Check out books boys actually want to read!
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Some new kids get a new school. Ian Richards gets a new world.
When his family moves to a rambling old house in the Texas bayou country, twelve-year-old Ian Richards expects nothing but mosquitoes, boredom, and a summer without his friends. What he finds instead is a symbol carved into an old oak, a matching mark deep inside a drainage culvert, and a shimmering gate that swallows his Afghan hound, Penelope—whole.
The Clockwork Terror of Blackglass Island
Felix Jones builds things he shouldn’t and breaks rules he’s told to follow. His class trip to the Museum of Time and Tides seemed harmless. But the curator doesn’t blink. The students march in perfect sync. And under the island’s volcanic rock, an alien crystal is rewriting human minds into clockwork.
Midshipman Anthony Raleigh wasn’t supposed to be the hero. He was barely supposed to be on the bridge.
When a pirate warship drops out of hiding to ambush the cargo freighter Pegasus, Captain Smith has one mission for his youngest crew member: take the shuttle, run, and bring help. Simple enough — except the pirates got there first.
Beck North grew up watching the tidegate runners — couriers who carry sealed messages between worlds through shimmering portals in the harbor. On the day he takes the runner’s oath, Beck inherits his missing father’s bronze tideclock and his first route assignment. Six hours later, he’s outrunning a secret cult in a living coral reef and finding a symbol that shouldn’t exist carved into the walls.
The storm cult is supposed to be the enemy. The Runner Command is supposed to be trustworthy. And Beck’s father is supposed to be dead.
None of that turns out to be true.
Thirteen-year-old Remmie McNeal emerges from cryogenic sleep on a distant world, expecting a new life with his family—only to find the adults still locked in their reconstruction creches, silent and unresponsive. The massive underground colony hums with machines, but the only ones awake are kids like him: scared, confused, and suddenly in charge.
In the sweltering summer of 1900, fourteen-year-old Eddie Donahue calls the walled International Legation Quarter in Peking, China, his home. While his father runs a bustling silk trade, Eddie watches in awe as soldiers from America, Europe, and beyond march the streets, guarding against growing unrest outside the gates.
Dreaming of adventure beyond his errands, Eddie encounters rough-and-ready U.S. Marines and glimpses the enigmatic threat of the 'Boxers' - warriors bent on driving out all foreigners from China. As tensions boil over into conflict, Eddie must summon his wits and bravery to face dangers that test his family, his friendships, and his resolve.
Two brothers. One flat tire. One mysterious cave.
What starts as a summer hike with Grandpa turns into the ultimate wrong turn—straight through a crack in the rock and into the Caribbean, 1770s style. Suddenly Chris and Kenny are dodging bloodthirsty pirates, outrunning razor-feathered dragonlings, and facing the fire-breathing Green Lady herself.
With only a pocketknife and a quick lesson in loading flintlock pistols, the boys must outwit Captain Ross and figure out how to get home again. Fortunately, they have an ally.
The Weird Map in Mr. Glimm’s Skull
In a dusty school boiler room, 12-year-old inventor Felix Jones tunes his homemade radio and unleashes a whisper from the shadows: his own name. What starts as a creepy glitch explodes into a heart-pounding adventure when Felix uncovers a hidden Russian hatch, a vanishing caretaker with a scarred past, and a buried Cold War bunker teeming with psychic experiments and deadly drones. Accompanied by his loyal friend William, Felix races against shadowy spies and an ancient entity called "Mother" that's hungry for freedom. Secrets shatter, memories twist, and the fate of their sleepy village hangs by a wire in this pulse-racing tale of bravery, betrayal, and buried horrors. Perfect for fans of Stranger Things and Rick Riordan—will Felix crack the code or become the next victim?
Patrick Keller, new to the dusty trails of Vina Profunda, Utah, moves to his grandpa’s ranch after tough times hit his family. On day one, he uncovers an ancient Indian mask that once belonged to his Uncle Randy. When he slips it on, it sparks a connection to three local boys—Steve, Tyler, and Howie—who guard a jaw-dropping secret.As Patrick battles threats in Utah’s wild landscape, he faces tough choices, wrestling with anger from his family’s past. With his friends by his side and his grandpa’s wisdom guiding him, Patrick discovers courage, teamwork, and the true power of responsibility.
Join five adventurous boys as they kick off an unforgettable summer as the Meteor Men! These young explorers are eager to find buried treasure. Inspired by their science teacher, who shared the thrilling tale of a million-dollar meteorite unearthed using cutting-edge tech they dive into a high-stakes quest to hunt for their own cosmic fortune. Armed with library research, borrowed gadgets, and sheer determination, they gear up to survey local farms. But they're not alone—rival bully and his crew are hot on the trail, sparking epic clashes and aerial showdowns that test the boys' wits and teamwork.
Quentin Margolis seems like your average eighth-grader, but he’s got a knack for knowing exactly what to bring—whether it’s homework, gym clothes, or something as odd as a metal pipe or a flowery umbrella. This quirky ability always saves the day for someone, though it sometimes lands Quentin in a pickle. When his family moves to the small town of Guild River, Quentin’s secret talent helps him win over new friends: brainy Jeffrey, wisecracking Kenny, and athletic Thom, son of the police chief. Together, they dive into a thrilling school project about a decades-old bank heist that left three robbers dead, one jailed, and a fortune missing.
Aron has one job: watch the sheep. He can’t stop daydreaming about fighting dragons long enough to do it. When a coyote nearly costs his family part of the flock while he’s off battling imaginary monsters, his father sends him to the pig pens instead.
Humiliated and certain he was built for more than muck boots and sheep counts, Aron slips away in the night, crosses the mountain, and shows up at the gates of Lanfield to demand entry into the King’s Knights. The guards laugh him out. A city bully takes his money and breaks his bow. A murdered guardsman lands him on the wrong end of a warrant he didn’t earn.
Then he stumbles into a mountain cave — and finds out that dragons are real.
A Boy, a Dragon, and an Impossible Quest.
Aron’s brothers are gone, snatched by goblins in the night. His father and his knight-master rode after them into the mountains and never came back. The only one who can fix this is Aron — and the great golden dragon who is his best friend.
But Doubloon has been snared in a wizard’s enchanted trap, held fast by a net that his own fire cannot burn through. With his family imprisoned and his dragon helpless, Aron is out of options.
Young brothers Eric and John, eager to break free from their earthbound lives, rebuild a starship from scrapped freighters. Joined by their reluctant sister Maryam as their guardian, they chase their missing parents’ legacy among the stars. it's a dangerous galaxy out there, full of con artists, traitors, space pirates, and stranded space liners. The siblings work together to outsmart their enemies, save their ship, and achieve their dreams.
Eric Crichton and his brother John thought they knew all about space: buy a beat-up old freighter, haul cargo from star to star, and stay one step ahead of the bankers. Easy, right? But when a shady charter lands them a mysterious medical package bound for a newly terraformed world, things go from routine to red-alert in a hurry.
A pirate ambush knocks Max Jones out of the sky, stranding the young crew on a wild, storm-swept planet where the weather is only the second most dangerous thing.
Skut Harkkson hates Highpoint Station. He hates the concrete dome, the expensive food, the mean kids who know his father’s farm is three hundred miles away and that he can’t go home. He misses Faraway — real land, real tides, real work — and every day locked inside the settlement’s walls makes him feel like something important is dying.
Then he finds the storm-dragon.
“We were hoping this would be a book that would grow along with a child. In the beginning, it’s very fun to read aloud. You can touch each robot and count them up. You can talk about the colors of the robot’s eyes (that’s not even counting-related, it’s a bonus!). Then, you can talk about adding up numbers, or taking them away.
Later, you can introduce the binary as puzzles, encrypted messages for the young reader to figure out and find out what is being said. Much later, you could hand this book to an older brother or sister to read aloud to their new sibling. You see? We want this book to be fun for all ages.
Just like counting should be. Math isn’t a boogeyman, and introducing numerical concepts early on in ways that can be organic and enjoyable will help children ease into it. We all talk to robots, these days. In one way, or another! Math is the language of science, and engineering, both vital trades in our world.
Challenge the young minds, give them puzzles to solve, and introduce math not as a dry, dreadful equation that will leave them cold. Teach them how to learn, how to teach themselves, and they will learn for the rest of their lives with enthusiasm and glee.” - A Word For Parents, by Cedar Sanderson
