Books for Boys

I like to avoid separating things by gender. Perhaps this is because I've always resented having pink everything. Perhaps it's because I know as many boys as girls who read; as many girls as boys who play sports; as many girls as boys who play videogames; and as many boys and girls who love being artistic and creative. Regardless, I avoid it whenever possible. Still... there's some truth to the idea that more girls read than boys--particularly during elementary and middle school, which trickles on into high school. I've also been told that girls will read books (and watch movies, etc.) with male or female main characters. Boys, though, really really prefer male protagonists. This week in class we were discussing "outliers." Part of the discussion revolved around, "Where are the boy readers?" As a girl, I'm guilty of reading books that appeal to girls. That's not to say that I don't like "boy books," but it's not my inclination to take gender into consideration when picking out a book. I'm going to take a moment here to sort out my past reads by their boy-ness, and try to make a list of books that I think would be fun for tween boys.

*Ender's Game series, and Ender's Shadow series. Orson Scott Card. Fantastic sci-fi for readers 13 and up.

*Little Brother. Cory Doctorow. A crazy take on technology and terrorism. Adventure, thrills, and X-box hacking for readers 13 and up.

*Alex Rider series. Anthony Horowitz. Far-fetched but fun spy adventures for readers 10 and up.

*Marley: A Dog Like No Other. John Grogan. A hilarious book for dog lovers. 9 and up.

*The House With a Clock in its Walls. And other books by John Bellairs. I read them in elementary school, but I'd imagine these books would be spooky enough and entertaining all the way through high school. Bellairs always uses boys as main characters.

*Redwall series. Brian Jacques. I began these in 4th grade, and they were a hit with all the girls and the boys. They're on the easy side, but would be great for younger tweens.

*Harry Potter. JK Rowling. No explanation needed...

*The Lord of the Rings series. JRR Tolkien. Older tweens (or very good readers).

*Holes. Louis Sachar. My non-sci-fi pick!

...Hm. That's a shorter list than I'd like, but that's all I've got off the top of my head. Anyone have any other picks?