What’s the best American/English book for a 10 year old boy?

28 comments

1. Holes

2. Around the world in 80 days

3. Where the Red Fern Grows

   If you’re ready to be emotionally devastated.

4. Louis L’Amour is a good start for westerns. Hardy boys for mystery. The shadow children may be a bit old but only by a year or two. Chronicles of Narnia

5. Robinson Crusoe

6. Diary of a wimpy kid series

7. I think I read To Kill a Mockingbird when I was 10ish, so I’ll go with that.

   Great book, between that and Static Shock it taught me how not to be racist.

8. Ender’s Game

9. Does anybody know “The Dangerous Book for Boys”? I read good things about it, but I’m not sure if it’s a bit outdated, also it has some contents (like skinning a rabbit) that might not be too adequate for a 10 year old who’s not from the US and doesn’t really participate in hunting

10. The Septimus Heap series is very good.

11. A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin.

12. A Series of Unfortunate Events

13. Percy Jackson series

14. When I was that age, the giver was the most impactful thing I read.

15. The Hatchet was a popular one for us in elementary.

16. Hatchet

17. Tom sawyer is a classic, so is treasure island. I found them inspiring and have read to/with my nephews

18. My 10 year old nephew actively asks for the I Survived… series of books and graphic novels.

19. Goose bumps!

20. Where the Sidewalk Ends

21. Goosebumps has a bajillion short novels that would be perfect for a 10 year old reader.

22. Harry Potter

23. Can’t remember when I first read it, but The Phantom Tollbooth is one of my favorite books from childhood. Word play and a sense of humor are still the signs of good fantasy to me.

    The Westing Game is great as baby’s first murder mystery.

    I also stand by the chronicles of Narnia as great children’s books. The Christianity is heavy handed, sure, but there’s so much to love in the characters and particularly the world building. Dawn Treader and Horse are the standouts, imho, but you do need to read them in order

24. 10 year olds in my library are obsessed with anything by Rick Riordan. They also like the Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Harry Potter, and I Survived (these are all series). As for novels, you can go for The Giver, Stone Fox, Wonder, Esperanza Rising, Holes, The One and Only Ivan, The Wild Robot, etc. The girls usually go for Dork Diaries but he can try that too if he likes that kind of thing.

25. You know everyone is going hard on fictional books, the eyewitness books when I was that old were always fun little treasures.

    Encylopdia of tanks, or like trains, or whatever the kids into this year.

    Teddy Roosevelt’s hunting stories was a fun read when I was about 14, so something like that.

    Those big 3d books of dinosaurs.

    There are some great kids books and collections of folk lore and the occult I went hard on when I was about that age. Cheesy stuff from the 70s about Bigfoot and aliens. Some more serious like picture stories of monsters.

    Honestly graphic novels might be another great option for a 10 year old into super heroes or honestly whatever you can find.

    I think 10 lots of pictures is a good direction overall.

    Backyard ballistics is cool when they hit 14

26. The Complete Calvin and Hobbes.

27. The Hobbit is really perfect here. I think that was my favorite book at that age.

28. The Hardy boys were my favorites at that age. If he likes mysteries, I’d recommend them!

    Edit: and it’s a long series, so there’s a lot of story to be had!