Top 15 Clean Books For Teens Updated 04 /2024

People who say "As long as they're reading!.." are one of my least favorite things. Let their kids read what they want because being a reader is important and, hey, they're not on a screen!

No. Not at all.

There are kids who find reading hard, and there are kids who just aren't that into reading. Seeing them read at all makes it feel like a victory. The answer is not to let them read anything they want. If you want to communicate with people, you can still use books to do it.

If you read to your child, you will give them ideas that will shape how they think and look at the world, and then how they will turn out to be. This is something that I take very seriously. How much I watch what my kids read and what they do with video games and TV shows is the same. Of course, this gets more difficult as they get older. I also understand that I can't watch them all the time. As time goes on, they'll have to start making their own decisions on their own.

As a reader, I've found a lot of books that are both fun and thought-provoking for my teens, preteens, and older kids to read. Most of these are for boys and girls. You know what's even better? I've had a lot of fun with them, too. So if you want to proofread these for yourself, which I think is a good idea, you won't be bored.

 

In that case, at least read this post so you can get some good book ideas for your older kids.

The City of Ember (Trilogy) by Jeanne DuPrau

These books are at the top of my list because it's the best post-apocalyptic series for people who are new to the genre. In this book, the characters are relatable and interesting, the plot is exciting, and best of all, the books are clean – there is no language or sexual content, and there is little violence.

The city of Ember was built as a last refuge for the human race. This is what you need to know: Blackouts have been terrifying for a long time. Now that they're spreading across town, Lina and Doon know that it's only a matter of time before the lights go out and never come back on again. When Lina finds a piece of an old message, she thinks it has a secret that will save Ember. She and Doon go on a tour of long-forgotten parts of their city as they try to solve the mystery. If they do well, they will have to get everyone else to follow them into danger and a new world. Suppose they don't work out. The lights will go out, and the darkness will stay there for good.

There are four books in the series: The City of Ember, The People of Sparks, The Diamond of Darkhold, and The Prophet of Yonwood. I don't like the fourth book, The Prophet of Yonwood. It's a prequel that isn't very good, and it doesn't add anything to the story at all. I think the show is better without it. So even though the trilogy isn't cheap, it's worth it because the whole family loves it and we'll be reading it again and again.

Please don't forget to add that I haven't seen the movie yet. Watched the movie adaptation of "The Citadel of Ember" and had a good time.

The Giver Quartet by Lois Lowry

In grade 4, I read The Giver for the first time. It wasn't until recently that I learned it was a four-book series: The Giver, Gathering Blue, Messenger, and Son; each book is a stand-alone.

the book The Giver is the story of an intelligent young boy named Jonas who lives in a society that is ruled by the Elders. Jonas is chosen to be the Receiver of Memory because of his wisdom and mannerisms. This job makes him unique and gives him power.

The series adds more characters and stories as it goes on, with everything coming together in a nice bow at the end. In school, your child might have read The Giver and liked it. If they did, they're likely to like the rest of the series, too.

The Ascendance Trilogy by Jennifer A. Nielsen

The three books in this trilogy are called The False Prince, The Runaway King, and The Shadow Throne, and they are called that.

It's a young adult book called "The False Prince." It's about a plan to put an impostor on the throne in order to save the kingdom of Carthya. Fourteen-year-old Sage is a poor orphan who steals a roast from an old butcher in his town. A nobleman named Bevin Conner comes to save Sage from the butcher's angry wrath.

The summery for this series doesn't do it justice, and it's not even close. These books have very interesting stories. I think they'll even get young boys to start reading. They'll still be interesting enough for the girls. There are a lot of books in this series that my kids love, but so do my husband and I!

If you don't like violent books, you might want to think twice about reading these ones. But to me, it's not the kind of thing that makes sense or is a good thing to be proud of. You have to keep going and fight through things to get what you want.

There is now a fourth book! There is a book I haven't read yet. It's called A Captive Kingdom.

 

During a peaceful time in Carthya, Jaron leads as the Ascendant King with Imogen by his side. But the peace he worked so hard for isn't going to last long. After his ship was attacked, Jaron was taken hostage.

The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

I think this series would be best for older teenagers. As the series goes on, some of the themes become too adult for preteens, especially as it goes on.

The Lunar Chronicles are modern retellings of old fairy tales. To deal with her wicked stepmom in Cinder, a teenager who is half human and half machine has to start a rebellion against the evil Queen Levana and figure out how she feels about a handsome prince.

In the series, there are four main books: Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter. They are the main books in the series. But there are also add-on novellas, like Fairest, which I thought was a very interesting look at the main villain's past (Please note that this book also deals with some pretty mature and dark themes). Besides Stars Above, which is a set of short stories. I didn't like the content of these stories, such as a droid falling in love with a human. I can't recommend that you buy it.

Bonus Book!

This one is also better for older kids, but I really liked Heartless, so I think it's a good book for them (another one by Marissa Meyer). It's a book about how the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland came to be. Definitely a good book to read!

Books of Bayern by Shannon Hale

A young princess is on her way to marry a prince from a long way away when she is forced to trade places with her evil servant maid. When she gets to her destination, she is an agoose girl instead of a bride.

Again, this summery doesn't do it justice. It doesn't do it justice. In these books, there is magic, witty and relatable characters who grow and change, friendship and romance (that's still appropriate for a younger audience, of course). Because she's 12, my daughter really likes the first book, "The Goose Girl," but she didn't like the second one as much. Great things happen in the books that follow River Secrets and Forest Born, like the third and fourth ones. My guess is that when she gets a little older, she'll want to finish the whole series.

Princess Academy by Shannon Hale

There are three books in this series that are great for preteen girls who like books with a little magic in them. A lot of people like all three of the books. The Princess Academy, Palace of Stone, and The Forgotten Sisters are all very good. All of the books are about education, learning, and how to always improve yourself.

Mount Eskel is an isolated part of Danland. Miri, a fourteen-year-old girl from Mount Eskel, has never been able to work with her friends and neighbors in the quarry that keeps the community alive. Quarry workers make linder, which is a type of stone that is very expensive. They sell it to the lowlander traders, who buy it.

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