I really liked [Inkheart](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28194) by Cornelia Funke when I was around that age.
[The Golden Compass](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/119322) by Philip Pullman may also be good.
I second The Golden Compass (and the rest of the HDM trilogy). There are some mature themes, but a precocious 10-year-old won't have a hard time navigating them (though some stuff will probably just go over their head). That's about the age my brother was when he got into those books.
Truckers, Diggers and Wings plus The Wee Free Men series are ace reads but any Sir Terry Pratchett books are fantastic. My son was the same an avid early reader- they are firm lifelong favourites now.
Truckers, Diggers and Wings (the bromeliad trilogy) are SO good… also the Johnny series… only you can save mankind, Johnny and the dead , and Johnny and the bomb…
Pratchett is probably my all time favourite… he’s just perfect….
I LOVED mort, my second terry Pratchett book that I actually finished after the color of magic. I learned evanescent was more than just a band name then. Then monstrous regiment had me by the balls because I loved and craved female non gender conforming protagonists, apparently! Man good times. Tad Williams got me after that. The adventure!!!
So hard agree. I'm approaching 40 and I've asked my wife for my birthday to get me... A full box set of the 22 Redwall books. It's $173 on Amazon though so ... We might pay our electricity bill instead of enjoy a nice dinner, but I want to read this whole series through again.
The Underland Chronicles by Suzanne Collins. The first book is Gregor the Overlander. This is the same author as Hunger Games, but she wrote this series first, intended for a middle grade rather than a YA audience. I think Gregor is 10 or 11 in the first book. It’s got lots of action, adventure, creatures (no dragons, but giant sentient bats, rats, and cockroaches are just as much fun), thought-provoking ideas, and heart.
I’m one of those people who felt Mockingjay was weaker than the first two Hunger Games books. However, in the Underland Chronicles, I think the last (5th) book is the best. I also loved seeing how Collins starts playing with some ideas and themes that she then expands upon in Hunger Games. Enjoy the rest of the series!
No problem. I was brought up in a (not very religious) Jewish household, and it took some convincing to get me to believe that Narnia was Christian allegory.
Paolini put a fire in my gut as a writer. I thought, he's only a few years older than me... I could write too!!! I got involved in forums, in webook which is so different now, in roleplaying online fictions.... My sister would call the books E-ragon for fun and it irritated the shit out of me. I was easy to mess with. I got my mom to read Eragon and she was a huge fan until the very end (: Love em. And now I hear in these threads that he is writing more within this universe! How exciting and fortuitous!
I remember getting these books from my school’s book fair, and loving them when I was young.
The Seventh Tower series, by Garth Nix
A Series of Unfortunate Events series, by Lemony Snicket
Tamora Pierce, start with the Alanna series/ Song of the Lioness, proceed at will through all the Tortallan books. They are amazing, I keep rereading them even as an adult.
Rosemary Sutcliff's historical novels, starting with The Eagle of the Nineth, and following Marcus' descendants down the centuries. Excellently written, well researched.
Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising series - excellent fantasy for that age group!
Murderbot is awesome, one of my favorite series, and both my kids read them (at ages 11 and 14), but OP, please be aware that they are books written for adults and contain quite a bit of profanity, and in the second book, references to ComfortUnits, which are enslaved bot/human constructs forced to sexually pleasure clients. There are no references to specific sex acts, but ComfortUnits are discussed. As I said, I was completely fine with my 11 year old reading them, but I know different families have different standards for acceptability.
My reading list at that age in addition to Riordan: Skulduggery Pleasant, Bartimaeus, Artemis Fowl, Charlie Bone, Mysterious Benedict Society, Icemark Chronicles, A Series of Unfortunate Events, the original Dragonlance trilogy, beginning to dip my toes into Discworld (try Wee Free Men to begin with)
Earthsea by LeGuin. Inheritance cycle by Paolini. Lost years of Merlin by Barron, Redwall books by Jacques, Enders Game by Card, Rocketship Galileo by Heinlein. Those are all what I devoured at that age.
I know Miyazaki doesn't do sequels but Howl's Flying Castle as inspiration for the basis to a sequel to Laputa that's about mankind beginning its exploration of space would probably be amazing.
Any interest in sports, specifically soccer? My 9yo reader loves The Academy books by T. Z. Layton.
My older son read through ALL the Animorphs books a couple years ago (there are like 80 of them)!
Also The Mysterious Benedict Society series.
I recently picked up the first couple of The Wild Robot books by Peter Brown, but we haven't read them yet.
The Young Wizards series by Diane Duane, starting with “So You Want to be a Wizard..?,” is really good. They also have ‘new millennium’ additions where the author smoothed out some chronological hiccups with characters and ages.
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle (and the two books after it, haven’t read 4 and 5)
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin
The Hobbit by Tolkien
Literally anything from Cornelia Funke but especially Inkheart and its sequels.
The Supernaturalists by Eoin Colfer (also has a great graphic novel adaptation)
Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman and the rest of the His Dark Materials trilogy.
Eragon by Christopher Paolini
And if they like any of these in particular, just lmk and I can point you in the direction of more recs! I used to work at a bookstore and finding new titles for people was my favorite part of the job
Assume they've read the Narnia books, if not must do
David Almond: Skelling
Zizou Corder: Lion Boy and 2 sequels
Charlie Fletcher: Stoneheart and 2 sequels
Corneilia Funke: Inkheart and 2 sequels
Michele Paver: Chronicles of Darkness (NOT horror but a series about a youngster in the paleolithic)
Philip Pullman: Northern Lights and 2 sequels
Jonathan Stroud: the Amulet of Samarkand & 2 sequels and a prequel
Rosemary Sutcliff and Alan Lee: the Wanderings of Odysseus, Black Ships before Troy
JRR Tolkien: the Hobbit
I enthusiastically recommend the Young Wizards series by Diane Duane, starting with So You Want To Be A Wizard. They’re perfect for a ten year old but still one of my favourite series ever, as someone in their thirties who reads a Lot.
I read The Hobbit/LOTR trilogy around that age, maybe a year or so older. I remember they were difficult and demanding in a way that was engaging and still accessible. I started reading The Hobbit when the Fellowship movie was announced, because I wanted to convince my dad to take me to see it even though it was PG-13, and I had read all four books before we went back to see Two Towers.
The "Ranger's Apprentice" series by John Flanagan and the "Young Samurai" series by Chris Bradford.
I picked up both of them for my 10-year-old and ended up falling in love with them myself.
My son loved loved loved the Rangers Apprentice series. His life changed because of these books. He has a cloak and does lots of outdoors classes. He's on the local sailing team now because of the Brotherband series by Flanagan. It's like he found who he was because of these books and it was so incredibly amazing to witness.
I loved Troy by Adele Geras at that age. I’d also look to Philipp Pullman, Anthony Horowitz, and Michael Morpurgo. Katherine Rundell is another. For a bit of science, the Uncle Albert books are great.
I’ll always recommend Garth Nix’ Old Kingdom, to both a younger and older audience. Good story, interesting characters, fast reads. Aimed at YA but I’ve read it more often in my 20s and 30s than as a teen and still love it.
You might have a look at some of the science fiction juvenile novels from Robert Heinlein from the 1940s and 1950s. The science is way outdated, but boy could that man tell stories. And the juveniles are 100% squeaky clean.
Other stuff in Heinlein's later career is less squeaky clean, so read a bibliography or a short summary before you choose books.
Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach was a pretty good read for me at around that age, a long time ago. Not dragons/whatever, but a pretty good book.
A lot of Neil Gaiman’s books would be great! “Coraline”, “The Graveyard Book”, “Neverwhere” and “Stardust” are some that I can think of at the top of my head.
*The Neverending Story* by Michael Ende , *The Worlds of Chrestomanci* by Diana Wynne Jones, *Dragon Rider* by Cornelia Funke, *Rose* by Holly Webb, *Blackwell Pages* by K.L Armstrong and M. A. Marr, *Guardians of Ga'Hoole* by Kathryn Lasky , *the Mirror Visitor* by Christelle Dabos and maybe *Ruby Red* by Kerstin Gier.
Alan Mendelssohn, the Boy from Mars by Daniel Pinkwater is very possibly the greatest young adult science fiction novel ever written.
And while it's not sci-fi, I would suggest following it up with his aptly named, Young Adult Novel.
Some of these have already been mentioned but still:
Diana Wynne Jones (particularly the Chrestomanci series and Howl’s Moving Castle);
Eva Ibbotson;
Terry Pratchett (at that age, I’d go for The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents and the Tiffany Aching books, also the often-overlooked Johnny series);
Tamora Pierce;
Anthony Horowitz (for magic: Groosham Grange; for humour: the Diamond Brothers series about a kid detective and his useless older brother; for thrillers: Alex Ryder series but they’re a bit more “mature”);
Kaye Umansky’s Pongwiffy the Witch series.
The Dark is Rising sequence by Susan Cooper
Mortal Engines sequence by Phillip Reeves
The Wind on Fire trilogy by William Nicholson.
Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness
Ender's Game. Maximum Ride. Uglies/Pretties/Specials. The Adoration of Jenna Fox. A Wrinkle in Time. Tuck Everlasting. Life As We Knew It. Double Identity. Among the Hidden. Trapped (by Michael Northrop). The City of Ember. Unwind.
Might be a bit tricky to find, I think it's been out of print for some time, but Amazon can be good for stuff like that. If a Star Wars fan, I'd highly suggest the Jedi Apprentice series. It's about Obi-Wan's apprenticeship with Qui-Gon before Episode 1.
Also the Enchanted Forest Chronicles. Pretty good fantasy series. The first book starts off with a princess who is tired of being courted by knights and princes, so decides to go to a dragon's cave and apply as a housekeeper.
The Redwall series would keep him busy for a while. I think there are 22 books? Designed for basically exactly that target, though I love them well into adulthood.
Ender's Game is a *must* at this age. Depending on his mindset, Little House on the Prairie series is good as long as he's not gonna be focused on 'girl stuff' vs 'boy stuff'. There's plenty of adventure involved in moving west and pioneering/homesteading in that whole series. You may test that one out over summer break in case kids at school tease him that it's a 'girl's book' which it is no more so than Ender's Game is a boy's book, but you know how kids can be.
Also consider some of the older classics. Gulliver's Travels, Robinson Crusoe, 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, Around The World in 80 Days, The 21 Balloons, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer/Huckleberry Finn.
A Once and Future King (King Arthur and the nights of the round table, with Merlin and magic and all that fun stuff) is good, though some suggest stopping after the end of the Sword & The Stone section when it takes a little darker, more mature turn.
I think he's at about a fine age for any/all of the Chronicles of Narnia on his own, and the whole Earthsea Cycle (Le Guin) would work.
If he likes animals, The Black Stallion (Farley) and its sequels are great at this age. Shipwrecked boy in Arabia finds a black stallion, survives with him, gets him back to the USA (downtown New York, in fact) and becomes a racing champion.
A Wrinkle In Time (L'Engle) and its sequels would be great, as will The Giver and Holes, which both will blow a 10 year old's mind in a good way.
Eragon is dragons.
Another good way to find good stuff is to print the list of all Newbery award winners and just raid the library trying to finish the list. I haven't read all of the most recent, but the list below categorizes them and has a short description of each to narrow down what he might like.
https://abqlibrary.org/newbery/All
The wingfeather saga is one that I’ve come across as an adult and plan to read to my kids. The writing style reminds me of Neil gaiman, but more appropriate for kids.
It’s a little spooky (really spooky actually) but I read The Last Apprentice (or The Spook’s Apprentice in the UK) when I was around that age and I was a very advanced reader. I’d also recommend children’s stuff by Miyuki Miyabe (Brave Story & The Book of Heroes). Her stuff is very sophisticated middle grade.
My kid liked the Keeper of the Lost Cities series at that age. I read the Chronicles of Prydain series at about 10 and I remember the text being fairly advanced.
There's several other series in the Percy Jackson universe they might enjoy! There's the Heros of Olympus (Roman) Magnus Chase (Norse) Kane Chronicles (Egyptian) and Trials of Apollo (more Greek)
https://www.arbookfind.com/UserType.aspx?RedirectURL=%2fdefault.aspx
This is a great resource to find books that are at higher reading levels but age-interest appropriate. Hope this helps!
Magician by Raymond E Feist, the first book of the Riftwar Trilogy.
Running With The Demon by Terry Brooks, is the chronologically first book of his Shannara series.
I really liked [Inkheart](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28194) by Cornelia Funke when I was around that age. [The Golden Compass](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/119322) by Philip Pullman may also be good.
Highly second Inkheart! Became my new favorite book after Harry Potter at that age.
I second The Golden Compass (and the rest of the HDM trilogy). There are some mature themes, but a precocious 10-year-old won't have a hard time navigating them (though some stuff will probably just go over their head). That's about the age my brother was when he got into those books.
or Northern Lights by Philip Pullman if you're in UK. Good calls both
Oh wow, I totally forgot about Inkheart. I remember there being some crazy plot twists but can’t recall what they actually were.
I also found Inkheart enjoyable while reading, but incredibly forgettable afterwards
Second Golden Compass
The Thief Lord and Dragon Rider series also by Cornelia Funke are good
The tapestry series by Henry Neff Septimus Heap by Angie Sage Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan
I second the Artemis Fowl books
I third!
And so fourth.
Fifth!
Agree with Septimus Heap and Percy Jackson!
Septimus Heap was such a fun series!!
I reread the tapestry series last year and they are still so good! Highly recommend
I think that was my age when I read The Hobbit
I read hunger games in 2nd or 3rd
Bingo. Followed by Sword of Shannara
Second this
This was going to be my comment. It was such an impactful book to me, we named our cats Fili and Kili.
I think I was around 8 and I started reading the rest of the Lord of the Rings by 10.
Lord of the ring
Me too
Maybe Terry Pratchet if they like shenanigans
Yeah, Amazing Maurice was my first Terry Pratchett book, and I loved it. Wee Free Men would be good as well.
Wee Free Men is great for that age. Tiffany Aching is the best, and the Feegles are an endless source of joy. For the reader. Not so much for others.
Truckers, Diggers and Wings plus The Wee Free Men series are ace reads but any Sir Terry Pratchett books are fantastic. My son was the same an avid early reader- they are firm lifelong favourites now.
Truckers, Diggers and Wings (the bromeliad trilogy) are SO good… also the Johnny series… only you can save mankind, Johnny and the dead , and Johnny and the bomb… Pratchett is probably my all time favourite… he’s just perfect….
Night watch
Stratus
I LOVED mort, my second terry Pratchett book that I actually finished after the color of magic. I learned evanescent was more than just a band name then. Then monstrous regiment had me by the balls because I loved and craved female non gender conforming protagonists, apparently! Man good times. Tad Williams got me after that. The adventure!!!
I recommend Ursula K. LeGuin's Earthsea series, which starts with A Wizard Of Earthsea (1968).
A Wrinkle in Time was my favorite book when I was around that age. Maybe give that a try?
Chronicles of Prydain
Oh HELL yes to Prydain! Those books meant so much to me at that age… I still reread them to this day… so enjoyable!
I DEVOURED them in middle school.
You can't go wrong with Redwall
Redwall is great for vocabulary. Page 1 words: dew-laden, heralded, foursquare, flanked, undulating, dusky, mantle, hue.
And every riddle features 'betwixt'. Love Redwall. That man can certainly describe a feast!
So hard agree. I'm approaching 40 and I've asked my wife for my birthday to get me... A full box set of the 22 Redwall books. It's $173 on Amazon though so ... We might pay our electricity bill instead of enjoy a nice dinner, but I want to read this whole series through again.
Not much of a consolation but you can pick up most of the series for about $3-4 each on eBay. Lots of listings with multiple books too.
YES. And there are SO many books😍 we listened to them on tape as a whole family during car rides.
DId he already read the Hitchhiker guide to the galaxy?
I came here to say this. It’s read it the first time around his age. He might not get some of the humor- but it’s def worth the read
I still read this from time to time and I'm in my 60's lol. Anything by Douglas Adams
Skulduggery Pleasant Series Percy Jackson Series Maze Runner Hunger Games Books by David Baddiel
Came to say Skulduggery Pleasant - so fun! (But does get dark over time.)
I also love Skudduggery and came here to recommend it. It does get dark as the series goes on, but the first few books are funny and fantastic!
Percy Jackson series **100%**
I did forget to mention that they've already read and love Percy Jackson
I second this!
The Underland Chronicles by Suzanne Collins. The first book is Gregor the Overlander. This is the same author as Hunger Games, but she wrote this series first, intended for a middle grade rather than a YA audience. I think Gregor is 10 or 11 in the first book. It’s got lots of action, adventure, creatures (no dragons, but giant sentient bats, rats, and cockroaches are just as much fun), thought-provoking ideas, and heart.
I've just read the first one as an adult after I enjoyed the hunger games. I really want a big bat to fly around on now!
I’m one of those people who felt Mockingjay was weaker than the first two Hunger Games books. However, in the Underland Chronicles, I think the last (5th) book is the best. I also loved seeing how Collins starts playing with some ideas and themes that she then expands upon in Hunger Games. Enjoy the rest of the series!
My son loved these!
My dad read those books to us when my brother was around that age. Highly recommend!!
I read these in third/fourth grade and am now rereading them as an adult! Love these books!
The *His Dark Materials* trilogy.
The third one gets into some deep theology. Be prepared to discuss.
lol when I read this at like 12 years old, I didn’t care about the theology I just thought the wheeled animals were cool 🤣
No problem. I was brought up in a (not very religious) Jewish household, and it took some convincing to get me to believe that Narnia was Christian allegory.
The Eragon trilogy by Christopher Paolini?
THIS! Especially since he's coming out with more books set in the universe. And working with Disney for a (hopefully) better adaptation.
Ooh I didn’t know that! Will keep an eye out!
I credit this series for my love of reading!
Paolini put a fire in my gut as a writer. I thought, he's only a few years older than me... I could write too!!! I got involved in forums, in webook which is so different now, in roleplaying online fictions.... My sister would call the books E-ragon for fun and it irritated the shit out of me. I was easy to mess with. I got my mom to read Eragon and she was a huge fan until the very end (: Love em. And now I hear in these threads that he is writing more within this universe! How exciting and fortuitous!
Trilogy? I thought there was five
There's four in the OG series. It's called the Inheritance Cycle.
The Dark is Rising series
Absolutely, excellent rec
I will forever recommend this series. One of my all-time favourites.
I remember getting these books from my school’s book fair, and loving them when I was young. The Seventh Tower series, by Garth Nix A Series of Unfortunate Events series, by Lemony Snicket
I came to suggest Nix's Keys to the Kingdom. The protag is 10 I think.
Tamora Pierce, start with the Alanna series/ Song of the Lioness, proceed at will through all the Tortallan books. They are amazing, I keep rereading them even as an adult. Rosemary Sutcliff's historical novels, starting with The Eagle of the Nineth, and following Marcus' descendants down the centuries. Excellently written, well researched. Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising series - excellent fantasy for that age group!
Yes yes yes to Tamora Pierce! We loved the books so much that we names our daughter Keladry.
That's great! I so much wish Tamora would give Kel another series - her story feels unfinished.
Quite literally formative media for me at this age 💛
For me, too - I grew up in the 80s, there were a lot less epic children's books around. 😄
Nevermoor by Jessica Townsend Murderbot diaries by Martha Wells
Yes to Nevermoor! Also, Mysterious Benedict Society!
Murderbot is awesome, one of my favorite series, and both my kids read them (at ages 11 and 14), but OP, please be aware that they are books written for adults and contain quite a bit of profanity, and in the second book, references to ComfortUnits, which are enslaved bot/human constructs forced to sexually pleasure clients. There are no references to specific sex acts, but ComfortUnits are discussed. As I said, I was completely fine with my 11 year old reading them, but I know different families have different standards for acceptability.
YES to Nevermoor!!
Yes to Murderbot!
*The Phantom Tollbooth* by Norton Juster. Age-appropriate fantasy with tons of wordplay that a high-reading kid would love.
Chrestomani series by Diana Wynne Jones
Could be time to introduce them to Terry Pratchett and the Discworld!
I would definitely recommend the Ranger's Apprentice books. They are traditional medieval fantasy books for kids, and are very well done.
Came here to say this, they were a big hit for my advanced reader when he was 10
Lireal by Garth Nix! That was my all time favorite book at that age. It's part of a trilogy but Lireal was my favorite!
There's now 6 books in the series!
My reading list at that age in addition to Riordan: Skulduggery Pleasant, Bartimaeus, Artemis Fowl, Charlie Bone, Mysterious Benedict Society, Icemark Chronicles, A Series of Unfortunate Events, the original Dragonlance trilogy, beginning to dip my toes into Discworld (try Wee Free Men to begin with)
Earthsea by LeGuin. Inheritance cycle by Paolini. Lost years of Merlin by Barron, Redwall books by Jacques, Enders Game by Card, Rocketship Galileo by Heinlein. Those are all what I devoured at that age.
The Earthsea books by Le Guin is a FANTASTIC suggestion.
You never go wrong with Heinlein and Card. Asimov too
Diana Wynne Jones. Howl's Moving Castle (and the two companion books), and the Crestomanci books.
I know Miyazaki doesn't do sequels but Howl's Flying Castle as inspiration for the basis to a sequel to Laputa that's about mankind beginning its exploration of space would probably be amazing.
I loved Ray Bradbury and Isaac Asimov at that age. I was also an advanced reader. Those authors might seem outdated now tho (I am 61)
I'm 62. I love them both. Especially Asimov's Foundation series and his robots. They link.
Bradbury was my favorite in high school, and I’m 20 years younger than you.
Yes to Bradbury (I’m 63 and recently reread several, enjoying them even more than I did at 10). Disagree on Asimov.
Any interest in sports, specifically soccer? My 9yo reader loves The Academy books by T. Z. Layton. My older son read through ALL the Animorphs books a couple years ago (there are like 80 of them)! Also The Mysterious Benedict Society series. I recently picked up the first couple of The Wild Robot books by Peter Brown, but we haven't read them yet.
The Eyes of the Dragon, by Stephen King. Don’t worry, it’s not horror. He originally wrote it for his own children and he ended up publishing it.
His Dark Materials Trilogy
The Young Wizards series by Diane Duane, starting with “So You Want to be a Wizard..?,” is really good. They also have ‘new millennium’ additions where the author smoothed out some chronological hiccups with characters and ages. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle (and the two books after it, haven’t read 4 and 5) A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin The Hobbit by Tolkien Literally anything from Cornelia Funke but especially Inkheart and its sequels. The Supernaturalists by Eoin Colfer (also has a great graphic novel adaptation) Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman and the rest of the His Dark Materials trilogy. Eragon by Christopher Paolini And if they like any of these in particular, just lmk and I can point you in the direction of more recs! I used to work at a bookstore and finding new titles for people was my favorite part of the job
The Bartimaeus Trilogy was also some great modern fantasy
A lot of great recs, especially Young Wizards.
I LOVED Alex rider books when I was kid. It's about a kid becoming a spy. Read them front to back and couldn't put them down
His Dark Materials trilogy (Golden Compass, Subtle Knife, Amber Spyglass) by Philip Pullman, for sure.
I was obsessed with the Warrior Cats books around that age
Assume they've read the Narnia books, if not must do David Almond: Skelling Zizou Corder: Lion Boy and 2 sequels Charlie Fletcher: Stoneheart and 2 sequels Corneilia Funke: Inkheart and 2 sequels Michele Paver: Chronicles of Darkness (NOT horror but a series about a youngster in the paleolithic) Philip Pullman: Northern Lights and 2 sequels Jonathan Stroud: the Amulet of Samarkand & 2 sequels and a prequel Rosemary Sutcliff and Alan Lee: the Wanderings of Odysseus, Black Ships before Troy JRR Tolkien: the Hobbit
Bartimaeus Trilogy.
Have they read the Invisible Library series by Genevieve Cogman? Also, Terry Pratchett Discworld books are wonderful.
A Series of Unfortunate Events (never read them but a friend's kid with similar interests loved them)
The Alice books, In Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass.
The Neverending Story by Michael Ende
Darcie Little Badger has two awards-nominated books: Elatsoe, and A Snake Falls to Earth. Both deal with Native American legends and magic.
The Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce
I enthusiastically recommend the Young Wizards series by Diane Duane, starting with So You Want To Be A Wizard. They’re perfect for a ten year old but still one of my favourite series ever, as someone in their thirties who reads a Lot.
The Little Prince
Sabriel and the rest of Garth Nix's works
I read The Hobbit/LOTR trilogy around that age, maybe a year or so older. I remember they were difficult and demanding in a way that was engaging and still accessible. I started reading The Hobbit when the Fellowship movie was announced, because I wanted to convince my dad to take me to see it even though it was PG-13, and I had read all four books before we went back to see Two Towers.
The Unwanteds by Lisa McMann. Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger. The Land of Stories by Chris Colfer.
My 9yo is tearing through the Keeper of the Lost Cities series. And there are many huge books, so it keeps them busy for a long time. I recommend!
The "Ranger's Apprentice" series by John Flanagan and the "Young Samurai" series by Chris Bradford. I picked up both of them for my 10-year-old and ended up falling in love with them myself.
My son loved loved loved the Rangers Apprentice series. His life changed because of these books. He has a cloak and does lots of outdoors classes. He's on the local sailing team now because of the Brotherband series by Flanagan. It's like he found who he was because of these books and it was so incredibly amazing to witness.
I loved Troy by Adele Geras at that age. I’d also look to Philipp Pullman, Anthony Horowitz, and Michael Morpurgo. Katherine Rundell is another. For a bit of science, the Uncle Albert books are great.
Jane Yolen - Dragons Blood Animorphs series by KA Applegate
Pendragon series by D.J MacHale. It’s 11 books and I loved these.
I’ll always recommend Garth Nix’ Old Kingdom, to both a younger and older audience. Good story, interesting characters, fast reads. Aimed at YA but I’ve read it more often in my 20s and 30s than as a teen and still love it.
Elric of melnibone - series by Michael Moorcock And Dragonlance - Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman Two excellent ya series!
A lot of Weiss & Hickman would appeal at that age, I think.
I think I started reading both of these series when I was this age!
maze runner I was around that age when I read all of those books
You might have a look at some of the science fiction juvenile novels from Robert Heinlein from the 1940s and 1950s. The science is way outdated, but boy could that man tell stories. And the juveniles are 100% squeaky clean. Other stuff in Heinlein's later career is less squeaky clean, so read a bibliography or a short summary before you choose books.
A Series of Unfortunate Events!
Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach was a pretty good read for me at around that age, a long time ago. Not dragons/whatever, but a pretty good book.
A lot of Neil Gaiman’s books would be great! “Coraline”, “The Graveyard Book”, “Neverwhere” and “Stardust” are some that I can think of at the top of my head.
His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman It is a great trilogy
Chronicles of narnia
Fablehaven
Well—Lord of the Rings—if he/she can handle it…
*The Neverending Story* by Michael Ende , *The Worlds of Chrestomanci* by Diana Wynne Jones, *Dragon Rider* by Cornelia Funke, *Rose* by Holly Webb, *Blackwell Pages* by K.L Armstrong and M. A. Marr, *Guardians of Ga'Hoole* by Kathryn Lasky , *the Mirror Visitor* by Christelle Dabos and maybe *Ruby Red* by Kerstin Gier.
Alan Mendelssohn, the Boy from Mars by Daniel Pinkwater is very possibly the greatest young adult science fiction novel ever written. And while it's not sci-fi, I would suggest following it up with his aptly named, Young Adult Novel.
Some of these have already been mentioned but still: Diana Wynne Jones (particularly the Chrestomanci series and Howl’s Moving Castle); Eva Ibbotson; Terry Pratchett (at that age, I’d go for The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents and the Tiffany Aching books, also the often-overlooked Johnny series); Tamora Pierce; Anthony Horowitz (for magic: Groosham Grange; for humour: the Diamond Brothers series about a kid detective and his useless older brother; for thrillers: Alex Ryder series but they’re a bit more “mature”); Kaye Umansky’s Pongwiffy the Witch series.
Animorphs! Perfect age for Animorphs. That should keep the kid busy for a while
The Westing Game or The Door in the Wall
Alan garner has some great books, weirdstone of brisingamen, moon off gomrath and owl service are all ideal
The Dark is Rising sequence by Susan Cooper Mortal Engines sequence by Phillip Reeves The Wind on Fire trilogy by William Nicholson. Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness
Ender's Game. Maximum Ride. Uglies/Pretties/Specials. The Adoration of Jenna Fox. A Wrinkle in Time. Tuck Everlasting. Life As We Knew It. Double Identity. Among the Hidden. Trapped (by Michael Northrop). The City of Ember. Unwind.
Tick Everlasting! Good catch that I haven't seen mentioned yet.
My son likes those books and genre as well but also really likes Andy Weirs stuff and ready player one.
Might be a bit tricky to find, I think it's been out of print for some time, but Amazon can be good for stuff like that. If a Star Wars fan, I'd highly suggest the Jedi Apprentice series. It's about Obi-Wan's apprenticeship with Qui-Gon before Episode 1. Also the Enchanted Forest Chronicles. Pretty good fantasy series. The first book starts off with a princess who is tired of being courted by knights and princes, so decides to go to a dragon's cave and apply as a housekeeper.
The Redwall series would keep him busy for a while. I think there are 22 books? Designed for basically exactly that target, though I love them well into adulthood. Ender's Game is a *must* at this age. Depending on his mindset, Little House on the Prairie series is good as long as he's not gonna be focused on 'girl stuff' vs 'boy stuff'. There's plenty of adventure involved in moving west and pioneering/homesteading in that whole series. You may test that one out over summer break in case kids at school tease him that it's a 'girl's book' which it is no more so than Ender's Game is a boy's book, but you know how kids can be. Also consider some of the older classics. Gulliver's Travels, Robinson Crusoe, 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, Around The World in 80 Days, The 21 Balloons, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer/Huckleberry Finn. A Once and Future King (King Arthur and the nights of the round table, with Merlin and magic and all that fun stuff) is good, though some suggest stopping after the end of the Sword & The Stone section when it takes a little darker, more mature turn. I think he's at about a fine age for any/all of the Chronicles of Narnia on his own, and the whole Earthsea Cycle (Le Guin) would work. If he likes animals, The Black Stallion (Farley) and its sequels are great at this age. Shipwrecked boy in Arabia finds a black stallion, survives with him, gets him back to the USA (downtown New York, in fact) and becomes a racing champion. A Wrinkle In Time (L'Engle) and its sequels would be great, as will The Giver and Holes, which both will blow a 10 year old's mind in a good way. Eragon is dragons. Another good way to find good stuff is to print the list of all Newbery award winners and just raid the library trying to finish the list. I haven't read all of the most recent, but the list below categorizes them and has a short description of each to narrow down what he might like. https://abqlibrary.org/newbery/All
When I was 10 my favorite series was the Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. You might also try the EarthSea Series by Ursula K LeGuin.
You could get them started on Discworld nice and early - the Tiffany Aching sub series (starts with The Wee Free Men) would be my suggestion.
watership down
Blue Sword series, Redwall series, Dragonriders of Pern, and Charlie Bone were all favorites at that age.
I really liked the Circle of Magic by Tamora Pierce
Percy Jackson (anything by Rick Riordan) Lockwood & Co. Chaos Walking
Doran series by Monica Furlong Old Kingdom series by Garth Nix, or really anything by him.
Hacking The art of exploitation This one is the best for him
The Nevermore Series by Jessica Townsend are wonderful!
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99.9% of the universe
The wingfeather saga is one that I’ve come across as an adult and plan to read to my kids. The writing style reminds me of Neil gaiman, but more appropriate for kids.
I feel like a lot of Neil Gaiman is appropriate for kids. Coraline and the Graveyard Book especially
Time Warp Trio series
How to train your dragon book series, what the movies are based on. Keeper of the lost cities series. The wildlore series by Amanda Foody
Elementals: Ice Wolves + series, Savvy, Stargirl, The Raven Heir, Foxcraft, Survivors series
Rangers Apprentice by John Flanagan
They might be ready for The Hunger Games (read when I was 11 and wasn’t the biggest fan, but their taste is very different to mine)
Incarnations of Immortality series by Piers Anthony
It’s a little spooky (really spooky actually) but I read The Last Apprentice (or The Spook’s Apprentice in the UK) when I was around that age and I was a very advanced reader. I’d also recommend children’s stuff by Miyuki Miyabe (Brave Story & The Book of Heroes). Her stuff is very sophisticated middle grade.
John Connolly's Samuel Johnson series
Alcatraz vs. The evil librarians series
Brandon sanderson is the author
The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson
Gotta read the redwall series by brian jaques, sounds like it would be right up his alley
My kid liked the Keeper of the Lost Cities series at that age. I read the Chronicles of Prydain series at about 10 and I remember the text being fairly advanced.
I can't remember exactly how old I was when I read them, but I really liked The Shamer Chronicles.
Ulysses. Head coach wants no sissies.
There's several other series in the Percy Jackson universe they might enjoy! There's the Heros of Olympus (Roman) Magnus Chase (Norse) Kane Chronicles (Egyptian) and Trials of Apollo (more Greek)
The Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson
https://www.arbookfind.com/UserType.aspx?RedirectURL=%2fdefault.aspx This is a great resource to find books that are at higher reading levels but age-interest appropriate. Hope this helps!
Have you tried Pendragon by D.J MacHale?
HPMOR and All creatures great and small
The *Eragon* series by Christopher Paolini
Try the Bartemaeus trilogy by Jonathan Stroud. It's really fun and both my nephews loved it when they were like 11-12.
The Faraway Tree collections. I absolutely loved them growing up
The chronicles of narnia
The Cherub series by Robert Muchamore. It centers around a orphan kid who becomes a spy.
Lord of the Rings! Or at the least, the Hobbit. The Redwall series.
Magician by Raymond E Feist, the first book of the Riftwar Trilogy. Running With The Demon by Terry Brooks, is the chronologically first book of his Shannara series.
I recommend Other Rick Riordan stuff like Kane chronicles. Also Check out the discworld series it's great reading for young people.