I read Little Brother by Cory Doctorow a while back and enjoyed it. Could be good for a kid that is into computers and such. Here’s the Wikipedia on it:
Soon to be banned?
Yep get it while it’s hot
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My memory of the Game of Thrones book is that it’s full of incest and weird sex stuff. I tried reading it in high school and I don’t think I finished it.
Incident at Hawk’s hill was a book I read in 5-6th grade and I really liked it. I was also a big fan of Redwall books and Animorph’s.
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I’ve never read any of Heinlein’s kid stuff so can’t say, but everything of his I did read he came off as a dirty old pervert. JMO
Game of Thrones is decidedly adult fantasy. Not saying teens can’t read it but there is a ton of sex and violence in the books, at least as much as in the HBO show. If you’re OK with that fine, just be aware it is there. Think my son probably started the series in high school at some point and finished in college. We were OK with him reading it. My girls had no interest in reading it.
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Um, please expound. Have you read the books? If so, how is you don’t know if it’s age-appropriate or not? If not, how do you know it is surprisingly good?
Have you seen the series (lots of boob and bush and dick, along with more American appropriate stuff like beheadings and blood and violent fights and living dead)?
Or, have you seen the series but not read the books? Cuz, those last few seasons are not in the books, may never be in the books, and the books might never be finished.
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Gotta ban that smut!!
Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green.
Pretty short, easy read, fun but educational, and really opened my eyes to some global systemic issues and solutions I wasn’t aware of.
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Oh yea, I’ve been meaning to get my kid to read this one. She always bee-lines for the rabbit myths, which are the best parts, but main story is one of the best adventure stories that doesn’t lean hard on rape and such.
Any mythology is a decent child read. Gives some culture, history, and background for other books. I don’t have a specific book recommendation though.
My kid has randomly taken an interest in pop-psychology parenting/teaching books. Not sure if I’d call these advanced but obviously age appropriate and unique.
Also-- Dungeons and Dragons
When my kid was very little, she really loved the “young adventurer’s guide” books.
And now she reads all of the full rule books. I wouldn’t call them “advanced” exactly, but together they involve a large encyclopedia of rules, ideas, and lore.
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Goblin Emperor – Katherine Addison – a fantasy book that is basically no action and all court intrigue. The main character is youngish and having to learn how to be emperor while trying to be a nice guy.
Timbuktu – Paul Alster. A story told from the perspective of a dying tramp’s dog. Funny, sad, beautiful thoughts on love and loneliness.
Ends in suicide
A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking-- T. Kingfisher
About a teen baker with bread based magic powers who gets caught up in various murders/intrigues.
T. kingfisher is kind of like Neil Gaimon in terms of being light and fun and dark. This one is I think her most kid appropriate book but still with grownup ideas.
We have always lived in the castle-- Shirley Jackson.
Full of hate and fear and dark humor. But great prose and depth. So maybe too mature, but not in a GoT everyone gets raped kind of way.
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Sideways Arithmetic from Wayside School–
Tricky math puzzles around 5th-ish grade.
(Also, all Sideways School books are weird and fun. But I wouldn’t call them advanced.)
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I’d recommend I Must Betray You. It’s set in communist Romania right before the fall of the Ceausescus. The main character is forced to become an informant for the Securitate, aka the Romanian secret police. It’s written for young readers and I think it would be a good read. This generation of kids doesn’t have living memory of what communism was like in Eastern Europe, and I think this is a good book to introduce them to what life was like behind the Iron Curtain.
Puts me in mind of Truth & Treason (movie/mini-series; no book that I’m aware of).