Books for Boys at Bookland Part 2 - Non-Caribbean books

Before the phenomenal success of the Harry Potter series, publishers had been unwilling to accept such long books, assuming children would read only short books. We have to thank J.K. Rowling for not only dispelling that myth, but also for making reading all the rage for children and teens.
Since J.K. Rowling, many authors have successfully published fantasy series for children. Not all the books in all the series listed below are on the shelves at Bookland, but they will be able to get them for you.

1. Rick Riordan. He is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Percy Jackson and the Olympians series for children, which features a twelve-year-old dyslexic boy who discovers he is the modern-day son of a Greek god.

Books in the series are

i. The Lightning Thief

ii. The Sea of Monsters

iii. The Titan's Curse

iv. The Battle of the Labyrinth

He has a new series—The Kane Chronicles:

i. Book 1: Red Pyramid

ii. Book 2: Throne of Fire

For fifteen years, Rick taught English and history at public and private middle schools. He now writes full time. His greatest satisfaction comes, not from being a bestselling author, but hearing from parents that reluctant readers cannot put down his books.


2. Neil Gaiman – “The Graveyard Book” for grades 5-8. The title tells the setting for this fantasy story.

3. Cornelia Funke wrote the Inkheart trilogy, published between 2003 and 2009—more fantasy for 9-12 year olds

i. Book 1 is Inkheart

ii. Book 2 is Inkspell

iii. Book 3 is Inkdeath (which I saw in Bookland.) Next to it on the shelf was“Reckless” published in 2011, at present a stand alone fantasy story, but a sequel may follow.

4. Paul Steward and Chris Riddell: The Edge Chronicles Fantasy Series. 10 books in this series for 9-12 year-olds.

5. Suzanne Collins: The Underland Chronicles (5 books)

i. Gregor the Overlander

ii. Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane

iii. Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods
iv. Gregor and the Marks of Secret

v. Gregor and the Code of the Claw

6. C.S. Lewis “The Chronicles of Narnia” (7 books) written in the early 1950’s, long before the current spate of fantasy stories, but reprinted and popular.

7. Lemony Snicket: A series of Unfortunate Events. There are 13 books in this series.

8. Jeff Kinney: Diary of the Wimpy Kid—many titles for 8-13 year-olds. These humorous books make a welcome change from the surfeit of fantasy.

Books for 12-15 year-olds, known in the publishing industry as young adult (YA).

9. James Patterson: The Witch and Wizard Series

James Patterson was selected by teens across America as the Children's Choice Book Awards Author of the Year in 2010. He is an internationally bestselling author.

10. Philip Pullman: His fantasy series “His Dark Materials” consists of 3 books:

i. The Golden Compass

ii. The Subtle Knife

iii. The Amber Spyglass

11. D.J.MacHale: The Pendragon Series: 10 books in this series of fantasy, science fiction and time travel.

12. Christopher Paolini: The Inheritance Cycle, starting with Eragon.
Christopher Paolini began writing Eragon at the age of 15. After writing the first draft for a year, he spent a second year rewriting it and fleshing out the story and characters. His parents saw the final manuscript and decided to self-publish Eragon. They spent a year traveling around the United States promoting the novel. He has since written sequels to Eragon.