Teen Boys Read Too
Discover the best books for teen boys with our curated reading list. From Hate List and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian to gritty YA fiction by Walter Dean Myers, find engaging reads that resonate with young male readers.
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Ball Don't Lie
by Matt de la Peña
Newbery Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author Matt de la Peña's Ball Don't Lie "is a must-read." [The Bulletin] Sticky is a beat-around-the-head foster kid with nowhere to call home but the street, and an outer shell so tough that no one will take him in. He started out life so far behind the pack that the finish line seems nearly unreachable. He’s a white boy living and playing in a world where he doesn’t seem to belong. But Sticky can ball. And basketball might just be his ticket out . . . if he can only realize that he doesn’t have to be the person everyone else expects him to be. Matt de la Peña's breakout urban masterpiece, Ball Don’t Lie takes place where the street and the court meet and where a boy can be anything if he puts his mind to it. ★ "[An] inspiring story. Sticky is a true original, and de la Peña has skillfully brought him to life." --School Library Journal, Starred "Riveting.... Teens will be strongly affected by the unforgettable...basketball action; and the questions about race, love, self-worth, and what it means to build a life without advantages." --Booklist "Stunningly realistic." --VOYA "Gritty and mesmerizing." --Kirkus Reviews "I have never before seen blacktop ball depicted so well. In this novel, you will find its flash, its power, and its elegance without chains. This is powerful stuff." --Antawn Jamison, forward for the Los Angeles Clippers "Truly authentic in its examination of both the game I love and the invariable missteps toward manhood. You cannot fail to be moved by the eloquence and truth of this story." --Rick Fox, former forward for the Los Angeles Lakers An ALA Best Book for Young Adults An ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers
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The Hoopster
by Alan Lawrence Sitomer
Andre Anderson is an African American teenager with a bright future. He loves to play basketball. He loves to hang out with his friends. He loves to laugh. Andre has skills, brains, and heart. He also has a dream. Then he is viciously attacked. Now everything he ever believed about the world has been called into question. Even his deadly jump shot. How can a man get up when he has been unjustly beaten down? Andre is about to find out. Andre is The Hoopster.
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Monster
by Walter Dean Myers
FADE IN: INTERIOR: Early morning in CELL BLOCK D, MANHATTAN DETENTION CENTER. Steve (Voice-Over) Sometimes I feel like I have walked into the middle of a movie. Maybe I can make my own movie. The film will be the story of my life. No, not my life, but of this experience. I'll call it what the lady prosecutor called me ... Monster.
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Hate List
by Jennifer Brown
Five months ago, Valerie Leftman's boyfriend, Nick, opened fire on their school cafeteria. Shot trying to stop him, Valerie inadvertently saved the life of a classmate, but was implicated in the shootings because of the list she helped create. A list of people and things she and Nick hated. The list he used to pick his targets. Now, after a summer of seclusion, Val is forced to confront her guilt as she returns to school to complete her senior year. Haunted by the memory of the boyfriend she still loves and navigating rocky relationships with her family, former friends and the girl whose life she saved, Val must come to grips with the tragedy that took place and her role in it, in order to make amends and move on with her life.
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Street Pharm
by Allison van Diepen
Ty Johnson inherited the family business at 14 when his father went to jail. Now 17 years old, Ty is one of the most successful drug dealers in Brooklyn. He is charming and skilled and he operates with an ethical code that has earned him serious street cred. But Ty's professional and personal life is thrown into chaos when heavyweight competitors enters the neighbourhood. Inspired by her teaching in inner-city Brooklyn, Van Diepen tells the gripping story of one boy soldier on the front lines of the US drug dealing empire.
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Driven
by KaShamba Williams
What happens when an unseen tragedy occurs? Life begins to unravel and skeletons begin to leap out of the closet. Nasir is a young man torn between street life and fatherhood, who finds his mother's scorned vengefulness and his girlfriend's enraged insecurities are driving him close to the edge. Will he be a father to his child - or will he fold under pressure?
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The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
by Sherman Alexie
Budding cartoonist Junior leaves his troubled school on the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all-white farm town school where the only other Indian is the school mascot.
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The Perfect Shot
by Elaine Marie Alphin
Brian uses basketball to block out memories of his girlfriend and her family who were gunned down a year ago, but the upcoming murder trial and a high school history assignment force him to face the past and decide how far he should go to see justice served. Includes facts about miscarriages of justice in American history.