# Book Suggestion? pre-teen, non-fiction **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 28, 2013, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-suggestion-pre-teen-non-fiction/667452 "2013-08-28T23:40:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2013, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-suggestion-pre-teen-non-fiction/667452/21 "2013-08-29T23:09:20Z")
> [@bibliophage](#): > > _Night_ by Elie Wiesel comes to mind, but ten years old may be too young to read it. Whether it should be classified as a fictionalized memoir or a semi-autobiographical novel is a matter of debate. I actually taught this book to a 9th grade Honors English class (a long time ago). This might be a little advanced for him, but it’s a fantastic book. They read _[Hiroshima](http://www.amazon.com/Hiroshima-John-Hersey/dp/0679721037/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1377817578&sr=1-1&keywords=hiroshima)_ that semester, too. They were floored by both. I love all of these suggestions. My friend’s son, 12 years old, recommended [Red Scarf Girl](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0064462080/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1), which is about a girl growing up during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. It wouldn’t have been something I would have normally picked, but the kid who suggested it said it really affected him and he has a lot in common with my son, so I’m hoping it will be a good reading experience for him. I bought that one, but I’ve added almost all of the above suggestions to our library wish list. I have a 7 year old boy, too, and every few months, I’ll read a novel that I pick out to both of them. I think _Farmer Boy_ is going to be the next book I pick. We read _Where the Red Fern Grows_ (one of my childhood favorites) this summer and they were completely hooked. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2013, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-suggestion-pre-teen-non-fiction/667452/22 "2013-08-30T04:22:32Z")
It’s not nonfiction, but it’s historical fiction: what about _[Johnny Tremain](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Tremain)_ by Esther Forbes. I listened to it on an audiobook a few years back and IIRC it wasn’t bad. It’s set during the Revolutionary War and tells the story of a 14-year-old boy and various trials and difficulties he overcomes. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2013, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-suggestion-pre-teen-non-fiction/667452/23 "2013-08-31T13:54:45Z")
Again, fictional, but [I Am David](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_David), by Anne Holm. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2013, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-suggestion-pre-teen-non-fiction/667452/24 "2013-08-31T15:16:33Z")
It’s fiction, but there’s “Diary of a Part Time Indian” that has become one of my favorite books. ---
**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:** [August 31, 2013, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-suggestion-pre-teen-non-fiction/667452/25 "2013-08-31T22:31:11Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > It’s not nonfiction, but it’s historical fiction: what about _[Johnny Tremain](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Tremain)_ by Esther Forbes. I listened to it on an audiobook a few years back and IIRC it wasn’t bad. It’s set during the Revolutionary War and tells the story of a 14-year-old boy and various trials and difficulties he overcomes. You mean _Johnny Deformed_? > [@](#): > > Marge Simpson: I think you might like this. It’s about a boy who goes to war. His hand is deformed in an accident. > Bart Simpson: Deformed? Why didn’t you say so! They should call this book "Johnny Deformed’'! ---
**Author:** ![LMarie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c68b51/32.png) [@LMarie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LMarie)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2013, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-suggestion-pre-teen-non-fiction/667452/26 "2013-08-31T22:54:18Z")
Manchild In the Promised Land by Claude Brown. I read it in high school, so memory’s kinda fuzzy, but it’s the true story of a young African-American teen from a poverty stricken, violent neighborhood faced with a decision to change his life for the better. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2013, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-suggestion-pre-teen-non-fiction/667452/27 "2013-08-31T23:15:41Z")
Homer Hickam’s [Rocket Boys](http://www.amazon.com/Rocket-Boys-The-Coalwood-Series/dp/0385333218/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377990630&sr=8-1&keywords=rocket+boys) is a pretty good read. He’s a retired NASA rocket scientist who grew up in a dirt poor coal mining town. As a teenager, he and his buddies got interested in rockets. They designed and built a series of them, learning as they went along. At first, they were just hacking around, blowing stuff up, mostly, but as they progressed they wound up doing serious research, winning first the local and then the state science fairs and earning his way into college. His father was a superintendent at the mine, so they were a bit better off than some, but were still in very tight circumstances. Don’t bother to watch the movie, which changed the family relationships considerably. ---
**Author:** ![FeAudrey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7feea3/32.png) [@FeAudrey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FeAudrey)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2013, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-suggestion-pre-teen-non-fiction/667452/28 "2013-08-31T23:58:11Z")
> [@C3](#): > > … to read a book about someone who has had a rough road … How about some newspaper articles instead of a book? I am talking about features telling the stories of actual, individual, ordinary children affected by circumstances and events, not the “big picture”-type news that you mention “watching and discussing”. The newspaper I read (the Chicago _Tribune_) runs those kinds of pieces all the time, as do most major papers. Follow-up stories, too – sometimes uplifting, sometimes even sadder than the original coverage. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-suggestion-pre-teen-non-fiction/667452.md?page=1)