I’ll start:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/War-Boy-A-Country-Childhood-Foreman-Michael-Paperback-Book-/191093326774

My son is actually interested (me too, actually) in this one! First thing I’ve found since the horrible “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” rubbish.

Anymore? I’d love to find some short stories to read him. He’s 11 (going on 14)

Donner und blitzen!

Terry Pratchett – Wee Free Men trilogy

My lad has suddenly discovered reading at age 10 courtesy of Harry Potter.

He and his mates also rate David Walliams books, strangely.

Another of his mates has recommended some stuff Chris Ryan has written about a group of teenage SAS type secret agents.

Michael Morpurgo seems popular as well.

Aye, pratchett is good. My nephew enjoys the Percy Jackson books, and The Hunger Games is not out of consideration at that age.

On a more personal note, I’ve read the two “Samuel Johnson” books from John Connolly as, despite being aimed at a younger audience than I would normally fall into, I enjoy his adult books and thought I’d read them. Glad I did, they were great.

http://www.johnconnollybooks.com/samuel-johnson-books.php

My ten-year-old daughter, who likes the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, also liked the Happy Potter books, the Hunger Games trilogy, and the Percy Jackson series.

There are some quite difficult sections in the Hunger Games books, so I read the first one before she did so we could talk about any issues. She’s ten in age, 13 in size, 15 in maturity, and 48 in cynicism; for lots of ten-year-olds the Hunger Games might be a bit difficult/heavy – it is about children killing each other as part of a totalitarian regime, after all.

I’m trying to get her to read the Wee Free Men books, but I like Pratchett and therefore anything he’s written is instantly uncool.

Philip Pullman might be worth a look, too.

Artemis Fiol serie, bartimeus trilogy.

Alan Garner:
Elidor
The Wierdstone Of Brisingamen
The Moon Of Gomrath
The Owl Service
Red Shift
Catherine Webb:
Mirror Dreams (2002)
Mirror Wakes (2003)
Waywalkers (2003)
Timekeepers (2004)
The Extraordinary and Unusual Adventures of Horatio Lyle (2006)
The Obsidian Dagger: Being the Further Extraordinary Adventures of Horatio Lyle (2006)
The Doomsday Machine: Another Astounding Adventure of Horatio Lyle (2008)
The Dream Thief: An Extraordinary Horatio Lyle Mystery (2010[3])
These are all books I’ve read as an adult, and enjoyed them all. The Owl Service is pretty dark, however; the BBC made it into a series years ago. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Owl_Service http://www.theowlservice.co.uk
Catherine’s books are really very good, the first two, Mirror Dreams, Mirror Wakes, remind me very much of Roger Zelazney, one of my favouritist authors, quite something considering the first one was written when she was fourteen!
The Horatio Lyle books are a great mixture of Sherlock Holmes and Steampunk, hugely enjoyable.
Her Urban Magic books, written as Kate Griffin, are equally good, possibly a little bit too adult, though a teenager would probably really enjoy them.
I’m eagerly awaiting her next books, which are written, but she’s keeping details very close to her chest at the mo’.

Gerrald Durrell if you want something real world and not involving guns, space or sports

Northern lights by Phillip Pullman

The Graveyard Book – Neil Gaiman

The Graveyard Book – Neil Gaiman

Oh, absolutely! Great book.
Anything by Neil is worth reading.

Carl Hiaasen’s teenage books for something a bit different – e.g. ‘Scat’.
For an ‘old’ 10 year old (maybe more suited to a 12/13 year old) the ‘Spud’ series of books by John van de Ruit are thoughtful, moving and hilarious.

Some interesting suggestions, folks. Cheers!
Will check out Hunger Games first .. shorter books are preferred though, cos he’s not with me all the time and we forget where we’ve got to! (Hence short stories).

Just seen Neil Gaiman has a short story book ‘M is for Magic’.. looks good

lot of the above plus Boy Overboard here really got my 11yr old tomboy reading more – though some of the books deal with some quite tough issues

http://www.morrisgleitzman.com/books/fst_books.html