Help! Recommendation for 13-yr-old boy

Ophelia · Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 9:12 pm Post subject:

Readers can use this thread to write about literature for children or teenagers, but just in case: the original question was asked in 2007 and the person who asked the questions has now left the forum.

sockmonster · Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 3:46 pm Post subject:

He will absolutly LOVE the Philip Pullman "His Dark Materials" trilogy. The books are The Northern Lights (recently made into a film called the Golden Compass - which was good but nowhere near as good as the book and you sort of have to have read the book to understand it!), The Subtle Knife and the Amber Spyglass.

They are just great fantasy stories - every adult and child that has I have spoken just loves them!!!!!!!!

Saffron · Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 7:59 pm Post subject:

Hey Sockmonster! What a moniker. I did absolutely love Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass. However, I was disappointed with the story line once I got into The Subtle Knife. As for The Amber Spyglass, I sort of enjoyed reading it, but the story completely fell apart for me. Pullman has too much that he is trying to squeeze into the plot and it becomes muddled. I especially hated the ending. It made no sense really, given other parts of the book. In fact for awhile I hated the books because of the ending and all the loose ends that Pullman neglects to tie up. I'm back to thinking that The Golden Compass is one of the most inventive and exciting books I've read. Unfortunately, I think Pullman had a daring idea that he just couldn't pull off.

PaulaS · Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 12:12 pm Post subject: hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy

My boys went nuts for the Hitchhiker's Guide series. Now that I understand the author (Doug Adams) 's widow has contracted with another writer to write a 6th book for the trilogy (Adams was a weirdo) it should be back in the stores and back in the press soon. The books are great fun, and it will get them to use towels more frequently.......don't ask, just read the book.

GentleReader9 · Posted: Sun Sep 21, 2008 2:33 pm Post subject:

Others have listed a lot of good books here already. I would possibly add to them as a mild, light read, Diana Wynne Jones' "Charmed Life" or "The Lives of Christopher Chant" (I forget which is the title in Britain and which in the US.) She also has a lot of other entertaining fantasy books if he likes Christopher Chant.

I just recently read Treasure Island for the first time and was surprised by how engrossed I was in it. Of course there were plenty of issues around social class, gender, race and the ethics of piracy versus supposedly acceptable...um, entrepreneurship? enterprise? which the book opens up. But for those who just like to read and shamelessly enjoy first, saving debate and analytical questions for later, Treasure Island is not to be sneezed at. I hope you get in the mood for it at some point and don't miss out on the fun.

Also, has he read Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang? The movie was utterly stupid and not at all like the book. But the book is fun. Ian Fleming and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes) are not exactly what people think of when they think of fantasy, but they kind of are fantasy and he might like them.


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