Need suggestions for male teen reluctant readers

[Anne Bennett]

I am a high school librarian and I always struggling to find books that reluctant readers of the male gender will find compelling/interesting.  What are some book title or authors that you think will work to get these teen boys reading?  Take a look at the diary where I blogged about this topic: http://headfullofbooks.blogspot.com/2010/04/runner-and-other-books-...
Thank you for any and all suggestions.  Leave comment here or there.
-Anne

[Tasha]

The Cherub series by Robert Muchamore is really good as well as Henderson's Boys by the same author.

[Anne Bennett]

I have never heard of Robert Muchamore but the book I looked at after reading your post said "Every boy is interested in being a spy..." That is for sure. I'll take a look at these series at the Public Library and see if it is a good fit for a high school audience. Thank you for your help.

[Kelli & Natalie]

Sounds like a good one!

[Kelli & Natalie]

I would suggest The Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins

Here is my review: http://idsoratherbereading.blogspot.com/2010/05/review-of-hunger-ga...

Also, has she read the Harry Potter series?? My husband and brothers LOVED the series!
Review: http://idsoratherbereading.blogspot.com/2010/04/review-of-harry-pot...

[Anne Bennett]

I adore Hunger Games and so do my stronger readers but I have a hard time getting my more reluctant readers to pick it up because of the length, unfortunately. If you like Hunger Games and are bidding your time until Mocking Jay comes out this summer (third book in the trilogy) you might give Maze Runner by James Dashner a try.

Thanks for your suggestions.

[Kelli & Natalie]

I have read Maze Runner too:) Have you tried the Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare?I have found that some reluctant youth are in love with it :)

[Audrey]

I would suggest Paper Towns by John Green, he writes fabulous YA novels with awesome male protagonists. Also, my friend really enjoyed Unwind by Neal Shusterman as well.

[Anne Bennett]

John Green, author of Paper Towns is my favorite! I push him as much as I can. I actually had success getting a few boys to read his books with Looking for Alaska being the most popular. Unfortunately reluctant readers won't read him because of the page length thing. But Thanks for the reminder to push John Green books on those students not afraid of longer books.

Neal Schusterman. Hum, that is a good thought. I like Unwind and he has several books written for younger, middle school aged kids that might work well for high schoolers. Thanks. I'll try them out!

[Anne Bennett]

I love your blog. I signed up to be your friend. Thank you for your suggestions.

You are right, I just got the whole series of Bone books by Jeff Smith and already they have found loyal followers in my library. Gregor the Overlander might be a bit too young for my high schoolers, but I say that never having read any of the books. Reluctant readers are off-put by the length of Unwind (300+ pages) but I have many of other students who have enjoyed that book this year. Have you read anything else by Shusterman? Would any of his other stuff work for reluctant male high school readers? I need to read Candor. I put it on the shelf without reading it and it has been checked out ever since then. That should tell me something. Great suggestions.

[Katrina L. Burchett]

I'd like to suggest the Perry Skky Jr. series by Stephanie Perry Moore.

[Anne Bennett]

Have you read any books in the series yet? I can't decide if it would be appropriate for a public high school. It is overly religious? Would a kid who didn't consider himself to be religious be turned off? The cover looks very intriguing. Thank you so much for the idea. I will look for these books at the Public Library and see if it is a good match.

[Katrina L. Burchett]

There are five books. I have read Books 1-4 and I plan to read the last. Are they overly religious? In my opinion, these novels aren't overly religious at all. Yes, Perry is a young Christian who is doing his best to live for God but he has his flaws just like anyone else and he makes choices todays young men are making, Christian or non-Christian. He's a football player, which I'm thinking some of your students can relate to and he's having issues with girls. These stories are real. I posted reviews on Amazon; please feel free to check those out... I hope that link worked but if not you can go to my website and click on Amazon Profile :)