A friend recently talked about getting her son to enjoy reading, and that got me thinking about the kind of books a 10-12 year old boy today, in the 21st Century 2008, might be interested in. In fact, what kind of books might get a boy to not only finish that book or that series, but actually develop a sustained interest in finding and reading more books by the same author or in the same genre? Well, I'll just list a few books that may fall into this category, off the top of my head, and of course, I'm sure not everyone would agree with some of the choices, so feel free to add in your own selections. Here goes...

1. How To Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell

Worms? Interesting. Fried worms? Irresistible! Harassed by the other boys in his school, the protagonist makes a bet that he can wolf down a set number of worms in a given amount of time. And this he does, in gloriously icky and surprisingly appetizing ways...pure storytelling genius.

2. Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's Fighting Fantasy Gamebook series

These are the same authors who created the Lone Wolf series of gamebooks I enjoyed as a boy. The stories are of the 'choose-your-own-adventure' variety, where you may make choices along the way that lead your character to different outcomes. It's fun to see where different choices bring you, and often a simple combat system (involving dice or some other random number generator) is used to resolve encounters with hostile creatures. Adventure, monsters, a combat system, and the chance to determine the character's fate...what's there not to love? Of course, the same experience is now recreated in computer role-playing games, but nothing quite replicates the smell and feel of paper, and the appeal of black and white pen illustrations that are scattered throughout the books.

3. Snakehead (Alex Rider) by Anthony Horowitz

This is a book about a reluctant teenage spy who has to deal with Southeast Asian gangs, and is one of a series of books starring protagonist Alex Rider . I haven't read any of these books yet, but it's certainly got good reviews on Amazon.com. I've seen a lot of the books in Popular Bookshop but never felt compelled to buy one. After reading the reviews, I just might pick one up.

4. Another recent favourite with young boys is the Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer. The star of the book is a 14-year old criminal mastermind, Artemis Fowl, who aims to rebuild his family fortune after the mysterious disappearance of his father. It isn't often the hero of a book turns out to be a criminal mastermind!

5. A favourite with boys and girls alike is A Series of Unfortunate Events, by the mysterious author who goes by the name Lemony Snickett. The Baudelaire children have recently been orphaned, and as their lives unravel, they face one challenge, or unfortunate event, after another. The book has its dark moments, but there is a tinge of humour throughout. The visual presentation of the books and the mystery surrounding the author certainly add to its appeal.

What other books would you add to the list? Remember, the target group is 10-12 year old boys.

Update 10 Nov 08:

Was browsing at Popular Bookstore and came across the Warriors series of books, which imagines household pets as part of warrior clans, facing conflicts worthy of epic fantasy tales. Looks like a very compelling series which should appeal to young readers.

This series made me think about an old favourite, Watership Down, about a group of wild rabbits in search of the promised land, Watership Down. A moving adventure story, perhaps a bit heavy with possible allegory, but an interesting premise nevertheless.