[cmeisenzahl]

Looking for book recommendations for my kids at the teen/young teen level. Mostly fiction I think.

Maybe something in the spy genre?

All ideas appreciated, thanks! ;-)

[nredman]

Harry Potter

Lemony Snicket - A Series of Unfortunate Events

[Peter]

His Dark Materials

[Paco500]

Catcher in the Rye
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
The Once and Future King

[suganutz2]

I enjoyed reading Stephen King's short stories as a kid. They were collected in Skeleton Crew, Night Shift, Nightmares and Dreamscapes, and most recently Everything's Eventual. I'm reading Blaze right now, and it's a lot better than his most recent work, at least for me.

[design219]

I second His Dark Materials and The Harry Potter Series.

I know you said mostly fiction, but when I was a teen, I was fascinated with airplanes and really enjoyed books on the history of aviation. If your kids have an interest in a subject, they might get into a bit of specific history they will not get in school.

[Dakar the Fourth]

I think I was reading DragonLance, Forgotten Realms and Ravenloft when I was a teen.

[Monique]

Isaac Assimov
Victor Hugo
Agatha Christie
Enid Blyton
Alexandre Dumas

[64stang06]

Catcher in the Rye
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Outsiders

[amazing]

Don't forget that the Harry Potter series is available on CD, where the reader, Jim Dale, won an award for the number (and quality) of voices that he gives to the characters. Really useful if you're on a long trip, whether driving or flying. His reading brings the books to life, which reinvigorates the books and draws the kids into more reading. And, if your kids have any fluency in a second language, they can listen to the books in whatever language: Since the kids usually know the books so well, they can follow the story in that second language and can therefore pick up the spoken cadence and phrasing of the second language, by immersion. Vocabulary is picked up by context, where they know what's coming, and can predict that this funny word must be "broomstick", for example. You can Special Order these at your public library--I had to get the German version interlibrary loan from Mankato U.

They might as well be listening to books on the iPod rather than whatever music they're into. At the very least, they won't be listening to books at a volume level that will destroy their hearing?

Find the best public libraries nearby, get them library cards, pay whatever fines may come without (undue) protest, and ferry them to the libraries regularly. A good library will have Science Fiction and/or Fantasy sections, and if some cases, Young Adults. It'll save you a ton of money, especially once you start bringing in books by putting them on Hold, or interlibrary loan, etc.

There's Anne McCaffrey's Dragon's of Perth series, Mercedes Lackey early books (the Valdemar series), Raymond Feist's early books (Magician's Apprentice, etc.), Tamora Pierce (Beka Cooper), Michelle Sagara (Cast in Shadow, Cast in Courtlight, etc.--hopefully, the kids won't want tattoos). You may even enjoy some of these yourself? Best to know what they're reading, in any case, 'cause you'll maybe wanna steer them away from the vampire series, etc.

Problem is that so many books in this genre are written for teenage boys who are into violent video games, so the editors steer the authors into putting in violent crimes (usually against women) in the first 20 pages.

[cmeisenzahl]

Good stuff, thanks, all!!! ;-)

[HenryMelton]

I have to recommend the Small Towns, Big Ideas series, by ... er, me.

YA science fiction that's getting great reviews. The first title, Emperor Dad is in fact available as an iPhone App Book. But there are three titles out in paper on all the online book stores. High school aged protagonists, current time, and then something strange happens. Lighter Than Air, number four, is coming out next month.

[paul w]

I'd add Piers Anthony to the sci fi fantasy genre. I really enjoyed the Xanth books as a young'n.

[paul w]

Originally Posted by Dakar the Fourth 

I think I was reading DragonLance

Oh god I was obsessed with that series...

[Peter]

if you want the Harry Potter audiobooks, get the british version.

[Andrew Stephens]

For younger sf fans, James Blish - Cities in Flight series and Welcome to Mars

[Dakar the Fourth]

Originally Posted by paul w 

Oh god I was obsessed with that series...

Go rent the cartoon movie DVD, it's awful.

[calverson]

Probably a MacBook. I wouldn't think that most teenagers would need the power of a MacBook Pro, and the Air wouldn't be so fitting.

Sorry. That wasn't funny.

I read Noble House by James Clavell when I was 16, and to date that was the best read of my life.

That and most books by Chrichton - until I started to see too many similarities is his books.

These may be "adult" novels and contain concepts and content that might seem "inappropriate" for teens, but I turned out okay. (finished school at 15, went to college, got my diploma and started paying my own way at 17, my parents' dream!)

[Person Man]

Originally Posted by Peter 

if you want the Harry Potter audiobooks, get the british version.

Nope, no audiobooks for me. I ordered the box set with Adult covers from Amazon UK and read those instead of the Americanized ones sold over here.

Later I found out that the opthalmologist that works at our clinic is a huge Harry Potter fan; he's read all the books twice and is reading them a third time. I brought in the British Adult editions and he went totally nuts over them. I had to show him that you can use the same account on all the international versions of the Amazon web site... all the addresses and credit cards that were on file from the American site were available on the UK site with the automatic addition of "United States" at the end of the addresses.

[Person Man]

Originally Posted by amazing 

And, if your kids have any fluency in a second language, they can listen to the books in whatever language: Since the kids usually know the books so well, they can follow the story in that second language and can therefore pick up the spoken cadence and phrasing of the second language, by immersion. Vocabulary is picked up by context, where they know what's coming, and can predict that this funny word must be "broomstick", for example. You can Special Order these at your public library--I had to get the German version interlibrary loan from Mankato U.

Heck, you can improve your reading skills in another language that way, too, with the books. I myself recently ordered the Greek translations of the Harry Potter books, in order to improve my Greek-reading ability.

And I sent the American versions to my (now 13 year old) cousin in Greece who's nuts for the books (and movies). She's using them to improve her English. When I went to Greece when she was 10 her room was a shrine to Daniel Radcliffe, and then when I went back last year (when she was 12) the Daniel Radcliffe shrine was still there, only it had expanded from one wall to three walls.

[dav]

Originally Posted by paul w 

I'd add Piers Anthony to the sci fi fantasy genre. I really enjoyed the Xanth books as a young'n.

seconded, "a spell for chameleon" is very good.

[calverson]

Originally Posted by Paco500 

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

I concur. A trilogy in six parts.

Also, Clan of the Cave Bear. Very good stuff.

[quesera]

Rick Riordan's "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" series is great.

The first is The Lightning Thief.

It's the story of the Greek gods and their adolescent half-blood children alive and well in the 21st century, struggling with regular teen angst as well as their divine powers. Oh yeah, the end of the world figures into it too.

[Paco500]

Originally Posted by calverson 

I read Noble House by James Clavell when I was 16, and to date that was the best read of my life.

That and most books by Chrichton - until I started to see too many similarities is his books.

These may be "adult" novels and contain concepts and content that might seem "inappropriate" for teens, but I turned out okay. (finished school at 15, went to college, got my diploma and started paying my own way at 17, my parents' dream!)

I'm guessing you didn't major in lit.

[Andrew Stephens]

Originally Posted by Paco500 

I'm guessing you didn't major in lit.

ka-pow!

[Andrew Stephens]

Animal Farm
1984
The Great Gatsby

every boy has to have read a copy of The Rats by James Herbert by the time he is 14, it's teh lawz or something, although an acceptable alternative is The Fog, because it has a lesbian scene in it and gains 1,000,000 school yard cred points.

[calverson]

Originally Posted by Paco500 

I'm guessing you didn't major in lit.

No. Well done!

You get the Gold Medal!

[davidg14]

Agatha Christie and Enid Blyton!

[@pplejaxkz]

Cather in the Rye and The Perks of being a Wallflower. Perks is my favorite book of all time.

[Cipher13]

Tomorrow When the War Began.

[Powerbook]

- Inkworld trilogy
Inkworld is a series of three fantasy novels written by German author Cornelia Funke, comprising Inkheart (2003), Inkspell (2005), and Inkdeath (2007)...

- The Discworld series
by Terry Pratchett

- Jules Verne
(20.000 Leagues Under the Sea, I have read that ten times as a kid)

- Erich Kästner
Emil and the Detectives

(I wouldn't see 1984 or Catcher in the Rye to be young teen's material)

[subego]

In the SF genre, I spent much of my youth reading the "Known Space" series by Larry Niven. Ringworld is probably the most famous (and likely his best).

It's rightfully considered "hard" SF, though I should point out that some of his science is going to be 30 years out of date, and some of it was just wrong to begin with.