books for middle school boys

[csgray]

I know we have a bunch of pretty well read guys on this forum, so I hope you can help me with a conundrum. I teach middle school social studies, but I really want to encourage all my students to read more, especially the boys who don't read at all for pleasure, but I find that a lot of the suggested reading for middle school leans heavily to the girls.

What books and stories inspired you guys to read when you were between 11 and 15? My students read at every level between 2nd grade and college, and I find kids will read above their grade level if the story is engrossing enough, so don't worry about it being "too hard". I just need a list of titles (fiction and non-fiction) that will make my male students want to read, so I can start scrounging for fun and exciting books for next year for my boys.

Mahalo for your help.

Carol

[macuu222]

Now I'm well read...but back in grade and high school...it was a different story.

I grew up in New York City and most guys just didn't read books at that age other than what was needed to get through school. And even then a lot of times guys would ask their girlfriends what the reading was about so that they could pass the test.

But if it came down to one topic that always intrigued me growing up it was space exploration.(which I can chalk up to all the hype at that time about landing on the moon)

[lquade]

yes, macuu, i was also thinking jules verne, the tarzan series, lord of the rings series, dune, they have probably already read the twilight series but what about pullman's stuff? (golden compass series). i always loved series, still do... more accomplished readers, the shogan, tai pai series?

[knieft]

The books I grooved on as a middle schooler have too much sex and violence, but make great (edited) read alouds. Truly, students I run into after many years ask if I still read these two out-of-print books to my class:

The Overman Culture (Edmund Cooper)
This Perfect Day (Ira Levon)

Kinda fun to get them into non-made-for-youth action fiction, though there is always the chance of a sex scene making in in:

Dan Browne (Digital Fortress, has sex scene; Deception Point, DaVinci Code)
Jame Rollins (Ice Hunt, Subterranean, Amazonia, Deep Fathom)
Ender's Game (series) some language

More sanitized "youth fiction" include:

The House of the Scorpions (Nancy Farmer)
Stargirl, Crash, Wringer (Jerry Spinelli)
Scat, Flush (Carl Haaisen)
Uglies, Pretties, Specials, etc. (Scott Westerfeld, girl main characters, but hooks boys too)

You'll have to get non-fiction from someone else.

Cheers,
Kirt

[Rob Tucker]

A good read for that age is Temple of Gold by William Goldman. Kind of a Catcher In The Rye type book... well written and riveting in it's way for teenage males.

[james weatherford]

Lord of the Flies
Tom Sawyer
Huck Finn
biographies of famous men: Abraham Lincoln, Davy Crockett, etc.
books about hunting, dogs, etc.

[punafish]

For a teacher I imagine the big challenge is grabbing the boys' attention without the sex and violence they're used to getting through the internet and tv. Tough to compete with that...

The first book that ever "grabbed" me was To Kill a Mockingbird. I remember for the first time feeling sad that the book ended.

After that I graduated directly to the "forbidden" books, like Catcher in the Rye, The Last Catholic in America (hilarious if you were schooled by disciplinarian nuns), and Playb...but we won't go there. 'Course I listened to a lot of Carlin too, an excuse not to read. ;-)

[TheodoreJay]

Definetly books about Hawaiin History.
Yep all of the above:
Moby Dick
Oliver Twist
Robinson Carusoe
Lord of the Flies
Huckfinn
Tom Sawyer
To Kill a Mocking Bird
A Seperate Peace
Then rent movies of most of these books afterwards just for fun.
Also, Sports Heros and Biographies of interesting people like Billy the Kid and Teddy Rosevelt.

[Nalu]

I'd also add The Outsiders to that list.

[knieft]

PS, add "Life of Pi" to the my list...