My son has to read for school (they have a dedicated Reading class), and he is decidedly not interested in fiction. He thinks it’s pointless, although he doesn’t dislike The Hunger Games as much as other things he’s read. I \*think\* he might like nonfiction more, and I’m trying to think of directions to point him in. I just ordered a few from ThriftBooks –
Night
The Ghost Mountain Boys: Their Epic March and the Terrifying Battle for New Guinea–The Forgotten War of the South Pacific
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
Every Falling Star: The True Story of How I Survived and Escaped North Korea
If you have an recommendations along these lines, let me know. I think he would also like some science / robotics / engineering / space type stuff too.
Thank you!
by GorodetskyA
10 Comments
Shadow of the wind by carlos zafon
If you think he might enjoy something about strange neurological conditions:
**The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales** *by Oliver Sacks*
Also, these are fiction books, but I feel like most boys around the pre-teen to teen age would find them compelling:
**White Fang** & **The Call of the Wild** *by Jack London*
I feel like Mary Roach knows how to do science writing for the 12 year old psyche (and those of us who are 12 at heart), I would say any and all of hers are great fun. Packing for Mars, Stiff, really all of them.
Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs is a very good book answering kid’s questions about death in a matter of fact way, the author is a mortician and a delight
Death in Yellowstone or other similar books on those lines might suit based on your current list
Some of it might go over his head and there are some long names, but I loved reading The Rise and Fall of Dinosaurs. It is educational but presented in a way that still makes it very interesting to a casual reader.
This one is going in a totally different direction, but he might like a non fiction graphic novel. The Complete Persepolis is a fantastic autobiographical graphic novel, although you might want to skim through it first to make sure it’s appropriate for him. It mostly takes place in Iran during some political unrest in the 70s and 80s, so it might be too intense for some kids. I’m sure there are other great non fiction graphic novels, but that’s the only one I’ve read.
Edit: Because you mentioned Every Falling Star, I’ll recommend The Rebel and the Kingdom by Bradley Hope. It is a true story about some Korean Americans who are currently working to overthrow the North Korean Regime. I have no idea if it would be appropriate for a 12 year old, but I (24m) thought it was incredible and don’t specifically remember any super graphic sections.
What If? by Randall Munroe
Try dipping into the sci-fi genre rather than fantasy. He may like some works by Arthur C Clarke, Isaac Asimov.
Good sci-fi is often based in scientific fact and extrapolates those ideas into a potential future world.
The Long Walk is great. It’s about a group escaping the gulag and walking to India. I’m not sure if this is a spoiler but it’s billed as a true story but is widely considered to be a fabrication or based on someone else’s true events. Regardless, it’s a compelling read.
Anne Franks Diary
I had a really bright 6th grader last year that checked out all my non-fiction and biographies about Presidents, wars, political science, etc. I just let him go nuts because no other kids were checking out those books.
I really enjoyed Ben Bova’s science fiction at that age. Kim Stanley Robinson Mars trilogy might be challenging in terms of vocab, but its fiction based on hard science.
Erik Larson (Devil in white city, Garden of beasts, Dead Wake) writes nonfiction with a fictiony page turning style
Bill bryson – Short history of nearly everything is nonfiction, lovely
Surely you must be joking mr feynman is a hilarious autobio from a nobel winning physicist