Help with recommendations for my 13 year old

[Becky]

I agree, great article! :) I particularly love the line, "Each story was simply written the way it was meant to be — as if it had always existed." This is so true.

[Brian]

Becky -- ha! Thanks for spreading the word about The Painted Darkness... it's very much appreciated! :)

[Brian]

Thanks, Rachel! That's really funny about Farenheit 451 because it took me a couple of tries in my teens to really love the book. I don't even know why I kept going back and reading it again (about once per year), other than maybe I "knew" there was something good there that I just wasn't connecting with... but once I did, wow! :)

[Chris , The Hardcase]

I agree - great article.

I think I might even have that year's SK Desk Calendar at the house. I'll have to check when I get home.

[Rachel]

Brian wrote: "Thanks, Rachel! That's really funny about Farenheit 451 because it took me a couple of tries in my teens to really love the book. I don't even know why I kept going back and reading it again (abo..."

I think it's more of an in ideas book than a plot driven one which is easier for a 13 year old to read.

[Dani]

Hey, thanks Brian!! Your experience at 12 almost exactly mirrors mine, except mine were my Dad's King books and they weren't packed away in a box. They were in our home's 'library.' I still curse him every chance I get for getting rid of all those hardcovers years ago because they 'ran out of room for all those books.' We moved out of that house that had the room with the shelves of books in it. At one point we had to move all the books out to house year after year of foreign exchange students. My first book was also Carrie.

[Brian]

Hey Dani! Ugh, there's nothing like lost hardcovers, especially when they're Stephen King!

[Dani]

Rachel wrote: "Great Essay, Brian! Made me think about how also discovered Matheson and Ray Bradbury after I started reading King. I had tried to read Farenheit 451 when I was 13 and couldn't get through it (love..."

FUnny you mention Ray Bradbury. Our area is one of those hit very hard by Tropical Storm Lee and we've had nothing but rain since. On Thursday, while a co worker and I were waiting for our car pool to arrive, this bright orb was beating down on us from this vast open blue thing above us. We started talking about this story we both had read in grade school about these kids that lived on another planet where it rained every day and the sun came out only once every so many years and this girl got locked in a closet by these other kids on the day when the sun came out. We googled it when we got to work because neither of us could remember the name of the story nor the author. Turns out it was Ray Bradbury, and All Summer in a Day. I even remember seeing this adapted on TV as a kid.

[Rachel]

Hmm i've never heard of it. I'll have to check it out.

[Nawnee]

Dani wrote: "She's read The Long Walk and The Talisman and she's already hooked (God, I love this kid - third generation SK lover - woner what Uncle Stevie would think about that?!). Thinking [book:The Body|115..."

I saw your post and thought I would share the one's I started my 13yr old with he's 14now but he loved the ones he started with enough to come back for more.
The eyes of the Dragon, The Gunslinger series, The Colorado kid, from there he went to the stand which is probably more gore than what you were looking for but I still haven't let him read IT, Geralds Game, Or some of the others that have a more wife abuse plot to them he doesn't have a desire to read them. Good luck if you want some recommendations outside of Stephen King books let me know My son goes through a book a day so I'm constantly looking for new stuff for him.

[Dani]

Thank you! SHe's reading The Maze Runner series presently.

[Nawnee]

has she read the city of glass series? or is it called the mortal instruments I think there two series by the same author that intermingle a little. Korbyn liked those ones too.

[Dani]

I've heard of the Mortal Instruments . . . I also just finished Divergent. Reminds me a bit of The Hunger Games and I am Number Four mixed together. She's read both of those so I think she'll like that too . . . just depends on what she wants to read I guess. She's so funny - almost depends on me to choose her books for her and makes me nuts.

[Nawnee]

Ohh I liked the last two you mentioned and so did Korbyn I haven't heard of the first one Divergent I will have to look it up and see if he would like it. He picks his own books but if he runs out he comes expecting me to just have ideas ready or books he can grab right away so I try to keep some on hand so he doesn't grab ones I don't want him reading I had him set up a goodreads acct so he could enter for some of the free books if they interested him too.

[Chris , The Hardcase]

This thread's been here awhile. Is she 14 yet? We'll have to change the title when she is.

[Dani]

Nope - not till December (I actually cheated a little when I posted it - she wasn't quite 13 yet, lol).

Divergent was great, BTW.

[Drew]

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, Eyes of the Dragon, The Talisman, Cycle of the Werewolf, Carrie, Blaze, or Firestarter I guess but honestly I think you should give her the benefit of the doubt and hand her IT which I find to be not only scary but touching, humorous, and adventurous, not to mention it is partly a story about kids close to her age. I can understand your worry about it freaking her out but then again isn't that why we all love him.

[Tracy]

Firestarter would be a fairly less-scary story...But I also agree with Drew above that "It" would be good as well.

[Cory]

77 shadow street by dean koontz is good im reading it right now its a little scary though

[Dani]

At this point, I would be glad if I could get the little turd reading again! The child who used to eat books for breakfast hardly picks one up anymore. I don't think she's read two in the last 5 months. Maybe what she needs is another good King. Those were the last books she really enjoyed.

[Courtney]

Ummm, I can think of a particular scene in IT that would be inappropriate for a 13 year old...I read it when I was 14, but my parents always were extremely liberal with the censorship. I even remember at 14 being shocked by the scene and realising that even my permissive, liberal parents probably had forgotten it when they saw what I was reading and failed to comment. I wouldn't allow my 13 year old stepdaughter to read half the crap I was allowed to read lol.

Dani, did she ever read Eyes of the Dragon? My stepdaughter really enjoyed that one. I think The Girl Who Loves Tom Gordon would be a good one too, since you mentioned she's a fairly advanced reader. My stepdaughter struggled with the flashbacks and found it confusing, but she's not the strongest reader. Your daughter would probably be fine with it, and I guarantee there's nothing inappropriate in there :)

[Drew]

I'm not going to necessarily disagree with you Courtney but keep in mind that at that age they are hearing worse at school, or even doing worse. I really doubt that the particular scene you are thinking of would have any kind of negative effect on a 13 yr. old.

[Courtney]

Drew wrote: "I'm not going to necessarily disagree with you Courtney but keep in mind that at that age they are hearing worse at school, or even doing worse. I really doubt that the particular scene you are thi..."

Just for clarification, (view spoiler)[we're referring to the gang-bang scene, right? While I'm certainly no prude, and have no misconceptions of what 13 year old girls talk about (having been one myself once), I refuse to believe that group sex involving a bunch of pre-teens falls in the realm of normal 13 year old conversation topics. (hide spoiler)]

I didn't suggest that it would have any ill effect on a 13 year old - I wasn't much older myself when I read it and I think I turned out relatively normal. If Dani thinks her daughter is mature enough to handle it, that's certainly up to her.

[Drew]

Courtney, I remember having similar conversations when I was 13, that was well over ten years ago, imagine what it's like now.

[Dani]

I think she's mature enough to handle it. I mentioned her reading Carrie yesterday and she's still a little leary about picking up a horror book yet. I think It might freak her out more horror-wise. I think she could handle "the scene" better than the horror at this point!

[Michael]

Eyes of the Dragon definitely.

[Revdavid]

The Inheritance Cycle (Eragon) is a great series. Also the Artemis Fowel series is a really fun series to read!

[Kit★]

I think The Wind Through the Keyhole: A Dark Tower Novel would be good for a younger reader, and it could stand on its own without the rest of the series being read. :)

[Drew]

Dani wrote: "I think she's mature enough to handle it. I mentioned her reading Carrie yesterday and she's still a little leary about picking up a horror book yet. I think It might freak her out more horror-wise..."

Then go with her instincts, only she will know when she is ready.

[Dani]

She read Eyes of the Dragon. Must have been after I posted the original question. She read the first three Eragon books so has just the last one to go. I confiscated the little turd's phone today. Still struggling to get her reading again. SHe still hasn't finished the book she started in January.

[[deleted user]]

Seeing as this was 5 months ago, I'd add Pet Sematary about now...

[Adam]

Dani wrote: "She's read The Long Walk and The Talisman and she's already hooked (God, I love this kid - third generation SK lover - woner what Uncle Stevie would think about that?!). Thinking The Body next. Any..."

Eyes of the Dragon was my first King, and I was twelve.

[Joyce]

" Uncle Stevie "? If I met SK in a dark alley, I'd run like hell. I can appreciate his talent, but having seeing him interviewed, I don't know if I wanted to have him as an Uncle.