Books for young teen boys

I am so thankful that my children have developed a love for reading!  They both had a brief period of time where they hated reading assignments, but reading interesting books aloud to them really sparked their interest in reading.  Kate DiCamillo, Laura Ingals Wilder, Paul Hutchens, Lois Gladys Leppard and others helped pave the way to a love for reading.  My daughter is still satisfied with an array of books and though she has excellent comprehension, she enjoys easier books to read.  My son, on the other hand, enjoys a challenge and was reading high school level books in late elementary school.

My challenge as a mom has been and continues to be finding books for my son that are challenging, but remain at his maturity level.  As a Christian mom, I want to keep his mind pure as long as possible, while giving him enjoyable escapes into the world of books!  I will NOT go to an AR list and randomly pick a hot title for my kids and that has required me to read youth books.  This has not been disappointing for me in the least.

Here's the part that will stir some hostility toward me, but I will raise my children, you can raise yours.  Harry Potter is not going to be read in my home.  The author has stated that she looked up incantations and put them in these books, she has also made derogatory statements about my Savior, Jesus Christ.  There are books that introduce sexuality of all kinds. I'm not ok with that for tween children.  There are Christian books that talk about some realities of the haulocost and war and desire in marriage.  I'm not going to hide these things from my kids, but they don't need to read them yet.  There are so many books that have supernatural tones, it is hard to draw a line.  Which fantasy is ok and which is not ok?  With any fantasy, we have discussion and will continue to discuss reality vs fantasy.

C.S. Lewis

I read all of The Chronicles of Narnia to my children.  Along with them, we read a devotional guide that took us through the underlying meaning of the series.  I personally have only read a few other books by Lewis, but I enjoy his writing.  Representation of good and evil, and creation's song, and the battle for righteousness and justice are themes I can support and discuss with my kids.  When you hear the author's intent, it is easier to come along side the book.

Classics

I do force classics upon my children.  They are an easy pick because I know a few of them, I read them with my kids and I use literature guides.  Among the list is Gulliver's Travels, The Jungle Book, and Much Ado About Nothing.  I have shared that we use Learning Language Arts Through Literature and many of the books we read which are classics, we have discovered through this curriculum.  It is a Christian curriculum and I've come to trust this to give books I approve and trust.  I've been enjoying the books along with my kids because I've not read many classics. 

Books and Series that we've checked out

This list is complicated, so I will share a little about the books.  First we'll do the earlier books.  We read The Boxcar Children and The Sugar Creek Gang.  Both of these series have a group of kids and their adventures, they are pretty easy going and great for younger readers to develop a love for chapter books.  We then moved into The Hardy Boys.  These books have mysteries and introduce crime at a level that is not overly scary.  The adventures of the Hardy boys include car chases and kidnappings, but I did not read them with my son, I went off of others' reviews.  My son gave me a play by play of many of the books, but they began to bore him after about the first 20 books.  He said they became quite predictable.  

Hunger Games, Divergent, and Maze Runner.  I have read or listened to these books on audiobook and watched the movies.  I find each series fascinating.  I haven't read the third Maze Runner book yet.  The first 2 I have not let my son read, but the third I have.  First of all, it was because we watched the movie of the first book.  I didn't realize it was a series and was not being very proactive at that point.  I am still ok with that choice, and I think he is close to being able to handle the others.  My daughter, however, isn't and what he reads, he wants to watch and I think she would have nightmares.  We have watched fantasy like Chronicles of Narnia and Lord of the Rings, but each of these series are an alternate post-apocalyptic world of sorts where kids are forced to do things in social experiments.  Hunger Games has 2 children from each district fight in a war game until only one child survives in an annual televised event.  Divergent has factions that are determined by testing that teens are categorized into.  A youth who does not fit into a category is a divergent and then other youth are mind controlled to hunt any divergent.  Maze Runner has teens trying to survive in a maze and then a post war setting.  They are needed to give an antidote to a disease that turns people into monstrous creatures.  The creatures make Maze Runner less believable and because my son doesn't have a fear of monsters, that was easier for me to let him read.

Books not made into movies take more effort to inspire kids to read them, but they are sometimes better.