Recommended books

I’m reading constantly. Unfortunately, most of what I read doesn’t make the cut. I abandon books all the time. Usually, if it’s an audio book, I’ll stick with it. But sometimes even these get cut off. Below is a list of my favorite books for tweens and teens.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I admit. I fought reading this book. After all, it seemed like a rehash of The Running Man. However, Collins delivers a remarkably tight story and the romance takes second stage to the action. Well worth reading.

Miss Peregrine’s School for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Although the selling point for this novel is the bizarre (and authentic) photos of freaks, the book doesn’t need them. That’s how captivating the prose is. I started reading it on my Nook and eventually sneaked away from my family to finish it. It has time travel, freaks, and monsters. Who could want more. Plus it has the most realistic young romance I’ve read in years. I actually want to buy another copy in print, just to appreciate the pictures.

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente

This book is insanely good. Every few paragraphs I need to stop to underline a bit of wisdom. “As all mothers know, children travel faster than kisses.” “In Autumn, trees sleep like bears. The whole world snuggles in to sleep through all of winter.” “Death is not a checkmate … it is more like a carnival trick.”

The story reads like a twist on Alice in Wonderland, with a wyvern that thinks it’s dad was a library and a little girl who turns into a tree.

The Alchemyst (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel #1) by Michael Scott

I am addicted to the Nicolas Flamel series. It combines everything I love about Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, and it has mythology up the wazoo. Everywhere you look, you have a Celtic warrior, and Egyptian goddess, a centuries old alchemist. I could not put this book down.

The Wave by Todd Strasser

I read this book in about two hours, straight through. Amazing. It’s based on a real even in the late 1960s. A high school teacher wanted to instruct his class on why Germans were swept up by the Nazi movement, so he started a propaganda campaign in his class. Soon the whole school is involved and the experiment is out of control.

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

A series as good as Uglies. What Westerfeld’s done that I haven’t seen elsewhere is create machines out of genetically altered animals. He has lizards that deliver messages like talking telegrams. Fabricated elephants pull carts through London. And, the big daddy of them all, the Leviathan—an airship composed of a hydrogen-filled sperm whale.

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Try the whole series: Pretties, Specials, and Extras. They’re all great. One of the best series I’ve ever read. I mean it, I keep thinking about the hoverboarding and the Specials. “I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if I have to.”
Coraline by Neil Gaiman 
I have trouble getting through a Gaiman book. He has awesome ideas, but I often find myself losing interest. Not so with this book. It held me captive till the bitter end. Also, it’s much much better than the movie version. Read this first.

Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman

This might be so good because it’s so short (novella length). A great primer on Norse mythology with some excellent insights on what it means to be a god. I only wish it had been longer.

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King

This is easily the most accessible and best plotted of King’s books. Not only have I read this book at least 6 or 7 times, but I also wrote a thesis paper on it for my masters degree.

Lawn Boy by Gary Paulsen

A short book, but hilarious to read. Imagine going from mowing one lawn to earning six-figures and having your own bodyguard. Yeah, that’s what I thought. You have to read this.

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

If you haven’t heard about Riordan’s series of books, you need to wake up and smell the Greek mythos. So far I’ve only read the first in the series, but I plan to read more once I get the time.

Demon Keeper by Royce Buckingham

A little known books, but well worth the read. I mean it has an evil-demon-snot creature. What more could you want?

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

This is actually two different books fused into one. The beginning is a religious comparison. The second is the boy’s survival in a boat with a man-eating tiger. There’s a great twist at the end.

Cirque du Freak #1 A Living Nightmare by Darren Shan

This book (and it’s sequel) are awesome. Madame Octa, the giant trained spider, doesn’t get the credit it deserves.