Thanks to all of you that responded to my request. Here are the responses I
received about reading material of young adult males.
The Alex Rider series by Horowitz (starting with Stormbreaker which
is coming out as a movie in the fall)
I'm in the middle of reading "Sleeping Freshman Never Lie" by David Lubar.
Anything by him is great for boys. Anything by Gary Paulsen. Life of Pi by
Martel The Orca Soundings series by Orca Press. There are several in the
series, but the one with central male characters are always a hit with my
reluctant male readers. The ones with central female characters are great
for the girls.
My son is a non reader and he liked It's Not About the Bike by Lance Armstrong;
Jarhead )might be too much sex-you will want to check) and The things They Carried
by O'Brien. I would also investigate the graphic novels.
Son of the Mob by Gordan Korman is great. There's a seque but I haven't read
it yet.
Take a look at this web site:
http://www.guysread.com
I am thinking that you are also looking for different reading levels,
so even though you would find some of these books in a middle school,
I have them for my lower level readers - and because they are good! :)
Ender's Game Orson Scott Card
Storm Breaker Anthony Horowitz
Shadows John Saul
The Eagle has Landed Jack Higgins
Deathwatch Robb White
Blood Red Horse K.M. Grant
Airborn Kenneth Oppel
Full Tilt Neal Shustermann (others by him also)
Acceleration Graham McNamee
The Outsiders S.E. Hinton
Invisible Pete Hautman
Friday Night Lights H.G. Bissinger
A Conspiracy Revealed Mel Odem
Any books by - Walter Dean Myers, Robert Lipsyte, John Grishom,
Michael Crickton, Carl Deuker, Robert Jordon (especially Wheel of Time
series - can't keep these on the shelf even though they are really
thick!)
I'm sure I am missing some really great ones. Hope you get lots of
replies on this!
Some of my HS boys have enjoyed:
Monster by Walter Dean Myers
Tears of a Tiger by Sharon Draper
Shadow Children series by Margaret Peterson Haddix
I know that there are others, but my brain isn't wanting to cooperate today.
Out of the Madness, by Jerrold Ladd, is one of the most heart-wrenching
memoirs of a young man's life growing up in the projects of Dallas, TX with
a heroin-addicted mother.
Monster, by Walter Dean Myers
Touching Spirit Bear, by Ben Mikaelsen
Best of luck to you!
I love Chris Crutcher's books - the kids do too! There's a book called
Touching Spirit Bear that's good for boys. Also, Whirligig. (Sorry, I
can't remember the authors.)
Many of the novels by Walter Dean Myers, especially - Monster, Hoops, Fallen Angels
(although it has some strong language), Scorpions.
Also ckeck out the ALA website or guysread.com for some further suggestions.
Hope that helps! I would love to see the list after it is compiled.
YA BOOKS FOR MALES
Ned Vizzini: Teen Angst?…naah! A Quasi autobiography; It’s Kind of a Funny
Story; Be More Chill
C.D. Payne: Youth in Revolt; Revolting Youth; Cut to the Twisp
Benjamin Lebert Crazy: A Novel
Joel Weisberg Tenth Grade
Jonathan Lethem: Motherless Brooklyn
David Benioff The 25th Hour
Chuck Palahniuk Fight Club
Orson Scott Card Ender’s Game and sequels
Tolkien All of Ring Cycle and Hobbit
Mary Stewart The Crystal Cave series
Mark Haddon The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Jack Gantos Hole in My Life (Autobiography)
Angela Johnson The First Last Part
Walter Dean Myers Monster; Bad Boy
Michael Chabon The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
Sue Townsend The Adrian Mole Diaries
Swallowing Stones, McDonald
Hole in My Life, Gantos
Heroes, Corimer
Ghost Boy, Lawrence
THE BOY, THE KING, AND THE CHIHUAHUA has a section in the back with is a
nice summary about striving in life...that i feel would work well with
high school males. It is featured at www.iJustRead.com
Just finished reading a few:
Storky; How I Lost My Nickname and Won the Girl - D. Garfinkle
Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie - David Lubar
Dunk David – David Lubar
Some I read last year
Born Too Short - Dan Elish
Stanford Wong Flunks Big Time - Lisa Yee
Small Steps - Louis Sachar
Then Again, Maybe I Won’t - Judy Blume
Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie - Jordan Sonnenblick
How Angel Peterson Got His Name - Gary Paulsen
QuizList provides a search engine for schools/libraries using Accelerated Reader
testing. (Reading Counts soon to be released.) We maintain a growing database of
over 90,000 titles. Because we can access book lists made by our students,
teachers, librarians as well as the state and national lists, we have a bank of
statistics we can display. You’ll find lists like “Guys Read” as well as many
other lists by subject and type on our Book Lists page. Also note the statistics
charts you can further refine by interest and reading levels.
http://www.quizlistinteractive.com/AcceleratedReader_BookLists.aspxThese lists will
give you plenty to read this summer.
This is always tricky.....some general observations at my school are that boys who
like to read, read mainly fantasy and horror (Meridith Ann Pierce, Emily Rodda,
Tamora Pierce, Darren Shan, Garth Nix, etc.) as opposed to girls who like the
melodramatic teen-life stories.
Of boys that don't like to read many like Graphic novels and non-fiction,
Hip-hop, and the NBA. Also biographies of people like Tony Hawk, Michael Jordan,
Tupac Shakur, Will Smith, and other celebrities.These boys are the target, I always
feel. If we could get them reading it would help our school scores immensely.
Frequently checked out books for boys are:
The Spy High series (AJ Butcher)
Cirque de Freak series (Darren Shan)
Artemis Fowl series (Eion Colfer)
Eldest, and Eragon (Christopher Paolini)
Slam, Monster, Hoops, Beast, all by Walter Dean Myers
Newer books that I highly recommend are:
Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment (James Patterson) <-------Must Read
Danger Zone (David Klass)
Son of the Mob (Gordon Korman)
Acceleration (Graham McNamee)
Hole in my Life (Jack Gantos)
Whale Talk (Chris Crutcher)
Can't Get There From Here (Todd Strasser)
Fade to Black (Alex Flinn)
Eragon
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (I think there are 3 books)
My high school guys liked Will Weaver's books. They also enjoyed the works of Chris
Crutcher and Carl Deuker.
My middle school boys really like the current bios of
athletes: LeBron James, Lance Armstrong, etc.
Of course these are broad generalizations, but I have found that men
(myself included) often:
1) Prefer to read non-fiction for recreational reading.
2) Tend to be "plot driven" readers
You might consider some of these:
Non-Fiction:
Into Thin Air--Krakauer, Jon
Hole in My Life--Gantos, Jack
Shadow Divers--Kurson, Robert
The Radioactive Boy Scout--Silverstein, Ken
Fast Food Nation--Schlosser, Eric
Hot Zone--Preston, Richard
Into the Wild--Krakauer, Jon
Kindness of Strangers--McIntyre, Mike
Walk in the Woods--Bryson, Bill
Fiction:
Lord of the Deep--Salisbury, Graham
Airborn--Oppel, Ken
Restless: A Ghost's Story--Wallace, Rich
Feed--Anderson, M.T.
Eyes of the Emperor--Salisbury, Graham
Invisible--Hautman, Pete
Most of the non-fiction titles are actually adult books with YA appeal.
I would consider all of the fiction books true YA titles.
Hope this helps.
Here is a list I maintain for my guys.
http://destiny.selah.k12.wa.us/cataloging/servlet/handlecategorysearchresultsform.do?categoryID=335&categoryDescription=Great+Reads+for+Guys&page=0
Great question! Here are some great titles:
Be More Chill ------Ned Vinzinni
Breaking through. ---Jimenez
The Circuit -----Jimenez
Joyride ---Olsen
Farm Team---Weaver
Striking Out ---Weaver
Hard Ball ---Weaver
Monster ---Myers
First Part Last ---Johnson
Mazer, Harry._A boy at war: a novel of Pearl Harbor._Scholastic (Book Fair), 2001
[0-439-36676-3]
It is early December 1941 and Adam's father is an officer serving on the Arizona.
Much to his father's displeasure, Adam has some Japanese friends on the island.
The morning of the attack the boys sneak under a fence and hijack a row boat to go
fishing so they are in the harbor at the moment of the attack. There are some
vivid descriptions of the situation in the harbor, but it is not overdone. After
the attack, Adam and his mother wait word about his father. This short 104 page
book would be a very good high interest reader but I would be cautious about using
it with children below 6th grade because of the attack scene. There are historical
notes at the end of the book which give enough background material and would spur
further research. This short book shows what it must have been like on the island,
before, during, and after the attack.
The place to start looking is the ALA list called Quick Picks for Reluctant Young
Adults. You'll find it at www.ala.org under Awards. It is a long list every year
of titles that are (a) short (b) have great covers (c) grab you in the first 10
pages and (d) do not have small print.
When you've located that list, scan it for the books BY males ABOUT males. Guys
can't resist those books. I know that is sexist--but it works for finding books
that guys will flat out love.
Card Ender's Game
Puzo Godfather
O'Brien The Things They Carried
Haddon Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime
Tolkien Lord of the Rings
Paolini Eargon
King The Stand
Giles Shattering Glass
Follett The Third Twin
Paulsen Beet Fields
Brown Da Vinci Code
Thompson Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Cormier We All Fall Down
Non-fiction:
Ralston Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Armstrong It's Not About the Bike
Albom Tuesdays with Morrie
? Friday Night Lights
? 'Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sky
Cathy Piland, Media Coordinator
Bearfield School, Ahoskie, NC
pilandc@hertford.k12.nc.us
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