My oldest ds is 10, but has a very high reading level. He is going into 5th, but tested at an 11th grade level. So, I am having a hard time finding books at his level that are appropriate for him. He just got done reading the Spiderwick Chronicles. But, they were really too easy of a read. He read each book in a day. He likes sports, mystery, science fiction. He still tends to get intimitated by really big, long books. Any thoughts or suggestions?

By Yjja123 on Friday, June 13, 2008 - 11:11 am:

Guardians of Gahoole book series:

http://www.amazon.com/Capture-Guardians-Gahoole-Book/dp/0439405572

By Dawnk777 on Friday, June 13, 2008 - 12:01 pm:

Harry Potter? The first few aren't that long.

By Tink on Friday, June 13, 2008 - 12:15 pm:

These may be below his reading level but my dd, going into 6th and an above average reader, and some of the boys in her class are reading the Warrior series. It's about feral cats and the tribal type lives they live within 5 different clans.

By Tunnia on Friday, June 13, 2008 - 02:03 pm:

My dd is going into 7th grade this fall, but she has been reading at a post-high school level since 5th grade. I just asked her what books she would recommend to your ds and here is her list: The Harry Potter series, the Ranger's Apprentice series by John Flanagan, The Percy Jackson & the Olympians series by Rick Riordan, "The Empty Mirror" by James Lincoln Collier, "The Hobbit" by JRR Tolkien, The Inheritance Series with the books "Eragon" and "Eldest", "A Wrinkle in Time", and "No More Dead Dogs".

By Cybermommyx4 on Friday, June 13, 2008 - 04:43 pm:

My 12 year old DS is reading the James Patterson series "Maximum Ride" ...he just finished book 3, and is waiting for book 4. It is written for young adults and is a sci-fi tale about "special" children who are part human, part bird...He also read Darren Shan's Vampire Series (I think the first one was called Cirque du Freak)...and just finished "The Giver" and "Gathering Blue" and "Messenger" by Lois Lowry. Hopefully, he finds a series he loves soon - isn't it wonderful to share the love of reading with a child?

By Tarable on Friday, June 13, 2008 - 05:47 pm:

Okay, my dh was/is an avid reader and if your ds likes sci fi and stuff he might like the Ender's Game series by Orson Scott Card. The series actually splits off in 2 or more directions. I have read them and would recommend them to you ds.

By Cat on Friday, June 13, 2008 - 06:44 pm:

Frank Peretti is an awesome Christian author, and he has two really good teen books called Hangman's Curse and Nightmare Academy. They're books 1 and 2 of his Veritas Project series. Good stuff! Tolkien's stuff would be good, too. I'm glad someone's kid reads! Mine avoid it like the plague! lol Funny, because I'm always reading. Maybe someday.

By Dawnk777 on Friday, June 13, 2008 - 08:17 pm:

Cat, my kids are always wanting to go to the library. Emily said tonight, that on the last day of regular English class, the teacher recommended they read at least one book, over the summer and that 90% of the class broke out into laughter, meaning they are NOT going to be bothered with reading over the summer! That's so sad. My kids are bookworms, like me! We went to the library today, as a matter of fact. I needed the next book in the series I'm reading and Emily wanted a knitting book. I think Sarah checked out a book, too.

By Pamt on Friday, June 13, 2008 - 09:59 pm:

Check out Guys' Lit Blog. Both of my boys love to read and my wonderful DH found this site for them. It is a blog that bemoans the lack of good literature for boys, but then provides book reviews and suggestions for books that guys would like. You might want to check it out. BTW, my DSs would second all of the books that Cybermommy and Tunnia mentioned.

By Debbie on Friday, June 13, 2008 - 11:27 pm:

Thank you for the suggestions! Pam, I will check out the blog. I am going to print this out, and have ds look at some of the books, and pick which ones he likes.

Cat, my oldest has always loved to read. But, my youngest hated to read until this year. Now he loves it. What got him started, Captin Underpants books. He loved them, and his reading just took off. It also helped that we realized he needed glasses! We got those a few months ago, and it has made a big difference. Hang in there, maybe the love for reading will come later.

By Karen~admin on Saturday, June 14, 2008 - 08:06 am:

Debbie, no suggestions for you, but I just wanted to tell you I am *really* impressed with your son's reading level. ^5 to him!!!!!!

By Trina~moderator on Saturday, June 14, 2008 - 08:10 am:

Tra la laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Yes, Captain Underpants has been to our house, too! LOL!

DS is an advanced reader. These are books he has enjoyed.

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis

Eragon, Eldest by Christopher Paolini (The third book coming out in Sept.)

The Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer

The Pendragon series D.J. MacHale

The Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan
(DD is now reading this series and loves it.)

He also loved The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, but started the first book of the LOTR trilogy and claimed it was "too heavy".

By Dawnk777 on Saturday, June 14, 2008 - 09:28 am:

What about the Redwall series, by Brian Jacques?

The stories are known as the "Redwall" series, because they centre around Redwall Abbey. The heroes are peace-loving mice, moles, shrews, squirrels, and their friends who exhibit human characteristics in a medieval setting. They face the dark side of the animal world, represented by rats, weasels, stoats, foxes, and their villain allies, in the day-to-day struggle of good versus evil, life versus death.

The stories are written for young people aged nine to fifteen, but many "not-so-young" people also enjoy them.

Redwall Website

I've never read any of them, but there was an animated series on PBS awhile back, and it looked interesting. I think Emily has read one book from the series.

By Debbie on Saturday, August 9, 2008 - 02:18 pm:

Yvonne, I got ds the Guardians of Gahoole books. I got a box set of the first 4 books. He LOVES them. He has already read 3, and is starting book 4. Thank you for suggesting them.

By Yjja123 on Tuesday, August 12, 2008 - 09:34 pm:

Your welcome! They were a hit here too.

By Ginny~moderator on Wednesday, August 13, 2008 - 10:11 am:

If he's reading on an 11th grade level, I would recommend the Pern series by Anne McCaffrey. White Dragon, Dragon Song, Dragon Singer and Dragon Drums are especially good as the main characters are teens. However, the series as a whole is very good, and in all of them the good side wins. And while it is "dragons", in reading the series there are scientific explanations for everything that happens - no magic. It's a very long series. Here's a link to her series bibliography: McCaffrey. I also recommend the Brainships series.

The other series listed are often fairly adult in concept (not just reading level) with adult and sometimes difficult relationships, and I wouldn't recommend them for a 10 year old I don't know. The Acorna series is touted as a "juvenile" series, but I find the stories pretty soppy and too cute, and I'm not a 10 year old boy. The Pern and Brainship books are pretty clear goodguys/badguys, good guys win, some jerks who are neither good nor bad but can be obstructive get their comeuppances, and everything eventually ends well. The one potentially scary thing about the Brainship series is that this is a scientific time when persons who are severely physically disabled but not mentally disabled can opt to become the "brain" of a space ship or space station, becoming physically embedded in a sort of "womb" in the ship/station and literally running it with the assistance of computers.

I've been reading science fiction since I was 13 ( a long, long time ago) and can put together a long list for you. Andre Norton wrote some very good juveniles, as did Heinlein.