Yeah, but that’s mostly in the last book of Vanyel’s series, and a bit in Arrows of the Queen which is a Talia book, so not a male protagonist. Although you’re probably right that any of the Valdemar books may be a bit much for an 8-year-old, even in today’s world.
I just happened to stumble upon these books at the library while browsing for books for my son today. He seems excited to read the first one I brought home.
What about some of the Roald Dahl books? Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is the obvious one, but I was always a bigger fan of Danny Champion of the World.
If you want something realistic, it should be about a child-soldier serving in a civil war in a Third-World country.
Quoth Oakminster:
I’m smacking myself for not thinking of Heinlein. But better choices than Red Planet would be Space Cadet, Tunnel in the Sky, or Starship Troopers (which isn’t actually a juvenile, but should still be accessible). Citizen of the Galaxy might also be a good one.
Vision Quest by Terry Davis. There is some fairly mild sexual content (including a crude homosexual proposition) but if you are reading the story to the kid, then you can just not read that part.
You’ve got a point. A friend of mine has been reading through the Valdemar (or Velgarth) books while recovering from surgery, and when he finished Take a Thief, he called me and said, “What, the protagonist didn’t get raped? Is she slipping?”
And even with another non-raped protagonist, I can’t really recommend Brightly Burning to anyone. (Well, maybe someone so pathologically cheerful that their heart will explode if they don’t get depressed ASAP.)
Mind you, this is coming from someone who likes Lackey. Owlflight is the only Valdemar book I can think of that really seems to fit what the trupa is looking for, and I’m not sure how well it stands alone without knowing the backstory. (Then again, its not like the rest of us got the story in anything like chronological order.)
On the other hand, her Dragon Jousters series could possibly work, at least the first two or three. Vetch starts off as a small boy, and gets ahead mostly by hard work and guts.
If its “read it himself” the Magic Treehouse books are good at about a second or third grade reading level.
No one has mentioned The Graveyard Book yet. Just finished it and its creepy, but good. And not terribly creepy.
Piers Anthony’s XANTH series goes off the rails before too long, but CASTLE ROOGNA is pretty much a straight-up “bullied kid gets sword-and-sorcery experience while learning a thing or two about courage and honor” story.
(He’s ten years old, small and slight, and knows just one spell – which lets him carry on conversations with inanimate objects. So really think about that for a moment: he can already handle informational problems with an ease that eludes most grown-ups, but has nothing physical up his sleeve until he learns how to fight his own battles and negotiate the occasional truce from a position of strength.)
Johnny Tremain, by Esther Forbes. It’s about a young man during the American Revolution era. A good story, and you learn some history too. It won the Newberry Medal
King of the Wind, by Marguerite Henry. Another Newberry Medal winner.
John Bellairs fans may also end up hiding under their beds when something innocuous like The X-Files comes on, twenty years later. Just saying (I reread some of them last year and *didn’t end up clutching my husband and screaming. I was proud of myself).
The Sign of the Beaver, by Elizabeth George Speare, isn’t fantasy but it is good. I also recommend anything by Rosemary Sutcliff. I love her stuff, especially Warrior Scarlet and The Lantern Bearers. They’re historical British fiction, and they all (I think?) star boys, and they’re amazingly immersive. Warrior Scarlet’s about a boy in a Pictish village who has a crippled arm, and is trying to learn to be a hunter and a warrior. Great stuff.
I read Hatchet only a few years ago, and didn’t know there were sequels. I’ll look for them. Thanks.
Call it Courage was entertaining when I read it in elementary school, and I remember an astonishing amount of it considering that was twenty years ago. It’s about 12-year-old Polynesian boy who sets off to live on his own to conquer his fear by surviving on an island alone
No Ender’s Game? 
I loved that book, but I don’t know if I’d recommend it for any young person - it’s pretty intense. I can hardly argue with Orson Scott Card’s conclusions, but man - what a harsh story.
I remember one short, easy read from my own childhood with a name to the effect of “Knight in the Attic” or “A Castle in the Attic” or something that fits your specifics almost exactly, and that at the age of 8 he could probably read himself or have read to him with equal enjoyment.
The Castle in the Attic, yes!
Which, not because of the plot but because of the name, made me remember The Door in the Wall, another good one!
Dust by Arthur Slade might be a bit intense for an eight-year-old, so you might want to read it first. It’s fantasy, reminded me a bit of Ray Bradbury.
Also good are John Connolly’s YA books. I’ve read The Book of Lost Things and The Gates and enjoyed them both. But again, maybe check them out yourself first. Both involve kids learning courage. Fighting, not so much.
Wanted to throw in another for The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander. It’s exactly the series that popped into my head when I read the OP.
Fight Club? No, wait…
I’d second Ender’s Game (naturally) though I think it may be just a tad too old for him. Maybe when he’s 11.
Holy cow, I can’t believe how may suggestions you guys all came up with!
A few of you have asked what reading level my son is at. You should know that, although he’s very high functionning, **truesquirt **is on the autism spectrum, so the answer is “it depends…” For non fiction in areas of special interest like Aviation, Astronomy or Baseball, he’s somewhere in the high-school range. He’s a voracious fact-book reader.
But fiction, fiction is another matter…
First off, he has a lot of anxiety, so even a little bit of suspense or mildly scary situations are significantly magnified for him. Even at 8, we don’t think he’s ready to see Star Wars just yet, although movies or videos are worse in this regard, with him being such an intensly visual person. He can also be fairly easily intimidated in the school yard, although any incidents so far have fortunately been both rare and mild.
He’s enjoyed the Tintin comic books I grew up with, especially with the slapstick humour of Capt. Haddock. We’ve had some success with baseball-based novels as well, but there aren’t a whole lot of those.
When the school recommended a greater portion of fiction in his reading diet, to help with reading comprehension, we started reading aloud to him stories that were slightly above his independant reading level (for fiction). This also lets us check his understanding of the psychology and character motivation as we go, which can otherwise woosh right over his head. Since it’s often done while cuddling, the physical contact is very reassuring for him and helps with the whole anxiety thing. My wife found a book of “Young Warrior” stories, which he enjoyed, after being reassured that things would be ok in the end. For some reason, most of the main protagonists were girls, though. We really appreciated how these stories showed examples of kids overcoming scary situations and villains with training and courage. There is a good potential for helping him in real life here, in addition to the classroom.
We want to expand this practice in the summer, and that’s where you guys have really come through. Hopefully this lets you understand a bit better where we’re coming from. Just skimming over the suggestions so far, the Ranger Apprentice and Lightening Thief series seem very promising, but rest assured that we’ll be combing through every post for ideas, so please keep’em coming.
With the further information, the Prydain books (which are spectacular, in my opinion) might be a little scary if he’s really able to visualize things like the cauldron borne (dead warriors who get tossed in a magic cauldron and then are reborn as zombie soldiers, basically. It’s a very creepy idea).
I don’t remember the book completely, so it may have stuff in it that wouldn’t be good, but the book “Rocket Boys” might be a good one. It’s a memoir about a boy from a coal-mining town who became involved in rocketry and the space program. It was the basis of the movie “October Sky,” which he also might like (I can’t remember objectionable content, but it might be there). Maybe too dry, but he might find the topic engrossing, and it would function much like fiction.
Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry might be a possibility.
The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau has a strong girl AND a strong boy lead.
Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder is about the childhood of Almanzo Wilder (Laura’s husband) on a farm in the 1800s.
My Friend Flicka by Mary O’Hara has a young boy protagonist. He’s awkward and always feels out of place and really matures as he trains a horse. (Please don’t watch the recent film.)
The Septimus Heap books by Angie Sage might be a good bet, too. More Harry Potter-ish, though at a younger level that your son might find more comfortable, plus lots of characters to challenge him.
The 13 Clocks by James Thurber is about an evil Duke and a daring Prince. Brilliant.