Are you unsure of what to read aloud with teens? Do you ever get a little overwhelmed looking through the YA section at your local bookstore or library?
Not to worry. I’m here today with 5 (OK, plus one more!) books to read with your teens.
In this episode, you’ll hear:
- a book that helped me fill up my reading journal with meaningful quotes
- the one I’d change the title and cover of, if I could
- and two books that are so good on audio, you and your teen might end up driving around the block a time or two!
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of the Read-Aloud Revival podcast
Want the transcript?
Download the transcript from this episode
of the Read-Aloud Revival podcast
Books from this episode:
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Episode 68
Links from today’s show:
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The False Prince series is great by Jessica Nielson. Jessica Day George’s books are good too–some for early teens/tweets, but some for older. I LOVE Megan Whalen Turner’s Queen’s Thief series.
Thanks! I just put those on hold at the library.
I loved the False Prince series. Don’t give up in the first few chapters. The beginning is so dark that I wasn’t sure redemption was coming. Interesting character development and ethical struggles in this book – grounds for great discussion.
Looks like False Prince is on sale on audible as well.
I have read all of these books except The Charlatan’s Boy and love each one of them. Such great stories with so many layers worth thinking about and discussing. What a great list!
The timing of this could not be more perfect! We just had a “conversation ” about why a newly released book my daughter wanted to read was not appropriate. Thank you, thank you!
Princess Academy is my all time favorite girls book and Navigating Early (I listened to it as a audiobook) is my all time favorite boy book. I am thrilled to see both are in this episode. My teen daughter has read the whole Princess Academy series and loved them. My sister’s family listened to the audiobook of Navigating Early in the car after I recommended it and couldn’t listen to it unless her husband was in the car so that he could finish it with them.
Thank you! Thank You! Thank You! My kids love to read, but are all teens and it is so hard to make book suggestions. I would love more teen book suggestions on your RAR book lists.
I agree! I would love to see more tween/teen appropriate book reviews and recommendations. That would be great!!!
Thank you!
Every child *must* read I Am David. Must. And the Audible audio is wonderful. The narrator does a superb job. I think slightly younger children can read it, but early teens and on would be a great time too.
Haven’t heard of that one- I’m requesting it now. :)
What?!
*Faints in disbelief. * Revive me when you’ve finished reading.
(The simplicity and depth of this book, its insights into the human heart are simply unmatched in anything I’ve ever read elsewhere. It was first read to me in sixth grade and has stayed with me for almost twenty years. Yeah. That powerful. )
Agreed. I Am David (alternately titled North to Freedom) is one of my favorites. My teen enjoyed it too.
My 14 year old son & I were reading this after seeing that it had been in a previous Sonlight (homeschool lit-based curriculum) package. We were loving it & then he did that thing that I love/hate. Halfway in, he booknapped this title and finished it in one sitting, leaving me in the dust!!!! He loved it.
Seconding Cari’s suggestion on the False Prince series for mid to younger teens!
For those with older teens, 16 up, and looking for more recently published titles, recommending News of the World by Paulette Jiles – has 2 curse words – easy to edit out, and the YA edition of Unbroken ~ Laura Hillenbrand (very gritty content!).
Thanks to the RAR team, my 15yr old Dd & I have gone back to revisit some of the younger years titles that get mentioned on your podcasts….. just because we love good books. Our thanks again
Thank you! You just filled up my hold queue at the library. :)
I love it when that happens!
I’ll third The False Prince series. I couldn’t put it down and neither could my oldest when he read it. It was our book gift for all of his friends last year as well and was well received.
What a great list! I can’t wait to get started. I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind to share your two older girls’ books they’re reading at the moment or ones you’ve lined up for them this school year. I have two middle schoolers and would really love to hear suggestions.
Audrey (age 15) is re-reading the Betsy -Tacy series. Allison (age 13) is reading The Giver by Lois Lowry.
I’m not making lists for them this year– they both have assigned lists from our homeschool co-op for their history/literature classes, so I’m just going to let the free-read to the hilt! And maybe pop a book on their stack every now and again with something I know they’ll enjoy. :)
Just had to say, my two daughters are Audrey (9) and Allison (6). Excellent choice in names, lol. Also excellent taste in books, my Audrey loves the Betsy and Tacy books. I loved The Giver and look forward to sharing it with my girls in the future. Thank you for all the wonderful suggestions, they make our reading life fuller.
Thank you for the list. My oldest is 3 years old, youngest is 2 months, so I’ve added these wonderful suggestions to their individual Amazon wish lists. It’s never to early to build their teen library. Maybe I’ll buy them for myself first!
I do the same thing (building individual libraries for my littles but reading the books for myself ❤). Also, oh my gosh, love your name!! My daughter is also named Irina (I was a little obsessed with holocaust heroines when I was pregnant with her. Her name is inspired by Irena Sendler) I rarely see it. Beautiful name!!
Interesting! We read a picture book with my kids called Irena’s Jars of Secrets and it was wonderful! Such a great and compelling story! You probably read that one already, since you were obsessed with holocaust heroines, but if you didn’t, you can probably get if from the library or you can hear a read aloud version on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFNugWbunXY&t=426s.
Popped over here to see which books you recommended so I could add some to my library request queue because my husband has been asking for new books to read. Thanks so much! Looking forward to listening to the podcast.
We have read Princess Academy. Our family started out with The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale many years ago. (I still think that was even better than The Princess Academy, but they are all wonderful reads!)
We have also read Huck Finn aloud. I needed a nap after each reading, but it was worth it!
N.D. Wilson anything. His books have been the highlight of summer read-alouds with our teen for the past two years. I know you’ve recommended him before (and he was an awesome guest on the podcast), but he can’t go unmentioned here. He should be at the top of every (book) list for teens. 😊
Yes! I second N D Wilson.
Our kids (11-16) can’t put them down!
Thanks Jamie!
I let my 15 year old boy free rein of the YA section just recently. He has good moral standards so I just said to be careful and stop reading anything that is inappropriate. I have picked up some of the books and read them myself. That gave us the opportunity for some meaty discussions. We were surprised that so many of them have the same themes – drinking, boy/girl relationships, parties, swearing and blaspheming. They all seem to have low expectations of the teenagers rather than making them want to become better people. How much nicer it would be if YA fiction inspired our youth to be moral, inspirational people! These types of books for 15 and up seem to be hard to find.
So glad to hear that you are using even these less than perfect books to spark discussions and create connection with your son!
These themes are what I find predominant in YA books. Even for littles books. Hence I really appreciate these kinds of lists. The lists and trusted recommendations cut down on the wasted time and effort of beginning to read through the others only to find the content that is tediously accepted as “good”.
Hooray! You actually have a few titles we haven’t already read!!!! I’ve been reading aloud to my family for over 17 years, and though we return to our favorites in cycles, it’s always fun to find some new treasures.
Thanks!
What about non-fiction? My almost 14 year-old son ONLY wants to read/hear true stories…
Thank you so much for this episode! We loved Moon Over Manifest and have been meaning to read together Navigating Early. I’ve avoided Brown Girl Dreaming only because I didn’t know how to approach a novel written in verse. It seemed so awkward when I would look at it. I’ve pulled it off the shelf at the library and bookstores at least 10 times and have re-shelved it thinking I wasn’t up to “reading poetry for hundreds of pages aloud.” Thanks to your advice and encouragement, we’re actually going to give this one a go.
Also, I’d love to add that a recent favorite in our family was Hattie, Big Sky by Kirby Larson.
Yes! We love Hattie Big Sky! And so glad to hear you are going to try Brown Girl Dreaming…the audio book is excellent too if you lose your nerve! ;)
I just found Claire Vanderpool’s books in the last year. They are so well written and captivating. I highly recommend both of them.
Out of the Dust is a wonderful novel in verse. The content is very difficult, but it is so well written and moving.
I really enjoyed this podcast. I have not hear of many new books appropriate for my children and I am thankful to have found this list.
I loved the False Prince series. Don’t give up in the first few chapters. The beginning is so dark that I wasn’t sure redemption was coming. Interesting character development and ethical struggles in this book – grounds for great discussion.
@ happy wheels @
https://happywheelsreview.com/
My boys 11/13 LOVED Wednesday Wars but meh on Boundless, we will try Okay For Now which is somewhat of a continuation of WW
So I have to tell you that my 13 yo son listened to Wednesday Wars audio and then I read Shakespeare Stealer and Shakespeare’s Scribe and then he and the 11 yo brother decided they had to read The Tempest and Hamlet. Win-Win-Win
Thank you for such awesome recommendations! I can’t wait for them to arrive.
Thank you so much for your podcasts. They are encouraging and helpful. Just wondering how you navigate choosing read aloud books when the age span is big. I have 4 boys, ages 16, 14, 12 and 7. I tend to choose books that appeal to my older boys since they don’t engage much with the younger audience books, or they’ve already ready them. However, that doesn’t always draw in my 7 year old. We have a wonderful consistent morning time that always ends with a chapter from whatever novel we are reading, but I’m struggling more and more to find books that grab all of them, or have appropriate content that’s OK for my 7 year old to be hearing. Any thoughts on how you navigate that would be much appreciated! I could split them, but I love the together time and bonding we share with it, so trying to avoid that if at all possible! =)
Read 3 chapters of “The Boundless” by Kenneth Oppel to my 11yo daughter and 13 yo son. 11 yo getting frustrated saying the story is confusing. 13 yo who now “Hates books” always asks me to keep reading this when I stop. I decided to put the book by his bedside the other night and told him I left it there if he wanted to read ahead. It is a STRUGGLE to get him to read books I pick out. Shocked and ecstatic I was to find him reading this book 2 nights in a row! Thanks for the suggestion and I will be looking for other books by this same author:)
Hello
I purchased the companion audio files for the read aloud family, from classical academic press.
Great interviews.
I’d love to get the show notes, for those 4 discussions.
How do I get them?
Thank you
Hi, Marina! Unfortunately, we don’t have show notes for those audios. Peace keep you.
I like reading through a post that can make men and women think.
Also, thanks for allowing for me to comment!