Suggestions for a reading list for a boy?

[vaskidmark]

I notice we are hitting hard on the fiction side.  To start on the other side of the coin I propose McGuffy's Readers http://mcguffeyreaders.com/ - preferably in the original versions but the revised ones will do.  Also throw in Warriner's English Grammar and Composition http://www.amazon.com/Warriners-English-Grammar-Composition-Complete/dp/0153118857 .  Go for the complete course - if he's far enough ahead he can start in from his performance level.

If nothing else McGuffy teaches problem solving.  The ability to write a coherent declarative sentence goes a very long way towards being able to say one as well.  Being able to do both those things will allow one to regularly bamboozle at least 30% of the population.

If you don't like these, I suggest hiring Sister Hubert Alonzo - she's the one with the wooden ruler that had the brass edge removed.

My father drummed (as in nearly beating) comparative religion into my head.  He wanted me to be able to understand what was being offered to me and that blind acceptance was OK till one got in the clinches.  While obviously biased many Jesuits are an excellent source of instruction, if you care to risk the boy's eternal soul.  (I met and studied with the Jesuits as a 3rd-year college student after serving in the Marines.  They pretty much agreed that by that point I had no eternal soul to worry about and kept sprinkling holy water at me.  I've since learned that most folks are not that far gone.)

stay safe.

[BlueStarLizzard]

Another non fiction suggestion, the books by James Herriot, a must read for any animal lover.

Also, a customer recently reminded me of Albert Payson Terhune and the Sunnybrook Collies.

[tokugawa]

Something else- as most of the recently written literature for youth is PC-commie-leftist crap designed to neuter males, , I suggest you look around your local used bookstores, and see what they have to offer- anything from 1970 back is likely to have some content that actually inspires pride in the US, shows reward in sacrifice and honor, etc. Any boy will recognize this- it is in our DNA, we only need to be shown.

All those simple serial stories like "The Hardy Boys" etc had this as a sub plot.
 
 

[Waitone]

I read McGuffey's Reader to my two daughters.  To this day they are avid readers. 

What kind of literature poofs up his skirt.  Sify, fiction, history, historical novels?  For shear training in expression nothing beats Milton or Shakespeare.  CS Lewis would be a contemporary equivalent.

[BlueStarLizzard]

dad suggestions:
Edger Rice Burroughs, the Tarzan series and Mars series.

Robert E. Howard Conan the Barbarian.

Andre Norton, especially her series's like Witch World.

Michel Moorcock, the Elric series.

Doc Savage books (Dad points out that because they are written in the 30's and thus may be a little confusing)

[BlueStarLizzard]

I should really just do duel posts with Dad, who reminded me of The Giver.

Excellent book. The movie is an aberration and should be avoided at all costs.

another Dad, hard science fiction but action packed, E.E. "Doc" Smith.

[RoadKingLarry]

Nine is old enough for Lovecraft isn't it?

[BlueStarLizzard]

Nine is old enough for Lovecraft isn't it?

age was Dads concern. He thinks the Moorcock might be a little much, but said it anyway, since others were advising some heavier stuff.

It's sad, but there really isn't much newer books and series that's really action based boys books for YA level reading. Plenty of stuff for girls, but the boys stuff pretty much ends at the Goosebumps reading level, with few exceptions.

[Doggy Daddy]

No mention of Jules Verne?

[Perd Hapley]

No mention of Jules Verne?

One should hope not. I will never forgive him for Journey to the Center of the Earth. That one is a stinker.

[Hawkmoon]

dad suggestions:
Edger Rice Burroughs, the Tarzan series and Mars series.

YES! I was just coming back to this thread to suggest Burroughs.

My ex-wife was a high school English teacher. For whatever reason (either she was good at it or the department head hated her), she usually was assigned to the lowest-performing kids -- the ones with no motivation and no aptitude whatsoever. They just weren't inclined to read any of the books normally read by high school English classes. I was on a kick with the Burroughs John Carter on Mars series at the time, so I suggested those and the Tarzan books as something the kids might be willing to read.

My logic was that the content is pretty much fluff, and the story lines probably don't hold up to critical scrutiny, but the benefit of all that is that reading them doesn't require much thought. However ... they ARE well written and they use good, correct English, from which the students might benefit. She tried it, and found that for many of her students it worked.

[roo_ster]

Something else- as most of the recently written literature for youth is PC-commie-leftist crap designed to neuter males, , I suggest you look around your local used bookstores, and see what they have to offer- anything from 1970 back is likely to have some content that actually inspires pride in the US, shows reward in sacrifice and honor, etc. Any boy will recognize this- it is in our DNA, we only need to be shown.

All those simple serial stories like "The Hardy Boys" etc had this as a sub plot.
 
 

This.  Also the pc stories written by transgender african paraplegics are pretty awful in quality.  Even supposedly old school curricula are sick with it.  Annd the supplementary reading programs like advanced reader do not include the books like by boys for decades like tom swift reh hpl etc.

[HankB]

Peter Hathaway Capstick's books on African hunting - Death in the Long Grass, Death in the Silent Places, The Last Ivory Hunter, etc.

Theodore Roosevelt's classic, African Game Trails

John Taylor's book Pondoro - Last of the Ivory Hunters

W.D.M. Bell's books Karamojo Safari, Wanderings of an Elephant Hunter, and Bell of Africa.

For science fiction, I'd recommend the Lensman and Skylark series of books by E.E. "Doc" Smith . . . written before WWII, the science may be a bit dated,  but they're still a good read and not contaminated by today's political correctness.

[BlueStarLizzard]

YES! I was just coming back to this thread to suggest Burroughs.

My ex-wife was a high school English teacher. For whatever reason (either she was good at it or the department head hated her), she usually was assigned to the lowest-performing kids -- the ones with no motivation and no aptitude whatsoever. They just weren't inclined to read any of the books normally read by high school English classes. I was on a kick with the Burroughs John Carter on Mars series at the time, so I suggested those and the Tarzan books as something the kids might be willing to read.

My logic was that the content is pretty much fluff, and the story lines probably don't hold up to critical scrutiny, but the benefit of all that is that reading them doesn't require much thought. However ... they ARE well written and they use good, correct English, from which the students might benefit. She tried it, and found that for many of her students it worked.

I think the stress on literary value is way over done, especially considering our illiteracy rates in this country. Reading is reading. It's a skill and practicing that skill is probably more important than content in the big scheme of things. A fluent reader is more likely to continue and read things of literary value, but someone who struggles with the written word is going to be less likely to read anything, even if they want too.

[Viking]

I read some of the works of Jules Verne and Alexander Dumas at that age.

[TommyGunn]

No mention of Jules Verne?

One should hope not. I will never forgive him for Journey to the Center of the Earth. That one is a stinker.

HEY!  How dare you say that about Jules Verne and one of his best books!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Chuck Dye]

When I was nine my parents bought me a book subscription that brought me an All About book and a Landmark history each month.  Terrific mind candy that is not of the junk food, all-flavor-no-nourishment kind (though pure escape is good, too.).  The All Abouts may be too dated now, but the histories should work.

[lee n. field]

I remember the "All About X" books.

[Perd Hapley]

One should hope not. I will never forgive him for Journey to the Center of the Earth. That one is a stinker.
 
HEY!  How dare you say that about Jules Verne and one of his best books!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dude, they now make decaf. Check it out.

I'd be glad to reevaluate Journey,, once Mr. Verne deigns to write an ending. I guess it was an interesting story concept, but his ending was basically, "and they went home."

[TommyGunn]

Dude, they now make decaf. Check it out.

I'd be glad to reevaluate Journey,, once Mr. Verne deigns to write an ending. I guess it was an interesting story concept, but his ending was basically, "and they went home."

There was an ending!  They were ejected by the Volcano Mt. Aetna in Italy!   Didn't YOU read it? 
What did you EXPECT, that they should find all the world's lost golfballs?


And I HATE decaf.

[Doggy Daddy]

Dude, they now make decaf. Check it out.

I'd be glad to reevaluate Journey,, once Mr. Verne deigns to write an ending. I guess it was an interesting story concept, but his ending was basically, "and they went home."

There was an ending!  They were ejected by the Volcano Mt. Aetna in Italy!   Didn't YOU read it? 
What did you EXPECT, that they should find all the world's lost golfballs?


And I HATE decaf.

 

I like Verne.

[Perd Hapley]

There was an ending!  They were ejected by the Volcano Mt. Aetna in Italy! 

Exactly the terrible non-ending to which I refer.

And, yeah, I read it. Hence the resentment.

[Hawkmoon]

It does seem that old Jules kind of ran out of ideas there at the end. I can imagine the thought process:

"There, I think I've put them through enough, and this story is getting too long. I can't just leave them there, so how can I get them back to the surface?

... Nope

... Nope

... Nope

Oh, hell -- I'll just have the earth spit them out. Italy's nice, how about Mount Aetna? Yeah -- done."

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

Verne was fascinating in another level. His thoughts on where to launch from were very similar to nasa's some years later . And his number for the distance from earth to moon was uncanny in accuracy. Uncanny because nasa only got the number 70 years later.
Very interesting man


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[TommyGunn]

Exactly the terrible non-ending to which I refer.

And, yeah, I read it. Hence the resentment.

I'm still not getting why you thought that was such a bad ending ....

Earth beltched and that was that. SPLAT. THE END. 



















Or maybe it was a fart.....