These 10 books were really written with guys in mind! From books about baseball to hair-brained schemes to school troubles and more, our Top 10 Books For Boys have got all the bases covered – funny and serious – when it comes to what guys want to read most!
No. 10: Radio Fifth Grade by Gordon Korman
Genre: Funny
Benjy Driver wants to become a great radio announcer one day … right now, he’s just the host of Kidsview, a fifth-grade radio show with its fair share of problems, including Winston Churchill, a parrot-mascot who won’t talk, a school bully who can’t write a story and a new teacher who assigns way too much homework!
No. 9: Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
Genre: Serious
Fresh out of high school, at just 17 years old, Richie Perry of Harlem enlists in the army hoping to get three square meals a day and be able to send some money home to his mom and younger brother Kenny. He figures that, with his knee injury, he’ll never have to serve active duty in the Vietnam War. But no one prepares Richie for the red tape and the delays, or for the horrific sights of war, or for watching his friends die one by one, or for finding out what it is like to kill. Suddenly Richie must cope with the heat, the humidity, the bugs, the napalm, the body bags and a war he hadn't expected to participate in.
No. 8: Justin Fisher Declares War by James Preller
Genre: Funny
When Justin Fisher moves to a new school and finds himself in the middle of a social status-killing, spaghetti-related incident, he decides to take control of the situation and turn it into a slapstick routine. This makes him the official class clown for the next two years. But fifth grade is different. People don’t seem to be enjoying his antics, in fact they seem kind of irritated. What’s a class clown to do?
No. 7: Shifty by Lynn E. Hazel
Genre: Serious
Soli is 15 and has moved between foster homes and homes for troubled, potentially criminal, young men for as long as he can remember. The living arrangements have mostly been bad and short. Until now. Martha, his one-legged foster mother, shows him more trust than anyone ever has, even after Soli borrows her car, drives without a license and runs up a $200 parking fine while buying a burrito. Meantime, Soli’s 7-year-old foster sister, Sissy, is slowly coming out of her shell and Chance, the crack baby, is getting healthier and more adorable. While this might not be your average happy family, it’s the closest Soli has ever been to having any family at all – and he’ll do just about anything to keep it that way.
No. 6: Lawn Boy Returns by Gary Paulsen
Genre: Funny
The summer Lawn Boy was 12, he turned mowing lawns with his grandfather’s old riding mower into a big business. And, with advice from Arnold the stockbroker, he learned all about making money. Six weeks and thousands of dollars later, life is getting more and more complicated. The prizefighter that Lawn Boy sponsors wins a big fight and TV interview makes Lawn Boy famous. Now, even his best friends want a piece of the action.
No. 5: The Last Summer of the Death Warriors by Francisco X. Stork
Genre: Serious
Pancho, 17, ends up at St. Anthony's orphanage and meets D.Q., who is fighting brain cancer. And D. Q. wants to fight, not just to live, but to live his way. His philosophy is in his Death Warrior Manifesto. A Death Warrior is someone who accepts death and chooses to love life by loving. Pancho just wants to avenge the death of his sister Rosa and doesn't care what happens after that.
No. 4: The Calder Game by Blue Balliett
Genre: Mystery
Calder is going to England with his dad. But his arrival happens at the same time as the mysterious placement of a large sculpture called The Minotaur in the town square of a tiny village. The village’s citizens are suspicious of the sculpture, and of Calder, who seems to make enemies just by asking simple questions. So when both the sculpture and the boy disappear on the same night, Calder's dad calls in his friends Tommy and Petra to see if they can zero in on connections that he and the police are missing.
No. 3: Stanford Wong Flunks Big-Time by Lisa Yee
Genre: Funny
Stanford Wong is having a bad summer. If he flunks his summer-school English class, he won't pass sixth grade. If that happens, he won't start on the A-team. If *that* happens, his friends will abandon him and Emily Ebers won't like him anymore. And if THAT happens, his life will be over. Then his parents are fighting, his grandmother Yin-Yin hates her new nursing home, he's being "tutored" by the world's biggest nerdball Millicent Min--and he's not sure his ballpoint "Emily" tattoo is ever going to wash off.
No. 2: Roy Morelli Steps Up to the Plate by Thatcher Heldring
Genre: Funny
Eight-grader Roy Morelli can’t wait for baseball season to start so he can take his rightful place as shortstop for the Pilchuk All-Star team. Being on the All-Stars is just the warm-up for the big leagues: the varsity baseball team at the high school Roy will go to next year. But when Roy’s divorced parents find out he’s failing history, they make him quit the All-Stars. It’s not his fault the only thing interesting about history class is Valerie Hopkins, and she won’t even give Roy the time of day. Now Roy is stuck on a losing team in the wimpy rec league, and instead of playing ball every spare minute, he’s spending his afternoons with a tutor—who just happens to be his dad’s brainiac girlfriend. If Roy’s going to impress the varsity baseball coach, he’s sure he should be looking out for number one, not wasting his time studying. After all, baseball is what Roy does best. But when his grades continue to slide and his teammates get tired of his know-it-all attitude, Roy finds he’ll really have to step up …
No. 1: Swindle & Zoobreak by Gordon Korman
Genre: Funny
Swindle is the first book in this series, and Zoobreak is the second. In Swindle, Griffin Bing finds an old Babe Ruth baseball card in an abandoned house. He and his friend sell it to a card dealer who tells them the card is a reprint and only worth $120. Later Griffin discovers that the dealer, S. Wendle, thus the name Swindle, plans to sell the card for a million dollars. Since he is known as "the man with a plan," Griffin goes into action, recruiting his friends to help him break into Wendle's home and steal the card back. In Zoobreak, a monkey belonging to one of Griffin’s friends goes missing. When they spot the monkey at the floating zoo during a school trip, Griffin comes up with a plan to break in and rescue the monkey, plus all the other poorly-treated critters at the zoo.
Have Your Say
What's one of the best books you've ever read? Let us know in the Comments section below!
Related Stories:
