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ankursethi
July 24th, 2007, 04:21 PM
I desperately need to get my 12 years old brother interested into something worthwhile, and reading comes as an immediate solution to this problem as I myself love to read. I'd like to pursue this line of attack before I move to unknown territory like music or something.

The only books my brother has enjoyed to date are the Roald Dahl books. I would like something similar so that I can get him to like books before he can move on to something like LOTR.

I've told him the story of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and it seems to be his favorite. He also loved the movie (whereas most people termed it as a flop). We saw the Hogfather movie together and he liked that one, too. And Soul Music. But these books are much too advanced for him to understand.

I would like you to suggest something simple, but a bit similar to Roald Dahl, Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett, that I can recommend to my brother.

GM

tigerpants
July 24th, 2007, 04:27 PM
I still love reading books like the Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster, and I'm 36.

To be honest, any reading is worthwile. There is no such thing as worthy books and not worthy books. Any fiction or non-fiction book can stimulate the imagination. The trick is not to get too hung up about what someone is reading. It doesn't matter.

Nekiruhs
July 24th, 2007, 04:28 PM
Harry Potter? All 7 are out now, and the first one isn't too hard. You may have to sit there with him for the first few chapters though, to explain some words.

Gadren
July 24th, 2007, 04:29 PM
Hmmm... one thing that comes to mind is A Series of Unfortunate Events -- each book is pretty short (so you might want to get them from a library instead of buying them), but they're very clever and don't talk down to kids (that's why I loved Dahl). I'm 18 and still love that series.

Saner
July 24th, 2007, 04:31 PM
James Herbert : The Fog

(joking)


what about one of the other hitchhiker books ? IIRC there are 5 of them, or one of the dirk gently books (same author and similar humour)

Ralob
July 24th, 2007, 04:32 PM
The Hobbit. Read it in 5th grade and it hooked me on sci/fi and fantasy. Much easier to read than LOTR. Of course there is also the Chronicles of Narnia. :popcorn:

angryfirelord
July 24th, 2007, 04:32 PM
Sam's Teach yourself C++ in 21 Days. :D

You could start him off with Harry Potter, then get books relating to his field of interests.

zanglang
July 24th, 2007, 04:36 PM
Ooh, have you tried looking at Terry Pratchett's other books aimed at younger readers, like The Wee Free Men, or books with more peculiar characters, like Reaper Man (I don't think anyone wouldn't be thrilled to read a book about Death... :)) or the Rincewind series (since he seems to enjoy the kind of humour)?

reclusivemonkey
July 25th, 2007, 10:38 PM
Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger - He's not quite a teenager, but he might like it. You'll know better than me whether this is his bag or not.
The Man Who Was Thursday - G.K. Chesterton. One of the best short stories ever written.
Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury. Superb science fiction writer.
Any collection of Sherlock Holmes stories would be good; they are all pretty short, there are only a few "full" novels.

As you can tell, I think the old stories are the best ;-) Once he gets into reading, throw him a copy of Neuromancer by William Gibson, it will blow his mind.

HGTTG is *so* much better than the movie. Although whether you can enjoy a book as much after you have seen the inferior movie I'm not sure.

bread eyes
July 25th, 2007, 11:18 PM
Reading isn't necessarily the most worthwhile thing in the world. Why not try to teach him something?

Kimm
July 25th, 2007, 11:24 PM
I'd recommend pretty much any book by David Eddings, "The Belgariad" (five book series) and "The Mallorean" (another five book series, continuing on The Belgariad) are great" I've read them several times :)

I'd also recommend "The Redemption of Althalus", perhaps to start him off, its not exactly small, but its less than five books :)

floke
July 25th, 2007, 11:54 PM
Apparently the 'His Dark Materials' trilogy is very good.
the first one is also the new epic from New Line Cinema (LOTR).
I can't vouch for any of this, but from what I hear it might be right up his street.

mrgnash
July 26th, 2007, 02:52 AM
I really enjoyed reading this when I was about his age:

http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/7541/gnolegj1.png

It's a very warm-hearted and enchanting story, with an environmental message that is serious but not preachy, and the illustrations are just gorgeous.

DeadSuperHero
July 26th, 2007, 02:56 AM
I'd highly recommend the Xanth series, by Piers Anthony. Excellent books. The first three or four books are the best ones, but they're all really good.

shen-an-doah
July 26th, 2007, 03:07 AM
Neil Gaiman-Coraline (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coraline)

It is a children's book, but being Gaimain, it's very cleverly written and whatnot. Hell, I first read it a little while ago and I love it and I'm 21!

hod139
July 26th, 2007, 03:53 AM
I enjoyed the Abhorsen series (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Kingdom_trilogy).