Books Boys Won’t Hate

I’ve created some loose categories for books that have been tested and approved by my students or my own children. Special thanks to insights from two of my librarian friends–Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Dennis–who have filtered through their experiences of working with boys!

Anything by Gary D. Schmidt!

• Labors of Hercules Beal
• Okay for Now
• Pay Attention, Carter Jones
• Wednesday Wars

Adventure–plots that keep moving

• Call of the Wild, by Jack London
• White Fang, by Jack London
• Around the World in Eighty Days, by Jules Verne
• 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne
• The Scarlet Pimpernel, by Baroness Emmuska Orczy
• Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
• Frindle, by Andrew Clements
• Jurassic Park, by Michael Crichton
• Percy Jackson series, by Rick Riordian
• Ranger’s Apprentice, by John Flanagan
• My Man Jeeves, by P.G. Wodehouse (first in a humorous series)
• Michael Vey series, by Richard Paul Evans
• The Kingdom series, by Chuck Black
• Theodore Boone series, by John Grisham
• Skyjacked, by Paul Griffin
• The Sign of the Cat, by Lynne Jonnell
• Kensuke’s Kingdom, by Michael Morpurgo
• The Ascendence Trilogy, by Jennifer Nielson
• Where the Red Fern Grows, by Wilson Rawls (the end is devastatingly sad)

Dystopia–when things are . . . wrong

• The Giver, by Lois Lowry
• Hunger Games series, by Suzanne Collins
• Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
• Animal Farm, by George Orwell
• 1984, by George Orwell
• Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
• City of Ember, by Jeanne Du Prau

Science Fiction–everything we wish about science

• Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card
• Out of the Silent Planet, by C.S. Lewis (first in the Space Trilogy)
• Heir to the Empire, by Timothy Zahn (first in the Thrawn trilogy)
• Invisible Man, by H.G. Wells
• Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury (short stories)
• Other Worlds, by Jon Scieszka, ed. (compilation of short stories by sci-fi masters)

Mystery–put the puzzle together

• The Mysterious Benedict Society, by Trenton Lee Stewart
• Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library, by Chris Grabenstein
• Westing Game, by Ellen Raskin
• Holes, by Louis Sachar
• Hound of the Baskervilles, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
• And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie
• Leepike Ridge, by N.D. Wilson
• Britfield and the Lost Crown, by C.R. Stewart

Fantasy–other worlds

• The Paradise War, (#1 in the Song of Albion series) by Stephen Lawhead
• The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury (short stories)
• The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien
• Black, (#1 in the Circle series) by Ted Dekker
• Redwall, (series) by Brian Jaques
• The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis
• Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling
• The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis
• The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde
• The Wingfeather Saga, by Andrew Petersen
• Keeper of the Lost Cities series, by Shannon Messenger

Nonfiction–samples from lots of types; go explore your interests!

• The Art of Manliness, by Brett McKay (life hacks)
• Blink, by Malcom Gladwell (how we think)
• Outliers, by Malcom Gladwell (accidental patterns)
• The Crisis of Our Age, by Pitrim Sorokin (social, historical patterns)
• Amusing Ourselves to Death, Neil Postman (social trends)
• God’s Smuggler, by Brother Andrew (biography)
• Mere Christianity, by C.S. Lewis (theology)
• All Thirteen, by Christine Soontornvat

True Stories

• Black Like Me, John Howard Griffin
• Crossover, by Kwame Alexander
• Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand
• The Faithful Spy, by John Hendrix (with graphic novel elements!)