# Book Series For 12 Yr Old Boy **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 30, 2009, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-series-for-12-yr-old-boy/512152 "2009-09-30T19:58:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![atlantic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/46a35a/32.png) [@atlantic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/atlantic)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-series-for-12-yr-old-boy/512152/1 "2009-09-30T19:58:26Z")
My son LOVES to read and has made his way through several book series over the last year or so. He’s had a hard time lately finding new reading material and I hoped that a fellow doper might have some suggestions. Some of his favorite series and authors are: The Ranger’s Apprentice Series - Flanagan The Last Apprentice Series - Delaney Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Series The Grey Griffins Series - Benz & Lewis The Alex Rider Series - Anthony Horowitz The Dragons Series - Chris D’Lacey Some of the above have new books coming out in the next few months, but I’d like to get him started on something before then. He’s read some of the other Anthony Horowitz series and didn’t enjoy them as much as he does the Alex Rider books. He has also read a couple of other Tom Clancy books, but really enjoys the Splinter Cell series the most. Thanks for any suggestions! ---
**Author:** ![Yodalicious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yodalicious/32/8195_2.png) [@Yodalicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yodalicious)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-series-for-12-yr-old-boy/512152/2 "2009-09-30T20:11:40Z")
I’m not familiar with the series you mentioned. But the obvious one is Harry Potter. I also hear the Last Olympian (Percy Jackson?) series is enjoyable. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-series-for-12-yr-old-boy/512152/3 "2009-09-30T20:13:36Z")
Hand him _Guards! Guards!_ by Terry Pratchett and stand back. The Discworld is up to what, 36 novels and a few dozen ancillary books? ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-series-for-12-yr-old-boy/512152/4 "2009-09-30T20:18:22Z")
When I was 12 I loved [The Great Brain](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Brain) series, about boys growing up in 1890’s Utah. The title character is always pulling off elaborate money-making schemes. The books are very educational about growing up in the Old West. ---
**Author:** ![TheMerchandise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b487fb/32.png) [@TheMerchandise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMerchandise)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-series-for-12-yr-old-boy/512152/5 "2009-09-30T20:19:29Z")
Eoin Colfer’s \*Artemis Fowl \*series is fun and up to six books now. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-series-for-12-yr-old-boy/512152/6 "2009-09-30T20:37:32Z")
“Ender’s Game” by Orson Scott Card. Then “Ender’s Shadow” which is more of a companion book than an outright sequel. (the actual sequels to Ender’s Game take place thousands of years later and are _very_ different in tone). Then there are direct sequels to “Ender’s Shadow” if he likes it. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-series-for-12-yr-old-boy/512152/7 "2009-09-30T20:42:05Z")
I highly highly recommend [The Redwall series](http://browse.barnesandnoble.com/browse/nav.asp?visgrp=fiction&N=712190+3001+2147456704&Ne=712190&Ns=SERIES_NUMBER) by Brian Jacques, it’s aimed at your sons age but I read them when I was a little older and still couldn’t put them down. ---
**Author:** ![atlantic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/46a35a/32.png) [@atlantic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/atlantic)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-series-for-12-yr-old-boy/512152/8 "2009-09-30T20:51:40Z")
Thanks so much for the suggestions! I think we’ll make a trip to the library one evening this week. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-series-for-12-yr-old-boy/512152/9 "2009-09-30T21:11:56Z")
Piers Anthony’s _Xanth_ novels are a perpetual part of the 12-year-old canon. Fantasy adventure and a million bad puns. There is no sex as such, but my recollection is that characters occasionally talk about boobs basically the way a 12-year-old boy would. The Belgariad sword-and-sorcery novels of David Eddings are more mature (in a good way) but also age-appropriate. Raymond Feist’s _Riftwar_ novels are another possibility. Lloyd Alexander’s Prydain novels would be perfect. Adventuresome, majestic, and a bit sad. These might be a little young for him, but if he hasn’t read _The Mad Scientists Club_ series or the Alvin Fernald books, he hasn’t lived. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-series-for-12-yr-old-boy/512152/10 "2009-09-30T21:16:07Z")
I liked Mary Stewart’s _The Crystal Cave_ series (Authurian legend from Merlin’s POV), although they might be a tiny bit too old for him, depending on his maturity level. IIRC there is a fair amount of (non-graphic) sex involved. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-series-for-12-yr-old-boy/512152/11 "2009-09-30T21:25:02Z")
Some great suggestions here so far. I’ll add Jonathan Stroud’s _Bartimaeus_ Trilogy, and, for some oldies-but-goodies, any of Robert A. Heinlein’s [“juvenile” novels](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinlein_juveniles). Plus, he’s about the age I was when I first read Tolkien. ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-series-for-12-yr-old-boy/512152/12 "2009-09-30T21:35:29Z")
My son is 13, and in the last few years he has liked the \*Eragon \*trilogy, and the \*Airborn \*series and the \*Silverwing \*series by Kenneth Oppel. He liked _Jurassic Park_ and the sequel, and he liked _Rendevous with Rama,_ and _Ender’s Game_. They’re not written for the young adult market, but this summer he read all of _The Dresden Files_ series, by Jim Butcher, and loved them. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-series-for-12-yr-old-boy/512152/13 "2009-09-30T21:54:24Z")
At 12, he may be a little old for _The Hardy Boys_…especially if he’s reading Tom Clancy. I vote start him on Heinlein. Some of the better juveniles, or right in to some of the regular novels. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-series-for-12-yr-old-boy/512152/14 "2009-09-30T22:02:59Z")
> [@sqweels](#): > > When I was 12 I loved [The Great Brain](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Brain) series, about boys growing up in 1890’s Utah. The title character is always pulling off elaborate money-making schemes. The books are very educational about growing up in the Old West. Second this. My brother and I both loved these. I also highly recommend [Gordon Korman](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Korman)’s Bruno and Boots/MacDonald Hall series. Can’t believe they never turned it into a movie or a TV show. I loved him when I was about 10 or 11 and he has a keen ear for kids and boys (he published his first book, the very funny _This Can’t Be Happening at Macdonald Hall_ at 14, so I guess that makes sense). ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-series-for-12-yr-old-boy/512152/15 "2009-09-30T22:20:41Z")
> [@Daddypants](#): > > I also hear the Last Olympian (Percy Jackson?) series is enjoyable. My kid is 10 but in the advanced reading programs, etc. He loved the series and they gave him a definite interest in Greek myth. Last weekend we spent a 90 minute car ride talking about Norse myth and how it compared and contrasted with Greek myth. ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-series-for-12-yr-old-boy/512152/16 "2009-09-30T23:54:51Z")
My son (who turns 12 this very day) really enjoyed all the available installments of the Percy Jackson (Olympians) series. Right now he’s powering through a series by E. L. Young called S.T.O.R.M. I don’t know much about it, but it’s held his interest for several volumes. I dearly wanted him to love The Great Brain as much as I had but no soap. He cannot make himself be interested in “old fashioned stuff”. It’s tough for me, coming from a family full of history majors but he has many other sterling qualities. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Skeezix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/aca169/32.png) [@Red\_Skeezix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Skeezix)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-series-for-12-yr-old-boy/512152/17 "2009-10-01T03:31:55Z")
**Sci Fi** Asimov - Foundation Trilogy Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy Ender’s Game **Fantasy** Redwall +1, they are formulaic but fun. The Hobbit Harry Potter Dresden Files **Military** Starship Troopers Francis Marion - The Swamp Fox \*\* Classics \*\* Tom Saywer Huckleberry Finn A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court Call of the Wild Three Musketeers 20000 Leagues under the sea \*\* Fiction (With 11 - 13 yo characters) \*\* From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler My Side of the Mountain Bridge to Teribithia ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-series-for-12-yr-old-boy/512152/18 "2009-10-01T16:24:52Z")
I don’t remember how old I was when I read these, so they may be too juvenile for him, but I LOOOVED [The Three Investigators](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_three_investigators) books. They’re kid “detectives” who have a hidden headquarters in the main character’s grandparents junkyard. The earliest books are better, but I liked and read them all, 43 of 'em… Joe ---
**Author:** ![monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monster)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-series-for-12-yr-old-boy/512152/19 "2009-10-01T16:40:31Z")
My son loves the Young James Bond series by Charlie Higson. He just bought the most recent book on Saturday and finished it on Monday. Get him [SilverFin](http://www.amazon.com/Young-Bond-Book-One-SilverFin/dp/1423122623/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254415049&sr=8-5) and I bet he will like it! ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-series-for-12-yr-old-boy/512152/20 "2009-10-02T19:15:40Z")
My just-turned-13 year old enjoyed the [Fablehaven](http://www.amazon.com/Fablehaven-Brandon-Mull/dp/1416947205/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254509064&sr=8-1) series by Brandon Mull. He also liked the Wimpy Kid series and the Lemony Snicket books, but those may be a little young… I also recommend the [Tripods](http://www.amazon.com/Tripods-Trilogy-White-Mountains-City/dp/0020425716/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254510827&sr=1-2) books by John Christopher. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-series-for-12-yr-old-boy/512152.md?page=2)