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My son (11) is a voracious reader. This year he is required to read 10 different books from 10 different genres, so he is very open to suggestions. He keeps insisting to me that books can't be scarey. I have been trying to come up with a book that is *appropriate*, scarey, and will hold his interest. (to me appropriate would mean no sexual content, no drug use, little swearing) He is dying to read The Tommyknockers, but I remember it having some sexual content, and I don't think it could hold his interest with all the daily mineutae in it. Any suggestions??
A couple years ago, my son was reading some books that are a young James Bond-type theme. I don't recall the name. He just turned 14. He also has read some sport-themed books by Mike Lupica.
Lupica has some books that are more kid-oriented and some that are more adult oriented, so you have to check. He also enjoyed the Unfortunate Events series. He did read Friday Night Lights too. I do think that the book has some swearing etc. in it however.
See if you can find any of The Black Stallion books by Walter Farley. I found a copy of The Black Stallion Returns at a resale shop and re-read it. Adventure and some intrigue but no cursing or other so-called "adult" themes.
when I was around that age, I found the Fear St books by RL Stine to be somewhat scary. it's a line of books similar to Goosebumps (though Goosebumps was never scary to me). there was a set of books about one house in particular that still sticks in my head years later (I think it was the 99 Fear St series). not sure how gory or graphic they were, though I'm sure they're fine for that age. I'm not sure what 11yo find scary anymore in this day and age!
He is right. Books can't be scary. I read a lot as well. But Im 22. And no horror book I have read has ever scared me.
edit:maybe traumatized me yes. but scared me? no.
I would go for the classics. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein or Brahm Stoker's Dracula are both classified as horror. Frankenstein at least has no 'adult' content that I remember. Dracula is also 'clean' from what I remember although it's been a lot longer since I read it. I'm kind of a wimp, but Louis L'amour's Haunted Mesa had me on edge for the two days I was reading it.
Lovecraft's horror volumes... well I've got those zingy chills running down my spine as I write this He is one of those writers who can create images and situations that no one else could, or would want to summon up.
Howard is best know for his creation Conan the Barbarian but he did a lot more with the sword and sorcery genre. Like Lovecraft, his demons and monsters and the lairs they inhabit are beyond anything ever imagined. And even with the Conan books, you know that the mind, led by a good story teller, can summon up much better images than a movie. Lots of boy pleasing adventure here as well - the swords parts
Both of these writers are of the pulps tradition of the 30's - 40's. There is nothing objectionable here. They have been pleasing generations of readers ever since
He is right. Books can't be scary. I read a lot as well. But Im 22. And no horror book I have read has ever scared me.
edit:maybe traumatized me yes. but scared me? no.
I guess it depends on what you r mean by "scary". I've read lots of books that were very disturbing and unsettling, even long after I finished reading them. for me, the scariest thing isn't typical monsters and ghosts, but the unknown monster, the one not right out mentioned in a book, but alluded to. I find my imagination can supply a far scarier monster than most authors can if they just give me the proper building blocks
real life horrors is unsettling of course, but not good for an 11yo
but one author i like when i was young is Paul Jennings (from Australia) - his books are funny (and be gross sometimes - but appropriate for kids since he is a kid author). his books were made into a TV series too and i loved watching it (i lived in australia then).
He has read and enjoyed all of the Unfortunate Events.
I just read Dracula, and it isn't scarey, so I don't think he will think so. Also on my list is Frankenstein, but I don't think of that as scarey either. (funny since they are cornerstones of the genre)
L'amour? Really? Wouldn't have though he would have a suspenseful book.
I think he's too young for true crime stuff, but MAYBE Amityville. (does it have sex??) (I grew up on LI, and would hear adults talking about it and see it on the "news", so it was ingrained that it was true, so it has always been scarey for me!)
Fear Street! I know RL Stine had something scarier than Goosebumps.
And I'll check out Lovecraft!
Thanks!
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Books Can Be Plenty Scary
He is one of those writers who can create images and situations that no one else could, or would want to summon up.
