Book Bag

September 14, 2012 By in Petulance 51 Comments

Tomorrow I’m taking my son to the library. We’re returning his new favorite book: Bonechiller by Graham McNamee, which I picked out for him last week. He’s been resistant to my suggestions until now, and that’s as it should be; he’s a child with opinions of his own, and in reading I am not inclined to push in any particular direction except toward well-written books in general. But now I’ve scored major points and he’s asking for suggestions.

And so am I. We’ve exhausted Darren Shan and Suzanne Collins, and the kid refuses Harry Potter, which brings me to the end of my knowledge of the middle-grade/young adult categories. He prefers bloodshed and mayhem, the creepier the better. He’s all boy. In a few years I’ll turn him loose on Koontz and King, but for now I need something gentler. Stephen King with training wheels.

Help me keep my rep intact, will you? Book ideas for a precocious ten-year-old?

51 Responses

  2. I think this is Sarah’s area.
    I like the name bonechiller, unfortunately i can’t think of one title that even comes to close. the creepiest thing i’ve read lately is the promo for American Horror Story—which is neither a book, or age-appropriate.

  3. How about the Phillip Pullman His Dark Materials series? First one is The Golden Compass, then the Subtle Knife and the Amber Spyglass. It’s pretty wonderful, even for adults who like semi-dark fantasy.

      • I’m pretty sure I got him the His Dark Materials series a couple of Christmases back, can’t remember, but it was at least the first book. It was right before the Golden Compass movie came out, but it might not have caught his interest at that point. Check his bookshelf…

        If he’s open to sci-fi, I started reading Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern series at about his age and loved them. Not really creepy at all, but great adventure stuff. I second the Ender’s Game suggestion, too; and Orson Scott Card’s Tales of Alvin Maker series is also really cool. The first book is Seventh Son.

        My dad had a huge Stephen King collection, and I remember reading Carrie, The Shining, Cujo, and Salem’s Lot all in one summer at his house when I was eleven. I had a window over the head of my bed, and there was a tree branch that would brush up against it with the littlest bit of wind. I would lie there in the dark, covers up to my nose, imagining vampires tapping at the window and chanting, “You don’t have my permission to come in…”
        Good times!

        • WordPress is so fucking bossy.

          When we were at the library Saturday, I found the Dark Materials series and he said, Oh! I liked The Golden Compass, let’s get the next one. But now that you mention it, I remember that you gave him the boxed set. I wonder if one of the other kids ended up with it. Or the books could still be packed somewhere.

          My mom used to read Stephen King too, and I read them with the lights on all night. Pet Cemetery scared the bejesus out of me.

  4. I’m not sure how much your kid (or you) can take, but maybe look at Abarat by Clive Barker?

    Have you tried Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer? It’s more sci-fi than horror, but Artemis is a teenage criminal mastermind.

    And maybe The Secret Hour by Scott Westerfeld (I love anything by Westerfield),. Jimmy Coates, Assassin? by Joe Craig, and Code Orange by Caroline B. Cooney.

      • if he’s going to take over the world, nietzsche’s the thing.

        the iliad and the odyssey can’t be beat for bloodshed and mayhem and touches of the creepy, though he may be a little young for them. the characters’ names can be daunting to readers of any age.

        for more cerebral pleasures, there are the tales of sherlock holmes.

        grimm’s fairy tales can be pretty bloody and creepy, though i would not be surprised at a ten-year-old boy refusing to read anything called fairy tales.

        poe? edgar allan poe? there’s always poe.

        • Poe, and Halloween’s coming up. That’s perfect. I’ll lay “The Tell-Tale Heart” on him and see if he can sleep in a dark bedroom afterward. I should not be the only one checking the closets around here.

  9. Haven’t read any of these but I’ve been told they are like books I have read and I hear the titles often, so they are probably worth the recommendation.

    Divergent series by Veronica Roth. Second book is Insurgent and third book is not out yet. Heard it compared to Hunger Games on some level.

    Unwind series by Neal Shusterman. Read a summary and it certainly has a boy like idea behind it! Don’t know how many other books in the series or if they’re out yet.

    The Graveyard Book – Neil Gaiman. Newberry Award Winner I believe.

    • He got those books for Christmas a while back, but doesn’t seem to love them. Not creepy enough, maybe? Though sometimes it’s just a mood thing, and he’ll go back later and like something he wasn’t interested in the first time around. Just like the rest of us, I suppose.

      • He has such a cool mama. My mother hadn’t a clue what I was reading. I think I was 11 or 12 when I started reading Flowers in the Attic and and Dune and Betty Friedan. Good luck! (which you don’t need)

  12. Anything by Alan Garner? He writes dark fantasy based on English legends. More creepy than bloody. I loved The Whitby Witches series when I was wee – so much death and creepiness but with good strong characters. Pullman is fantastic for kids, I was reading books of ‘true life’ ghost stories at that age but always scared myself far too much – and consequently slept with a nightlight on forever.

    • The true-life stories are the scariest. And they really are the ones that stick, and keep you freaked out forevermore. I can’t even watch the Exorcist, on the off-chance that any of it has some basis in fact. (Also, those Linda Blair eyes. An evil child is so much more frightening than an adult.)

  14. Okay, I interviewed my girl, who has read every book ever, including the ones you mentioned, and here’s what she says: A Banquet for Hungry Ghosts. The Maze Runner (series). Peeps by Scot Westerfield. I Am Number Four. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (series). The House of the Scorpion. A graphic novel called Battle Royale. She sometimes forgets author’s names. If I said my 12 yo girl was a 13 yo boy with a tattoo, would that score any brownie points? She is pretty badass. She also warns that a lot of horror stories often include something sexual. Like rape. FYI.

  15. She says, “If he wasn’t such a violence-lover, I could recommend many great books for him. Maybe if you showed him The Shining he’d be cured forever?” (Exact quote;; then she grabs my computer…..) hi averil! ;)

  16. I second The Maze Runner (great for Hunger Games lovers), the book Legend (Marie Lu), and if he wants creepy, the Spooks Apprentice series is a great YA series with all kinds of things that go bump in the night…

    • I showed my son the Spook’s Apprentice website and he is intrigued. We’ll definitely be looking for book one on our next trip to the library. Thanks, Sara!

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