Need recommendation of teenage reading

[House of Usher]

I have just acquired a new tutoring client who is starting his GCSEs in September, which must make him about 14 I suppose. His father wants him to do well in English and is concerned his son doesn't read enough.

Does anyone have any recommendations for intelligent but not too taxing fiction suitable for a secondary school pupil? Specific titles would be as helpful as general recommendations of authors.

I have already made a list of titles and authors that spring to mind and visited the local library to look at the teenage section (they had one of Michael Carroll's, of course!); next I'm going to browse the shelves of Cardiff's biggest secondhand book shop for inspiration.

So far I've got a fantasy-heavy list of authors that includes Roald Dahl, Eoin Colfer, Darren Shand, Garth Nix, Philip Pullman, Philip Reeve, J.K. Rowling, Michael Carroll, Terry Pratchett (The Colour of Magic, The Light Fantastic and Pyramids), Rick Riordan and Justin Richards.

I am conscious that the teenage market is dominated by fantasy, so I'd especially welcome any suggestions of books that don't have magic, vampires or werewolves in, although I'm not excluding fantasy genres. No recommendations of comic books, please, because I'm going to be recommending an 'any and all' approach to graphic novels.

[TordelBack]

I'll rack the brains and see if I  think of some non-fantasy teenager-appropriate stuff, but nothing leaps out at me.  I would however advise against your choice of specific Pratchetts - the first two in particular are heavy pastiches of older fantasy literature (Howard, Moorcock, Leiber, Lovecraft etc.), and while I enjoy them a lot, I'd advise starting with the more standalone novels instead - Mort, Wyrd Sisters (admittedly a knowledge of Macbeth would be handy there), or Guards Guards, perhaps. 

While I hate to set anyone on that dark path, I devoured schlocky adventure/thriller stuff of the 50s, 60s and 70s as a younger teenager - Desmond Bagley (High Citadel, Wyatt's Hurricane, The Vivero Letter), Hammond Innes (Levkas Man),  Alaistair Maclean (I defy any boy not to love Where Eagles Dare), or Paul Brickhill's The Great Escape. Not too long, plenty of violent action, just a hint of the sexy stuff, if any - it certainly kept me reading. 

[Colin YNWA]

The ones I remember loving at school were Animal Farm and Of Mice and Men. Both 'easy' reads but offer a heck of a lot. I would personally also add Princess Bride, Life of Pi and Curious Incident of the Dog in the night-time.

[chaingunchimp]

Well they are kinda a mixture of light horror and fantasy, but some of  Clive Barkers novels are aimed more at young adults like the Abarat books and the Thief of always, they are great reads. Plus they are a gateway to the rest of Barkers fantastic books, comics and films etc.

also in terms of comics i used to read Humberto Ramos' crimson books when i was younger. they are fantastic for getting kids into comics. Especially with the vampire boom at the min.(still love those now actually)

[vzzbux]

A must.

Well what did you expect?




V

[Dandontdare]

Vonnegut is accessible but deep (start with Slaughterhouse 5), and then there's always Salinger's Catcher in the Rye. John Irving's World according to Garp and Prayer for Oewn Meaney are also excellent. Anything by Steinbeck too.

[Colin YNWA]

Vonnegut is accessible but deep (start with Slaughterhouse 5), and then there's always Salinger's Catcher in the Rye. John Irving's World according to Garp and Prayer for Oewn Meaney are also excellent. Anything by Steinbeck too.

With the exception of no 'Life of Pi' that's a list of my favourite authors or books!

[exilewood]

Vonnegut is accessible but deep (start with Slaughterhouse 5), and then there's always Salinger's Catcher in the Rye. John Irving's World according to Garp and Prayer for Oewn Meaney are also excellent. Anything by Steinbeck too.

Steinbeck is a good recommendation - Cannery Row & Mice & Men are fairly short so not too daunting. I seem to remember that World According to Garp featured a fair amount of sex? Great book though. I loved Kerouac & Richard Braughtigan as a teenager (still do.) Can't go wrong with Dickens. I know you wanted to move away from fantasy, but Titus Groan & Gormenghast are great for teenagers & also Mr Pye, which isn't fantasy.

There's always the option of short stories too - Saki is wonderful.

[TordelBack]

I don't want to sound like a total oaf, but while I enjoyed (and enjoy) Steinbeck and Irving and Dickens, I'm not sure they're the right choice for encouraging a kid to read more, especially when he's probably studying quite enough sensible novels as part of his GCSE - getting him into the pleasure of reading-for-reading's-sake may require something lighter and more plot-and-action-driven.  Once he's into the habit of reading, enjoying the better stuff will come easier.  Obviously I'm arguing from my own dank rockpool, but exhausting the Wilbur Smiths and the Moorcocks is both good practice and firm incentive for moving on to Roth and Updike?

However, with a mix of action and good writing in mind, might I suggest Catch 22, Lord Jim and any of Henry James' ghost stories?

[House of Usher]

Thanks for the suggestions. I've just got back from town, having visited the two bookshops I set out to visit. I've got my list now. Desmond Bagley, Wilbur Smith and Hammond Innes were especially helpful suggestions because it would never have occurred to me to read any of them as they are totally not my thing!

I will be recommending Of Mice and Men, but with the caveat that I am 90% sure it's on the boy's school syllabus for September. I can't recommend Dickens because I hated his books so much when I was at school and I'm not fond of them even now. I approve of any school kid reading Great Expectations, but I think Dickens is too intimidating for a reluctant reader. The World According to Garp is right out: I don't want to risk upsetting the parents! Saki is a very nice suggestion but I'd feel like a right humbug for recommending an author that sits on my own bookshelf unread.

[vzzbux]

I was about to suggest Of Mice And Men as my Daughter (just turned 15) is doing it at school at the moment.





V

[DoomBot]

What I recall reading around that age were Wind in the Willows, Watership Down, Jungle Book, Swallows and Amazons, The Hobbit.

[House of Usher]

I was about to suggest Of Mice And Men as my Daughter (just turned 15) is doing it at school at the moment.

Spot on! It turns out he's read it. His school took the unusual step of making it a Year 9 text; whether it'll show up again as part of his GCSE study I don't know. Anyhow, it made an appearance today as part of a tutorial about the features of language used by the author based on one of this year's exam questions. The boy and his father took to the list of recommended reading quite enthusiastically. I suspect he'll get a lot of enjoyment out of any book with the words 'Doctor Who and The...' in the title, published by Target. I've told him where he can get them.

His mission is to get any 4 books that appeal to him out of the local library by next Saturday, and then fill up the rest of his library card with selections from the graphic novels shelf. That, plus write me an essay.

[radiator]

I've heard Charlie Higson's books are very good teen fiction. He wrote the 'Silverfin' young James Bond series and also 'The Enemy' series which I've heard nothing but good things about.

[Cactus]

What about Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series? Sharpe's Sword is a good one. Or one of those big ol' anthologies of Asimov's robot stories? Lord of the Flies?