RFI: Suitable books for a 13yo boy

[JohnO]

101 Skills You Need to Survive in the Woods.

https://www.amazon.com/101-Skills-Ne.../dp/1624147429

The Dangerous Book for Boys

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

The Call of the Wild

To Kill a Mockingbird

Lord of the Flies

The Catcher in the Rye

The Time Machine - H.G. Wells

[Erik]

There are some great suggestions here.

H. Beam Piper was mentioned. Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen is a great book of his. Out of print but on kindle or available used. There's a series but I never read any more of them.

H. Rider Haggard - She, King Solomon's Mines, Allan Quartermain are all great.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, all the Sherlock Holmes stories and The Lost World are great.

Jules Verne - lots of them.

My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George - apparently there are two sequels I didn't know about when I was a kid.

T.H. White - The Once and Future King

Honestly, if he's a voracious reader and had a library card, he'll find stuff.

ETA: Bring 'Em Back Alive, Frank Buck

[Half Moon]

Has he read any Jack London? Call of the Wild or White Fang. Anyone who spends time outdoors should at least read the short story To Build a Fire.

Free digital copy: https://americanenglish.state.gov/fi...ild-a-fire.pdf

Carry The Wind by Terry C. Johnson was a pretty epic Mountain Man Story that I read at that age and I’m pretty sure is PG-13ish

I also enjoyed Michael Chrichton novels like Jurassic Park and The Andromeda Strain at his age.

Beyond the Sea of Ice by William Sarabande is a story about the pre-historic first people who crossed the land bridge into North America.

I agree and disagree with what @Half Moon said. I read as many older books as I did new fiction when I was his age. It really just depends on what he’s in the mood for. If you asked him what kind of stories he’s interested in and we could probably group source some more specific ideas. At his age I was reading a Vietnam War memoir one week Phillip K Dick science fiction the next and a Mountain Man Novel after that.

I don't disagree with your disagreement. My reading was all over the place at that age and included stuff like Twain, London, Tennyson, Kipling, Nordhoff and Hall (though a little younger aged, I checked out Falcons of France so many times in elementary school, the librarian gave it to me when it went to discard), Clancy, Dunnigan, Verne, Wells, cereal boxes, yada. I also know when I tried to feed stepson any of young me's favorite books they flopped. And I know other parents with similar experiences. On the other hand by around him turning 16 I started noticing my books like anything by John Le Carre, The Hunt For Red October, etc disappearing from the bookshelves invariably to be found in his room...

[smells like feet]

My son is 16, not really a big reader but he has read and profited from Jocko Willinks Warrior Kid books.

[0ddl0t]

Illiad & Odyssey
The Grapes of Wrath
Red Badge of Courage
Slaughterhouse 5
Watership Down
The Fountainhead
Great Expectations
Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

[ssb]

I second the earlier Clancey novels if he wants PG13 thrillers. I’d probably skip Without Remorse for the same reason you probably don’t want him to read the Terminal List (murdery revenge fantasy). My parents let me read pretty much whatever I wanted at that age that could be found at the used book store, so my “ok for a 13 year old” might be a bit off.

Steven Pressfield is another suggestion. I remember reading Gates of Fire around that age (vulgar at points, but the subject matter itself is probably acceptable - Battle of Thermopylae). I’ll still re-read that one every couple of years, still have my original paperback copy that’s all beat up. He had a few others I’ve read over the years that I remember liking, Killing Rommel (British LRDG out to kill Rommel) and The Lion’s Gate (history that reads like a novel about the Six Day War).

Some books I read for English class that I liked were Catcher in the Rye, Slaughterhouse V, Brave New World, 1984, Grapes of Wrath, Great Expectations, and Tom Sawyer (doubt that one’s in the curriculum anymore).

If he likes history, I found Stephen Ambrose to be pretty accessible at that age. His book on Lewis and Clark, Undaunted Courage, is quite good.

[TOTS]

Id 100% agree with the Louis LAmour westerns, and, especially his non-western writing. Specifically,The Walking Drum and Last of The Breed are great. Also, depending on his willingness to stretch his reading chops, classics such as The Count of Monte Cristo, King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, Three Musketeers, Swiss Family Robinson ​are great. For lighter adventure stuff, I loved The Hardy Boys mysteries when I was a teen. I’ll check my shelves when I get home and add.

[Erik]

All the Conan books by Robert E. Howard.

If you know anybody who's into manga and whose judgement you trust, ask them for some suggestions. Basically all of it is after my time, but they're hugely popular and can be quite sophisticated graphic novels.

It's not literature, but the complete Calvin & Hobbes would be a hit plus you get to read them too.

Silverlock by John Myers Myers is an awesome book. The more you've read other stuff, the more you get out of it. The main character goes on a journey where he meets many characters from legend and literature - Beowulf, the Green Knight, Robin hood,, Huck Finn, Izaak Walton (my personal favorite - author of The Compleat Angler and it took me forever to figure that out), etc. - but the story stands on its own.

[Jim Watson]

If he turns out to like Hornblower, the Alan Lewrie sea stories - 25 books before the author passed away - are good.

I never could get on with the O'Brian stuff, although I may have to try again, I can read them faster than dependable authors can turn them out.


https://www.amazon.com/Kings-Coat-Le...3249675&sr=8-4


Real Robert E. Howard Conan books and stories are fine adventures. Best thing about Conan is that he does not depend on a magic sword or a trusty sidekick.

[Erik]

Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, etc. He might be a just little old for it but what the heck, it's still great.