Earlier in the summer, I came across this Twitter thread that lamented the lack of modern books for boys to read, and suggesting a number of books and authors for young boys. My son (about to turn 9) is a keen reader, but I’ve noticed that outside of the Harry Potter series, and Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson books, there aren’t many recent adventure books for boys that age. Thinking back to what I was reading when I was 8-10 years old, I was mainly reading comics (The Beezer, The Beano, The Dandy and then the The Eagle and The Victor). I’ve previously blogged about how I got into reading books when I started reading Gorilla Adventure by Willard Price around the age of 9.

I thought it was worthwhile to list some of the books suggested (both recent and older) in that thread and elsewhere for young boys like my son to read:

• The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
• The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander (and the rest of the series)
• Westmark by Lloyd Alexander
• Evil Emperor Penguin: The World Will Be Mine! by Laura Ellen Anderson
• The Little Grey Men by B. B.
• The House with a Clock in Its Walls by John Bellairs
• A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond
• Minecraft: The Island by Max Brooks
• The Story of Roland by James Baldwin
• Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
• Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle
• The Dark Is Rising Sequence by Susan Cooper
• The Attack of the Robot Librarians by Sam Copeland & Jenny Pearson
• The Tripods by John Christopher
• The Seeing Stone by Kevin Crossley-Holland (Arthur Trilogy)
• The Hardy Boys series by Franklin W. Dixon
• Ranger’s Apprentice Series by John Flanagan
• Fletcher’s Fortune by John Drake
• The Hornblower by C.S. Forester
• Slave of the Huns by Geza Gardonyi
• The Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner
• The Moon of Gomrath by Alan Garner
• SilverFin by Charlie Higson
• Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz (the first book in the Alex Rider Series)
• The Call of the Wild by Jack London
• White Fang by Jack London
• A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula le Guin
• Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian
• An Eagle in the Snow by Michael Morpugo
• The Recruit by Robert Muchamore (the first book of the CHERUB series)
• The Hal & Roger Hunt Adventures by Willard Price
• His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman
• Swallows & Amazons by Arthur Ransome
• Holes by Louis Sachar
• Eagles of the Empire series by Simon Scarrow
• The Rescuers by Margery Sharp
• Avis Blackthorn: Is Not An Evil Wizard! by Jack Simmonds
• Addison Cooke Series by Jonathan W. Stokes
• Cue for Treason by Geoffrey Trease
• The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff
• The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
• The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
• The Great Captains by Henry Treece
• The Crusades by Henry Treece
• The Viking Trilogy by Henry Treece
• Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
• The Gauntlet by Ronald Welch
• John the Balladeer by Manly Wade Wellman

I suspect I’ll be adding to this list over time, and I will also add any feedback from my son.