Book recommendations for cool queer 13 year old
December 6, 2023 6:09 AM Subscribe
Beloved nephew is struggling to find books he really enjoys! As a book-loving aunty, finding him something awesome for Christmas feels like a mission but I don't have much info to go on precisely because he hasn't found much yet he really vibes with. Parents report that, TV wise, he liked things like Arcane and Sweet Tooth. Liked the Hobbit but struggled with LOTR. Loves Alice Oseman. Did not get into Percy Jackson. With this limited intel, what would you go with?
Nephew is a thoughtful, sensitive kid, who cares about social justice, drama, and various cool sports. Also dyslexic. Other Aunts/Uncles are getting him Hunger Games and the latest Heart Stopper.
Nephew is a thoughtful, sensitive kid, who cares about social justice, drama, and various cool sports. Also dyslexic. Other Aunts/Uncles are getting him Hunger Games and the latest Heart Stopper.
I was a little younger than him when I really got into Monica Hughes. She's a Canadian author, similar demographic target as hunger games; YA sci fi. I can't speak to how they have aged but I think they'd be a good option. My favourites were the Isis trilogy and Invitation to the Game.
posted by dazedandconfused at 6:31 AM on December 6, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by dazedandconfused at 6:31 AM on December 6, 2023 [1 favorite]
(If he's dyslexic he might appreciate audiobooks more than print)
The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud first in a series about teenage ghost fighters.
So you want to be a wizard
by Diane Duane, classic young teen fantasy.
Sabriel by Garth Nix, young necromancer girl who has to set off on her own. Features one of the best fictional cats ever written. This one gets a bit dark and scary with horrifying monsters so he might be a bit young for it.
The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud about a privileged young wizard who has to learn to survive.
First Test by Tamora Pierce, an animal loving girl with an inconveniently strong sense of justice trains to be a knight. One of my favorite comfort reads.
posted by Zumbador at 6:39 AM on December 6, 2023 [5 favorites]
The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud first in a series about teenage ghost fighters.
So you want to be a wizard
by Diane Duane, classic young teen fantasy.
Sabriel by Garth Nix, young necromancer girl who has to set off on her own. Features one of the best fictional cats ever written. This one gets a bit dark and scary with horrifying monsters so he might be a bit young for it.
The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud about a privileged young wizard who has to learn to survive.
First Test by Tamora Pierce, an animal loving girl with an inconveniently strong sense of justice trains to be a knight. One of my favorite comfort reads.
posted by Zumbador at 6:39 AM on December 6, 2023 [5 favorites]
I haven't read these but they might be worth looking at (fiction with queer characters, teen audience, reading level grade 7-12):
A hunger of thorns by Lili Wilkinson
The starts of Mount Quixx by S.M. Beiko
Highway bodies by Alison Evans
The Sunbearer Trials by Aiden Thomas
posted by eekernohan at 6:42 AM on December 6, 2023 [1 favorite]
A hunger of thorns by Lili Wilkinson
The starts of Mount Quixx by S.M. Beiko
Highway bodies by Alison Evans
The Sunbearer Trials by Aiden Thomas
posted by eekernohan at 6:42 AM on December 6, 2023 [1 favorite]
Terry Pratchett's Tiffany Aching books are aimed at younger readers.
posted by SPrintF at 6:46 AM on December 6, 2023 [8 favorites]
posted by SPrintF at 6:46 AM on December 6, 2023 [8 favorites]
William Durbin's books "Broken Blade" and "Wintering" are about a 13-year old boy who becomes a voyageur in 1800. My sons loved them at that age...and I believe their sisters did, too. https://williamdurbin.com/books/
He's written a bunch of books about mid-teens in historical settings that have accurate history (important to kids like mine!) as well as decent characters and story.
He's also a good guy from northern Minnesota who kindly did an email interview with my son for a school report.
posted by wenestvedt at 6:46 AM on December 6, 2023 [1 favorite]
He's written a bunch of books about mid-teens in historical settings that have accurate history (important to kids like mine!) as well as decent characters and story.
He's also a good guy from northern Minnesota who kindly did an email interview with my son for a school report.
posted by wenestvedt at 6:46 AM on December 6, 2023 [1 favorite]
I haven't read The Sunbearer Trials, but I've read Aidan Thomas's Cemetery Boys and would second Thomas as a recommendation here! I'm also wondering if A Wish in the Dark might appeal if he is a musical theatre fan: it's a fantasy adaptation of Les Miserables that worked really well for me and a couple friends. (As a bonus, the cover is stunning!) I'd also consider Darcie Little Badger's Elatsoe.
If he's not read any Diana Wynne Jones, I'd certainly recommend giving her work a try: personally I'm partial to Howl's Moving Castle and The Dark Lord of Derkholm.
posted by lavenderhaze at 6:57 AM on December 6, 2023 [4 favorites]
If he's not read any Diana Wynne Jones, I'd certainly recommend giving her work a try: personally I'm partial to Howl's Moving Castle and The Dark Lord of Derkholm.
posted by lavenderhaze at 6:57 AM on December 6, 2023 [4 favorites]
It’s been one million years since I was a 13-year-old so everything I liked is so old now (Wise Child!!!) but I asked my YA/MG editor colleague and she had a ton of recs:
YA GRAPHIC NOVELS
Mamo by Sas Milledge
Twelfth Grade Night
Bloom by Kevin Panetta
Check Please by Ngozi Ukazu
YA
Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert
All That's Left in the World by Erik J Brown
Spell Bound by F.T. Lukens
The Sunbearer Trials by Aiden Thomas
The Wicked Bargain by Gabe Cole Novoa
In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan
MG
Too Bright to See by Kyle Lukoff
The House That Whispers by Lin Thompson
The Insiders by Mark Oshiro
MG GRAPHIC NOVEL
The Witch Boy by Molly Knox Ostertag
The Deep & Dark Blue by Niki Smith
Dungeon Club Roll Call by Molly Knox Ostertag, Xanthe Bouma
My top picks for this discerning reader:
Check Please by Ngozi Ukazu
Bloom by Kevin Panetta
The Deep & Dark Blue
The Witch Boy
posted by babelfish at 7:20 AM on December 6, 2023 [7 favorites]
YA GRAPHIC NOVELS
Mamo by Sas Milledge
Twelfth Grade Night
Bloom by Kevin Panetta
Check Please by Ngozi Ukazu
YA
Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert
All That's Left in the World by Erik J Brown
Spell Bound by F.T. Lukens
The Sunbearer Trials by Aiden Thomas
The Wicked Bargain by Gabe Cole Novoa
In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan
MG
Too Bright to See by Kyle Lukoff
The House That Whispers by Lin Thompson
The Insiders by Mark Oshiro
MG GRAPHIC NOVEL
The Witch Boy by Molly Knox Ostertag
The Deep & Dark Blue by Niki Smith
Dungeon Club Roll Call by Molly Knox Ostertag, Xanthe Bouma
My top picks for this discerning reader:
Check Please by Ngozi Ukazu
Bloom by Kevin Panetta
The Deep & Dark Blue
The Witch Boy
posted by babelfish at 7:20 AM on December 6, 2023 [7 favorites]
How online is your nephew? If he is online, The Immeasurable Depth of You is really really good. Queer, social justice friendly ghost story about growing up in a world that feels similar to current reality, but with some differences.
Book summary from publisher:
Book summary from publisher:
Fifteen-year-old Brynn can’t stop thinking about death. Her intrusive thoughts and severe anxiety leave her feeling helpless—and hopeless. So after her mom interprets one of Brynn’s blog posts as a suicide note, she takes extreme measures, confiscating Brynn’s phone, blocking her Internet access, and banishing her to stay with her father who lives “off the grid” on a houseboat in the Florida mangroves. Isolated from her online friends—her only friends—Brynn resigns herself to a summer of mind-numbing boredom and loneliness… until Skylar appears.posted by joyceanmachine at 7:52 AM on December 6, 2023 [2 favorites]
Skylar is everything Brynn isn’t—sultry, athletic, and confident. Yet Brynn feels at home around this fearless girl who pushes her to try new things and makes her belly flutter with nerves that have nothing to do with anxiety. When Brynn discovers that Skylar is trapped in the bayou and can’t tell her why, she resolves to free her new crush from the dark waters, even if it means confronting all of her worst fears.
Through Brynn's funny and sincere narration, The Immeasurable Depth of You explores the ways mental illness can impact a life by centering a character who is learning (sometimes messily) to accept all parts of herself.
Discworld, Discworld, Discworld. Tiffany Aching was already mentioned above, but even the "grown-up" books are well within the grasp of a smart 13-year-old.
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:57 AM on December 6, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:57 AM on December 6, 2023 [3 favorites]
We are living in a time where there are more queer YA options than ever! If he loves Alice Oseman, I highly recommend Bloom by Kevin Panetta. Teens I know also recommend Fence by CS Pacat which has multiple volumes you could get. Check Please is also great.
posted by lizard music at 8:06 AM on December 6, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by lizard music at 8:06 AM on December 6, 2023 [1 favorite]
The Witch Boy by Molly Knox Ostertag
Came here to recommend this series. It's terrific, though possible a little young for your nephew. (But maybe not! I really enjoyed it.)
posted by Dr. Wu at 8:32 AM on December 6, 2023 [3 favorites]
Came here to recommend this series. It's terrific, though possible a little young for your nephew. (But maybe not! I really enjoyed it.)
posted by Dr. Wu at 8:32 AM on December 6, 2023 [3 favorites]
Response by poster: Wow these are all so amazing! Thanks everyone! I'm going to explore these and pick one, then send the whole list to his parents :-) Yay for metafilter.
posted by EllaEm at 8:54 AM on December 6, 2023
posted by EllaEm at 8:54 AM on December 6, 2023
So, obviously, you know your nephew and I don't, so if fiction books are something he's expressed active interest in, feel free to ignore this:
Have you considered a beautifully illustrated non-fiction for a topic he's interested in? Graphic novels can also be a great choice. Or, even just getting them a non-book gift now and saving the book for a summer gift?
So, two of my kids are dyslexic (and I likely am as well). Both of them can bounce off of fiction HARD, and are especially likely to during the school year when they're doing lots of reading and writing anyway. All three of us love to read, but it can be exhausting in a way that well meaning book-loving adults might not realize. So, the issue may just be one of timing.
That said, often a good non-fiction book about something the are excited about will get devoured in a way that a fiction book just won't, and if it's got lots if pictures or diagrams that helps to make it way less work than it might be otherwise. Past hits have been things like sleight of hand instruction books, guides to illustrating/drawing, a paper airplane making guide, and that kind of thing. I'm getting my oldest (15) All Yesterdays, which is a book of speculative drawings of extinct animals. He's big into evolutionary biology, and will occasionally just do some speculative evolution of imaginary critters for fun.
Books are great gifts, but not everyone will engage with them in the same way.
posted by Gygesringtone at 9:20 AM on December 6, 2023 [2 favorites]
Have you considered a beautifully illustrated non-fiction for a topic he's interested in? Graphic novels can also be a great choice. Or, even just getting them a non-book gift now and saving the book for a summer gift?
So, two of my kids are dyslexic (and I likely am as well). Both of them can bounce off of fiction HARD, and are especially likely to during the school year when they're doing lots of reading and writing anyway. All three of us love to read, but it can be exhausting in a way that well meaning book-loving adults might not realize. So, the issue may just be one of timing.
That said, often a good non-fiction book about something the are excited about will get devoured in a way that a fiction book just won't, and if it's got lots if pictures or diagrams that helps to make it way less work than it might be otherwise. Past hits have been things like sleight of hand instruction books, guides to illustrating/drawing, a paper airplane making guide, and that kind of thing. I'm getting my oldest (15) All Yesterdays, which is a book of speculative drawings of extinct animals. He's big into evolutionary biology, and will occasionally just do some speculative evolution of imaginary critters for fun.
Books are great gifts, but not everyone will engage with them in the same way.
posted by Gygesringtone at 9:20 AM on December 6, 2023 [2 favorites]
Every young person I know who read The House In The Cerulean Sea has loved it.
posted by yankeefog at 9:52 AM on December 6, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by yankeefog at 9:52 AM on December 6, 2023 [6 favorites]
Raybearer and its sequel, Redemptor, by Jordan Ifueko! Magic and queer and chomp chomp chomp fun to read.
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 10:59 AM on December 6, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 10:59 AM on December 6, 2023 [1 favorite]
Here are my three most recent queer YA/romancy faves.
Stars and the Blackness Between Them YA Lesbian romance/magical realism, black main characters. One of the protagonists is Trinidadian and the dialect might be hard.
The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea Trans boy main character, queer family of choice, pirates!
Light from Uncommon Starts Trans girl main character, cis lesbian relationship, aliens, and a deal with the devil.
posted by advicepig at 11:21 AM on December 6, 2023 [2 favorites]
Stars and the Blackness Between Them YA Lesbian romance/magical realism, black main characters. One of the protagonists is Trinidadian and the dialect might be hard.
The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea Trans boy main character, queer family of choice, pirates!
Light from Uncommon Starts Trans girl main character, cis lesbian relationship, aliens, and a deal with the devil.
posted by advicepig at 11:21 AM on December 6, 2023 [2 favorites]
Wayfarer series yes yes and Monsterous Regiment is great Pratchett for an old queer, would be a different but I think still good read for a baby queer.
posted by Iteki at 11:22 AM on December 6, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Iteki at 11:22 AM on December 6, 2023 [1 favorite]
Also The Prince and the Dressmaker is a lovely trans girl graphic novel.
posted by advicepig at 11:24 AM on December 6, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by advicepig at 11:24 AM on December 6, 2023 [2 favorites]
Charlie Jane Anders' Unstoppable Trilogy.
posted by ursus_comiter at 12:33 PM on December 6, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by ursus_comiter at 12:33 PM on December 6, 2023 [1 favorite]
The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper. No queer content, but one of my favorite reads since I was a teen, and I still love it. The Dark is Rising book itself is #2 in the series but is also an excellent standalone read without needing to read the first.
posted by wicked_sassy at 12:54 PM on December 6, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by wicked_sassy at 12:54 PM on December 6, 2023 [2 favorites]
Terry Pratchett's Tiffany Aching books are aimed at younger readers.
I was going to recommend Pratchett's Discworld books also - I started on the regular ones (this was before the Tiffany Aching series) around the same age and loved them.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 1:00 PM on December 6, 2023 [1 favorite]
I was going to recommend Pratchett's Discworld books also - I started on the regular ones (this was before the Tiffany Aching series) around the same age and loved them.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 1:00 PM on December 6, 2023 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: These are so good. I've picked two from here for a niece as well!
In terms of dyslexia - no worries on that front. I'm dyslexic, both his parents are dyslexic, his grandad was, another couple of aunts are, several of his older and younger cousins... We are a multi-generational dyslexic-friendly family! His parents said he specifically asked for new book ideas, so I'm not just the well-meaning grown up expecting my dusty copy of Swallows and Amazons to be treated with reverence.
posted by EllaEm at 3:05 PM on December 6, 2023 [1 favorite]
In terms of dyslexia - no worries on that front. I'm dyslexic, both his parents are dyslexic, his grandad was, another couple of aunts are, several of his older and younger cousins... We are a multi-generational dyslexic-friendly family! His parents said he specifically asked for new book ideas, so I'm not just the well-meaning grown up expecting my dusty copy of Swallows and Amazons to be treated with reverence.
posted by EllaEm at 3:05 PM on December 6, 2023 [1 favorite]
Try Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer!
Definitely echo the Amulet of Samarkand recommendation up thread.
Pratchett is good, too, try The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents (Maurice is a delightfully snarky orange cat)
posted by freethefeet at 3:28 PM on December 6, 2023 [1 favorite]
Definitely echo the Amulet of Samarkand recommendation up thread.
Pratchett is good, too, try The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents (Maurice is a delightfully snarky orange cat)
posted by freethefeet at 3:28 PM on December 6, 2023 [1 favorite]
When I first read Steve Kluger's My Most Excellent Year, I immediately wanted to give the book a hug when I was finished. Then I bought a copy for myself so I could read and hug it as much as I wanted.
posted by Constance Mirabella at 5:19 PM on December 6, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Constance Mirabella at 5:19 PM on December 6, 2023 [1 favorite]
The Fever in Urbicande
Maybe Iain M. Banks's Player of Games?
posted by sebastienbailard at 8:41 PM on December 6, 2023
Maybe Iain M. Banks's Player of Games?
posted by sebastienbailard at 8:41 PM on December 6, 2023
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If the kid has any interest in sci-fi, The Wayfarers series is full of awesome representation of all types.
posted by jordemort at 6:28 AM on December 6, 2023 [3 favorites]