The move from primary school to secondary school comes with lots of changes and different priorities. One of the things that can easily slide as our kids grow older is their reading time.
If your house is anything like ours, the kids seem to stay up with us later and later, or they’re out playing various sports or with their friends.
Taking a little time to read before bed remains important, and the key to keeping this going is often choosing some really great books, so today I’m sharing a few suggestions.
Many of these books are not at all ‘gender specific’, but I’m focusing on books for boys simply because it’s often boys’ reading that drops off more so than girls’. And because my 12 year old is a boy!
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I’ve listed the books with the titles as clickable links so you can take a closer look at them and check out the reviews.
These first few are all books in a series, so if the first one grips him, you have several more to go.
The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
She came from nothing.
Avery has a plan: keep her head down, work hard for a better future. Then an eccentric billionaire dies, leaving her almost his entire fortune. And no one, least of all Avery, knows why.
They had everything.
Now she must move into the mansion she’s inherited. It’s filled with secrets and codes, and the old man’s surviving relatives – a family hell-bent on discovering why Avery got ‘their’ money.
Now there’s only one rule: winner takes all.
Soon she is caught in a deadly game that everyone in this strange family is playing. But just how far will they go to keep their fortune?
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Set in a dark vision of the near future, a terrifying reality TV show is taking place.
Twelve boys and twelve girls are forced to appear in a live event called The Hunger Games.
There is only one rule: kill or be killed.
When sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen steps forward to take her younger sister’s place in the games, she sees it as a death sentence.
But Katniss has been close to death before. For her, survival is second nature.
When 17 year old Isabella Swan moves to Forks, Washington to live with her father she expects that her new life will be as dull as the town.
But in spite of her awkward manner and low expectations, she finds that her new classmates are drawn to this pale, dark-haired new girl in town. But not, it seems, the Cullen family. These five adopted brothers and sisters obviously prefer their own company and will make no exception for Bella.
Bella is convinced that Edward Cullen in particular hates her, but she feels a strange attraction to him, although his hostility makes her feel almost physically ill. He seems determined to push her away – until, that is, he saves her life from an out of control car.
Bella will soon discover that there is a very good reason for Edward’s coldness. He, and his family, are vampires – and he knows how dangerous it is for others to get too close.
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
When the doors of the lift crank open, the only thing Thomas remembers is his first name. But he’s not alone.
He’s surrounded by boys who welcome him to the Glade – a walled encampment at the centre of a bizarre and terrible stone maze. Like Thomas, the Gladers don’t know why or how they came to be there – or what’s happened to the world outside.
All they know is that every morning when the walls slide back, they will risk everything – even the Grievers, half-machine, half-animal horror that patrol its corridors, to try and find out …
‘Stop it! You’re all behaving like animals! Worse than animals – like blankers!’
Sephy is a Cross: she lives a life of privilege and power. But she’s lonely, and burns with injustice at the world she sees around her.
Callum is a nought: he’s considered to be less than nothing – a blanker, there to serve Crosses – but he dreams of a better life.
They’ve been friends since they were children, and they both know that’s as far as it can ever go. Noughts and Crosses are fated to be bitter enemies – love is out of the question.
Then – in spite of a world that is fiercely against them – these star-crossed lovers choose each other.
But this is love story that will lead both of them into terrible danger . . . and which will have shocking repercussions for generations to come.
Stanley Yelnats’ family has a history of bad luck, so when a miscarriage of justice sends him to Camp Green Lake Juvenile Detention Centre (which isn’t green and doesn’t have a lake), it’s not exactly a surprise.
Every day he and the other inmates are told to dig a hole each, five foot wide by five foot deep, reporting anything they find. Why? The evil warden claims that it builds character, but this is a lie. It’s up to Stanley to dig up the truth.
Anime books and graphic novels can also be a huge hit and well worth exploring. I’ve a good friend whose 12 year old loves his anime books and is often popping to the shops to buy more – now that’s an engaged happy reader!
It’s also worth looking at magazines and non fiction books around their interests.
In our case, this means my boy has a subscription to Match and Four Four Two and he has many books about cricket and football.
Of course as with all reading habits in kids, it helps to be seen reading regularly yourself, chatting about books and enjoying choosing new ones, thereby making reading a normal part of daily life and a treat rather than homework.
What books do your kids love to read?
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