99+ Best Books for Tween Boys

As part of our Practical Parenting series, I’m thrilled to have my good friend Rebekah Hallberg here this week sharing a stellar reading list for tween boys. Books for tween boys is something I regularly get asked about and Rebekah did a super job compiling this list. But first, I’ll share my personal picks~

Arabah’s Top Picks:

The Knights of Arrethtrae – series by Chuck Black

Jack Staples and the Ring of Time – by Mark Batterson

Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes – by Jonathan Auxier

The Room – by James L. Rubart

TJ and the Time Stumblers  – series by Bill Myers

 

Now here’s Rebekah: Have you ever tried to find new reading material for your tween boy(s)? It can be difficult to know what is safe, what’s appropriate, what holds their interest, and what is family-friendly.

I am a mom to two boys and then a girl, so I’m currently navigating the waters of appropriate books with my boys, one of whom is a tween, the other in his mid-teen years. Between reading levels, interests and what we deem appropriate, finding a good book for them to read is often a struggle for us. I’m going to share a book list for tween boys, gathered from a post on social media. It’s certainly not comprehensive, and those of us with boys at this age and stage would gladly welcome your help by adding some of your favorites in the comments, please!

Book List for Tween Boys

 

Note: This list was compiled from a call out on social media. I have not personally read every book on this list. Please, please check the books ahead of time
to be sure they fit with your family’s criteria.

While a lot of the books below are fiction, we like to encourage our kids to read some non-fiction as well. We’ve found that the Heroes of the Faith Series has a little something for everyone. Various biographies are included in this series of men and women who made a difference for the kingdom of God.

The Kane Chronicles – by Rick Riordan
Percy Jackson Series – by Rick Riordan
Left Behind: The Kids Collection – by Jerry B. Jenkins and Tim LaHaye
The Kingdom Series – by Chuck Black 
The Space Trilogy – by CS Lewis (Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength)

The Wilderking Trilogy – by Jonathan Rogers
The Berinfell Prophecies Series – by Wayne Thomas Batson and Chrisotpher Hopper
Inheritance Cycle – by Christoher Paolini (Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr, and Inheritance)
The Chronicles of Prydain – by Lloyd Alexander
The Tripods Collection – by John Christopher

100 Cupboards – by N.D. Wilson
The 39 Clues – a collaboration of authors
The Peleg Chronicles – by Matthew Christian Harding
Books by author Gary Paulsen
The Underland Chronicles – by Suzanne Collins (Gregor the Overlander Collection)

Michael Vey Series – by Richard Paul Evans
Adventures In Odyssey Passages Series – by Paul McCusker
Rangers Apprentice Series – by John Flanagan
The Dragonriders of Pern Series – by Anne McCaffrey
Dragonback Series – by Timothy Zahn

The American Adventure Series – by Colleen L. Reece and others
The Amazing Tales of Max and Liz Series – by Jenny L. Cote (looks like there are other books by this author, too)
Terrestria Chronicles – by Ed Dunlop
Redwall Series – by Brian Jacques
Artemis Fowl – by Eoin Colfer

Science Fair – by Ridley Pearson and Dave Barry
The Dark Is Rising Series – by Susan Cooper
The Wingfeather Saga – by Andrew Peterson
The Dangerous Book for Boys – by Conn Iggulden and Hal Iggulden
Cooper Kids Adventures Series – by Frank Peretti

Viking Quest Series – by Lois Walfrid Johnson
Red Rock Mysteries – by Jerry B. Jenkins and Chris Fabry
The Children of Hurin – by J.R.R. Tolkien and Christopher Tolkien
My Side of the Mountain – by Jean Craighead George
The G.A. Henty Megapack – by G.A. Henty

The Hardy Boys Starter Set – by Franklin W. Dixon
Nancy Drew Starter Set – by Carolyn Keene
The Complete Chronicles of Narnia – by C.S. Lewis (my boys ended up reading these on their own in their tween years)

Classic novels (for example – To Kill a Mockingbird, and Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass to name a couple)

Authors who were recommended:
J.R.R. Tolkien
Anthony Horowitz
Matt Christopher
Margaret Peterson Haddix
C.S. Lewis

Websites that were recommended:
Scholastic.com
Lexile.com – click on “Don’t know your Lexile measure?” by the Search button and then fill in the information in the “I don’t know my Lexile measure” area. This will take you through prompts for various interests and will populate a book list for you.

I hope you find some good books within this list.

If you have other favorites, please be sure to leave them in the comments so we can all benefit! I know I’ll be checking back to find some of your favorites as I still need good books for my kids!

photo credit

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17 Comments

  1. Just a caution for the Dragon Riders of Pern. I read this series when I was a tween and I really enjoyed it. But there is definitely sexual content, parents may want to read the series first.

  2. My 11 yr old just finished “My Side of the Mountain” by Jean Craighead George (it’s listed above). He’s an outdoorsy, nature-loving boy, and he particularly enjoyed it. Just wanted to mention that it’s the first of a trilogy. The other two books that follow are: “On The Far Side of the Mountain” and “Frightful’s Mountain”.

    G.A. Henty is another author worth checking out for multiple historical adventure stories written for tween or teen boys. He was a 19th century English author. As his books are older, they’re available on Kindle for very low cost, and even for free.

    1. Oh, Nettie – that makes me so happy to hear that “My Side of the Mountain” is part of a trilogy. My older son read it for school, and my younger son will soon. I think my younger son will appreciate it more because he’s an outdoorsy, nature-loving kind of guy like your son. I didn’t even know there were more books in the series. Yay! Thank you!!

  3. This list is great, and perfect timing with summer approaching. My eleven year old boy loves the Nate the Great series of books. They’re all he likes to read, but I will gently suggest some of these other books. ;)

  4. Yes, books in a series have been the key to getting my four boys to fall in love with reading. I didn’t see the Borrowers series or the book series that starts with Ginger Pye on your list (I may have overlooked them). Another fun reading experience is Louis L’Amour westerns. Very minimal “cussing,” but otherwise good clean fun, and a smattering of geography and history gets absorbed along with the plot.

  5. I didn’t know CS Lewis wrote kids’ books apart from Narnia. Other than that, I recognised nothing. Nothing! Other than Tolkein, Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. I was clearly never a tween boy (and my almost tween boy only reads in French, so I’m out there too).

  6. My son loved The Dragon Keeper Chronicles by Donita K Paul. There are five books in this series. I must add that my husband and I love them as well. The first book in the series is Dragon Spell.

  7. Thanks for so many great reading ideas!

    I’m going to share this post today on my Facebook and Twitter pages. My theme today is parenting, and this post fits in so well.

    Hope you have a blessed day today~
    Melanie

  8. What a fun list! We’ll have to print this out and see which ones my boys have already read, which we have on the shelf but they haven’t read them yet, and which we might can obtain. Thanks for sharing at Christian Fellowship Friday! Hope to see you again this week. :)

    1. You’ve been chosen as the featured link from the linky where you shared this at Christian Fellowship! I forgot to include that tidbit of info in my other comment. ;)

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