Welcome to the third post in my ‘tried and tested’ series of great books for boys aged 13 and 14.
You’ll find 21 tried-and-tested books for 13/14-year-old boys here.
And 15 more tried-and-tested books for 13/14-year-old boys (plus 13 expert choices) here.
These two posts are far and away the most searched on my entire blog (and, given I’ve been blogging more 10+ years, that’s saying something). It tells me that people are desperately looking for books that will keep their early teenage boys interested in reading.
So my lists offer books that have been read and recommended by boys this age.
This time, I’m including books that have been read and enjoyed by my youngest son, Book Boy Jr, and you can read his reviews of several of them at bookboy.com.au by following the relevant links.
Section two offers a wide range of suggestions from the Your Kid’s Next Read Facebook community members who have readers this age. I asked them to nominate the best book that their 13- or 14-year-old boy had read recently, and have also included a few that my older son Book Boy (now 16) enjoyed when he was 14.
The last section offers recommendations of very new releases from Pauline at Riverbend Books. Booksellers see everything and have a good idea of what will appeal to young readers.
Click each book title to find out more about the book, or to buy it from Booktopia* or Riverbend Books.
Of course, boys this age are all very different. Book Boy Jr swings from re-reading Treehouse and Wimpy Kid novels for comfort, to throwing himself into deeper and more interesting reads. Some boys this age have already skipped over YA novels and developed an abiding love for Stephen King (Book Boy was one of these). Some are immersed in graphic novels, others adore non-fiction.
But this list, and the other two linked above, offers a great starting point. Think about your reader and what he is interested in and follow those interests. Don’t worry about what he should be reading, and look at what he likes to read.
The reading is the thing.
Lastly, don’t overlook this list: 20 tried-and-test books for 13/14-year-old girls.
You might find just the right book for your 13/14-year-old boy there.
As Book Boy (then 14) wrote in his piece for Raising Readers: How to nurture a child’s love of books by Megan Daley, ‘I also read books that are ‘for girls’ or aimed at girls (or books with girl protagonists) because a good book is a good book, no matter who the target audience is.’
Offer them everything because you never, ever know what will hit the mark.
Books recommended by Book Boy Jr (13)
Holes by Louis Sacher. (Kid review here.)
The Crossover by Kwame Alexander. (Kid review here.)
Rebound by Kwame Alexander (Prequel to The Crossover)
Ghost (Track series) by Jason Reynolds (Kid review here)
JT: The Making Of A Total Legend by Johnathan Thurston (and James Phelps) (Kid review here.)
The Skeleton Tree by Iain Lawrence. (Kid review here.)
The Dog Runner by Bren MacDibble
Dark Lord: The Teenage Years by Jamie Thomson
Book recommendations from the Your Kid’s Next Read community
Feels real/adventure
A Song Only I Can Hear by Barry Jonsberg
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
CHERUB (series) by Robert Muchamore (*nb: series content escalates)
Shooting Stars by Brian Falkner
Recon Team Angel (series) by Brian Falkner
Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds
The Wrong Train by Jeremy deQuidt (*nb: horror themes)
Game Changer by Tommy Greenwald
Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott
On The Come Up by Angie Thomas
Science Fiction
Aurora Rising (Aurora Cycle series) by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
Hive (The Vault series) by A.J. Betts
Scythe (Arc of a Scythe series) by Neil Shusterman
The Secret Runners of New York by Mathew Reilly
The Lorien Legacies (series) by PIttacus Lore (James Frey, Jobie Hughes, Greg Boose)
Dry by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman. (Kid review here)
The Road To Winter (series) by Mark Winter
Renegades (series) by Marissa Meyer
The Enemy by Charlie Higson (nb: themes might feel too current for some readers)
Skyward (series) by Brandon Sanderson
Mortal Engines (series) by Philip Reeve
Non fiction
Adam Spencer’s Numberland by Adam Spencer
Amundsen’s Way: Race To The South Pole by Joanna Grochowicz
Inside of a Dog by Alexandra Horowitz
Woo’s Wonderful World Of Maths by Eddie Woo
Rhythm Ride: A Road Trip Through The Motown Sound by Andrea Davis Pinkney
Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (Kid review here)
Songs Of A War Boy by Deng Thiak Adut (with Ben McKelvey)
Young Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe
Fantasy
Ice Wolves (Elementals series) by Amie Kaufman
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
The Summoner Trilogy by Taran Matharu
Section 13 (The Lost Property Office series) by James R. Hannibal
Eragon (The Inheritance Cycle series) by Christopher Paolini
The Keys To The Kingdom (series) by Garth Nix
The Map to Everywhere by Carrie Ryan and John Parke Davis
The Secret of Platform 13 by Eva Ibbotson
Arkanae (Medoran Chronicles series) by Lynette Noni
The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom (series) by Christopher Healy
Book recommendations from Pauline at Riverbend Books, Brisbane
Winter in Wartime by Jan Terlouw
Game On (Gamers #1) by George Ivanoff
The Echo Room by Parker Peevyhouse
Riverbend Books offers a Standing Orders service. Subscribe and they’ll send a pack of books every quarter. There are lots of different packs for different age groups, and each pack is carefully selected – and reasons given as to why each book is chosen. Find out more here.
Are you new here? Welcome to my blog! I’m Allison Tait, aka A.L. Tait, and I’m the author of two epic middle-grade adventure series, The Mapmaker Chronicles and The Ateban Cipher.
You can find out more about me here, and more about my books here.
*This post contains some affiliate links. See my contact page for details. Riverbend Books links are not affiliate links.
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