I’m reading Kim now and it’s lovely, but I don’t know how accessible it would be to a kid. Some of the rest of Kipling’s stuff might be better, and it may or may not open him up to some historical fiction, which might also suit him.
Watership Down might be a good choice. There are most certainly scary parts, but you can rest assured that the good rabbits never lose in the end. The only dark part is the “Black Rabbit of Inle” story, and you can edit that out if you like. Lloyd Alexander’s Prydain Chronicles are a good bet too; I hope you started him on The Book of Three, as it’s the first and it’s helpful (though not necessary) to read them in order. Heinlein’s juveniles are a good bet; Space Cadet and The Rolling Stones are probably among the best to start with. Actually, Space Cadet is male-centric to a fault, so you’re definitely OK there. Asimov’s Robot stuff might work; those stories might be just the right length to read one each night to him. Bruce Coville wrote a number of nice childrens’ SF books in the nineties; My Teacher Is An Alien is the first and it’s about right for an eight-year-old.
Matt Christopher wrote* dozens of childrens’ books about sports that are just about right for an eight-year-old. Many of them are about baseball. They’re really formulaic, but that may be OK.
Of course, the greatest fantasy story of all time, with "Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles… ". The only hard part is the fact that Westley spends half the book dead for one reason or another, which might be difficult for an eight-year-old. If you didn’t realize that I’m referring to The Princess Bride, you should read it yourself.
*There are so many of his books that I suspect many are ghostwritten, but it doesn’t matter much.
Actually, that’s pretty much the Harry Potter series. It’s all about the kids being put in situations where they have to fight in their elders’ wars, not as Scouts rolling bandages but fight for real, with real risk of death – and real risk of killing. Just as kids sometimes have to do in real life. (The conservative Christians who denounce the series for an immoral world-view never objected to that, that I recall.)
I came into post Ender’s Game. I was shocked as I skimmed the thread to see that it took 33 posts for it to come up. I suppose it’s themes could be a little over the head of a 8 year old but it’s not too dense. I think you’re giving the OP a false impression of the story. I don’t want to spoil it, but it’s not harsh in the sense that the action is especially crude, violent or adult. It’s harsh in that it doesn’t have an entirely warm and fuzzy ending.
The Last Apprentice books are AWESOME (what is it with “apprentices” these days?) but a little old for him. In a few years he’ll love them, though.
I haven’t read all of the Edge Chronicles yet, but the ones I’ve read so far have had male protagonists and are very good. With amazing illustrations, too.
Not sure if it’s what the OP wants, though. Ender is specially gifted and succeeds like nobody else; I didn’t get a feeling that he was “learning and maturing” so much as “he was a sort of savant or super-hero.”
With the new information, I think A Castle in the Attic will be great, as the conflict and any resulting danger is very child-friendly and not frightening at all. There is, however, a sequel which gets a tad bit scarier (a prophecy and a plague of rats, though everything still turns out well in the end) which I’d recommend leaving for now, though its ability to stand alone would make it good for down the road.
I was originally coming back to add David Clement-Davies’ Firebringer, which is a Watership Down-esque preteen novel about deer, but now that I remember the murder, tyranny, implied rape and such which are integral to the plot I don’t think that’s such a good idea. Perhaps when he’s a teenager or young adult it will be more suitable.
You might also like to check out Jane Langton, who wrote the Hall Family Chronicles. (The Astonishing Stereoscope is the book I first read.) Male and female protagonists, kids, not really scary.
The basic premise is that this island was “lost in time” and the dinosaurs never died out here, and eventually developed human-level intelligence. The only humans are rescues from shipwrecks, and they all integrate nicely into a totally pacifistic (and vegan, oddly enough) society. (Yes, it’s a little bit twee - the awesome pictures and the fact that there are dinosaurs and people living together do a lot to counteract that.)
There are a few of them which are really nice hardback picture-rich ones (although the text is meant for adult-level reading). They are FANTASTIC to pore over. There is an actual alphabet of dino-tracks (which does work) and lots of puzzles and interesting details in the pictures to find out about.
Then there are others which are fairly easy chapter-books (but don’t have the awesome pictures) about simple moralistic stories: Do the right thing. Be brave. Don’t try to be someone you aren’t. Follow your dreams. Stick up for yourself.
That sort of thing.
They are all very nice pacifistic stories with young human children needing to work with other kids and with dinosaurs to solve pretty non-graphic-and-non-intense problems. A big storm has swamped a camp for one, a rock fall cuts off a pass in another, an egg needs to be kept warm to hatch in one, someone is going around *stealing *things and has to be found and convinced to play nice in society… I think the scariest thing would be that some of the stories have Tyrannosaurs, and even they aren’t awful, just “wild meat-eating dinosaurs” instead of the nice tame ones in the rest of the story.
The Kjelgaard books are great, as are the Terhunes. There’s also the Black Stallion series. And Marguerite Henry has boys in most of hers – King of the Wind, the Chincoteague ponies, Brighty, Black Gold, and the Medicine Hat Stallion are good ones I can think of offhand.
The juvenile Heinleins are almost all oriented to boys. The only exception I can think of ATM is Podkayne.
If you like Mercedes Lackey, she’s got several with boys as the primary character. The Dragon Jousters series (well, the first two anyway, haven’t read the rest) is one. In the Valdemar world, there’s the Gryphon trilogy, the Last Herald Mage trilogy, Brightly Burning, Vows and Honor trilogy, and Owl Mage trilogy, at least. Several of those may be a bit too old for him at this point, but I’d think the Owl Mage would be a pretty good match.
On review, I’d skip the Lackey for now. Most of them have some fairly scary bits. Maybe the first Dragon Jouster or the first Owl Mage.
But everything in the first paragraph and the Heinleins I’d still recommend. As have many others, I see.
I dunno; I would definitely have trupa read that one before having his young son read it. There were very intense moments throughout the novel that might be too much for a young, impressionable guy (like the scenes with Ender and the other kids bullying him and Ender’s responses).
Another vote for Heinlein. His books are traditionally divided between his “Juveniles” and his adult works, but really there is not much difference except that the “Juveniles” can be a bit more didactic and may be more “PG” rated if you know what I mean, but most Heinlein books should be OK, just screen them first.
What about the Ender books by Orson Scott Card, or at least the first one, Ender’s Game? It has a lot about growing up and trying to make something of oneself, but it isn’t a straight hero story and the hero ends up
I certainly would not recommend His Dark Materials to an 8 year old on the autism spectrum who’s not ready for Star Wars. I’m not sure I’d recommend His Dark Materials to a 16 year old who isn’t on the spectrum and likes Hellraiser. And I say that as a fan of His Dark Materials. *Dark *is right.
Honestly, most of the recommendations, including my own, are too advanced, now that we have some more details. Percy Jackson, Charlie Bone, Narnia and Dinotopia are probably about right. He’ll probably be ready for some but not all of The Chronicles of Prydain in a year or so. The rest pretty much need to be shelved until he’s ready to deal with some more scary content and moral ambiguity.
Remember, Dopers are skewed to the precociously literate, and much of when *we *were reading at 8 isn’t going to go over well for a sensitive 8.
Maybe the ‘Atherton’ books by Patrick Carman would be of interest to your son. From your description, I think they would be just right for you to read to him.
Yes indeed. I was thinking more of what my older kid liked, but she reads precociously and doesn’t mind scary stuff.
My younger kid is more average in her reading tastes, and enjoys The Secret of Droon series (easy chapter books), which I think stars two boys and a girl. The “My Father’s Dragon” trilogy by Ruth Stiles Gannett is also great to read at that age–it stars Elmer Elevator, who saves a baby dragon, and it’s more fun than scary.
The Warriors and Guardians of Gahoole series are probably good for the next step up from there. Maybe Redwall as a read-aloud.
BTW, whoever mentioned the Weirdstone of Brisingamen, thanks for reminding me of its existence! My older kid will love it and I checked it out today.
