Book recommendation for my 12-year-old son

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ameliepoir said:
Have him start reading about the great battles of the classical world! In addition to learning about the development of different tactical strategies, there’s also really interesting tales of heroism and romance 🙂 I’m not sure of any specific texts to recommend, but I bet he would enjoy reading about the Punic Wars.

The Aeneid, The Iliad, The Odyssey are all great. If he finds the language too abstruse, there are plenty of abridged versions for kids. The Bronze Bow, Legends of King Arthur, The Door in the Wall, Shakespeare’s histories (like Henry V), Johnny Tremain, All Quiet on the Western Front, and The Art of War should all fit the bill. Around his age I read and absolutely loved Moonshot, which is about the space race during the cold war - might be something he’s interested in!
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I wouldn’t let him read the unabridged version of the Iliad. It is a little graphic for a twelve year old in my opinion. An abridged version would be great though.
 
Entwhistler said:
I wouldn’t let him read the unabridged version of the Iliad. It is a little graphic for a twelve year old in my opinion. An abridged version would be great though.
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👍 of course, parent discretion is advised!
 
All Quiet on the Western Front might be a bit grown up for a 12 year old-the trip across the ditch comes to mind.
At your son’s age, I was enjoying World War II books including: The Sinking of the Bismark, Run Silent, Run Deep, The Longest Day, and The Battle of Midway. A favorite that I have reread over the years is a work of fiction: H.M.S. Ulysses by Alastair McLean. I also liked his cold war piece of fiction: The Secret Ways. I recall reading Michener’s The Bridge at Andau at about that age and really enjoying it.
A few years before that, it was all Indian Wars. Books about Geronimo (Ralph Moody author) Sitting Bull, (if you google up a full copy of his classic picture, he is wearing a crucifix-Taylor Marshall wrote a piece about him being taught the faith by the Jesuits) Crazy Horse, Osceola, Quanah Parker, Cochise, Black Kettle, Chief Joseph of the Nez Pierce. There was a whole series of biographies and I devoured them.
A book called Blue Jacket still comes to mind-the description of running the gauntlet and joining in the Shawnee battles is very vivid.
Enjoy!
 
Entwhistler said:
I wouldn’t let him read the unabridged version of the Iliad. It is a little graphic for a twelve year old in my opinion. An abridged version would be great though.
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For an abridged version, you might look at Black Ships Before Troy.

How about My Side of the Mountain?
 
Ender’s Game

The prequels to it: Earth Unaware, Earth Afire, and Earth Awakens. A lot of battle scenes.

The Eagle of the Ninth Chronicles: The Eagle of the Ninth, The Silver Branch, The Lantern Bearers.

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Try “My Great-grandfather Turns 12 Today.”

One reviewer said this:
“As a retired middle school teacher, I think I would have enjoyed having a ‘Bill Dodds’ in my class. Bill, is definitely a man with an excellent, quirky sense of humor and one whose story captures the essence of a pre-teen, middle child! This book is a quick, entertaining read for a young reader who will be able to relate to the various characters, learn some valuable, practical history of how life was in the past, as well as a very important lesson that older relatives are to be cherished. As a former teacher, I quickly learned that some of the best writing out there is done by Newberry Medal writers and writers for the young in general and Bill Dodds is certainly one of these.”
 
MaryHelp777 said:
The Space Trilogy by CS Lewis (is supposed to be really good, maybe someone here has read it?)

Inkheart Trilogy by Cornelia Funke
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I’ve read it. Overall, I’m a big fan of Lewis. I loved the Narnia books as a kid and as an adult, and his non-fiction, both his Christian apologetics stuff and his academic stuff, is great.

But (there’s always a but) – Lewis had some truly peculiar ideas about women and their role in the world and society and marriage, and these come through quite clearly in the last volume of the space trilogy, That Hideous Strength. I’d recommend reading it before you give it to your son. Maybe you’ll agree with his ideas, and that’s fine. But I wouldn’t hand that book to my daughter at twelve.
 
oldgraymare2 said:
I’m thinking of Ivanhoe, by Sir Walter Scott.
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Yes. Very much yes.

Ivanhoe was the first book I remember absolutely disappearing into, and I’m guessing I was around twelve.

Other Scott books are well worth reading, too. The Waverley novels are wonderful.
 
Would he enjoy War and Peace? It is about the Napoleonic Wars in Russia.
 
I was going to suggest ‘A Wind in the Willows’ although that’s probably intended for younger kids - not sure how old I was when I discovered it but it could have been 11 or 12 - even though it does feature a war, or a battle at least. How about ‘Watership Down’?
 
I know you said “war and battles” but the Louis La’mour books were my absolute favorite when I was that age. They’re westerns.

The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings are cool, but might be a little daunting depending on how much he likes to read. They can be long for a guy that age.

The “Rush Revere” books by Rush Limbaugh are a blast. I read a couple of them to see if they were any good - now I give them away as birthday presents for kids. They’re a hoot and highly educational. He might be on the “older” end of the kids who would enjoy those (roughly ages 8-13). They cover various American History subjects, I think there are 4 of them now.

Jack London books were extremely cool when I was a kid too. “The Call of the Wild” and “White Fang” were 2 I loved.
 
He’s probably like the Rick Reardon books. A good start is The Lightning Thief. And he’ll learn a little mythology, too.
 
Good_Tidings said:
He’s probably like the Rick Reardon books. A good start is The Lightning Thief. And he’ll learn a little mythology, too.
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Funny you mention that. My son, who is ten now was never a big reader (although he enjoyed me reading to him at bedtime for years, and particularly liked ‘The Hobbit’, the Chronicles of Narnia and ‘The Patchwork Girl of Oz.’ Anyway he became much more serious about reading when he discovered the Percy Jackson books, through his friends. He’s only ten though.
 
QUOTE=tomarin;14098910]Funny you mention that. My son, who is ten now was never a big reader (although he enjoyed me reading to him at bedtime for years, and particularly liked ‘The Hobbit’, the Chronicles of Narnia and ‘The Patchwork Girl of Oz.’ Anyway he became much more serious about reading when he discovered the Percy Jackson books, through his friends. He’s only ten though.

👍 The author has a lot of fun stuff going on at his website. You might want to check it out. Don’t waste your time on the movie.
 
truetofaith said:
Rush Limbaugh has won awards for his “Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims” series. I read one and it makes history interesting and fun.
Great for kids!. I heard kids on his program from 8 to 14 say how much they liked the books.
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I’m serious about these books. They are geared to keeping a young person’s interest in history! 👍
 
I think that actual history books would be good. I was very much into WWII aviation history at that age and could tell you the history of the 8th Air Force and the bombing campaign in Europe, the desert war in Africa, the Pacific Island hopping campaign, the history of the AVG and its transition back into the USAAC, the rivalry between the 56th and 4th fighter groups. I branched out into other aspects of the war like the U-boat campaign, land battles etc.

A lot of very good history books- information can be brutal but that’s what war is.
 
FghtinIrshNvrDi said:
I know you said “war and battles” but the Louis La’mour books were my absolute favorite when I was that age. They’re westerns.

…

Jack London books were extremely cool when I was a kid too. “The Call of the Wild” and “White Fang” were 2 I loved.
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Read almost all the Louis La’mour books when I was a kid- gave me too idealized a view of women. Other than that, they were really good.

I also liked the Jack London books, I think there was another he wrote about a submarine in WWII that I liked.
 
I didn’t read all the replies.

G.A. Henty wrote historical fiction for pre- teen boys. All the protagonists are heroic, virtuous boys around the age of 12 or so.

One takes place in the time of William Wallace, another during the French Revolution.

Great stories.
 
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