30 books for boys aged 13, 14 and 15

YOU ARE READING: 30 books for boys aged 13, 14 and 15 – Raising Teenagers AT PhebinhvanhocEN

by allison tait

While children go to “school” at desks and dining tables around the world, it is recommended that parents try not to worry too much about content and time. even here in new south wales, where it looks like there could be a staggered start to face-to-face learning, most of the term time will still be at home. In my last post, “When School Comes Home,” I mentioned that your teen’s homeschool day will be much shorter than the usual 6-hour school day. If you and your teen are struggling a bit, educators recommend focusing on the basics: math and literacy.

My son’s teacher recommends 20 minutes of free reading time as part of his online “study plan” every day. During this time, my preteen curls up on the couch with the latest in the series of books he’s reading.

I always try to find recommendations for children’s books. so I thought I’d call in an expert on this topic. allison tait is an internationally published bestselling author of middle grade adventure series books. she is also a mother of children. she here she gives us 30 books for boys of 13, 14 and 15 years.

You are reading: Books for 14 year old boys

the most common question about children and reading

One of the biggest challenges parents of tweens and teens face is how to keep them reading. how do i know this? because they tell me.

As the co-admin (with authors megan daley and allison rushby) of the facebook group your kid’s next read, a community with over 11,000 members and counting, I’m aware of daily updates and inquiries from parents, caregivers, teachers, booksellers and various other participants.

and the “my 13-year-old son has stopped reading” or “my 15-year-old son has lost all interest in books” variety of questions is one of the most popular.

I also know this because the number one search query drawing visitors to my own website (allisontait.com) is ‘great books for 13 year olds’ or its cousin ‘great books for 14 year olds‘.

Clearly, there are plenty of parents out there looking for good books for their tween and teen readers.

I’m also a mother of two boys, now 16 and 13, so I’ve seen firsthand what happens when books have to compete with sports, school, screens, or girls for time. .

my children are very different readers

Eldest (also known as Book Boy) has been a voracious reader ever since he could get from one sentence to another. he even ran his own book review blog (bookboy.com.au) for four years. but he is now in year 11 and the volume of school work plus a budding career as a singer/songwriter has set him back a bit.

the youngest (book boy jr) would rather run. but he keeps reading. We worked hard to instigate a reading habit with him: 20 minutes in bed each night (pretty much the only time he’s quiet), and it’s still paying off.

he starts a lot of books and only finishes the ones that really catch his attention, and that’s fine. (As an author, I take special note of those books and read them myself!)

So, I guess what I’m saying is that I feel your pain.

the key to advance

What I discovered, however, is that the key to breaking out of the “reading tedium” of this age is finding the right book, and you might be very surprised which one is the right one!

don’t rule out books

I almost fell over when book boy jr brought home an entire novel written in verse. I never would have considered giving him a book like that, but he saw it in the school library (kids need school libraries, I’m just saying) during quiet reading time, picked it up, and loved it so much he took it home and devoured it.

(in case you’re wondering, it was the kwame alexander crossover, it’s about basketball and he loved it).

Don’t dismiss a book because it has a female main character, or because it’s written by a woman, or because it’s not the kind of book your young reader has read before.

as book boy wrote in his contribution to megan daley’s wonderful book on raising readers: how to foster a child’s love of books:

“I read books that are ‘for girls’ or aimed at girls (or books with girl protagonists) because a good book is a good book, no matter who the target audience is.”

Anyway, I’ve found that the best way to find books for kids in this age group is to ask other kids in this age group for recommendations.

so here are 30 books, tried and tested by child readers this age

books for 13 year olds

louis sacher holes

ghost (series of clues) by jason reynolds

jt: the making of a total legend by johnathan thurston (and james phelps) the dog runner by bren macdibble

steve jobs: insanely cool by jessie hartland (graphic non-fiction)

tales from a tall forest by shaun micallef

Derek Landy’s Nice Skullduggery

pip harry’s little wave

gary paulsen ax

vital science by dr. karl kruszelnicki

books for 14 year olds

iain lawrence’s skeleton tree

on the appearance of angie thomas

dry by neal and jarrod shusterman

arkanae (medoran chronicles series) by lynette noni

everything changes with nova sweetman

illuminae (series) by amie kaufman and jay kristoff

one of us is lying by karen mcmanus

marie lu warcross

michael grant gone series

brother by helen chebatte

books for 15 year olds

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

the secret corridors of new york by mathew reilly

jasper jones by craig silvey

the road to winter (series) by mark smith

john green paper towns

eleanor and park by rainbow rowell

fahrenheit 451 by ray bradbury

deep water sarah epstein

white night by ellie marney

five feet apart by rachael lippincott

Happy reading guys!

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30 books for boys aged 13, 14 and 15 – Raising Teenagers