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Books for boys

This is a selection of authors and books that boys might like - if they like excitement, fun, mystery, adventure or action!

coverElijah Greenface by Moses Aaron
Joe Hagarsson is 17 and he falls in with a bizarre gang. To join it, he must find a man in a black cloak, mug him, and steal his cloak. This mysterious man, Elijah Greenface, turns out to be a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust.
Burger Wuss by M T Anderson
They first met as she was handing over his order at a takeaway. They spent a magical night together with a gang of young rebels but just when it seemed things couldn't be better, tragedy struck. Anthony caught Diana making out at a party with another guy. Now Anthony must devise a vengeful plan by which he can humiliate his humiliator and win back his girl.
Horsehead series by Rory Barnes
In the first of this series, Spud Wilson is the terror of the track. But he stacks his BMX and dies. Dies? Not quite. A pair of feral brain surgeons bring Spud back from the brink. A hilarious tale of a young boy with absolutely no respect for the great minds of science, who helps the course of true love and makes a new man of himself at the same time. Follow his adventures in the sequels.
coverLester, Red Cliff, Jolt by Bernard Beckett (NZ)
Michael Patts has moved to Langton to get away from trouble. It's a fresh start. Unfortunately it coincides with the arrival of a tramp called Lester and a mysterious explosion of hatred in the town. Michael shouldn't get involved, but he is about to get into trouble again.
Red Cliff tells the story of a teenage boy's attempts to "beef up" to impress the most popular girl in the school. Predictably, Samuel's body building project does not work out as planned.
In Jolt, Marko surfaces from a drug induced haze to find himself hidden from the world in a psychiatric ward. Who can Marko trust and how much time does he have? Time enough to write it all down, his story of a coast to coast trip, and the earthquake which ripped his world apart.
The Black book: diary of a teenage stud by Jonah Black
Jonah reveals his difficulty in separating his rich imaginary life with the real world. Between writing about his steamy, disturbing encounters with the beautiful and possibly made-up Sophie, Jonah also documents some cold, hard facts about himself: he was expelled from his Pennsylvania boarding school, his former Florida high school is forcing him to repeat 11th grade, and his mom is a scary New Age sex therapist who writes books like Hello Penis! Hello, Vagina! Who wouldn't retreat into a fantasy world?
Tangerine, Crusader by Edward Bloor
Twelve-year-old Paul, who lives in the shadow of his football hero brother Erik, fights for the right to play soccer despite his near blindness and slowly begins to remember the incident that damaged his eyesight.
In 'Crusader' after a violent virtual-reality game arrives at the mall arcade where she works, fifteen-year-old Roberta finds the courage to search out the person who murdered her mother.
Tin soldiers by Ian Bone
Michael Tonkin, seventeen, is just 'hanging' at school until one day he unleashes the demons at a friendly soccer match when he nearly strangles Ahmad, a Lebanese boy from the opposition team. Everything starts to close-in - guilt, fear, Ahmad's crew - until it ends on a lonely highway with Michael bashed and broken by the side of the road. With his memory partially lost, what is left of Michael now? How will he rebuild himself into a man?
Midget by Tim Bowler
A thriller about a physically handicapped boy who, after years of sadistic abuse by his older brother, finally wreaks his revenge. Cursed with a deformed and undersized body and a serious speech impediment, fifteen-year-old Midget also suffers from uncontrollable fits as a result of years of psychological torment by his older brother Seb. Midget finds solace in his dream of sailing a small half-built dinghy that has been lying, seemingly in wait, at the local boat yard.
Wasted by Colin Bowles
'I slip my arm around her shoulders … for a few minutes I get to feel like the school chick magnet, sitting here with my arm around the prettiest girl in the world, even though she does smell of vomit and tequila.' Ryan Connell has the world at his feet. So they reckon. But being a teenager isn't as easy as it looks. There are chicks to steal. Rules to break.
Rhino boy by John Brindley
Ryan, the school bully, knows how it feels to be jeered at and whispered about now that he has grown a rhinoceros horn in the middle of his forehead.
Damien Broderick
Bloodtide by Melvin Burgess
Set a century or so in the future, after the government has moved out of London, leaving the city to warring ganglands, this is a terrifying yet utterly compelling story of human cruelty, and the need for love.
The Book of the Lion by Michael Cadnum
In twelfth-century England, after his master, a maker of coins for the king, is brutally punished for alleged cheating, seventeen-year-old Edmund finds himself travelling to the Holy Land as squire to a knight crusader on his way to join the forces of Richard Lionheart.
Originator by Claire Carmichael
Adam and Callie live in a world recovering from devastating plagues that have killed billions. Their father is a professor who is implicated in the fabrication of human beings and they begin to wonder if their dead brother was a failed experiment, or even if they themselves are human.
Obernewtyn Chronicles by Isobelle Carmody
In a world struggling back from the brink of apocalypse, life is harsh. But for Elspeth Gordie, born with enhanced mental abilities that would see her sterilised or burned if discovered, it is also dangerous.
Deucalion, The View from Ararat by Brian Caswell
Across light years of space, millions of settlers have come to the planet Deucalion to escape their past and build their future. Deucalion is a source of great wealth, and a chance for a new beginning. But what does this mean for the Elokoi, who lived there first, or for the children of "Icarus", who made the journey for a different reason? And why are the people dying mysteriously? In the sequel, one hundred years on, Deucalion's existence is threatened by a plague of immense proportions.
coverTalking to blue, Blue murder by Ken Catran (NZ)
"It all begins on Monday with another murder. It begins for me, that is. I became involved from then on. Although more true to say I was sucked in. But Monday is where it starts so that's where I will. Because it led to the other killings and what happened with Blue."
Postcards from No Man's Land by Aidan Chambers
This story intertwines the past and the present, the old and the young. The story of the present is of an English teenager, Jacob Todd, visiting Holland to commemorate the Battle of Arnhem. Lying behind this is a story of the past, the Second World War and British soldiers fighting on Dutch soil. It is the story of a love affair between a young Dutch girl and a wounded British soldier.
Margaret Clark
Judith Clarke
Summertime Blues by Julia Clarke
A boy comes to terms with his new life after his parents' marriage breaks up. When Alex's mother goes off to live with her new partner in the country, Alex goes too, determined to hate it, but soon meets two very different girls who affect him in very different ways.
Hard Time by Elspeth Cook & Anna Donald
Debbie and Rocket have been in trouble before. But not like this. A stolen car, two people dead, and now they're doing time. Do it hard, or do it easy. That's the only choice they've got left.
The Passenger Seat by Robert Corbet
The poetic and comic story of a young man's search for love and meaning in his dysfunctional world. It is a story of cars and sex, friendship and revenge, graffitti and ghosts, and a chook with no name.
Tenderness, I Am the Cheese, The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
In Tenderness, eighteen-year-old Eric has just been released from juvenile detention for murdering his mother and stepfather. Now he's looking for tenderness - which he finds in caressing and killing beautiful girls.
I am the cheese is a horrifying tale of government corruption, espionage, and counter espionage told to an innocent young victim.
The Chocolate war is the story of a high school student who is first a hero and then a victim in this novel of intimidation and the misuse of power.
Gary Crew
Chinese Handcuffs, Ironman by Chris Crutcher
Still troubled by his older brother's violent suicide, eighteen year old Dillon becomes deeply involved in the terrible secret of his friend Jennifer, who feels she can tell no one what her stepfather is doing to her. In "Ironman" Bo Brewster has been at war with his father for as long as he can remember. Following angry outbursts at school that cost Bo his spot on the football team, Bo is sent to an anger management group. There he meets a hard-edged pack of survivors whose own defenses are rigged as high as his.
Skin and other stories by Roald Dahl
These stories by Dahl have the streak of enjoyable nastiness that permeates his work.
Hunters and warriors by Justin D'Ath
The voices moved away and he was left alone once more. His secret was safe. Leaving his clothes on the sand, Bass crept down to the water, washed his bloodied hands and then immersed himself completely in the chill green waves. Inspired by a true story, this is a bold, absorbing, novel about friendship, belonging and decent people's capacity for violence.
Night hoops by Carl Deuker
While trying to prove that he is good enough to play on his high school's varsity basketball team, Nick must also deal with his parents' divorce and erractic behavior of a troubled classmate who lives across the street.
cover48 shades of brown, After January by Nick Earls
Dan is going his last year at school and trying not to spin out. He falls for his 22 year-old aunt's friend and things become much more confusing. In After January Alex has eighteen days until he finds out if he got into Arts Law, a week in Caloundra to sleep, swim and watch the cricket, and a mother with a keen interest in his sex life. Fortuna keeps bees, has a nose ring, and a father who likes to do pottery in the nude. When this unlikely pair meet the results are both hilarious and heartwarming. And for both of them it means that things will never be the same after January.
The darkness, A new kind of dreaming by Anthony Eaton
In The Darkness, people of a tiny ex-whaling town cling to life at the mercy of the Southern Ocean and the Darkness, the merciless storm that sweeps in every ten years. Rohan, already affected by the loss of both his father and grandfather during earlier visits of the Darkness, confronts the return of the storm in the company of the newly arrived Rachel on East Barrier Island.
The novel A new kind of dreaming is a combination of murder, mystery and adventure against the backdrop of Australian bushland. It is a story of a boy's journey to reveal a dark and buried secret, and of a town too scared of its past to face its future.
Calabash by Christopher Fowler
Kay is a 16-year-old boy with a smart mouth and too much imagination. Marooned in the rundown seaside resort of Cole Bay in the early '70s he dreams of escape. In the kingdom of Calabash, he can have everything he's ever wanted. There's just one problem. Calabash doesn't actually exist.
Dark wind blowing by Jackie French
Mike is just like any other normal kid - he lives with his mum in an ordinary house, in a small town, where nothing unusual ever happens. His next-door neighbour is Lance Loosley, a boy who's known at school as 'Loser' because he's so unpopular. Loser tells Mike that 'Tenterfield' - the old property nearby, which was recently bought by some foreign investors is being used as a laboratory to run dangerous experiments.
Coram Boy by Jamila Gavin
In eighteenth century London, Aaron grows up in the Coram Foundling Hospital, having been saved from death by a boy called Meshak. Meshak, Aaron and Toby, the child of an African slave, all have a narrow escape as Meshak's evil father sets sail to sell them into slavery. A page-turning historical novel that tells the often distressing story of the shadowy 18th-century figure, the Coram Man.
Morris Gleitzman
Andy Griffiths
Deadly Unna?, Nukkin ya by Phillip Gwynne
A story about a teenage boy growing up in a rundown, football crazed beach town. It tells of his involvement in the local footy team, his friendship with a special Aboriginal boy, the adventures of his love life, his experiences with his parents and all the other trials and joys of being a teenager. The story touches on aspects of racism, drug-use, violence and death. In the sequel 'Nukkin ya', Blacky's romance with Clarence engenders even more racist behaviour from the residents of the Port.
Christine Harris
Libby Hathorn
Hole in the sky by Pete Hautman
In a future world ravaged by a mutant virus, sixteen-year-old Ceej and three other teenagers seek to save the Grand Canyon from being flooded, while trying to avoid capture by a band of renegade Survivors.
The last wave by Paul Hayden
Seventeen-year-old Owl is between school and the rest of his life. He has his mates, the beach, the surf, and the big event on his calendar is Stinks eighteenth birthday and a longed-for date with an absolute goddess.
The Grave by James Heneghan
Thirteen-year-old Tom, an unhappy foster child in Liverpool, falls into a massive open grave and is transported to Ireland in 1847, where he finds himself in the midst of the deadly potato famine.
S E Hinton
Yoss by Odo Hirsch
The dramatic, haunting tale of an innocent village boy's encounter with the corrupt life of a mediaeval town.
Shades series by Robert Hood
The strange mythology of the SHADES involves taking the ghost tale and reworking it for a new millennium. These books are high adventure in a threatening and complex world of darkness and danger - a world that is the one we live in, but seen through different eyes.
Mahalia by Joanne Horniman
Single teenage father Matt is 17 and looks after his baby, Mahalia. His girlfriend couldn't cope and has gone away, perhaps forever. This novel explores the tensions in Matt's existence between the purposeful growth and demands of the baby and his own sense of drift.
Stormbreaker, Point Blanc by Anthony Horowitz
When his guardian dies in suspicious circumstances, Alex Rider goes from schoolboy to superspy within days as his world is turned upside down. Forcibly recruited into MI6, Alex has to take part in gruelling SAS training. Then, armed with his own special set of secret gadgets, he's off on his first mission. "Point Blanc" is the follow-up that sees Alex reluctantly adapting to his double life.
Paul Jennings
Pagan's series by Catherine Jinks
In twelfth-century Jerusalem, as the Infidels close in on the city, sixteen-year-old Pagan is assigned to work for Lord Roland, a Templar knight. Later they returns to his family home in France where his family clashes violently with their neighbours and Roland is drawn to a heretical young woman.
Victor Kelleher
The Tenth hero by Barry Klemm
Lee Parsons has been dumped at stuffy Finchley Boarding School by his Dad. Back home is Melbourne Australia where all hell is breaking loose. He discovers that a lot can happen between London and Melbourne.
The Falcon by Jackie French Koller
Seventeen-year-old Luke has been having more and more accidents lately, accidents that he has no explanation for. Is the answer to be found in the here and now, or deep in the buried thoughts of another accident - one from long ago?
John Larkin
Brothers by Ted van Lieshout
Can you still be a brother when your brother is dead? Luke often wonders. His brother Marius has died, leaving Luke alone with their parents. When their mother decides to burn Marius's belongings in a ceremonial bonfire, Luke saves his brother's diary and makes it his own by writing in it.
Red Hugh byDeborah Lisson
The story of Red Hugh McDonnell, one of Ireland's greatest heroes. Red Hugh was kidnapped by agents of the English government and held in Dublin Castle as hostage for his father.
24 hours by Margaret Mahy (NZ)
Ellis is a teenager in limbo between school and university. He is drifting, and aching for experience. It comes his way big-time, and by the end of the book he has hung out in a weird commune called the Land-of-Smiles, spent a drunken night in bed with a girl only just met, had his head shaved, been given a tattoo, driven his mother's car in a dramatic chase sequence, had the same car peed in, and heroically intervened in a suicide bid.
The Tomorrow series by John Marsden
A series in which seven Australian teenagers return from a camping trip in the bush to discover that their country has been invaded and they must hide to stay alive.
Finding Joe by Anthony Masters
Joe is leader of the gang. But when his beloved dad walks out, Joe takes out his anger on his friends. Then Joe mysteriously disappears. Distraught, his sister Debs pleads with his friends to look for him. Reluctantly, they head for the obvious place, the marsh where they used to play as kids. How will they find him? And do they want to, after what he's done?
Stony heart country by David Metzenthen
Aaron's father is a city consultant brought in to sack country workers. Aaron is the city kid taken along for the ride.
Touch me by James Moloney
For Xavier McLachlan, rugby is life. Winning means everything until he meets Nuala Magee. Has there ever been a girl like her? She's feisty, she's troubled, she's dangerous. What will his mates think?
Raw, The Crush by Scott Monk
Brett is tough and having done the crime he is now doing the time in a youth correction centre, which is located on a farm. He meets up with Caitlyn and he feels he is in love.
The Crush is about a Matthew Cassidy, a 15 year old up and coming Rugby League star and his life with his mum, his friends, his enemies and his crush, Kelly Sinclair.
Slam! by Walter Dean Myers
Despite his talents on the basketball court, sixteen-year-old Greg "Slam" Harris performs poorly in the classroom, and when his teachers confront him, an explosively angry Slam fears for his future for the first time.
Garth Nix
Owl by Joanna Orwin (NZ)
Owl and Tama are from very different backgrounds. Owl getting used to the death of his father and the family struggling to hold on to the family farm, and Tama, a disgruntled city kid. The boys are set for a stand off. Owl's discovery of some Māori cave drawings and the tension between the two unleash a disturbing malevolence from the past.
Ted Ottley
Sad boys by Glyn Parry
This story deals with the agonies and ecstasies of one teenage summer when three boys and three girls spend a vacation on Rottnest Island. The girls are chaperoned but the boys are footloose and fancy-free.
The Hatchet series by Gary Paulsen
After a plane crash, 13-year-old Brian spends 54 days in the Canadian wilderness, surviving with only the aid of a hatchet, and learning also to deal with his parents' divorce.
Terry Pratchett
Blackout by Michael Pryor
When an intense electromagnetic pulse strikes earth, the world grinds to a halt. When Holly Andrews wakes in the wreckage of a smashed car next to the unconscious form of her older brother, Alex, she sets out on a dangerous quest to find her parents and bring order to a world gone mad.
Over the wall by John Ritter
Thirteen-year-old Tyler, who has trouble controlling his anger, spends an important summer with his cousins in New York City, playing baseball and sorting out how he feels about violence, war, and in particular the Vietnamese conflict that took his grandfather's life.
Plague by Malcolm Rose
As teenagers Rev, Lucy and Scott while away the summer, an invisible enemy is heading their way. Soon the town is in the grip of a deadly virus that causes its victims to haemorrhage to death.
Holes by Louis Sachar
As further evidence of his family's bad fortune which they attribute to a curse on a distant relative, Stanley Yelnats is sent to a hellish correctional camp in the Texas desert where he finds his first real friend, a treasure, and a new sense of himself.
Saga of Darren Shan series by Darren Shan
In Book 1, Darren goes to a banned freak show with his best mate Steve. It's the wonderfully gothic Cirque du Freak where weird, frightening half human/half animals appear who interact terrifyingly with the audience. A spider bites his best mate and Darren has to sell his soul to an evil vampire to get the antidote.
Give a boy a gun by Todd Strasser
Through interviews and letters, this is the fictional story of two boys who hold their classmates hostage at a high school dance.
Wrecked by Robert Swindells
The lives of two 16 year old boys are affected by growing fondness for alcohol. Mark is the son of a domineering businessman; Dennis Clissold is the son of a deserted mother. The action unfolds in the course of a day or two either side of their exam results.
Jerome by William Taylor (NZ)
Devastated by the death of their friend Jerome, Marco and Katie turn to each other for comfort and answers. Separated by thousands of miles, they converse through a series of online chats, faxes and e-mails.
Stuck in neutral by Terry Trueman
Fourteen-year-old Shawn McDaniel, who suffers from severe cerebral palsy and cannot function, relates his perceptions of his life, his family, and his condition, especially as he believes his father is planning to kill him.
The Killer's cousin by Nancy Werlin
In this utterly terrifying psychodrama, a teenager already laboring under a crushing load of guilt finds himself cleverly, relentlessly stalked by his 11-year-old cousin.
Robert Westall
The Lockie Leonard books by Tim Winton
Lockie Leonard, fourteen-year-old surfer, finds riding waves is smoother going than being in love or being popular.
Hard love byEllen Wittlinger
After starting to publish a zine in which he writes his secret feelings about his lonely life and his parents' divorce, sixteen-year-old John meets an unusual girl and begins to develop a healthier personality.
Face byBenjamin Zephaniah
The story of Martin whose life is completely changed when his face is badly scarred in a joyriding accident.
Flyboy and the invisible by Matt Zurbo
This story is based around a young lout called Carlo and his best friend Will. Carlo has a dream of cool music, gutsy cars and open desert roads. He keeps this dream to help him get through the hard times when all the townspeople turn on him and his best friend. Will can fly using the Earths magnetic fields to fly around on, and there are a bunch of mysterious men around the town that seem to disappear every day but nobody notices.