The Southbury Public Library
   

Here's where to find our list of recommended books for teen boys. If you would like to help make new lists or add on to an existing list call Heather @ 262-0626 or email at haronson@biblio.org.

Allende, Isabel
  City of the Beasts 2002
  When fifteen-year-old Alexander Cold accompanies his individualistic grandmother on an expedition to find a humanoid Beast in the Amazon, he experiences ancient wonders and a supernatural world as he tries to avert disaster for the Indians.
Sequels include Kingdom of the Golden Dragon
   
   
Almond, David
  Kit's Wilderness 1999



Thirteen-year-old Kit goes to live with his grandfather in the decaying coal mining town of Stoneygate, England, and finds both the old man and the town haunted by ghosts of the past.
   
   
Anderson, M.T.
  Feed 2002
  In a future where most people have computer implants in their heads to control their environment, a boy meets an unusual girl who is in serious trouble.
   
   
Avi
  Crispin: Cross of Lead 2002

 

Falsely accused of theft and murder, an orphaned peasant boy in fourteenth-century England flees his village and meets a larger-than-life juggler who holds a dangerous secret.
Sequels include Crispin: At the Edge of the World and Crispin: The End of Time
   
   
Barry, Dave
  Peter and the Starcatchers 2004


Soon after Peter, an orphan, sets sail from England on the ship Never Land, he befriends and assists Molly, a young Starcatcher, whose mission is to guard a trunk of magical stardust from a greedy pirate and the native inhabitants of a remote island.
Includes sequels Peter and the Shadow Thieves, Peter and the Secret of Rundoon, and Peter and the Sword of Mercy
   
   
Barry, Dave
  Science Fair. 2008
  The president of Kprshtskan is plotting to infiltrate the science fair at Hubble Middle School in Maryland in order to take over the United States government, but when Toby Harbinger, an ordinary student, makes up his mind finally to win the fair, the terrorists' plans go awry.
   
   
Brittney, L.
  Nathan Fox : Dangerous Times. 2008
  Fourteen-year-old Nathan Fox is an actor in the same company as a young Will Shakespeare. But nothing can prepare him for the shadowy world he's about to enter at the request of Sir Francis Walsingham, England's spymaster general.
   
   
Choldenko, Gennifer
  Al Capone Does My Shirts 2004
  A twelve-year-old boy named Moose moves to Alcatraz Island in 1935 when guards' families were housed there, and has to contend with his extraordinary new environment in addition to life with his autistic sister.
Sequels include Al Capone Shines My Shoes
   
   
Colfer, Eoin
  Artemis Fowl 2001
  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.
First book in the Artemis Fowl series.
   
   
Curtis, Christopher Paul
  Bucking the Sarge 2004
  Deeply involved in his cold and manipulative mother's shady business dealings in Flint, Michigan, fourteen-year-old Luther keeps a sense of humor while running the Happy Neighbor Group Home For Men, all the while dreaming of going to college and becoming a philosopher.
   
   
DuPrau, Jeanne
  City of Ember 2003
  In the year 241, twelve-year-old Lina trades jobs on Assignment Day to be a Messenger to run to new places in her decaying but beloved city, perhaps even to glimpse Unknown Regions.
Sequels and prequels include The People of Sparks, The Prophet of Yonwood, and The Diamond of Darkhold
   
   
Farmer, Nancy
  The Ear, the Eye and the Arm 1995
  In 2194 in Zimbabwe, General Matsika's three children are kidnapped and put to work in a plastic mine while three mutant detectives use their special powers to search for them.
   
   
Farmer, Nancy
  House of the Scorpion 2002
  In a future where humans despise clones, Matt enjoys special status as the young clone of El Patrón, the 142-year-old leader of a corrupt drug empire nestled between Mexico and the United States.
   
   
Garfinkle, Debra
  Storky, How I Lost my Nickname and Won the Girl 2005
  Fourteen-year-old high school student Michael "Storky" Pomerantz's journal describes his freshman year, from dealing with his mother's dating his dentist to attempting to win the heart of the girl he loves.
   
   
Hautman, Pete
  Godless 2004
  When sixteen-year-old Jason Bock and his friends create their own religion to worship the town's water tower, what started out as a joke begins to take on a power of its own.
   
   
Hinton, S.E.
  The Outsiders 1967
  The struggle of three brothers to stay together after their parent's death and their quest for identity among the conflicting values of their adolescent society.
   
   
Hobbs, Will
  Downriver 1991
  Fifteen-year-old Jessie and the other rebellious teenage members of a wilderness survival school team abandon their adult leader, hijack his boats, and try to run the dangerous white water at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.
   
   
Hobbs, Will
  Far North 1996
  After the destruction of their floatplane, sixteen-year-old Gabe and his Dene friend, Raymond, struggle to survive a winter in the wilderness of the Northwest Territories.
   
   
Holt, Kimberly Willis
  When Zachary Beaver Came to Town 1999
  During the summer of 1971 in a small Texas town, thirteen-year-old Toby and his best friend Cal meet the star of a sideshow act, 600-pound Zachary, the fattest boy in the world.
   
   
Hoobler, Dorothy
  The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn. 1999
  While attempting to solve the mystery of a stolen jewel, Seikei, a merchant's son who longs to be a samurai, joins a group of kabuki actors in eighteenth-century Japan.
Sequels include The Demon in the Teahouse, In Darkness, Death, The Sword that Cut the Burning Grass, A Samurai Never Fears Death, and Seven Paths to Death
   
   
Horowitz, Anthony
  Alex Rider Adventure series 2001-current
  Fourteen-year-old Alex's life is turned completely upside down when his uncle is killed. The secrets he learns about his uncle, Ian Rider, and how he earned a living result in Alex becoming a member MI6, a British intelligence agency, where his determination and courage is put to the ultimate test.
   
   
Kehret, Peg
  The Ghost's Grave. 2005
  Apprehensive about spending the summer in Washington State with his Aunt Ethel when his parents get an overseas job, twelve-year-old Josh soon finds adventure when he meets the ghost of a coal miner.
   
   
Korman, Gordon
  Jake Reinvented 2003
  Rick becomes friends with the popular new boy, Jake Garrett, football player and host of superlative parties, and in the process discovers the true nature of his schoolmates and uncovers the mystery of Jake's past.
   
   
Korman, Gordon
  Son of the Mob 2002
  Seventeen-year-old Vince's life is constantly complicated by the fact that he is the son of a powerful Mafia boss, a relationship that threatens to destroy his romance with the daughter of an FBI agent.
   
   
Korman, Gordon
  Swindle. 2008
  After unscrupulous collector S. Wendell Palamino cons him out of a valuable baseball card, sixth-grader Griffin Bing puts together a band of misfits to break into Palomino's heavily guarded store and steal the card back, planning to use the money to finance his father's failing invention, the SmartPick fruit picker.
Sequels include Framed
   
   
Lowry, Lois
  The Giver 1993
  Given his lifetime assignment at the Ceremony of Twelve, Jonas becomes the receiver of memories shared by only one other in his community and discovers the terrible truth about the society in which he lives.
   
   
Paulsen, Gary
  Harris and Me: A Summer Remembered 1993
  Sent to live with relatives on their farm because of his unhappy home life, an eleven-year-old city boy meets his distant cousin Harris and is given an introduction to a whole new world.
   
   
Paulsen, Gary
  Hatchet 1987
  After a plane crash, thirteen-year-old Brian spends fifty-four days in the wilderness, learning to survive initially with only the aid of a hatchet given to him by his mother, and learning also to survive his parents' divorce.
   
   
Paver, Michelle
  Wolf Brother. 2005
  6,000 years in the past, twelve-year-old Tarak and his guide, a wolf cub, set out on a dangerous journey to fulfill an oath the boy made to his dying father--to travel to the Mountain of the World Spirit seeking a way to destroy a demon-possessed bear that threatens all the clans.
Sequels include Spirit Walker, Soul Eater, Outcast, Oath Breaker and Ghost Hunter
   
   
Peacock, Shane
  Eye of the Crow. 2007
  A woman is found stabbed to death in London. A young boy is drawn to the scene to investigate the murder and becomes a suspect himself.
Sequels include Death in the Air, Vanishing Girl and The Secret Fiend
   
   
Pullman, Philip
  The Golden Compass. 1996
  Accompanied by her daemon, Lyra Belacqua sets out to prevent her best friend and other kidnapped children from becoming the subject of gruesome experiments in the Far North.
Sequels include The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass.
   
   
Rowling, J.K.
  Harry Potter Series 1997-2007
   
   
Sachar, Louis
  Holes 1998
  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.
   
   
Shan, Darren
  Cirque Du Freak Series 2000
  Darren Shan is just an ordinary schoolboy who enjoys hanging out with his three best friends. Then one day they stumble across as invitation to visit the Cirque du Freak, a mysterious freak show. Only two tickets are available, so they draw straws to see who will go. As if by destiny, Darren wins one, and what follows is his horrifying descent into the dark and bloody world of vampires.
   
   
Snicket, Lemony
  A Series of Unfortunate Events 1999-2006
  Chronicles the lifes of the Baudelaire orphans from distressing beginning to disastrous end.
   
   
Spinelli, Jerry
  Loser 2002
  Even though his classmates from first grade on have considered him strange and a loser, Daniel Zinkoff's optimism and exuberance and the support of his loving family do not allow him to feel that way about himself.
   
   
Stroud, Jonathan
  The Amulet of Samarkand 2003
  Nathaniel, a magician's apprentice, summons up the djinni Bartimaeus and instructs him to steal the Amulet of Samarkand from the powerful magician Simon Lovelace.
First Book on the Bartimaeus Trilogy.
   
   
Thompson, Julian
  The Grounding of Group 6 1996
  Arriving at what they believe is an exclusive school, five sixteen-year olds are unaware that they have been sent there to be exterminated and that their teacher is a murderer for hire.
   
   
Weeks, Sarah
  So B. It: A Novel 2004
  After spending her life with her mentally retarded mother and agoraphobic neighbor, twelve-year-old Heidi sets out from Reno, Nevada, to New York to find out who she is.
   
   
Tolkien, J.R.R.
  The Hobbit 1937
  The adventures of the well-to-do hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, who lived happily in his comfortable home until a wandering wizard granted his wish.
Continue the story with the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.
   
Fleischman, John
  Phineas Gage: A Gruesome But True Story About Brain Science 2002

 

Through the case history of Phineas Gage, a 19th century Vermonter who had an iron bar driven through his brain and lived, the book examines what is known of brain function.
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   

100 Poverty Road, Southbury, CT 06488 | Phone: 203-262-0626

Contact Us | Directions | Hours