It’s funny, after all the stuff I heard growing up about how there were never enough role models for girls in books, but as I look back through all the old, vintage, nostalgic books I have here, most of them have female main characters, and many of them are really smart and resourceful girls. It’s not too surprising that I always liked books with girls in them, being a girl myself. I don’t think I suffered any real lack of fellow girls in books when I was young. I read plenty of mysteries where girl detectives figured out all the answers, and historical novels helped me to appreciate and connect with the lives of girls in the past. As an adult, it occurs to me that some of these brave, clever girls were the product of efforts to give girls good role models in their reading, but some were simply good, likable characters who maybe weren’t as appreciated as they might have been because their books weren’t “serious” or didn’t win awards. It didn’t matter to me as a kid, as long as I liked the characters and had fun reading the stories.
So, what about the boys in books? I’ve read articles that say that boys prefer reading books with other boy characters and that the modern focus of many children’s authors and teachers isn’t providing boys with the type of books they want to read. But, since I write about nostalgic children’s books (ten years and older, as of the current date), I wanted to point out that there are many older children’s books that are still enjoyable and have interesting boys as main characters, some of which can be good role models and others which are just fun to read.
I’m of the school of thought that any well-written book with interesting characters can be fun for both boys and girls, no matter what the main characters are, but it’s understandable that boys would like to read about other boys as much as girls like stories about other girls. Actually, I think some of the best books provide a good mix of boy and girl characters, especially ones where they have to work together to accomplish something. Stories about pairs or groups of boys and girls offer something for everyone! If you’re looking for interesting books for boys or just taking a trip down memory lane, you might enjoy 50 Best Books for Boys and Young Men.
My personal favorite books with boys are the ones listed below (as always, this is a work in progress, and more will appear here later):
General Fiction
Aunt Morbelia and the Screaming Skulls (1990)
Todd’s life changes when his Great-Aunt Morbelia comes to live with his family, bringing along her ghost stories and superstitions. There are some difficulties with accommodating a new family member in the house and a clash of personalities. However, Aunt Morbelia and Todd may be what they both really need. Aunt Morbelia gives Todd the creeps with her spooky stories, but she is also a retired teacher and helps Todd with his lessons for dyslexia. By Joan Carris.
Young Walter helps a group of retired soldiers to uncover the fraud keeping them from their rightful inheritance. Walter may be something of a klutz, but he’s a true fighter, who never gives up! By John Reynolds Gardiner.
The One in the Middle is the Green Kangaroo (1981)
Freddy feels like there’s nothing special about him, that he’s just the middle child between his older brother and younger sister. Then, he gets a role in the school play! By Judy Blume.
Series
The Kids of the Polk Street School
The focus of the books alternates between Richard “Beast” Best and Emily Arrow, two second-graders in Ms. Rooney’s classroom. Richard is a realistic boy who has his problems in school and with friends. He was held back a year in school because of his poor reading skills and has to take extra lessons to improve them, something that embarrasses him sometimes. He makes mistakes and gets into trouble, like other boys, but he cares about his friends and tries to help them when he can. By Patricia Reilly Giff.
Humor
Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days!
Milo is just an average boy, but he dreams of perfection after finding a library book that promises him that he can achieve it in just three days with three easy lessons!
After Jeremy accidentally signs up for poetry class instead of pottery, he spends the entire school year annoying his teacher and becoming the world’s best D- poet. By Gordon Korman.
Frindle (1996)
A boy learns about the evolution of language when he decides to invent a new word and get others to use it. By Andrew Clements.
The Secret Life of the Underwear Champ
Larry is surprised when he is suddenly offered a part in a series of tv commercials and then horrified when he finds out that he’s going to be advertising underwear. Funny and thoughtful! By Betty Miles.
The Son of the Slime Who Ate Cleveland (1985)
A jelly bean counting contest that gets overly competitive threatens to break up Frank’s friendship with his two best friends, unless he can think of a way to salvage it. By Marjorie Weinman Sharmat.
Series
Peter Hatcher tells humorous stories about his little brother, Farley Drexel Hatcher, who everyone calls Fudge.
These boys aren’t really role models, but they can give readers a good laugh! Bruno and Boots are roommates at a boys’ boarding school in Canada. Their pranks and schemes alternately get them into trouble and help solve problems at their school. By Gordon Korman.
The Plant That Ate Dirty Socks Series
Michael and his brother Norman grow a pair of sock-eating plants. By Nancy McArthur.
Mystery
The Adventures of the Red Tape Gang
A group of neighborhood friends form a club to right the wrongs of their neighborhood but discover that there are more wrongs that they had imagined at first. By Joan Lowery Nixon.
Henry Coffin, the son of a private investigator, helps a girl search for her missing mother.
David struggles to understand his strange new step-sister as she attempts to initiate him and his siblings into the occult world and seems to awaken the poltergeist that supposedly once inhabited their house. By Zilpha Keatley Snyder.
A boy discovers that he has the ability to tell when people are lying, but he can’t always tell what secrets people are hiding.
The Mystery of the Haunted Trail
When Brian visits his pen pal in Hawaii for the summer, he confronts a ghostly mystery based on Hawaiian legends. By Janet Lorimer.
An orphan boy with a mysterious past searches for his long-lost twin and the secret to his true identity. By Barbara Brooks Wallace.
Twelve-year-old Phineas Hall and his fifteen-year-old sister, Althea, have recently moved to Maine with their father, Professor Hall, because he got a job working at the small Vandemark College. When the patriarch of the Vandemark family dies and leaves a real Egyptian mummy to the college, Professor Hall is put in charge of the exhibit, and the kids investigate the mystery that surrounds the mummy. The book has some feminist themes, but it is told from Phineas’s point of view. It involves cooperation between Phineas and his sister, and in the end, Phineas saves the day. By Cynthia Voigt.
When Robert witnesses the murder of his nosy neighbor from where he’s sitting in the cherry tree, he struggles to convince everyone that her death was more than just an accident.
Series
The Three Investigators Series
Three friends start their own detective agency, using a hideout they’ve created in the salvage yard owned by one boy’s uncle and the free transportation he’s won in a radio contest. By Robert Arthur and various other authors.
Historical Fiction
Detectives in Togas and Mystery of the Roman Ransom
A group of school boys in Ancient Rome solve mysteries of danger and political intrigue.
A boy discovers his destiny when he helps a stranger with amnesia to complete a great and terrible quest that even he can’t quite remember.
The Hidden Treasure of Glaston (1946)
Hugh, a frail boy and son of a knight, is left at the abbey of Glastonbury when his father is forced to leave England. At first, the boy feels guilty about his physical weakness, which makes it impossible for him to become a knight like his father, but his intelligence, thoughtfulness, determination, and spiritual faith help him to investigate the mysteries of Glastonbury, the supposed final resting place of King Arthur and the Holy Grail, and teaches him that there are more ways of becoming a man than one. By Eleanore Jewett.
When his father goes away to fight in the Revolutionary War and is captured, young Joey finds himself the man of his family and must try to keep the rest of his family safe while they are also in captivity with British soldiers occupying their town and even their house. By Anna Myers.
The Light at Tern Rock (1951)
A boy and his aunt agree to tend a lighthouse temporarily while the usual keeper takes a vacation. When the keeper breaks his promise to be back by Christmas, it leads to some revelations about the keeper’s life and the meaning of Christmas and family. By Julia L. Sauer.
A boy and his younger sister have some hilarious adventures with their eccentric grandmother in the rural Midwest during the Great Depression. By Richard Peck.
A boy in feudal Japan joins a theater company to save his family from starvation after a famine and learns the secret of a local folk hero. By Katherine Paterson.
A servant boy has to help his master solve the frightening mystery of a ghost that haunts a young princess amid political intrigue in Medieval Italy. By Avi.
The Traitor’s Gate (2007)
A boy in 19th century England finds himself caught up in political intrigue and family secrets. By Avi.
The Whipping Boy (1986)
A bored and bratty prince runs away with his whipping boy and learns lessons in friendship and responsibility. By Sid Fleischman.
Series
A boy (fictional) who is adopted by the famous Judge Ooka (real) helps him to solve mysteries in feudal Japan. Not for young children! Middle school and up! By Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler.
Fantasy
The Castle in the Attic and The Battle for the Castle
William discovers that the toy castle and knight that his old nanny gave to him are actually magic. With the help of a magic coin, he can make himself and others small enough to enter the castle. His magical quests are exciting and teach him some important lessons about growing up.
Jeffrey Strangeways (1990)
Jeffrey Strangeways has always wanted to be a knight, but when he gets the chance, is he up to the task?
A Plague of Sorcerers and Journeyman Wizard
Jermyn Graves is studying magic, but he is an unusual wizard with a skunk for a familiar. With the help of his familiar and his teacher, he solves magical mysteries. By Mary Frances Zambreno.
A boy, Robert, journeys to a far-off city and discovers his destiny as an ancient legend is fulfilled. By Maeve Henry.
Aaron, a teenage boy in Hollywood, California, is recruited to become a wizard’s apprentice. While learning magic, he also becomes reconciled to his parents’ divorce.
Science Fiction
Series
A boy travels through different worlds to fight an evil villain and save the universe. By D.J. MacHale. 2001-2009.
Picture Books
Gila Monsters Meet You at the Airport
A boy moving from one side of the United States to the other has misconceptions of what he’s going to find when he goes west. By Marjorie Weinman Sharmat.
Ira Sleeps Over (1972)
A young boy who is spending the night at a friend’s house worries that his friend will think that his teddy bear is silly.
Series
Alexander is an average boy who takes a humorous look at the problems of everyday life. The best-known book in the series is the first one, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.
Jestress's Forgotten Books and Stories 