Book for a young adolescent boy.

Book for a young adolescent boy.

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So

Original Poster:

27,688 posts

229 months

Friday 7th December 2018
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A gift for my 13 year old nephew.

It seems that Waterstones has a section dedicated to this very demographic. Can anyone suggest a good title please?


Bluesgirl

779 posts

98 months

Friday 7th December 2018
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What genre does he prefer? Do you know what he's reading at present?

So

Original Poster:

27,688 posts

229 months

Friday 7th December 2018
quotequote all
Bluesgirl said:
What genre does he prefer? Do you know what he's reading at present?
No idea really. But some of the titles I saw yesterday were what you could call inspirational. I don’t want to appear to be preaching to him though.

One of the them might have been called, “Be nice, be yourself and the world will open up before you”. That wasn’t the title, but that was the gist. I didn’t have time to peruse the rest of the section.


Du1point8

21,678 posts

199 months

Friday 7th December 2018
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Bluesgirl

779 posts

98 months

Friday 7th December 2018
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How about a biography/autobiography of someone he might admire - a sportsperson, musician, artist, actor etc?

SaulGoodman

234 posts

79 months

Friday 7th December 2018
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By 13 I was reading all sorts of stuff. Something like Terry Pratchett would be a good shout - start with the early stuff so maybe do The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic. For sci fi Harry Harrissons Stainless Steel Rat books are great.

If he's a bit more mature then Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series is a great way to learn about British history - obviously set during the Napoleonic wars but are more swashbuckling than anything else. Doesn't really matter where you start.

For more recent stuff something like Anthony Horowitz's Storm Rider series - James Bond jr type stuff.

There's so much to recommend :-)

J8 SVG

1,468 posts

137 months

Friday 7th December 2018
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https://www.books2door.com/hendersons-boys-by-robe...

https://www.books2door.com/alex-rider-10-books-col...

I read these sooo many times as a teenager

I actually just read through the alex rider ones recently as a 27 year old just to reminisce - I was only going to read the first book but they're really quite good

Some of the tech they use is laughably old fashioned already but it doesn't detract from the stories

If he hasn't read the Harry Potter books, there's a reason they sold so well - must have read them up to ten times (Read them from the beginning every time a new one came out and then maybe two extra times since)

It might not be cool to read (Especially HP!) but I just didn't tell anyone else that I would stay up until 1/2 every night reading so I maintained my super cool status (NOT!!)



Trophy Husband

3,924 posts

114 months

Friday 7th December 2018
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Moby Dick. Fantastic read.
The Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner. Another great read.

Lacrimosa

22 posts

74 months

Wednesday 12th December 2018
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The Witcher series. The books are really good but I need to warn you it has adult content in it, but if the boy is 13 he probably knows more about flowers and bees already, and fantasy is a great and soft introduction into more serious topics. I've read them when I was that age and it left sincere memories and made me ask a lot of meaningful questions.

So

Original Poster:

27,688 posts

229 months

Wednesday 12th December 2018
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Perseverant

439 posts

118 months

Sunday 16th December 2018
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A lot would depend on what he's interested in just now. I'd read and enjoyed "Hornblower" by 13, not to mention "Biggles" etc. This lead on to quite a bit of military history. Maybe try "Flashman"? Terry Pratchett is a good suggestion, as is "Moby-Dick", though the latter is not an easy read.

Polite M135 driver

1,853 posts

91 months

Sunday 16th December 2018
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Of course at his age I was reading Baudelaire, but how about hitch hiker’s guide to the galaxy?