Great Reads for Guys


SERIES

Y Bre          Eighth Grade Bites (Chronicles of Vladimir Tod) by Heather Brewer (funny)
For thirteen years, Vlad, aided by his aunt and best friend, has kept secret that he is half-vampire, but when his missing teacher is replaced by a sinister substitute, he learns that there is more to being a vampire, and to his parents' deaths, than he could have guessed.

Y Col          Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer (suspense/adventure)
When a twelve-year-old evil genius tries to restore his family fortune by capturing a fairy and demanding a ransom in gold, the fairies fight back with magic, technology, and a particularly nasty troll.

J Col          Gregor the Overlander (Underland Chronicles)
by Suzanne Collins (fantasy)
When eleven-year-old Gregor and his two-year-old sister are pulled into a strange underground world, they trigger an epic battle involving men, bats, rats, cockroaches, and spiders while on a quest foretold by ancient prophecy. 

Y Das         The Maze Runner (Maze Runner Trilogy) by James Dashner (suspense/adventure)
Sixteen-year-old Thomas wakes up with no memory in the middle of a maze and realizes he must work with the community in which he finds himself if he is to escape.

Y Gri          Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer by John Grisham (mystery)
With two attorneys for parents, thirteen-year-old Theodore Boone knows more about the law than most lawyers do. But when a high profile murder trial comes to his small town and Theo gets pulled into it, it's up to this amateur attorney to save the day.

Y Had        Among The Hidden (Shadow Children series ) by Margaret Peterson Haddix (mystery/suspense)
In a future where the Population Police enforce the law limiting a family to only two children, Luke has lived all his twelve years in isolation and fear on his family's farm, until another "third" convinces him that the government is wrong.

Y Hig          Black Book of Secrets (Tales from the Sinister City) by F.E. Higgins (mystery)  
When Ludlow Fitch runs away from his thieving parents in the City, he meets up with the mysterious Joe Zabbidou, who calls himself a secret pawnbroker, and who takes Ludlow as an apprentice to record the confessions of the townspeople of Pagus Parvus, where resentments are many and trust is scarce.

Y Hor         Stormbreaker (Alex Rider Series) by Anthony Horowitz (suspense/ adventure)
After the death of the uncle who had been his guardian, fourteen-year-old Alex Rider is coerced to continue his uncle's dangerous work for Britain's intelligence agency, MI6.

Y Nes         The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking Trilogy) by Patrick Ness (suspense/adventure)
                   Prentisstown isn't like other towns. Everyone can hear everyone else's thoughts in an overwhelming, never-ending stream of Noise. Just a month away from the birthday that will make him a man, Todd and his dog, Manchee, whose thoughts Todd can hear, too, whether he wants to or not, stumble upon an area of complete silence. They find that in a town where privacy is impossible, something terrible has been hidden.


J Nix           Mister Monday (Keys to the Kingdom #1) by Garth Nix (fantasy)
Arthur Penhaligon is supposed to die at a young age, but is saved by a key that is shaped like the minute hand of a clock. The key causes bizarre creatures to come from another realm, bringing with them a plague. A man named Mister Monday will stop at nothing to get the key back. Arthur goes to a mysterious house that only he can see, so that he can learn the truth about himself and the key.  


Y Pao         Eragon (the Inheritance cycle) by Christopher Paolini (fantasy)
In Aagaesia, a fifteen-year-old boy of unknown lineage called Eragon finds a mysterious stone that weaves his life into an intricate tapestry of destiny, magic, and power, peopled with dragons, elves, and monsters.

Y Pat                  The Dangerous Days of Daniel X by James Patterson (adventure)
                      At first glance, Daniel might seem like an average fifteen-year-old, but Daniel has a little bit more responsibility then your average kid: he's the next Alien Hunter, bequeathed with the list of hidden alien outlaws living and lurking on Earth. All must be destroyed in order to protect the human race from eventual takeover. It's a big job for one teenager.


J San         Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson  (humor/adventure)
On his thirteenth birthday, foster child Alcatraz Smedry receives a bag of sand which is immediately stolen by the evil Librarians who are trying to take over the world, and Alcatraz is introduced to his grandfather and his own special talent, and told that he must use it to save civilization. 


Y Sco         The Alchemyst (Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas
Flamel series) by Michael Scott  (fantasy)    
While working at pleasant but mundane summer jobs in San Francisco, fifteen-year-old twins, Sophie and Josh, suddenly find themselves caught up in the deadly, centuries-old struggle between rival alchemists, Nicholas Flamel and John Dee, over the possession of an ancient and powerful book holding the secret formulas for alchemy and everlasting life.


Y Sha         Cirque du Freak by Darren Shan (horror)    
Two boys who are best friends visit an illegal freak show, where an encounter with a vampire and a deadly spider forces them to make life-changing choices.  

Y Shu         Everwild (Skinjacker trilogy) by Neal Shusterman (fantasy)
Nick, known as the dreaded "Chocolate Ogre," is trying to find all the children in Everlost and release them from the limbo they are in, while Mikey and Allie have joined a band of skinjackers and are putting themselves in danger by visiting the world of the living.
         
Y Wes        Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld (science fiction)
In an alternate 1914 Europe, fifteen-year-old Austrian Prince Alek, on the run from the Clanker Powers who are attempting to take over the globe using mechanical machinery, forms an uneasy alliance with Deryn who, disguised as a boy to join the British Air Service, is learning to fly genetically-engineered beasts. 


STAND ALONE BOOKS

Y Col                    Half Moon Investigations by Eoin Colfer
Twelve-year-old private investigator Fletcher Moon, nicknamed "Half Moon" because of his shortness, must track down a conspiracy or be framed for a crime he did not commit.

Y Cur                   The Watsons go to Birmingham – 1963
by Christopher Paul Curtis
A hilarious, touching, and tragic novel about civil rights and the impact of violence on one African American family. Narrated by Kenny, 9, the story tells about his middle-class black family, the Watsons of Flint, Michigan, and their trip to Birmingham, Alabama, to visit Grandma. They happen to be in Birmingham when Grandma's church is bombed.  

Y Gai          The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Nobody Owens is a normal breathing boy whose home is a graveyard, raised by a guardian who belongs neither to the mortal world nor the realm of the dead. Among the mausoleums and headstones of his home, Bod experiences things most mortals can barely imagine. But real, flesh-and-blood danger waits just outside the cemetery walls: the man who murdered the infant Bod’s family will not rest until he finds Nobody Owens and finishes the job he began many years ago.


Y Gre         Baseball Great by Tim Green
All twelve-year-old Josh wants to do is play baseball but when his father, a minor league pitcher, signs him up for a youth championship team, Josh finds himself embroiled in a situation with potentially illegal consequences.  

Y Gre         Football Hero by Tim Green
When twelve-year-old Ty's brother Thane is recruited out of college to play for the New York Jets, their Uncle Gus uses Ty to get insider information for his gambling ring, landing Ty and Thane in trouble with the mafia.


Y Gre         Football Genius by Tim Green
Troy, a sixth-grader with an unusual gift for predicting football plays before they occur, attempts to use his ability to help his favorite team, the Atlanta Falcons, but he must first prove himself to the coach and players. 


Y Len         Questors by Joan Lennon
Three confused children are brought together then, with little training, sent off to save three worlds that were held in perfect balance until a cataclysmic disruption in the space-time continuum threatened their existence, which is just what their enemy desires.

Y Lie          I Am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to be Your Class President  by Josh Lieb
In Omaha, Nebraska, twelve-year-old Oliver Watson has everyone convinced that he's extremely stupid and lazy, but he's actually a very wealthy, evil genius, and when he decides to run for seventh-grade class president, nothing will stand in his way.
Y Lon         White Fang and Call of The Wild by Jack London
Rescued from a life of fear and abuse, a part dog, part wolf finds man can be be a friend and companion.

The adventures of an unusual dog, part St. Bernard, part Scotch shepherd, that is forcibly taken to the Klondike gold fields where he eventually becomes the leader of a wolf pack.

Y Lub         Sleeping Freshman Never Lie by David Lubar
                                  While navigating his first year of high school and awaiting the birth of his
new baby brother, Scott loses old friends and gains some unlikely new ones as he hones his skills as a writer.

Y Lup         Hero by Mike Lupica
Fourteen-year-old Zach learns he has the same special abilities as his father, who was the President's globe-trotting troubleshooter until "the Bads" killed him, and now Zach must decide whether to use his powers in the same way at the risk of his own life.                                   

Y Lyn                   Slot Machine by Chris Lynch
When overweight thirteen-year-old Elvin Bishop is sent to camp at St. Paul's Seminary Retreat Center, he and his two best friends are forced to try out various sports in order to find out where they belong.

Y Mas        Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life by Wendy Mass
Just before his thirteenth birthday, Jeremy Fink receives a keyless locked box--set aside by his father before his death five years earlier--that purportedly contains the meaning of life.

Y Mye        Monster by Walter Dean Myers
While on trial as an accomplice to a murder, sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon records his experiences in prison and in the courtroom in the form of a film script as he tries to come to terms with the course his life has taken.


Y Pat          Middle School, the Worst Years of My Life by James Patterson
When Rafe Kane enters middle school, he teams up with his best friend, "Leo the Silent," to create a game to make school more fun by trying to break every rule in the school's code of conduct.

Y Per          As Easy as Falling off the Face of the Earth by Lynne Rae Perkins
A teenaged boy encounters one comedic calamity after another when his train strands him in the middle of nowhere, and everything comes down to luck.

Y Sac         Holes by Louis Sachar 
As further evidence of his family's bad fortune which they attribute to a curse on a distant relative, Stanley Yelnats is sent to a hellish correctional camp in the Texas desert where he finds his first real friend, a treasure, and a new sense of himself. 

Y Sch         The Wednesday Wars and Okay For Now by Gary D. Schmidt 
During the 1967 school year, on Wednesday afternoons when all his classmates go to either Catechism or Hebrew school, seventh-grader Holling Hoodhood stays in Mrs. Baker's classroom where they read the plays of William Shakespeare and Holling learns much of value about the world he lives in. 

                        As a fourteen-year-old who just moved to a new town, with no friends, an abusive father, and a louse for an older brother, Doug Swieteck has all the stats stacked against him until he finds an ally in Lil Spicer--a fiery young lady. Together, they find a safe haven in the local library, inspiration in learning about the plates of John James Audubon's birds, and a hilarious adventure on a Broadway stage.

Y Shu         The Schwa Was Here by Neal Shusterman
A Brooklyn eighth-grader nicknamed Antsy befriends the Schwa, an "invisible-ish" boy who is tired of blending into his surroundings and going unnoticed by nearly everyone.

Y Son         Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonneblick 
When his younger brother is diagnosed with leukemia, thirteen-year-old Steven tries to deal with his complicated emotions, his school life, and his desire to support his family.

Y Tas         The Gospel According to Larry by Janet Tashijan
Seventeen-year-old Josh, a loner-philosopher who wants to make a difference in the world, tries to maintain his secret identity as the author of a web site that is receiving national attention.

Y Wer         Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin
Seventeen-year-old Matthew recounts his attempts, starting at a young age, to free himself and his sisters from the grip of their emotionally and physically abusive mother.

Y Win         Adam Canfield of the Slash by Michael Winerip
While serving as co-editors of their school newspaper, middle-schoolers Adam and Jennifer uncover fraud and corruption in their school and in the city's government. 


FOR OLDER TEENS

Y Bla          White Cat and Red Glove by Holly Black
When Cassel Sharpe discovers that his older brothers have used him to carry out their criminal schemes and then stolen his memories, he figures out a way to turn their evil machinations against them.

When federal agents learn that seventeen-year-old Cassel Sharpe, a powerful transformation worker, may be of use to them, they offer him a deal to join them rather than the mobsters for whom his brothers work.


Y Bod         The Compound   by S. A. Bodeen
                        After his parents, two sisters, and he have spent six years in a vast underground compound built by his wealthy father to protect them from a nuclear holocaust, fifteen-year-old Eli, whose twin brother and grandmother were left behind, discovers that his father has perpetrated a monstrous hoax on them all.


Y Bra                  Shift by Jennifer Bradbury
                        When best friends Chris and Win go on a cross country bicycle trek the summer after graduating and only one returns, the FBI wants to know what happened.

Y Bra                  Going Bovine by Libba Bray
                        Cameron Smith, a disaffected sixteen year-old who, after being diagnosed with Creutzfeld Jakob's (aka mad cow) disease, sets off on a road trip with a death-obsessed video gaming dwarf he meets in the hospital in an attempt to find a cure.
Y Bro                  World War Z by Max Brooks
After the undead war - World War Z - a man named Max Brooks travels around the world to record the stories of those who have fought against the zombie uprising.

 Y Bro         The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks
The Zombie Survival Guide is your key to survival against the hordes of undead who may be stalking you right now. Fully illustrated and exhaustively comprehensive, this book covers everything you need to know, including how to understand zombie physiology and behavior, the most effective defense tactics and weaponry, ways to outfit your home for a long siege, and how to survive and adapt in any territory or terrain.

Y Cal                  Swim the Fly and Beat the Band by Don Calame
                   Fifteen-year-old Matt Gratton and his two best friends, Coop and Sean, always set themselves a summertime goal. This year's? To see a real-live naked girl for the first time--quite a challenge, given that none of the guys has the nerve to even ask a girl out on a date. But catching a girl in the buff starts to look easy compared to Matt's other summertime aspiration: to swim the 100-yard butterfly (the hardest stroke known to God or man) as a way to impress Kelly West, the sizzling new star of the swim team.

                        It's the beginning of the school year, and the tenth-grade health class has to work in twos on semester-long projects. Matt and Sean get paired up (the jerks), but Coop is matched with the infamous 'Hot Dog' Helen for a presentation on safe sex. Everybody's laughing, except for Coop, who's convinced that the only way to escape this popularity death sentence is to win the Battle of the Bands with his group, Arnold Murphy's Bologna Dare.

Y Cra                   Carter Finally Gets It and Carter’s Big Break by Brent Crawford
Awkward freshman Will Carter endures many painful moments during his first year of high school before realizing that nothing good comes easily, focus is everything, and the payoff is usually incredible.

Fourteen-year-old Will Carter's summer gets off to a bad start when his girlfriend leaves him, but then he is cast opposite a major star, Hilary Idaho, in a small movie being filmed in his town and things start looking up.

Y Del                  We Were Here by Matt de la Peña
Haunted by the event that sentences him to time in a group home, Miguel breaks out with two unlikely companions and together they begin their journey down the California coast hoping to get to Mexico and a new life.

Y Hor                   Slam by Nick Hornby
At the age of fifteen, Sam Jones's girlfriend gets pregnant and Sam's life of skateboarding and daydreaming about Tony Hawk changes drastically.

Y Mab        Rot and Ruin and Dust and Decay by Jonathan Maberry
In a post-apocalyptic world where fences and border patrols guard the few people left from the zombies that have overtaken civilization, fifteen-year-old Benny Imura is finally convinced that he must follow in his older brother's footsteps and become a bounty hunter.

In post-apocalyptic America, fifteen-year-old Benny Imura and his friends set out into the great Rot & Ruin hoping to find a better future but are soon pitted against zombies, wild animals, insane murderers, and the horrors of Gameland.


Y Rei                   The Things a Brother Knows by Dana Reinhardt
Although they have never gotten along well, seventeen-year-old Levi follows his older brother Boaz, an ex-Marine, on a walking trip from Boston to Washington, D.C. in hopes of learning why Boaz is completely withdrawn.

Y She         The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Alexie Sherman
Budding cartoonist Junior leaves his troubled school on the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all-white farm town school where the only other Indian is the school mascot.

Y Yan         American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
Jin just wants to be an all-American boy, because he’s in love with an all-American girl. Danny is an all-American boy: great at basketball, popular with the girls. But his obnoxious Chinese cousin Chin-Kee’s annual visit is such a disaster that it ruins Danny’s reputation at school, leaving him with no choice but to transfer somewhere he can start all over again. The Monkey King has lived for thousands of years and mastered the arts of kung fu and the heavenly disciplines. He’s ready to join the ranks of the immortal gods in heaven. But there’s no place in heaven for a monkey. Each of these characters cannot help himself alone, but how can they possibly help each other? They’re going to have to find a way—if they want fix the disasters their lives have become.

Y Yan         Level Up by Gene Luen Yang
Dennis, the son of Chinese immigrants, yearns to play video games like his friends and, upon his strict father's death, becomes obsessed with them but later, realizing how his father sacrificed for him, he chooses a nobler path.