Boy Books for the Reluctant Reader

So, in the quest to get my son to start to love to read on his own, I have done what many parents of boys do and found myself lowering my expectations. Clearly, he doesn't really enjoy all of the same books as my daughter (the "girl and her horse" books would be an example of books he really doesn't want to read). They do enjoy some of the same reading material. They both love the Percy Jackson series, the Harry Potter Series and they are both enjoying the Ranger's Apprentice series. However, it's taken my son a long time to work up to the Ranger's Apprentice books. I read most of the Percy Jackson books to him, and the first time he looked at Ranger's Apprentice he put it down. He just clearly wasn't a fluid enough reader yet and it took him so long to get through it he would get lost and confused in the story. I'm glad he's finally reached a level when he can enjoy it, but in the meantime, there have been a great many books that I would never have chosen for him. Some of these he found in the library himself, and some he got through word of mouth from his friends.

Let me preface this by saying that by the time he was ready to start reading on his own, we had already gone through all of the Magic Tree House books, the Chronicles of Narnia and several other good books together. What I am showcasing here are books they can read on their own, and more importantly, books that they might WANT to read.

The first series he started to read on his own was Geronimo Stilton. Really, I never would have thought a mouse would have been his thing, but like these books he did. Mostly they are like comic books. Tons of illustrations and speech and thought bubbles. The books can be nice and thick and I think that lends to the "YES, I can read this" factor. Think lots of silly cheese jokes and a cartoon style. Thankfully, completely clean and little violence. Geronimo always figures out the mystery and saves the day.

There are several graphic novels out there that are fun and some of them cover historical events and folk tales. I won't list any of them here, but if your library has a Graphic Novel section, check it out.

Next, a friend turned my son on to a series called "Beast Quest" by Adam Blade. The first book in the series is called "Ferno the Fire Dragon". This is a series of relatively easy books in the fantasy genre. Each book is short, no more than a hundred pages, and the plot lines are simplified, but I think it is well done. There are many books in the series, so your boy could be reading these for a while. The hero, Tom, is sent on a quest by a wizard and he has to save the kingdom. There is a nice twist in that he doesn't have to kill the marauding beasts, but rescue them from the control of an evil man.


We took a turn into the world of goofy nine year old potty humor from there. The next series he got hung up on was Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey. This series really is the kind of thing two nine year old boys might come up with if they just sat together and made up a silly story. This is NOT quality literature, but I figure if they enjoy it, what the heck. It's full of pictures, silly comic strips and ridiculous plot lines. Still, for some boys, the more ridiculous the better. Also, there are underwear and poop jokes. What could be better, right?

Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney is another series along a similar vein. A somewhat normal kid gets into all kinds of trouble, which is never his fault of course, and he has to put up with an older teenage brother and a bratty toddler brother in the meantime. These books have many illustrations and side notes, but I think the Wimpy Kid books are somewhat better written than Captain Underpants. They are also longer with a few less pictures and a few more words. The fact that there is a movie made from these books could also be a bonus.

Let me just say that I am a little confused about the intended audience for this and the next two series I am going to list here. The main character of Wimpy Kid is a Middle Schooler, and so there is also some stuff in there about this person "liking" that person, and being embarrassed in front of the girls they "like". This isn't material that I think would generally interest a nine year old and yet the reading level seems to me to be below that of a typical Middle Schooler. Maybe I just have a skewed idea of what Middle Schoolers like to read. Even though my son doesn't "get" that kind of stuff yet, it didn't bother him. 

Two very similar book series that have come out recently are Wonkenstein: The Creature From My Closet by Obert Skye (also Potterwookie) and The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angelburger. If your child likes the Wimpy kid series they will probably like these. They are all very much the same: little drawings and side notes, written in journal style. If your child is into Star Wars, that would probably help with the Origami Yoda books. These books have an added bonus of some instructions for how to make various origami Star Wars creatures. Overall, however, they are just as goofy.

For the sports buffs I want to throw in a couple series that don't quite fit my "goofy" theme.  The Baseball Card Adventures (Honus and Me, Babe and Me, etc.) might be a good fit for sports minded kids. In these books the main character touches a particular baseball card and goes back in time to meet and help that player. These are short books and an easy read and my son loved them even though we are not heavy into baseball. These are, in fact, educational, but the kids don't have to know that.

Another good and easy sports themed series is Winning Season by Rich  Wallace. These are stories about various different boys and sports. They are easy chapter books involving baseball, soccer, football, basketball and running.




I'll end by listing some of the magazines we get that I find are often more appealing than a full book but are still technically reading:

*Sports Illustrated for Kids (Again, for the sports lover. I'm not in love with all of the advertisements, but... whatever.)
*National Geographic for Kids (This is an excellent magazine full of information about all kinds of things.)
* Ranger Rick (This is mostly for the nature lover, but fun and full of good information. We've found that sometimes NG Kids and Ranger Rick overlap a little bit.)
* There are some good magazines also from Cobblestone & Cricket Publishing. We get several of these  and they range in topic from science to literature to cultures (Faces, Cricket, Odyssey, Muse, Dig, Calliope, etc.)

If you have any more, please feel free to comment. I keep thinking of more things, but this post has gotten long enough! Also, the books I've listed are obviously what we have available here in the United States. It can be so hard to get some kids reading, I hope this helps someone out!