Great Books for 11 Year Boy! - Cedar Park,TX

What does he like? If he likes fantasy- Harry Potter and Percy Jackson are good ones, as is The Ranger's Apprentice and the Septimus Heap Series as well as the Alchemist series.
If he likes spy stuff, Alex Ryder series. My boys (13, 10, 6) LOVED all of those. They started the Eragon series and never finished it.
If he likes more weird stuff, A series of Unfortunate events, The mysterious Benedict Society.
Hank the Cow Dog and Mercy Watson may be too childish for him, but they are fun as are Captain Underpants- goofy potty humor.
If he likes mysteries- the 39 clues series.
There's also Goosebumps, Warriors, etc.

There's tons out there. Just look for something in a subject/genre that he likes.

My 11 yr old son has been an avid reader since he was 6. Try the Nick of Time books, Benedict Society books, Percy Jackson series or any Rick Riordan books, Harry Potter, Monk (based on the TV show) mysteries, Lillian Jackson Braun " The Cat Who..." mysteries, Flavia DeLuce mysteries, Wimpy Kid books, .....I could go on and on. Hopefully some of these will pique his interest.

I have the same, an 11 yr. old boy, great reader who doesn't want to read. He now loves to look at books on his specific interests i.e. he LOVES science, history and guns. We spend lots of time at Barnes and Noble and the library now seeking out these specific things. Nothing gets you reading like the things you love! What does he like??

Check the Bluebonnet Award book list on your city or school library website for suggestions. My now-14-year-old never got into chapter books like his older brother did, so when we went to the library or bookstore, he would gravitate to magazines like Popular Science or Discover. He's now interested in fitness and nutrition, and finds books at the local library along those lines. He's interested in the topics, so he reads the books with great interest.

What is he interested in? Whatever he is interested in, there is a good chance that there is a book out there for him. If he is a good reader, is there a chance that he doesn't like reading because he has been confined to a level that is too simple for him? As long as the content isn't too mature, let him run with it. (And you get to decide what is "too mature.")

The Lord of the Rings series for fantasy; Ender's Game for sci-fi (though I admit I haven't read the sequels); Castaways of the Flying Dutchman series for sort of a fantasy/lhistorical fiction; maybe let him have a stab at the unabridged Call of the Wild or White Fang?

My son LOVED "Diary of a Wimpy Kid". The are easy reads and funny with little pics in them. Of course I had to read the beginning to him and totally animate it but then he picked it up and ran.

My boy isn't that age yet, but I read a lot of middle grade, 'cause I'm in the book business. The Gone books by Michael Grant are gripping, can't put it down kind of books. They take place in a small town in southern California. One day, in the blink of an eye, everyone over 15 disappears. And some of the kids who are left start developing super powers. It's kind of Lord of the Flies meets the X-men.
The Hunger Games is excellent. My 13 year old nephew who is not a reader, enjoyed them. "I didn't know books could be like movies!" he said.
The How to Train Your Dragon books are great (though totally different from the movie.)
Eoin Colfer has several great books. I thought Airman was excellent. His Artemis Fowl series is fantastic too.
Another great series is Michelle Paver's Wolf Brother (that's the first one. the series is called The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness.) They take place in a time period like the Iron Age. Humans living in nomadic tribes. Maybe like Clan of the Cavebear for kids? But there's tribal magic and mysterious things going on. The boy-hero is an outcast who rescues this wolf pup and can "talk" to him. If your boy likes camping, out-doorsy, survival stuff at all, he'd be fascinated by this glimpse into what life might have been like thousands of years ago.

Btw, if you're having trouble getting him interested, you might consider getting books from audible.com and listening to them in the car. My kids love doing that. My kids *love* it. We've listened to the Artemis Fowl and the How to Train Your Dragon books. They're fantastic!

My boys are major Harry Potter Heads (they're 18 and 17 now) but read them all as they came out, starting at 6 or 7 years old. They also liked the Eragon books.

:)

sign him up for some magazines. We get the Lego magazines i think i got it free somehow with a promotion. there is a Sports Illustrated for kids that might be good.

Another vote for Percy Jackson. We listened to them as a family as an audio book and now my son is reading them on his own. Someone suggested magazines...my 10 yo loves National Geographic for Kids. Checks the mail obsessively for it. Other non-fiction books: Ripley's Believe It or Not, Guinness Book of World records (they have a version targeted to kids), and a series called "Cool Stuff"...new technology that's coming out.

Depends on what he likes and his abiltiy, but my son loved the Percy Jackson series, Harry Potter, the Warriors series (he did this a little younger but still reads new ones), Fablehaven series. I like the series because once he likes one he has a lot to continue to read. Good luck. One more thing, I have a nook (e reader) and he had gotten books on there and can read of there or his itouch. If you have access, sometime the use of the cool technology helps.

See what his interests are. My kids love, love, love sports so we got them Sports Illustrated for Kids and the library always had a lot of books on sports. Bribing worked for our kids too (within reason, of course). They entered a lot of reading programs that gave out incentives and free food coupons.

My son loved the classics. Old Yellow, Where the red fern grows, Shilo. We called them the "Dead Dog Series" jokingly. LOL.. Also a book called Hatchet was a good choice. Not sure who wrote it. Good luck. I did not like reading till the 8th grade and a nice librian showed me "The Secret Garden". I was hooked after that book. I love to read!

If he hasn't already read them, the Harry Potter series is excellent. That's the book that got my daughter to become an avid reader.

Others to consider:
Among the Hidden Series
Holes
Eragon (I haven't read this, but he may enjoy it)

I have a son who doesn't like to read. He WILL read the Percy Jackson series, Harry Potter and also the books written by Alex Rider. It's a huge series of books that he really likes. The are action packed and he will stay up late to read those. It's downright amazing!!!

Also, do a little research on the internet about why boys do not like to read. Some English teachers have complied a list of books that would appeal to males and I think every teacher/ parent should know this info.

Which brings me to the following point: English teachers around the world--- nothing turns off boys faster to reading than all the books you assign about relationships and romance!! Nothing.

Two sons have loved to read!! Loved it since age 4 and were voracious readers until they got assigned books like: The Scarlet Letter, Romeo and Juliet, the Grapes of Wrath.... we almost lost them and their love of reading to these books. Please encourage kids to read whatever they want to during the summer.
My oldest son thought "Wuthering Heights" was the worst book he ever read and he was assigned to read it and have written 2 essays on it before the first day of school junior year.

Now with the youngest, we encourage him to read whatever interests him. I think in this high tech age, teachers and their curriculum need to keep pace. I will now step down off my soap box and go try to get my youngest son to read some action/ adventure.

gregor the overlander series
the rangers apprentice series

Lots of great books already listed for you - but I didn't see the Lloyd Alexander books - the Prydain series - the last book of that series won a Newberry Award. And Susan Cooper wrote a series, one of which also won a newberry, I think the first book of that series is Over Sea, Under Stone.
Happy hunting!

My 9 year old son, who reads on a 5th grade level loves the Percy Jackson series. Check out your local library's children's department. Even though ours was decimated by Hurricane Ike, our Galveston library has rebuilt their children's/young readers' section so well. There are lots of great books out. I read 90 Miles to Havana earlier this summer. It was a wonderful book.

Bluebonnet books or any other award winning book are a great start too. There is a reason they won an award.

Also, what is he interested in? Find books on that. My son loves anything Star Wars, he'll read anything Star Wars.

On a side note, my son had a horrible time learning to read and was retained in 1st grade because of his reading grade. He went to summer school, passed and moved on to 2nd grade. He will be a 4th grader this coming school year and is now reading a whole grade level ahead! I was so worried he would hate reading because of his troubles.

This past year his teacher made the class transition from picture books (though he does still read some) to reading chapter books. He had a hard time with it, but I told him the pictures were in the words, and he can take those words and use his imagination to paint the picture in his head.

His sister got him the first Percy Jackson book for Christmas. As he was reading it one night, I heard him struggling with some of the words. I was worried that he was concentrating so hard on the words, he wasn't going to remember what he was reading. So, I told him to put it down and that night we started a new thing. Before he goes to bed, he lays down on the couch and I read a chapter to him. He has to close his eyes and just listen to me read. We read the first Percy book and he was hooked. He's working through them all and reading more about mythology.

I agree with Brandy, above, my son loves the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books too. Main thing is get books on things he is interested in.

My 10 year old loves The Warriors series. He also love the Percy Jackson/Olympia series. Since they made one into a movie your son may enjoy that book. My son has read the whole series! My son loves to read but these are the books he reads over and over.

My son hated to read too. I bought the Diary of a wimpy kid books and
he wanted to read them all the time. He finished them all and hopes a new one comes out soon.

The "Guardians of Gahoolie" series is a lot of fun..... it has a RL of 4.

It is a mystical book about owls... their society structure, and stuff like that. (I'm not sure how else to explain it... fantasy?)

If he doesn't want to read by himself, maybe you could start reading a chapter or two a night? If he wants "more", tell him to read it himself...... otherwise, he has to wait until the next night!

You can also set up a summer reading program just for him.... in other words, bribe him! Set up a point system to earn points for something he really wants. Also, he has to tell YOU about the book, not just read it.