My neurodivergent son reads at a speed I absolutely cannot keep up with. He devours 600+ page books in a matter of 48 hours and then asks for more. We’ve exhausted the junior section of our small town library and I’m needing ideas; very willing to go to the adult section but I frankly don’t have time to pre-read all these books, and we have different taste so he isn’t thrilled about a lot of suggestions I have that I know are safe.
He loves fantasy; The Ranger’s Apprentice, Wings of Fire, Eragon, and Narnia are favorites. Harry Potter is already in the queue, obviously.
Would like to avoid sexual content and strong language. Any suggestions would be great!
Edited to add: he did not like Redwall. He wasn’t able to explain why, but I think maybe because the main characters were animals and it felt childish?
by sourdoughdonuts
12 Comments
How is he with older language? That could be a rich area to mine. You could start with The Wizard of Oz series. Once he has acclimated to that, you can transition to older adult books without adult themes like maybe Sherlock Holmes or Agatha Christie mysteries. How does he feel about nonfiction?
Watership Down,
Treasure Island,
Allen Dean Foster pip and flinx series starting with for love of mother not.
Robert Heinlein juvenile science fiction series.
Discworld,
The Horatio Hornblower series by c s Forrester,
The dragon and the George and sequels by Gordon Dickson,
The Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer, the Septimus Heap series by Angie Sage, and the Bartimaeus trilogy by Jonathan Stroud. All are aimed at middle grades so will be appropriate.
Ursula Le Guin – the Earthsea books
Philip Pullman – His Dark Materials trilogy
[Nevermoor](https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/6a6d5ca1-b2f5-47be-828c-018144d3bbc7) by Jessica Townsend! It’s my favorite series even as an adult, and the only one that makes me feel the way the Harry Potter books used to.
My daughter was also like this. I’d come out of the library with a dozen books and be back the following week for more.
Here are a few that I remember.
I’m sure you’ll be back for more recs after a week though…
The Alchemyst – Michael Scott
The Nevermoor Series – Jessica Townsend
The Breadwinner Trilogy – Deborah Ellis
Discworld – Terry Pratchett
Also try Goodreads. There are some great lists on there.
*Alkatraz vs The Evil Librarians* is a really fun series that plays with the idea of a chosen one or chosen family. My kids loved it at that age.
The magic is hilarious. The world is cheeky.
Inkheart trilogy!
Ascendant trilogy by Craig Alanson, sort of a Harry Potter, but nobody comes to tell him he is a wizard and he has to figure it out on his own.
What about classics for adults where the language is a little harder? Might slow him down lol. Ofc you need to check for sexual content but I remember at that age I loved Jane Eyre, was also a voracious reader (and still am) but the different style certainly made me concentrate more when reading. Other classics like Wuthering Heights and Great Expectations don’t have any explicit sexual content but I don’t know how you feel about more complicated adult themes where sexual content might be implied
When I was his age I discovered old Doc Savage pulp novels by Lester Dent, written in the 1930’s and 40’s, and devoured them. You can find them cheap online. I recommend starting with Red Snow, as it’s a tight and thrilling adventure, and let him go from there.
“When the red snow descends, all in its path are destroyed, their bodies devoured by the scarlet rot. ARK, the monstrous-headed scholar of evil, sprays red death across a terrified nation and demands total surrender. Doc Savage is helpless as America reels under the crimson lash of deadly snow — helpless because he stands accused of murder!”
Try the Alex Rider series.
Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson. (There is violence and death)
The Wild Robot by Peter Brown.
Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan.