Nth-ing the Tamora Pierce, especially the Circle of Magic quartets for younger (i.e. more ten than fourteen) readers.
Sunshine is definitely for the older teen and above, but how about Beauty or Spindle's End? Ella Enchanted too for the younger girl reader. (But Levine's follow-up effort is sadly very poor.)
Yes! to Diana Wynne Jones as well, especially the Christopher Chant books for younger readers, of both sexes.
As for reluctant readers (and I find these tend to be boys more than girls), my younger brother was one until he discovered the Horrible Histories, though I don't know if they made it to the US. Otherwise you probably want something adventurous or exciting to reel them in. S.E. Hinton is usually short but excellent for a t(w)een boy market, who might also go for Ender's Game. L'Engle is definitely worth a try, I'd say: our teacher read us A Wrinkle In Time when I was in primary school, aged about nine or ten. Ooh, how about Artemis Fowl? I haven't read any of the Alex Rider books (beginning with Stormbreaker?), but they're marketed at the same audience - boy spy, but without the supernatural elements. Also in this category are the Young Bond stories, which again I haven't read but seem to be wildly popular in the t(w)een boy demographic. And for older boys (and girls!), John Marsden's Tomorrow When The War Began books, if you can find them. Oh, and Gary Paulsen - short adventure books with boy protagonists, try the Hatchet series. Paulsen was himself a reluctant reader, so knows the audience. :-)
This is fun! I'll think it over some more and get back to you!
(Also, you could try posting this to booklisters: it seems like there are a lot of discerning YA readers over there who could help. :-)
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2009-03-09 07:45 am (UTC)Sunshine is definitely for the older teen and above, but how about Beauty or Spindle's End? Ella Enchanted too for the younger girl reader. (But Levine's follow-up effort is sadly very poor.)
Yes! to Diana Wynne Jones as well, especially the Christopher Chant books for younger readers, of both sexes.
As for reluctant readers (and I find these tend to be boys more than girls), my younger brother was one until he discovered the Horrible Histories, though I don't know if they made it to the US.
Otherwise you probably want something adventurous or exciting to reel them in. S.E. Hinton is usually short but excellent for a t(w)een boy market, who might also go for Ender's Game. L'Engle is definitely worth a try, I'd say: our teacher read us A Wrinkle In Time when I was in primary school, aged about nine or ten.
Ooh, how about Artemis Fowl? I haven't read any of the Alex Rider books (beginning with Stormbreaker?), but they're marketed at the same audience - boy spy, but without the supernatural elements. Also in this category are the Young Bond stories, which again I haven't read but seem to be wildly popular in the t(w)een boy demographic.
And for older boys (and girls!), John Marsden's Tomorrow When The War Began books, if you can find them. Oh, and Gary Paulsen - short adventure books with boy protagonists, try the Hatchet series. Paulsen was himself a reluctant reader, so knows the audience. :-)
This is fun! I'll think it over some more and get back to you!
(Also, you could try posting this to