Here are books Arlene knows older boys will like.






What is a typical guy moment, anyhow? Daniel Pinkwater remembers thedisappointment of meeting his Lone Star Ranger hero up close and personal. Gordon Korman relishes the goofy ultra violence of the old Looney Tunes cartoons. Stephen King realizes that having your two hundred- pound babysitter fart on your five-year-old head prepares you for any literary criticism. And that's just a sampling from Guys Write for Guys Read, a fast-paced, high energy collection of short works: stories, essays, columns, cartoons, anecdotes, and artwork by today's most popular writers and illustrators.



Murderers, mob bosses, and convicts . . . these guys are not your average neighbors. Unless you live on Alcatraz. It's 1935 and twelve-year-old Moose Flanagan and his family have just moved to the infamous island that's home to criminals like notorious escapee Roy Gardner, Machine Gun Kelly, and of course, Al Capone. Now Moose has to try to fit in at his new school, avoid getting caught up in one of the warden's daughter's countless plots, and keep an eye on his sister Natalie, who's not like other kids. All Moose wants to do is protect Natalie, live up to his parents' expectations, and stay out of trouble. But on Alcatraz, trouble is never very far away.




Joey Pigza's got heart, he's got a mom who loves him, and he's got "dud meds," which is what he calls the Ritalin pills that are supposed to even out his wild mood swings. Sometimes Joey makes bad choices. He learns the hard way that he shouldn't stick his finger in the pencil sharpener, or swallow his house key, or run with scissors. Joey ends up bouncing around a lot - and eventually he bounces himself all the way downtown, into the district special-ed program, which could be the end of the line. As Joey knows, if he keeps making bad choices, he could just fall between the cracks for good. But he is determined not to let that happen.


The Chronicles of Narnia have enchanted millions of readers over the last fifty years, and the magical events described in C. S. Lewis's immortal prose have left many a lasting memory. For here is a world where a witch decrees eternal winter; where there are more talking animals than people; and where battles are fought by Centaurs, Giants, and Fauns.



Follow Harry from his first days at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, through his many adventures with Hermione and Ron, to his confrontations with rival Draco Malfoy and the dreaded Professor Snape. From a dangerous descent into the Chamber of Secrets to the Triwizard Tournament to the return of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, each adventure is more riveting and exhilarating than its predecessor, and now all six books are available together for the first time in an elegant paperback boxed set.



Palmer LaRue is running out of birthdays. For as long as he can remember, he's dreaded the day he turns ten––the day he'll take his place beside all the other ten-year-old boys in town, the day he'll be a wringer. But Palmer doesn't want to be a wringer. It's one of the first things he learned about himself and it's one of the biggest things he has to hide. In Palmer's town being a wringer is an honor, a tradition passed down from father to son. Palmer can't stop himself from being a wringer just like he can't stop himself from growing one year older, just like he can't stand up to a whole town––right?



Unfortunately, Roy's first acquaintance in Florida is Dana Matherson, a well-known bully. Then again, if Dana hadn't been sinking his thumbs into Roy's temples and mashing his face against the school-bus window, Roy might never have spotted the running boy. And the running boy is intriguing: he was running away from the school bus, carried no books, and-here's the odd part-wore no shoes. Sensing a mystery, Roy sets himself on the boy's trail. The chase introduces him to potty-trained alligators, a fake-fart champion, some burrowing owls, a renegade eco-avenger, and several extremely poisonous snakes with unnaturally sparkling tails.



Stanley Yelnats is under a curse. A curse that began with his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather and has since followed generations of Yelnats. Now Stanley has been unjustly sent to a boys' detention center, Camp Green Lake, where the warden makes the boys "build character" by spending all day, every day, digging holes: five feet wide and five feet deep. It doesn't take long for Stanley to realize there's more than character improvement going on at Camp Green Lake. The boys are digging holes because the warden is looking for something. Stanley tries to dig up the truth in this inventive and darkly humorous tale of crime and punishment—and redemption.




In Dorchester, New York, Kevin is doing his homework when suddenly an arrow comes out of nowhere and pins his baseball cap to the wall. The man who shot the arrow claims he fell off a tiger . . . and wound up in Kevin's room. It's not long before Kevin realizes that the man, who calls himself Chu-mong, or Great Archer, is no ordinary burglar, but a traveler from far away in both space and time.




Sometimes I feel like I have walked into the middle of a movie. Maybe I can make my own movie. The film will be the story of my life. No, not my life, but of this experience. I'll call it what the lady who is the prosecutor called me.








It begins with a free and joyful act—but from then on, Michael finds it impossible even to remember what it felt like to be free and joyful. When he fires his new rifle into the air on his seventeenth birthday, he never imagines that the bullet will end up killing someone. But a mile away, a man is killed by that bullet as he innocently repairs his roof. And Michael keeps desperately silent while he watches his world crumble.



The Following books are suggested on Jon Scieszka's Guys Read web site:

A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket The Baseball Card Adventure Series by Dan Gutman Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul CurtisSideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark edited by Alvin Schwartz Maze; Far Northby Will Hobbs Bunnicula by James Howe Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl The Day My Butt Went Psycho by Andy Griffiths This Can’t Be Happening at MacDonald Hall by Gordon Korman Maniac McGee by Jerry Spinelli Be A Perfect Person in Just Three Daysby Stephen Manes The Spiderwick Chronicles by Holly Black The Jumping Tree; Finding Our Way by Rene Saldana Jr.Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling Tangerine by Edward BloorThe Beast by Walter Dean Myers October Sky by Homer Hickam Brian’s Winter; The River; Hatchet by Gary Paulsen Nothing But The Truth; Poppy by Avi My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead GeorgeThe Giver by Lois Lowry Skellig; Kit’s Wilderness by David Almond Artemis Fowl books by Eoin Colfer Smugglers, and Wreckers by Iain Lawrence The Alex Rider books by Anthony Horowitz Joey Pigza books by Jack Gantos Merlin books by T.A. Barron Tuck Everlasting by Natalie BabbitThe Moves Make the Manby Bruce BrooksChicagoby Richard Peck The Tripod Trilogy by John Christopher Frindle by Andrew Clements Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher by Bruce Coville Bud, Not Buddyby Christopher Paul Curtis Among the Hidden by Margaret Haddix Unreal; Undoneby Paul Jennings Island Boyz by Graham Salisbury The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen Silverwing; Sunwing; Firewing by Ken Oppel The Last Book in the Universe by Rodman Philbrick Cirque du Freak books by Darren Shan Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliffe