Although most of these books may appeal to male high schoolers, many of these book recommendations are also ideal for girls, advanced middle school readers and even adults. To enhance your reading enjoyment, if you’re a parent reading this, pick up the same book as your teenager, read out loud to one another, and find favorite authors together.
Organized by categories, we hope these books for teenagers will ignite a real and lasting passion for reading. Although not fully comprehensive, we have chosen to focus on specific genres and some of the best books for teenage boys.
Summer reading list categories include: classical literature, dystopia/science fiction/fantasy, historical fiction and nonfiction books about: aviation, drones, military, history, leadership and management. We have also provided additional resources if you find a genre you really like. Whether you enjoy fiction or nonfiction, you will find some powerful and thrilling summer reading lists here.
Thought Provoking Tales for Summer Reading
Interested in life changing stories? These are all good books for teenage boys because they tell tales of lives changed by various circumstances. They inform and inspire. Epic Reads lists a whole series of good books for teens that address life changing experiences, but we added a few or our own choices.
- The Other Wes Moore – Wes Moore
- The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian – Sherman Alexie
- Thirteen Reasons Why – Jay Asher
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower – Stephen Chbosky’
- The Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger
- To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
- Looking for Alaska – John Green
Military Reading List Recommendations
Are you a history buff or someone with a passion for the military? If you love nonfiction or historical fiction, this curated reading selection will get you started. It might even compel you to check out military boarding schools in the United States. In these books, you can learn about United States history, world history and hear the voices of military heroes, war experiences and the motives behind revolutions. This is a mix of fiction and nonfiction below:
- Things They Carried – Tim O’Brien
- The Book Thief – Markus Zusak
- Never Fall Down – Patricia McCormick
- Persepolis – Marjane Satrapi’s
- The Challenge of Command – Robert Nye
- The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership – John Maxwell
- Deep Survival – Laurence Gonzales
Army Chief of Staff’s Reading List
To find more books related to the military, check out the Army Chief of Staff’s Reading List as noted by The Military Leader. The Chief of Staff’s list is “separated into four sections: The Army Profession, The Force of Decisive Action, Broadening Leaders, and The Strategic Environment.”
Explore Books About Aviation and Drones
Interested in becoming a pilot or entering the field of aeronautics in the future? Want to build a drone or do drone photography? These books will motivate you to explore the world of aviation, engineering, technology, and math. They could even help you advance your skills in STEM-related classes and electives in high school.
- Aviation Stick and Rudder – Wolfgang Langewiesche
- Flight of Passage: A Memoir – Rinker Buck
- Last of the Bush Pilots – Helmerick
- Build a Drone – Merlin Debrie
- Eyes Over the World – Dirk Dallas et al.
Lean into Life Skills, Leadership, and Management Books
Interested in developing real world skills in leadership, management and gaining new life skills? Here is a book series to consider if you have interests in any of the following: high school student government, captain in a sport, JROTC leadership, or see your future career involving leadership or management..
These are very good books for teenage boys because they are filled with life lessons that apply to moving from boyhood to adulthood, as well as tips to become successful in life and your future profession.
Besides, they will also make your college application stand out as you learn and grow personally and as a leader. These are popular books for teens and and young adults.
- Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations – Alex Harris, Brett Harris
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens: The Ultimate Teenage Success Guide – Sean Covey
- Rich Dad Poor Dad for Teens: The Secrets about Money – That You Don’t Learn in School! – Robert Kiyosaki
- How to Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie
- Developing the Leader Within You – John Maxwell
- Created for Work: Practical Insights for Young Men – Bob Schultz
- Boyhood and Beyond: Practical Wisdom for Becoming a Man – Bob Schultz
- Real Citizenship: Practical Steps for Making an Impact on Your Culture – Tim Echols
- Blink – Malcolm Gladwell
Challenge Yourself to Read the Best Classical Literature
Interested in reading classical literature this summer? Here is a list of some world famous literature that might be of interest to teenage boys. Whether you plan to apply to The Ivy League, top public and private colleges or universities or the military service academies, this reading list will put you in the “well-read” category and set you apart from other college applicants. It will also impress your English teacher!
A good education all begins with reading books for pleasure during the school year and during the summer. Put these on your summer reading list and these literary classics will challenge and change you.
- Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
- Les Miserables – Victor Hugo
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame – Victor Hugo
- The Divine Comedy – Dante Alighieri
- Hamlet – William Shakespeare
- The Sorrows of Young Werther – Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
- The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
- Fathers and Sons – Ivan Turgenev
- A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
- Notes from the Underground – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
- War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
- Dead Souls – Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol
- The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
- One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel García Márquez
- The Stranger – Albert Camus
- Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
How to Find Reading Lists for Teenagers
To continue to expand your summer reading lists, ask for suggestions from friends, faculty, libraries, bookstores, and do internet research. Here are some additional website lists of books for teens to check out below (use the search terms provided).
Reading Lists for Teens:
- Barnes and Noble – Boys and Young Men Teen Fiction
- Amazon – Books for Teenage Boys
- Imagination Soup – Teen Summer Reading List
- Edutopia – Must Read Books for High School Students
- Epic Reads – Books That Will Change Your View of the World
- The Great Books Foundation – High School 9-12
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