Books for 11 year old boys whose reading age is lower. No babyish titles are suitable

I'm a teacher looking to inspire weaker readers. All the easy reader stuff I've found is patronising and not suitable for boys.

Barrington Stoke, www.barringtonstoke.co.uk, specialise in books for struggling readers, particularly boys. All books are reading age 8 or lower and the teen and gr8reads lists have loads of very gritty content. They are written by usually pretty well known authors and look like real books.

Maybe take a look at 'Zac's Destiny'? This sword & sorcery adventure is easy to read, and should keep their attention!

Try this one:
Jeremy Brown: Spy

ta very muchly!

Try Danny Daydream by Arabella Armstrong. I am a teacher too and find that these stories appeal to boys.

Yes, the Barrington stuff is excellent. I've also found manga such as Initial D goes down really well with similar groups

Just been through several of the titles in the Sterling Point Books publishing corral, mostly about World War 2. Can highly recommend most of them because there are maps, the writing is large-ish and clear, and the topics are usually engaging. "Deadly Hunt" (about the sinking of the Bismarck), "Pearl Harbor Attack", and "Invasion: the Story of D-day" were all good. My son also liked "Great Escape", though I haven't read it myself. Then there's "Cosmic" by Frank Cottrell Boyce. My book of the year!

Have you tried the Diary of a Wimpy Kid ?
Its main character is an 11 year old boy and because its in a diary format you only need to read chunks at a time. I am not sure though what the reading age of the text is but hope this helps. My lot have all enjoyed this book.

Other books my boys have enjoyed included Geronimo Stilton series, Hover Car Racer, Famous Five by Enid Blyton and at the age of 12 they and all their classmates absolutely loved the Cherub series but please be warned the content of some of the later ones in the series is definitely teenage so you may want to check out the content of those and maybe wait a year or until his friends start on those.

Dorling Kindersley do some nice Easy Read books with content about for example Star Wars that are not too bad.
I hope you find something. Really just getting them reading anything is probably better than reading nothing so whether its the Beano or a non fiction book its all good but I have found that my kids all started really enjoying books at different ages. My youngest is a real reader and its great to finally have one who enjoys reading and who has tried all the Enid Blytons etc.
Oh and his big favourites of course are Beast Quest - would your son find that a bit young ? however it certainly has nice large text.

Bye for now.
Hope he finds a good read.

Try Joan Lennon's Wickit Chronicles - Ely Plot, Fen Gold, Ice Road and Witch Bell. Mystery adventures set in medieval times with a boy at the heart of things.

Too Ghoul For School, boys and girls love those and they are not too taxing; The Adventures of Eddie Dickens; and my 18 year old son still reads Asterix the Gaul.

i recommend artemis fowl.

My son has had and still has problems with reading, he is almost 10 now, the best way I have found to keep his attention is to go for cartoons, comics, humour books such as Captain Underpants, graphic novels. If it has a picture and makes them laugh it will keep their attention. We enjoy, Dennis the menace, Peanuts, Garfield, Calvin and Hoobes, graphic novels such as Artemis Fowl. Asterix books.

There are some really good Barrington Stoke books. The Mountain's Blood is pretty cool. It is by Lari Don whose books published by Floris are also very readable. The First Aid books have a pretty cool young male centaur and a smart 11 year old girl as the two main characters and they are nice to read out loud to kids or for them to read to themselves.

I just thought of some others. They are by Louis Sachar - the Marvin Redpost and Wayside School books were thoroughly enjoyed by my boys. They are not too small text etc.

The Phantom tollbooth - Norton Juster (funny)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid - Jeff Kinney

Bel Ria
The Lost Island

Bel Ria
The Lost Island

I have just Published Raybrite's First Adventure. It is targeted for Juvenile however it may be in the area you are looking for. The reading level according to my software was between 7 and 10 years old.
Ray Francis is an 8 year old boy living in Dayton, Ohio. He goes to a fantasy land and is known as Raybrite. His adventure takes him through a fantasy land and then back home.
It is a short story of about 18 pages.
Kenneth J Coon

On Kindle - "The Elfin Child" is both an easy read and has a lot of adventure.

Holes - Louis Sachar

Artimis Fowl is classed as YA, so may be too advanced for them.

Alex Rider series - Harowitz (classed as 9-12yrs)

Percy Jackson series

You could try graphic novel fiction as a way in, there are lots of these that also cover non-fiction areas. Look at www.franklinwatts.co.uk for a wide range of material, and also their EDGE imprint. EDGE titles include fiction and non-fiction for children looking for an energising read.

Hi, I agree with Diary of a Wimpy Kid. V manageable. Also, David Walliams has written 3 books (Mr Stink, Billionaire Boy, The Boy in the Dress) I think which also have some pictures in the text and my son also loved - humorous. He has always enjoyed Cows in Action and still would read those now if another came out. He is soon to be 12. Also Michael Lawrence has written loads of funny ones which both my boys loved, great fun but straight forward to read. We would read a chapter first then leave them in bed to read a bit themselves.
Good luck.

Our son enjoys the Astrosaurs series

Astrosaurs
Cows in Action
Beast Quest
Spiderwick Chronicles
Tintin
Asterix
Lucky Luke
Iznogoud
Captain Underpants
'i hero' series
Horrible histories
Michael Morpurgo

My eleven year old who is a good reader will still read any of these books if new ones come out.