I would read it first, because it’s been a few years, but this was one of my absolute favorites. “Dragon’s Blood” by Jane Yolen. A teen wins his freedom by raising and training a dragon to fight, the predominant sporting event on his desert-world planet.
The only thing is, the entire adventure begins with an act of theft. The main character is ultimately praised for his act of theft by a father figure/authority figure, and only good consequences result. So FYI.
There are a few dragon-fighting scenes which are nerve-wracking because the main character is very concerned for his dragon.
I haven’t read the sequels. I heard they weren’t as good. I can tell you straight off the “City of Ember” sequels are NOT as good, but “Ember” is another favorite of mine.
A few suggestions that I think your son will really connect with and enjoy!
Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud. The Amulet of Samarkand, The Golem’s Eye, and Ptolemy’s Gate. A young wizzard and a very old (and smart mouthed) djinni.
A great read for kids and adults.
Don’t bother with the prequel The Ring of Soloman. Just didn’t have the same spark!
Also recommend Almost any of the Robert A Heinlein Juvenile fiction. Well written, very funny, mostly featuring young boys / men who save the day and rescue their boy scout troup, or the family dog, or something equally important! Full of great characters, teaching honor, pride, dedication, etc. Also incorporates science and math into the character’s fight for survival! Two of my favorites: Have Space Suite - Will Travel and Tenderfoot in Space.
Search Wikipedia for Heinlein Juveniles. There are over a dozen books specifically for young boys / men. Really great stuff.
I know you said he wasn’t ready for the Star Wars movies yet, but books might be okay. The Jedi Apprentice series of books is aimed at 9-12 year olds and focuses on Obi-Wan’s apprenticeship, starting when he’s 13 and ending a couple years before Episode 1. My brother and I really liked them when we were in that age range, and they’re fairly short, so you should be able to prescreen them easily.
Well, no, but do you really want to read a billion iterations of “The One Where The Mother Dies”?
Now that I know more about the kid, wait on that Last Apprentice thing but the Prydain stuff is very good. (It grows with the kid - no child under the age of, like, 21 is really going to get Taran Wanderer.)
No, not at all. But the OP is asking for, specifically, SF and Fantasy stuff, because it’s what he and his wife enjoy, and think their son may, too.
I got lotsa lists for real world stuff (a couple of which made it here 'cause they’re just darn good books), but most of the “young hero learns courage/fighting” books I’m familiar with are SF/F. I’d dare say that most books of that description for 8 year olds are SF/F, because the scariness isn’t so scary when it’s due to magic or dragons, instead of despots and real world war.
Has he read The Toilet Paper Tigers yet? Based on that book, Amazon popped up with a whole lot more baseball books for the 8-12 set here and it looks like it’s a pretty even mix between fiction and non-fiction.
I was thinking that too but then I reconsidered. There’s a ton of creepy stuff in The Book of Three. Zombie warriors, a demon warlord with a skull for a head, an injured character suggesting he should be killed so he won’t be a burden on the party, attack by evil birds, numerous near death escapes… Oh and when Taran confronts the demon warlord, he discovers he is unworthy to draw the magic blade. He basically fails completely and is almost killed. At no time does he triumph by learning courage (he already had too much) or fighting (he slowly figures out that war completely sucks).
Yeah, there’s a good bit of comic relief but If a kid is easily alarmed by creepy, anxiety producing things, I don’t think that it will go down too well. Harry Potter is about a billion times more innocuous, especially the first 2.
I just think it’s odd how vanishingly few examples of real-world books have been suggested in this thread. I know the OP said he and his wife are sci-fi/fantasy fans but I think kids might also enjoy books with characters they can relate to and situations that they actually experience first-hand.
Chris Chrutcher’s collection Athletic Shorts is one book I’d recommend, all the stories in it are very good and deal with real problems that real kids face. There is some salty language, but nothing really vile. One of the stories in this book was later adapted into a movie called Angus in 1992, which I think is a very, very good film, one that your son might enjoy. I think it’s one of George C. Scott’s last movies. Kathy Bates and James Van Der Beek are also in it.
if you don’t mind a strong religous overtones and seriously dated references Fitzgerald’s autobiographical (i think) “Big Brain” (again I think its been a couple of decades) serious or “The Sugar Creek Gang” (don’t recall the author of that one) if you can still find them (don’t know if they’re still in print or not) I think would fit the bill pretty good. Tom Swift was a favorite of mine along with Hardy Boys up until that age (hey I’m smart ok?) until I discovered CJ Cherryh and Heinlein’s “Friday” (whoo hoo did I have some naughty dreams about her!!:eek:) ok just googled it is John D. Fitzgerald for the "Great Brain"series
For The Sugarcreek Gang the author is Paul Hutchens both him and Fitzgeralds Great Brain books are available at amazon new (much to my surprise as both series were old in the 70 when i was a kid)
(missed the edit timeout)
The Great Brain series is a good choice. It’s definitely historical fiction, not SF or F, but they’re uniformly cheerful, each chapter is a separate episode, and while they’re set in a religious setting (1890s Utah), the books themselves are fairly secular. There is no proselytizing, and the single most religious episode is one where the whole town feels bad for not accepting a Jewish merchant. These are secular books in a religious environment. On the whole, much less religious than the Narnia books, though kids won’t get the religious overtones in Narnia.
He’s definitely young enough for The Hobbit, and that’s one for youngsters. There are a couple of slightly scary parts as Bilbo and his companions adventure and one major character dies at the end of the book, so beware.
Yeah, I didn’t mean that there was proselytising in the Great Brain books, just the matter of factness of the religous factors in the story might put some people off of a really great kids book these days. I could have sworn Fitzgerald wrote those based on his own (and his brother’s) childhood. The Sugarcreek Gang series is blantantly christian as I recall them(I remember religion being an important if not main point of many of them), but still good kids adventure books all the same.
