help for brain-dead teens...

[sleeper54]

..
Hey all...

I feel bad, popping in looking for quick advice, when I have not contributed for so long . . .but I'll get over it!


My teens (16 y/o boy & girl) are indesperate need of recommendations for something to read this summer. Well actually, dad is.

I am trying to get them off the video game yet offer them something perhaps as equally entertaining in exchange.


I was thinking something in the fantasy field? They are both big Potter fans (books and films) and LotR fans (films) so perhaps something along that line? I was thinking of 'The Hobbitt' but I don't know, they may be burnt out on that particular 'world'.

Same book for both or different. Doesn't matter to me.


I also see 'Watership Down' is this forum's current reading. I have read that also and love it but not sure about 'forcing' it on them.


Anyway, please, give me suggestions for a dynamite book that they will remember ten years from now . . .'Remember that summer dad made us read ...??'


Or am I asking too much . . .??



...tom...
' the wayward member . . . '

[Prepoia[$]]

The Terry Brooks series is great. It even got my son to read. The best one according to them: The Sword of Shannara

Also The Lord of the Ring series (JR Toilken) possibly misspelled last name.

[emeleel]

Try the Terry Prattchet Discworld series on 'em.

[ms_n]

On the summer reading list from school for my 15-year-old daughter is "Farenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury and "Slaughterhouse-5" by Kurt Vonnegut. A while back my girls and I enjoyed Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials series. The older the girls get, the harder it is picking books for them. It works better for my kids if I take them to the bookstore or library and they find something on their own. The last book I got for my daughter ended up unread and in a "nobody cares" pile. Good luck!

Hey, Tom. Good to see you around.

[murasaki]

Anne McCaffrey--the Pern stuff is okay but I prefer Rowan, Damia, etc. Michelle West (fantastic epic series, The Sun Sword). I liked Mercedes Lackey when I was that age; not so much now. David Drake, Lord of the Isles series. Ursula LeGuin, espeically the Earthsea series. Octavia Butler's Parable of the Talents and Parable of the Sower, but the Xenogenesis series might be a little much.

David Eddings tends to be very stereotypical and paternalistic in his depictions of women so I'd steer clear of him.

[phoenixx]

Zelazny's Amber series, Adams' Hitchiker series, Piers Anthony Juxtaposition series (actually called some other name but I always think of it as that), George RR Martins "Song of Ice and Sword" series, any of the T Prattchett books - he's a riot, Chronicles of Narnia series.......

[emeleel]

Oh yes, Anne McCaffrey! But for boys, the Pern series would probably hold more appeal - more guys have more screen time than the Rowan series, Acorna series, Power Lines series, etc.

Piers Anthony - about the only series I like of his are the Xanth series and the Incarnations series. (And the Incarnations series can lead to some pretty intense philosophical discussions if you're looking to stimulate minds.) I like a few of his stand-alone books, too. I love PA, but I just can't get into his other serieseseses.

[thinkerlady[$]]

My son has to read Slaughterhouse 5, and Catcher in the Rye this summer---he'll be a senior next year.

As for the fantasy series, go to the bookstore, I usually go to Barnes and Noble,. They have a whole fantasy section in the Young Adult section. It is really quite extensive. My children don't care for fantasy, but most of my students do.

Crispin--by AVI (I think) was quite popular also.

[theeye]

Definitely Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. But they'll probably gobble them up in a few days.

[soxfan[$]]

This is a great list (I'm tempted to use it too). I'd add Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles and T.H. White's The Once and Future King.

[jnbmoore]

In college/highschool we liked Christopher Stasheff's Warlock series and The Stainless Steel Rat series by Harry Harrison. Both are fantasy/sci-fi.

[arianej]

Second on the George R.R. Martin Song of Ice and Fire series (A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords so far, and more to come). Also recommend Melanie Rawn's Dragon Prince series, starting with Dragon Prince, and Robin Hobb's Assassin series, starting with Assassin's Apprentice. (Her Tawny Man trilogy is also good.) Mercedes Lackey does fluffier fantasy, but it's not necessarily a bad choice for younger readers who might have shorter attention spans. Terry Pratchett is worth a try, too. Terry Brooks' Shannara series might work for readers who liked LOTR, but want a slightly (very slightly!) different setting.

Also Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game, and Mike Resnick's The Oracle and The Soothsayer if they'd like a bit of sci-fi.

Ariane

[emeleel]

If you're looking for a lighter side of fantasy, there is also Terry Brooks' "Magic Kingdom For Sale" series. I haven't kept up with it like I wanted to (it's not as numerous as the Shannara series, but I've missed the last couple of books) but the first two or three I remember being quite funny.

[emeleel]

Oh yeah - Stephen King's "Eyes of the Dragon" is a wonderful fantasy book. Don't let the author throw you off, there is no horror involved at all. And it's a perfect level for teens.

[frazzledspice]

My 15 year-old likes British author Louise Rennison. She has a series about Georgia Nicolson who keeps a blog or live journal of her hilarious experiences.

British teen romance, and, despite the titles, reasonably chaste.

Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging

Her dad’s got the mentality of a Teletubby (only not so developed). Her cat, Angus, is trying to eat the poodle next door. And her best friend thinks she looks like an alien – just because she accidentally shaved off her eyebrows. Ergghhhlack. Still, add a little boy-stalking, teacher-baiting, and full-frontal snogging with a Sex God, and Georgia’s year just might turn out to be the most fabbitty fab fab ever!

“Hysterically funny. You might want to refrain from reading this one in public.”
– Seventeen

Buy the hardcover or the paperback edition!

Dancing In My Nuddy Pants

George thought she had finally put her “red-bottomosity” to rest when she chose Robbie the Sex God over Dave the Laugh, but now she’s not so sure. Is she doomed to be a pop-star widow, or will she take her own bottom firmly in hand? As always, in this fourth book about Georgia’s angst-filled confessions, nothing ever turns out as planned!

“The fourth entry into Georgia Nicolson’s diary is as loopy and laugh filled as ever. In the hands of Rennison, it’s hysterical.” — ALA Booklist


Buy the hardcover or the paperback edition!

Away Laughing on a Fast Camel

Just when the Sex God becomes Georgia’s official boyfriend, he decides to go off and snog sheep in Kiwi-a-gogo land, taking her heart with him. Georgia decides to display extreme glaciosity to all boys -- after all, a girl can only have her heart broken so many times.

Until, ohmygiddygodstrousers, she meets Masimo, the new Italian-American lead singer for the Stiff Dylans band. The Dreamboat has landed -- again -- and Georgia is away laughing on a fast camel (whatever that means)!

www.georgianicolson.com

Snogging is just kissing....