents' literature by
Kay E. Vandergrift.  She includes a list of coming-of-age books for boys,as
well as one for girls.  There's lots of other good stuff, too.
http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/special/kay/yalit.html
Deb
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Jan,
Most of Roland Smith's fiction would fit.  Will Hobbs has also done some
titles that appeal to boys.  The "Redwall" series is quite popular with my
5th graders with higher reading levels. Graham Salsbury(sp?) has also done
some interesting titles.
Georgia Richards
Library Media Specialist
Walker Elementary School
Ashland, Or
(home)garlic@mind.net
(school)georgia.richards@ashland.k12.0r.us
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Hatchet by Paulsen
Woodsong by Paulsen
Hinton novels
  >>

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