Ok, I'm not a boy, so I'm not going to tell you what I read when I was that age.
However, the boys in my life have been seen to enjoy:
Beast quest (i have no idea if they're good, they are certainly popular)
any book every written by Andy Griffiths (of the day my bum went psycho fame)
The abhorsen series by garth nix
The ranger's apprentice
Philip Pullman's his dark materials series (starting with The golden compass)
eragon (towards the upper end of your age range)
The graveyard book - neil gaiman
The Hobbit - Tolkein
Anything Diary of a Wimpy kid/vampire/zombie dog
The dark is rising sequence - susan cooper
The power of one - young reader version
Across the nightingale floor (again, upper end of your age range) - lian hearne
The age range you're asking about probably straddles a couple of different ranges of fiction, 10-12's are reading differently to 13-15s. But that will depend partly on the kids themselves and their readiness for longer and more involved plot lines and/or more complex themes. FWIW I have no idea whether any of the above contain any rude bits. It's been too long since I read any of them.
Thanks heaps guys. I really appreciate the suggestions. I will go through them with DS1. He's reading at a 15-16yo level, but I don't want him too heavily involved in sexual stuff yet.
The Gillian Rubenstein ones were also really popular, and Isobel Charmody.
And other James Marsden ones (in addition to the TWTWB series).
Books made into movies also work well. Can then also discuss the differences between the film and the movie, which is great for building up their ability to analyse and critique as opposed to simply criticise (and to teach from a young age that the book is invariably better ) (I'm sort of kidding ... sort of ...)
I was reading at a 16 year old level (speed and comprehension) when I was 8 and my parents pretty much let me self select my books. There are oodles of old school teen books that don't have too much sex.
All the classics - ****ens, Austen, Thackery etc are fine.
S.E. Hinton is great.
TBH I would be more concerned about violence than sex. I just skimmed the sex parts because they didn't interest me but violent books often have violence as part of the plot so it's harder to block it.
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