Top 15 Books For Boys Updated 04 /2024

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

Most boys love this book. Teenager Brian Robeson has to use only his wits and a hatchet to stay alive after the pilot of the small plane he was in crashed in the Canadian wilderness. Brian has to learn to rely on himself when he's all alone. In a story that is both heart-wrenching and vivid, every boy can picture himself in Brian's shoes and wonder if he would be able to stay alive.

A Separate Peace by John Knowles

A Separate Peace is set at a prep school for boys on the eve of World War II. It's about the friendship between Phineas and Gene. Gene is jealous of Phineas because he thinks he's better than him, which leads to a tragedy that will change both of their lives forever. A close look at both the good and bad parts of friendship and humanity. Gene is more like every boy than Finny is. As a young man, I read this book, and it has been with me ever since. I still love it.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

You can take Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book and change the jungle for a graveyard and the animals for ghosts. Then you have Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book. People were killed in this book, but it quickly moves on and is not a gruesome story that young people shouldn't read. All that's left is a baby who was just 18 months old at the time of the murder. He walks to a graveyard. They give him a name: "Nobody," because he's not like anyone else in the graveyard. They protect him from the killer who is still on the loose, and they teach him life lessons that only the dead know. People call him "Bod," and the cemetery is a great place to raise a child. One day, he'll have to deal with the world outside of it. I think it's a must for all boys who like ghost stories. It is scary, magical, and engrossing, and it'll keep you up all night (so pretty much all boys). Make sure to read some of Gaiman's other great books, like Neverwhere and Anasi Boys, as well.

The American Boy’s Handy Book by Daniel C. Beard

Hundreds of years before The Dangerous Book for Boys became a hit, there was the American Boy's Handy Book. Every father and grandfather should have this on their shelf, ready for a little boy to pick it up and start reading. Dozens of great (and some dangerous) hands-on projects for boys to do, from how to build kites and forts to how to raise wild birds and trap animals. An important book for boys today that was written in 1882 and is still important.

The Last Mission by Harry Mazer.

a boy's idealistic view of war clashes with the ugly reality of war in this well-known story There are some things that make the book unique. Jack Raab, who is 15 years old, lies his way into the Army Air Force and ends up flying bombing missions over occupied land, which he does. The last mission he did before he was sent home was on his 25th flight. His plane was shot down, and he was taken prisoner in a German POW camp. A story that isn't true but that is easy to read is based on a true story. Keep an eye out for more books by Harry Mazer. His "A Boy at War" series is a fun way to teach boys about history without making them feel bad about it!

The First Edition of the Boy Scout Handbook

In the Scouts, your son will love this book. Today's Scout manual is very different from the first one. The first edition of the manual has a lot of information about how to track and trap animals, build shelters from scratch, and sail. It also has stories of bravery and adventure that make boys want to be great men. Today's manual is missing a lot of things.

Watership Down by Richard Adams

Who knew rabbits could be so interesting? This was one of my favorite books when I was young. Rich symbolism and other things to think about, but it's one of those books where the world the author has built is so rich and beautiful that it's better to let yourself be immersed in the world instead of trying to figure out what the book is all about. Prophecy rabbits are very accurate when they predict that their warren will be destroyed, so a group of rabbits set out on a journey to find a new home. They face dangerous and interesting obstacles as they go. Some authors can't make people as interesting as these rabbits.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

The best parts of boyhood have been distilled, written down, and bound. A lot of people in the United States will recognize some of the events in this book. For example, Tom convinces his friends to whitewash the fence. Tom overhears his own funeral and goes to a cave with Becky. "Hymn to boyhood" is what Twain called the song, and it can be sung over and over.

Canoeing with the Cree by Arnold Sevareid

The first thing Eric Sevareid did before becoming a manly anchorman was go on a wild, unstructured, crazy adventure. This is what every boy wants to do. After finishing high school, Sevareid and his friend William Port decided to make their own "rite of passage." They took a canoe trip from central Minnesota to the Hudson Bay, which is 2,250 miles long and takes two weeks. It took the boys four months to get to the other side of the river. They only had an 18-foot canoe, $100, and some bad maps. They had to paddle through dangerous rapids and bad weather, and they had to fight off hungry mosquitoes to live. Canoeing with the Cree was written based on the journals they kept. It was published in 1935 and is still a simple but great travel book.

The Giver by Lois Lowry

What would you be willing to give up in order to live in a world that didn't have chaos, disease, or war? At what point would it be too much of a sacrifice to live in such a beautiful place? Giver talks about how the community leaders make all the decisions for people, like who to marry and what job they should do. They also decide who should live or die. People take pills to get rid of their passions. It's impossible for anyone to remember a world before these external controls were put in place. Only the new Receiver of Memories, Jonas, 12, is able to remember a world before these controls. The people have given up their freedom, emotions, and humanity in order to be more equal and have peace. Jonas has to make a big decision. One of the best books I've read in a long time.

Heat by Mike Lupica

There are children's book authors who write a lot of sports stories because boys love them, so they write them over and over again. Mike Lupica is the next person to come up. As a sports book should be, Lupica gives a lot of vivid play-by-play details. He also adds enough interesting and realistic details about how his characters and their stories off the field are going to make the reader care. Heat's plot is like that of Law and Order. Cuban-American pitcher Michael Arroyo is a star, but his chances of leading his team to the Little League World Series are thrown into doubt when he is accused of being older than 12. Not only that, but Arroyo's parents are dead, and he has to keep social services from finding out that they are dead. So, it sounds cheesy, but Lupica manages to keep it relevant and interesting without being too pushy. As long as your son likes it, check out all the sports-themed things Lupica has to offer!

The Call of the Wild by Jack London

Every boy is drawn to the wild. He wants to break away and be free, but he soon learns about the rules of society and what happens if he goes too far. His desire to be primal will always fight against the need to be a good person. In his best-known work, Jack London talks about this idea through the lives of dogs in the Alaskan Klondike. Dogs, like men, have to fight to live and lead in a world that isn't always kind. His writing is short and to the point, but powerful enough to make you wrap a blanket around yourself and keep the cold and dark of an Alaskan night from getting in.

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

Boys like to find things. Boys are crazy about pirates, and they love to play with them. Boys enjoy Treasure Island. We think of pirates not from history, but from this book. There are treasure maps with a "X" on them, deserted islands with peg legs, parrots, and other things we think of when we think of pirates. Besides Jim Hawkins' mother at the start, there were no women in the book. This made the book more of a testosterone-driven, swashbuckling good time for the reader. He said it was "perfect as a well-played boy's game," which is how he said it was. I agree.

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

His parents died when they were hit by a rhinoceros. After that, James is sent to live with his wicked aunts and uncle. Lonely and unhappy, he meets a mysterious man who gives him magical crystals that he says will change James' life. But James dropped the crystals on a peach tree, which slowly grows into a huge peach. James climbs inside one day, and the peach rolls away from his normal life. He goes on a big adventure with seven big bugs: Centipede, Earthworm, Grasshopper, Glow-worm, Miss Spider, Ladybug, and Silkworm. One of the best movies ever made.

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