Good YA Science Fiction for Boys

[gavinski91]

Interesting.

I finally completed my James Bond novel collection this summer (I had all the Fleming, now I have the 30-odd post-Fleming ones, too!) and re-read many of the originals over the past few years.
I grew up on the somewhat campy Roger Moore films (my dad and I would go see those and the Pink Panther films when I was a kid) and I gotta say that I found the original Fleming novels to be really dry, really dated (in terms of language), and I felt one needed to have a strong grasp on WWI and WWII history (which I don't). Some of them were decent, but the only Fleming book that I really, really stood out for me was The Spy Who Loved Me, which was completely different from the movie in every way and completely different from all the rest of the Fleming books that I still supsect it might have been ghostwritten.
Again, I found them to be a bit dry and Old World espionage (i.e. not terribly exciting) more than anything. Interesting from a cultural perspective when placed in relation to the films (I made myself watch the films in order of the books and then read each corresponding book and then wrote reviews on the differences because...well, I'm a nerd).

The Young Bond series would be good for an 11 year old I would think. I remember enjoying the first two.

[iceman]

Put some Asimove (not Foundation, try I, Robot), Heinlein, ArthurC. Clarke and larry Niven in front of him and you'll find out if he likes science fiction.

Hitchikers Guide would be a good call too.

[Flyoverland Captive]

I got my SF fanboy start as a kid reading anthologies of short stories from the classic era. Get to a use bookstore and find old Asimov/Greenberg collections; if one story bores him, he can quickly skip to the next one, and get an idea of authors/styles he likes.

[Woodsy]

I got my SF fanboy start as a kid reading anthologies of short stories from the classic era. Get to a use bookstore and find old Asimov/Greenberg collections; if one story bores him, he can quickly skip to the next one, and get an idea of authors/styles he likes.

Nebula awards usually does a compilation of their short story winners annually. My dad used to buy every year and I would take when done. You see them in used book stores all the time.

[dookeyXXX]

Nebula awards usually does a compilation of their short story winners annually. My dad used to buy every year and I would take when done. You see them in used book stores all the time.

^what both of these cats have said...I remember really digging short story collections as a young adult much more than novels. And these collections can easily be found in used bookstores (I've picked up more than a dozen at the two used bookstores in Reno/Sparks over the past year).

[dookeyXXX]

If your kid is a Star Wars fan, specifically the original trilogy (A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi) and has seen those films, the Han Solo Trilogy by Brian Daley is really fun. I first read these when I was 12 and then re-read them this summer and they were still super entertaining (not sure why they never made them into films):
Han Solo at Star's End
Han Solo's Revenge
Han Solo and the Lost Legacy


Likewise, Brian Daley's Hobart Floyt/Alacrity Fitzhugh trilogy is incredibly entertaining :
Requiem for a Ruler of Worlds
Jinx on a Terran Inheritance
Fall of the White Ship Avatar


Daley, imho, was a great, underappreciated sci-fi writer who had an easy way with words and created great characters...all six of the aforementioned novels are teeming with vintage, pulp-styled sci-fi adventure and outer space swashbuckling.

Adding to my previous Star Wars themed suggestions...

I just found a copy of Splinter of the Mind's Eye by Alan Dean Foster on my bookshelf.
Read that when I was 11.
It's the "unofficial" sequel to Star Wars (rumor is that ADF actually ghostwrote the first Star Wars novel...).

So, if your kid digs those first 3 original Star Wars movies, then I'm suggesting Star Wars (the novel), then Splinter of the Mind's Eye, then the Han Solo trilogy.

[MontuckyFried]

I got my SF fanboy start as a kid reading anthologies of short stories from the classic era. Get to a use bookstore and find old Asimov/Greenberg collections; if one story bores him, he can quickly skip to the next one, and get an idea of authors/styles he likes.

Nebula awards usually does a compilation of their short story winners annually. My dad used to buy every year and I would take when done. You see them in used book stores all the time.

^what both of these cats have said...I remember really digging short story collections as a young adult much more than novels. And these collections can easily be found in used bookstores (I've picked up more than a dozen at the two used bookstores in Reno/Sparks over the past year).

Ohhh yeah! Some of those short story anthology collections are the freaking BEST! Untold films have been inspired by or are directly from many such stories.

[Woodsy]

Adding to my previous Star Wars themed suggestions...

I just found a copy of Splinter of the Mind's Eye by Alan Dean Foster on my bookshelf.
Read that when I was 11.
It's the "unofficial" sequel to Star Wars (rumor is that ADF actually ghostwrote the first Star Wars novel...).

So, if your kid digs those first 3 original Star Wars movies, then I'm suggesting Star Wars (the novel), then Splinter of the Mind's Eye, then the Han Solo trilogy.

LOVED that book. Spoiled me for the
um
others

[Stu Gotz]

Thanks to all for the suggestions. They should keep the kid busy for quite some time.

We're going with Star Wars Legends - Rogue Squadron and Chronicle of the Dark Star for the next batch of books.

Thanks again.

[mcski]

Put some Asimove (not Foundation, try I, Robot), Heinlein, ArthurC. Clarke and larry Niven in front of him and you'll find out if he likes science fiction.

Hitchikers Guide would be a good call too.

Starship Troopers is perfect

[Danno]

Just picked up the first book in the Chronicles of Prydain series to read to my 8 year old daughter. Anyone read it? Good choice?

[teledad]

Great series, I loved it as a kid and later read it to each of my kids. Don't bother with the Disney movie (The Black Cauldron) though.

[dookeyXXX]

Just picked up the first book in the Chronicles of Prydain series to read to my 8 year old daughter. Anyone read it? Good choice?

I recommended this back on Page 1.

I have not re-visited it as an adult, but as a 5th grade boy I loved it.
I actually never knew that Lloyd Alexander was American until recently. I always thought he was Welsh!


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lloyd_Alexander

[Caucasian Asian]

When I was much younger, I found a lot of YA stuff kinda boring. My mom got me reading some Heinlein, and while it wasn’t bad, it didn’t age well.
What really got me into reading was the simpler NYT Bestseller stuff.
How about getting your kid into some Clive Cussler or James Rollins? They’ve got a scientific element to them, and they’re pretty easy to read. And with Cussler you can almost start with any of his books, and it won’t matter what order you read them in.


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