I always think I’m really lucky that my boys love reading. They’ve always loved their bedtime stories, still do even though they are now tweens, they love audiobooks, listening to stories as well as reading them too.
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Children's Books
We’ve had quite a literary year too. We are fortunate to live close to Seven Stories in Newcastle – the National Centre for Children's Books. The boys have taken part in workshops with authors and illustrators this year including Gary Northfield and Sav Akyuz, and we also went to see Liz Pinchon, the author of the Tom Gates Books at the Tyne Theatre & Opera House. We also went to see lots of Quentin Blake’s illustrations on display at Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle too. Not forgetting travelling alongside the Hogwarts Express on a Harry Potter road trip in Scotland!
My boys already have Dr Seuss, Roald Dahl, Michael Morpurgo, Harry Potter and Diary of a Wimpy Kid collections on their bookshelves, so I decided to ask other mums of tweens for their suggestions of what else might get my boys reading some more.
Twelve Books for Tweens this Christmas - one for every day of Christmas!
1. The Box of Delights by John Masefield
Megan suggested The Box of Delights by John Masefield. This book was first published in 1935. In it a magical old man has asked Kay to protect the Box of Delights, a Box with which he can travel through time. This classic children’s book is considered to be one of the great works of modern children’s fiction. Magical, fantastical and filled with vivid, rich characters – brought to life in this edition by Quentin Blake’s stunning artwork. Megan describes it as quite a lengthy read and very Christmassy. Sounds perfect then, and right up my boys street.
2. The Goosebumps Series of Books
Lindsay has a teenager who read the Goosebumps books at around 11-12 and says they were the only books she wanted to read at the time. Goosebumps is a series of children's horror fiction novellas by American author R. L. Stine. Sixty-two books were published under the Goosebumps umbrella title from 1992 to 1997.
Goosebumps Retro Scream Collection includes five of the all-time bestselling Goosebumps books including Welcome to Dead House, Say Cheese And Die!, Night of the Living Dummy, The Haunted Mask, and One Day at HorrorLand. Each with their original cover in an exclusive retro collector's tin!
3. The Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz
Lisa suggests The Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz. Alex Rider is a series of spy novels by British author Anthony Horowitz about a 14–15-year-old spy named Alex Rider. She says she absolutely devoured them when she was younger. The series is aimed at over 10s and comprises eleven novels, as well as five graphic novels, three short stories and a supplementary book.
4. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children Trilogy
Clare says she didn't see her tweens for days when she bought the Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children Trilogy - an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience, plus its two sequels, Hollow City and the (newly released) Library of Souls. First published in 2011 the original book was on the New York Times Best Seller List for more than 52 consecutive weeks.
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is a contemporary fantasy debut novel by American author Ransom Riggs. The story is told through a combination of narrative and vernacular photographs from the personal archives of collectors listed by the author.
5. The Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Claire recommends The Diary of a Wimpy Kid & Tom Gates Series’ as her son, who is almost 11 loves them. My boys love these ones too. They haven't got the most recent one though so that could be good for Santa's list!
Diary of a Wimpy Kid is a series of fiction books written by the American author and cartoonist Jeff Kinney. All the main books are the journals of the main character, Greg Heffley. Written to resemble a teen's diary, the books are filled with hand-written notes and simple drawings of Greg's daily adventures.
Claire also recommends the Tom Gates Series. My boys love these ones too. Tom Gates is a schoolboy who loves doodling and carrying out fun experiments. In a series of award-winning books written by Liz Pinchon and aimed primarily at tweens - children aged 8 - 12, Tom suffers, jokes and doodles his way through lots of hilarious situations. After seeing Liz draw her characters on stage these are already on Santa's list.
7. The Mazerunner by James Dashner
Another Clare says her tween has just started reading The Mazerunner by James Dashner. The Maze Runner is a 2009 young adult post-apocalyptic dystopian science fiction novel written by American author James Dashner. This gripping book is about a guy called Thomas who has a desire to run through an ancient strange maze filled with something mysterious that lurks around at night-time.
8. David Walliams
Jaymee recommends all of the David Walliams books. He has written many hilarious and moving bestselling novels which are all laugh-aloud-funny.
9. Beast Quest Series
Gemma says she hasn’t seen her tween for days, as he is in the middle of reading through the Beast Quest Series. This is a best-selling series of children's fantasy/adventure novels.
10. AniMalcolm by David Baddiel
My eldest reviewed this book earlier this year. AniMalcolm by David Baddiel. Read the full review here. Within the first chapter, very nearly the first page, they were not only laughing out loud but hooked. They didn't just read one chapter at a time but five or six.
11. Julius Zebra Series by Gary Northfield
Aimed at children 8 and over, the Julius Zebra series are illustrated chapter books. We met the author and illustrator earlier this year, after which my eldest promptly bought all three books - they had inspired him that much. Aimed at children 8 and over, the Julius Zebra series are illustrated chapter books.
12. Shakespeare for Children
I would also add to this list Shakespeare for Children collection. My eldest was in a school production of The Tempest this year, and he was keen to do so because he’d already read these books. Tweens can discover the world of Shakespeare with these brilliant retellings of the Bard's best-loved plays, providing a brilliant introduction to Shakespeare for younger readers.
Which other books would you add to the list for tweens?
Deb x
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1 Comments
Thank you for the inclusion, you have some great ideas here x
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