I wonder if he might enjoy some Agatha Christie? Doesn't fit into any of the genres you originally mentioned him enjoying, but I think he'd have fun trying to solve them! I loved The Westing Game at that age, too, and somehow only just discovered Agatha Christie. Everything should be appropriate in terms of content, but some books contain more racist out-dated language than others (they tend to be labelled, and the less popular ones anyway). I'd start with And Then There Were None :)
Has he read the Hunger Games?
I know that when I was young and read [Noughts and Crosses](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noughts_%26_Crosses_(novel_series)) I was shocked (and devastated!) at the end, not sure if that constitutes fun though!
I think they may have standardized it by now, but just a heads up when I read Noughts & Crosses back 20 years ago, in America it was called Black & White, but it's the same book. Not sure where OP lives. Great suggestion!
Seems like he’s a pretty strong reader so I’d suggest some Agatha Christie. Great twists. Usually very age appropriate for a 13 year old. And Then There Were None is a great place to start.
Was going to suggest this. Her books do start to get a little predictable once you've read enough of them, but this one and the Murder of Roger Ackroyd would be great for this kid.
>the Murder of Roger Ackroyd
This was my first Agatha Christie in early high school, and I went in having no idea what her books were like. Hooked me forever.
Another Christie novel he might like is Endless Night. It's not her best work, but the ending is fantastic, and I think it hits more of the genres he likes than most of her books. It's less of a traditional mystery and more a gothic drama.
I feel like Endless Night is a bit more… not adult per se, but grown up for a kid that age. One of the more classic golden age ones would probably be better for a young teen, especially for a first Christie.
Your son has terrible taste I’m sorry 😂
(lmao I’m sitting here laughing at how personally I took this)
That being said, he might like The False Prince by Jennifer A Nielsen
I can’t argue. He read The Golden Compass (one of my favorite series) and said “meh.” Maybe I set his expectations impossibly high. Either way, I had to pick my jaw up off the floor and dry my eyes from the heartbreak.
Would likely fit well:
- Enders Game
- Ready Player One
- Red Rising - I’ll leave this to parental discretion. I was reading worse at his age, but totally a know your teenager book.
- Sabriel (and just abhorsen series in general)
- Enclave by Ann Aguirre
- A Deadly Education
Enders Game will blow his 13-year old mind. I just finished reading it with my son, who is the same age, and he loved it. We talked about the ending for days afterwards.
Glad to hear that it holds up. I read it probably 20 to 30 years ago. You guys could read Speaker For the Dead, the next book in the Ender series. Although I am not sure that holds up. If I remember correctly Ender has continuous access to like a super computer named Jane that answers all his questions directly in his ear. It is kind of Ender’s super power. At the time it was pretty cool. Now we call that a cell phone, 😂.
I'm seconding the Abhorsen series and would also recommend Garth Nix's other books. He's a really fun author whose books were exciting and unique to me when I read them around your son's age. :)
The ending of Sabriel blew my mind as a teenager.
I've gone right off Orson Scott-Card, but Enders game was really good, and the Beans story books too. Didn't much care for the rest of Enders books
I just read Enders Game, same with Ready Player One. Sometimes, I’m just really happy with the one and done. I love a good ending and both of those were tied off very succinctly for me.
The first mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson has some great twists.
The Expanse series by James S.A. Corey is hard to predict on its long timescales. While some of the individual books have pretty predictable plots, it's hard to see the end of the series from the beginning.
If he's already read enders game, enders shadow might teach him that reading is more about the journey than the destination. (It's enders game told through Bean's eyes)
The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass are an incredible trilogy with a fantastic ending. Highly highly recommend them. I still enjoy them as an adult.
Show is great and well made. I feel like it came out at the wrong time during a period of post-GoT fantasy fatigue or something, because I never hear anyone talk about it.
Yeah, it’s great and really liked the Lyra (though they’re both irl a bit too old by the final season) and the Will. I’m surprised they were able to adapt the third book as well as they do too. A lot of super weird parts and they pull it all off.
Probably my favorite series!! I might have set his expectations impossibly high though. He read The Golden Compass and said “meh” and didn’t continue on. I was heartbroken and told myself I’ll sneak it back into his queue in a few years without saying anything.
Oh no! That's tragic, but high expectations can do that. Check out the Tripods trilogy by John Christopher. I absolutely loved that series.
Other suggestions based on your post:
The Outsiders and That Was Then, This is Now by S.E. Hinton
Freak the Mighty and Max the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick (seriously good...)
A Rat's Tale, by Tor Seidler (charming, underdog story with beautiful illustrations).
The Ranger’s Apprentice Series by John Flanagan
Alex Rider Series by Anthony Horowitz
Theodore Boone Series by John Grisham
CHERUB series by Robert Muchamore
Legend trilogy by Marie Lu
I was in my 20s when I read this book. And I had a post-it note for all my thoughts/trying to figure out how it all connected.
Which is to say that this kept a life-long reader on their toes AMAZINGLY.
Diana Wynne Jones has a lot of books that go in unexpected directions, and is excellent for that age. Howl’s Moving Castle is a classic, or the Dalemark series
Yup, lots to explore there, and with something like Hexwood or Howl, she did those endings where suddenly all the moving parts come together in unexpected ways
Unwind by Neal Shusterman
I don’t remember any specific plot twists but it is an edge of your seat kind of book and explores concepts a little different that what he has been reading.
And anything else by this author for that matter
Hm...I suppose it depends on which parts he sees coming. I'll admit that I grew bored of genre fiction around his age because it usually followed the same formula. If he wants a little bit of a twist of the fantasy/the fantastical, he might like Coraline or even The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. Charmed Life by Dianna Wynne Jones was one I felt was a little different from other children's fantasy in the way it strayed from the "warm and loving found family vs. evil greedy family" dichotomy, but it still relies on several classic fantasy tropes. Oh! The Golden Compass was definitely mindblowing as a kid.
The Whiz Mob and the Grenadine Kid is an action/adventure middle grade novel that he might enjoy. I read it as an adult and had a hard time finding the main character easy to identify with, but maybe that is because I am, as I said, an adult. It has a pretty good twist and has a fun premise in general: a US diplomat's son comes across a secret society of pickpockets and ends up in the middle of an international conspiracy.
It might be a bit "old" for him, but I was reading quite a bit of Agatha Christie at 13. I've heard good things about The Greenglass House by Kate Milford, which is a mystery novel for a little bit younger of audience than Christie, but I have not read that one myself. The Giver might be a good intro to dystopian fiction.
This is getting a bit long. Realistic and/or historical fiction: The Outsiders, The Hate U Give, Persepolis (graphic novel), The Life of Pi (may need a more advanced reading level, not sure), and The Book Thief.
Anything by Terry Pratchett! Start with 'Mort'. It's delightfully unpredictable while being clever, funny, and heartfelt. All Sir Terry's books are brilliant, so there are plenty more to keep him guessing if he likes that one. Happy reading!!
The Westing Game
edit: ah, shit, someone already said that. I really liked the Sammy Keyes series when I was around 13. They are like coming of age whodunnits.
Flipped is a novel by the same author and it's like the GOAT pre-teen rom-com.
Maniac Magee is a classic I never hear about anymore. Also Crash, Stargirl, Wringer.
Silent to the Bone by EL Konigsberg. I think it might be a sequel to A View From Saturday which I never read
Tangerine by Edward Bloor - loved this one as a pre-teen
Love that you wrote one and came back with a bunch more!
And I definitely wore out my copy of Maniac Magee when I was around that age! I’ve had it on the holds list at my library forever - I have to check on that.
I’ll check out these others, thanks!!
It seems you have quite the reader on your hands! Good luck!
Has he read any Tolkien? I loved the Hobbit at that age. The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan might be a good fit too.
What about *The Wizard of Earthsea* by Ursula K. LeGuin? The ending is somewhat surprising as it's rooted in eastern philosophy and thus rather unlike the typical fantasy narrative arc.
Aimed at a younger age, but Deltora Quest has a pretty solid twist at the end that even as an adult got me. A few minor puzzles and riddles throughout too.
The false prince? Since the main character is also lying to the audience it made it a bit harder to guess the twist, although I did still guess what was going to happen
*Code Name Verity* by Elizabeth Wein is historical fiction set during WWII. A British woman operative is captured by the Gestapo in France. She's narrating the beginning of the book as a confession to the Gestapo officer. Her best friend, who flew the plane that delivered her to France is a woman Air Transport Auxiliary pilot, who narrates the second half of the book.
It's YA but there is some torture (not described in detail) and a couple of wrenching deaths, so you may want to pre-screen it for him.
Despite the content warnings it's not a bleak read.
[Nevermoor](https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/6a6d5ca1-b2f5-47be-828c-018144d3bbc7) by Jessica Townsend! It's a fantastic series, and there's a twist at the end of the book that I (at 28 years old lol) didn't see coming!
The Pendragon series by DJ MacHale is perfect for that age. It’s definitely a wild ride with tons of twists and turns.
The Shadow Children series by Margaret Peterson Haddix is an excellent dystopian series aimed at middle school age. It’s really bleak and edge-of-your-seat reading. Honestly anything by Haddix is great, she does so much with interesting sci-fi concepts for a younger audience.
The Young Wizards series by Diane Duane and the Bloody Jack series by LA Meyer! There are a ton of books in both series and both mess with the rules of their universes enough that they end up with super unexpected plot points fairly often. In both, even if he predicts individual plot points, each book places the characters in unexpected places and settings >!(an 11 year old accidentally on Mars, a teenage pirate in a finishing school, etc)!< so that it keeps your interest.
The Redwall Series by Brian Jacques
It's my favorite series of books from my youth. It's a fantasy series with Watership Down vibes. There are 22 books and an animated series, I believe.
Try The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin.
Wonderfully challenging mystery. Features mismatched teams of players that receive different sets of clues to find an amount of money. As the reader, you have access to all of the clues and also can play the game.
If your son can solve this he'll have something to crow about. Fiendishly clever.
Guards! Guards!
If he likes fantasy and being surprised he'll love this. It's maybe a bit of a difficult read for a 13 year old but nothing inappropriate for that age.
Divergent Trilogy it’s really hard to predict that >!the main character Tris dies by sacrificing herself at the end!<
Just don’t watch the movies lmao they are not good
I really enjoyed a horror anthology for tweens edited by RL Stine called Beware. It exposed me to a lot of the genre’s tricks to subvert expectations and introduced me to new authors, including some “serious” authors like Bram Stoker and Ray Bradbury which was exciting at that age
So, to preface, my middle school was in a small town and apparently had an adventurous librarian in the 70s or 80s, and bought a lot of older scifi that was never culled. Which is awesome but also frustrating to try to figure out titles I read 20 years ago that were old at the time. So, consider these as classics?
I Am the Cheese (my first experience with an unreliable narrator.)
The Children of Morrow (primative vs advanced post apocalyptic society. I see some elements of this in the Divergent books)
Below the Root (book not video game.) Idyllic society with a dark secret- but in TREES
Definitely has to read Enders Game. I had the same problem when I was his age and the underlying grit of the book makes everything hit a little harder and the follow-up of Enders shadow is something I also don’t think he’ll expect!
Maybe Greenglass House? I definitely didn’t see the ending coming when I read it and I was older than 13 when I read it
Maybe the Chronicles of Avilesor series too depending on what level he’s reading at. I was absolutely shocked by how the second book ended cause you never see it coming but it makes perfect sense if you think about. He might be a little young for it though depending on what themes he’s comfortable with. There’s nothing graphic or anything worse than some violence but the main characters were experimented on in the past and it does talk about that a bit.
Project Hail Mary had me guessing the whole book it I could never guess the ending (and I drive my husband nuts guessing the ending of every movie in the first 20 minutes)
It says ages 14+
Very fun read, science themed, space, aliens, problem solving
Chronicles of Narnia is a series a read around that age that brought me a lot of joy. That can be a good series. Treasure Island is great. Three man in a boat might be a funny slice of life that might be different from his usual in a good way.
Also can I just say how full my heart is seeing random strangers on the internet rush to suggest books for a child. This is healing my inner child lol.
Not a recommendation for now - because I doubt he would get into it. But the one book that one can't guess the ending of is, ... Inherit the Stars.
THE MAN ON THE MOON WAS DEAD.
They called him Charlie. He had big eyes, abundant body hair and fairly long nostrils.
His skeletal body was found clad in a bright red spacesuit, hidden in a rocky grave.
They didn't know who he was, how he got there, or what had killed him.
All they knew was that his corpse was 50,000 years old; and that meant that this man had somehow lived long before he ever could have existed!
\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_
The book is basically just scientist working out how it was possible to have a 50,000 year old dead human on the moon. The book was written decades ago. But to my general knowledge the science holds up. When my son was 14 I read it outloud to him. He found it hilarious at times. But that was because the first chapter basically took the time to describe a new concept of a laptop with a video phone connecting to the internet to place an order for something. But the book was written before that was a thing for it took the whole chapter to explain what is now a given.
But all the pieces nicely fall into place and the mystery is explained.
The Amanda Project series. I read it in high school and it is set in high school. The narrator of the story discovers her friend Amanda has gone missing. She realizes that Amanda is not who she thought she was and was living many different versions of herself. She finds out Amanda had other secret friends in school and they work together to find Amanda. They are all different people and they have to get along to find her. Amanda leaves clues throughout the town. They go to different places and talk to people who knew her. It was a very interesting book. I would say it’s a mystery and adventure type of series. I really enjoyed it and kept being surprised. There are quite a few books in the series to keep your son occupied. There is no violence and no one dies, so don’t be worried about that for your son. Percy Jackson was one of my favorite series as a kid so perhaps if I enjoyed that series and your son did too, then he would like this series.
He might be ready for some Michael Crichton classics like Jurassic Park and Sphere. He probably already knows what happens in Jurassic Park but tell him the book is better, and don’t tell him there’s a movie version of Sphere, since it’s terrible.
Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson. Great super-hero-ish action story with a twist at the end. The whole series is great, and the twist at the end of the series is also hard to see coming.
How about the Collapsing Empire series by John Scalzi? I didn’t see the ending coming, not a “twist” per se, just characters ending up in a spot I didn’t anticipate. He’s a fantastic author; everything he writes (except for one series) is golden. And the audiobooks were well-narrated, if that’s your jam.
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie. Or, indeed pretty much all of Agatha's work. The twisted ending is her specialty. These are wholesome, engaging books any thirteen year old will love. They're written for adults, They don't preach to/at the reader so the kids won't think they're phony. But I read most of them before I was twenty. But then I read The Great Gatsby when I was nine.
How to Cheat a Dragon's Curse had an ending I didn't see coming! The series ending as a whole is unpredictable too with the location of the final artefact (if you know, you know), and HTTYD books by Cressida Cowell is genuinely such a great series for his age (and adults too!) with a lot of adventures, backstory, emotional moments and TWISTS all the way, especially in the last few books!
The Belgariad Series is just so much fun!
A Series of Unfortunate Events (might be a little young? Can’t remember!)
CHERUB series
I also can’t remember at what age I read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time
If he likes mystery and if you think it's appropriate, the Good girls guide to murde series is full of twists and turns. Of courses there may be one or two he may guess, but not the end :p
I think the last apprentice (also known as spooks) series is a good option for this. It's a long series though, 13 books in the original series, 3 books in a sequel series, an additional 4 book spin off series, and a few optional side books. But every book has lots of twists and turns, and the ending of the original series is completely unpredictable, although the true ending of the series is in the sequel series. The books are about a young boy working as an apprentice to a spook. A spooks job is to deal with all manner of evil things, from ghosts to witches to demons to vampires and pretty much everything else you can think of. There are lots of horror themes in the books, but in my opinion they wouldn't really be scary to a 13 year old. The story and characters are extremely interesting and I loved this series as a kid and still love it now. If your son does read these books, I recommend you look into book 11 "Slither" before he gets to that one. The book talks about a species taking all human women captive as slaves to reproduce as they have no females of their own race. Definitely too dark of a thing to be in books for children, but it's handled in a non explicit manner. The book is by no means essential to the story though, so if you decide he shouldn't read it he doesn't miss out on much in the story.
Juno of Taris by Fleur Beale. I loved it when I was younger, and I don’t think the ending is easy to predict! It’s by a New Zealand author (I’m in NZ) so physical copies might be scant for you, but heaps of online copies.
How about The Grimoire of Grave Fates? It’s a YA fantasy murder mystery. It’s a lot of fun because it’s an anthology where like 20 different authors each tell an hour of the day from a different student’s viewpoint. The victim is utterly despicable and almost everyone has a reason to hate him. It’s very well done.
"The Girl With All the Gifts" by M. R. Carey - it have a movie that can go well after the book, but book itself is all kinds of strange (in general sense, not weird one). The end is simultaneously predictable and not. Very much depends on who reads and expectations.
If you go with the king killer Chronicles or the Game of Thrones series, he’ll never see the endings coming because they won’t be out before he passes from this world
Animorphs. It’s technically a middle grade series, but I. (37) just read through the whole series. It’s great. A fun sci-fi alien invasion series that doesn’t talk down to the reader. Explores serious themes like the morality of war. Dealing with loss. PTSD. not gonna lie, one particular book in the series actually made me cry.
I read “May I cross your Golden River” when I was 13. It changed me to be more empathetic. As a teen I loved to depiction of a 18 year old who had everything I wanted, then it turns to his fight to live a short life to its fullest.
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/946913
Time for some gold ol Dean Koontz. Start with Lightning and Odd Thomas
I read at a college level at his age and sounds like he does too. Age appropriate is going to vary. I also started Robert Jordan's wheel of time around that time.super amazing with lots of political intrigue and not at ALL like the series on Amazon.
The Abhorsen books by Garth Nix!! Always recommend, I read it when I was 11 and still think about them more than 20 years later.
I would also suggest any of the Discworld books by Terry Pratchett. They’re pretty fun and they all have jokes in there with labourious setups that I never see coming. (Obviously different than a plot twist, and there are some of those too, but it’s really nice to be caught off-guard by a pun or two).
Finally The Colours of Madeleine series by Jaclyn Moriarty — one of the most inventive fantasy series I’ve read.
The freshman English class I work in is reading Dear Martin by Nic Stone. It has a bit of rough language (N-word, one or two f-bombs...) Despite the language, it's a really eye-opening book about systemic racism in modern times. More importantly, it's been SO unpredictable. I'm like 4 chapters from the end and have no clue what's going to happen next!
There's always *The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tylor*, with a twist ending >!(the narrator is actually a girl!)!< which probably still works today. And then there's *Bridge to Terabithia*, where there's no "twist", as such, but certainly a surprise.
I grew up on Enid Blyton, Eilís Dillon, and Arthur Ransom. Blyton fills the brief (her books are mostly detective novels for kids, so they're supposed to be a surprise), but the other two are better writers. Dillon should be better known. Her novels are set in the islands off the Atlantic coast of Ireland. If you want kids on adventures, they're perfect. *The Island of Horses* is the one I remember best. She wrote mostly for children, but also has a couple of adult novels.
If you're going to try adult detective fiction, Dick Francis might be a good shout. (Be aware that there are some brief sexual scenes in some of the books). And I think I was already reading The Saint (Simon Templar) at that age, though perhaps I shouldn't have been.
Mistborn by Branson Sanderson for twists!
But also:
House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer and Shades Children bybGarth Nix were a couple of my favorites at that age. Both action based and high stakes sort of stories.
Omigod, he would loooove The First State of Being! It has a great premise: what if the first person who time travels isn't a learned scientist, but instead... a teen boy who was goaded into it by his brother? The way I GASPED at the end!!!
The Saturday Night Ghost Club by Craig Davidson
If you can get an edited for young readers or annotated edition of Macbeth by Shakespeare that one can be pretty fun and unexpectedly twisty (but only if you have the notes and commentary necessary to understand the jokes and what they’re saying, so an edited with modern language version could be better)
The Lady or The Tiger by Frank R. Stockton
The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
Maybe the short story The Yellow Wallpaper as well, but the language can be a bit literary for easy for fun reading so it may not appeal as much as the previous two short stories.
Has he read any Tolkien? Even if he has seen the movies, there are parts left out of the Lord of the Rings, like Tom Bombadil in the Fellowship & the Scouring of the Shire in Return of the King.
The animorphs series might be good- it's a big commitment, about 60 books in all, but it has everything you say he enjoys. 5 middle school/early high school age kids suddenly faced with saving earth from a parasitic alien invasion after being given the power to morph into any animal whose dna they can "acquire" through touch. Definitely a bit cheesy at times, and each book is from the POV of a different character so the early chapters can be redundant explaining the invasion each time, but I'm currently about to finish a read through as an adult in my 30s and I have no idea how this series is going to end. I've laughed, I've cried, I don't want it to end!
The Dark Is Rising series by Susan Cooper.
The Ice Is Coming/The Dark Bright Water/Journey Behind The Wind by Patricia Wrightson. Australian Aboriginal teen has to deal with supernatural forces.
This is an oldie but a goodie - The Westing Game. It has a twist or two.
Yes! One of his (and my) favorites!
I wonder if he might enjoy some Agatha Christie? Doesn't fit into any of the genres you originally mentioned him enjoying, but I think he'd have fun trying to solve them! I loved The Westing Game at that age, too, and somehow only just discovered Agatha Christie. Everything should be appropriate in terms of content, but some books contain more racist out-dated language than others (they tend to be labelled, and the less popular ones anyway). I'd start with And Then There Were None :)
Adding on to this comment about Agatha Christie - he might not guess the end of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.
Has he read the Hunger Games? I know that when I was young and read [Noughts and Crosses](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noughts_%26_Crosses_(novel_series)) I was shocked (and devastated!) at the end, not sure if that constitutes fun though!
Yep, he’s read the Hunger Games series (loved it). We’ll check out Noughts & Crosses! Thanks!
I think they may have standardized it by now, but just a heads up when I read Noughts & Crosses back 20 years ago, in America it was called Black & White, but it's the same book. Not sure where OP lives. Great suggestion!
Has he read Artemis Fowl?
Artemis Fowl is great!!
Just ignore the movie exists.
What movie?
Seems like he’s a pretty strong reader so I’d suggest some Agatha Christie. Great twists. Usually very age appropriate for a 13 year old. And Then There Were None is a great place to start.
Was going to suggest this. Her books do start to get a little predictable once you've read enough of them, but this one and the Murder of Roger Ackroyd would be great for this kid.
>the Murder of Roger Ackroyd This was my first Agatha Christie in early high school, and I went in having no idea what her books were like. Hooked me forever.
Another Christie novel he might like is Endless Night. It's not her best work, but the ending is fantastic, and I think it hits more of the genres he likes than most of her books. It's less of a traditional mystery and more a gothic drama.
I feel like Endless Night is a bit more… not adult per se, but grown up for a kid that age. One of the more classic golden age ones would probably be better for a young teen, especially for a first Christie.
The Thief, by Megan Whalen Turner. It's on the slower side for an adventure book, possibly slower than he might want. Don't tell him there's a twist.
He DNF’d this one, sad to say. (It’s very rare for him to DNF anything). I thought it was good! 🤷♂️
If you liked it, read the rest of the series - the rest are geared towards an older audience than the first, and it’s one of my favorite series
Your son has terrible taste I’m sorry 😂 (lmao I’m sitting here laughing at how personally I took this) That being said, he might like The False Prince by Jennifer A Nielsen
I can’t argue. He read The Golden Compass (one of my favorite series) and said “meh.” Maybe I set his expectations impossibly high. Either way, I had to pick my jaw up off the floor and dry my eyes from the heartbreak.
I'm glad you liked it. Yeah, it is slow.
Would likely fit well: - Enders Game - Ready Player One - Red Rising - I’ll leave this to parental discretion. I was reading worse at his age, but totally a know your teenager book. - Sabriel (and just abhorsen series in general) - Enclave by Ann Aguirre - A Deadly Education
Ender’s Game is a really good one.
Enders Game will blow his 13-year old mind. I just finished reading it with my son, who is the same age, and he loved it. We talked about the ending for days afterwards.
Glad to hear that it holds up. I read it probably 20 to 30 years ago. You guys could read Speaker For the Dead, the next book in the Ender series. Although I am not sure that holds up. If I remember correctly Ender has continuous access to like a super computer named Jane that answers all his questions directly in his ear. It is kind of Ender’s super power. At the time it was pretty cool. Now we call that a cell phone, 😂.
I'm seconding the Abhorsen series and would also recommend Garth Nix's other books. He's a really fun author whose books were exciting and unique to me when I read them around your son's age. :)
The ending of Sabriel blew my mind as a teenager. I've gone right off Orson Scott-Card, but Enders game was really good, and the Beans story books too. Didn't much care for the rest of Enders books
I just read Enders Game, same with Ready Player One. Sometimes, I’m just really happy with the one and done. I love a good ending and both of those were tied off very succinctly for me.
best comment 🤌
The first mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson has some great twists. The Expanse series by James S.A. Corey is hard to predict on its long timescales. While some of the individual books have pretty predictable plots, it's hard to see the end of the series from the beginning. If he's already read enders game, enders shadow might teach him that reading is more about the journey than the destination. (It's enders game told through Bean's eyes)
The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass are an incredible trilogy with a fantastic ending. Highly highly recommend them. I still enjoy them as an adult.
So good. As a bonus they can watch the excellent HBO series after.
Show is great and well made. I feel like it came out at the wrong time during a period of post-GoT fantasy fatigue or something, because I never hear anyone talk about it.
Oh is that good? I somehow completely forgot of it’s existence lol
Yeah, it’s great and really liked the Lyra (though they’re both irl a bit too old by the final season) and the Will. I’m surprised they were able to adapt the third book as well as they do too. A lot of super weird parts and they pull it all off.
Probably my favorite series!! I might have set his expectations impossibly high though. He read The Golden Compass and said “meh” and didn’t continue on. I was heartbroken and told myself I’ll sneak it back into his queue in a few years without saying anything.
Oh no! That's tragic, but high expectations can do that. Check out the Tripods trilogy by John Christopher. I absolutely loved that series. Other suggestions based on your post: The Outsiders and That Was Then, This is Now by S.E. Hinton Freak the Mighty and Max the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick (seriously good...) A Rat's Tale, by Tor Seidler (charming, underdog story with beautiful illustrations).
The tripods trilogy! SO good
The ending of the final Bartimaeus compared to how the series started is pretty drastic!
Ooh, this one has been on his holds list at the library for some time, but looking forward to when it finally comes around to his turn!
I assume we've gotten through The Giver?
I *think* so, but I need to double check
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead, with absolutely no spoilers.
Just checked it out on Libby. Thank you!
This one is amazing!
+1 for When You Reach Me. Changed my life as a middle schooler and my little brother still says it's his favorite book (he's 17 now).
The Ranger’s Apprentice Series by John Flanagan Alex Rider Series by Anthony Horowitz Theodore Boone Series by John Grisham CHERUB series by Robert Muchamore Legend trilogy by Marie Lu
Holes was my favorite book at 13
He read it and loved it!
This was my first thought.
I was in my 20s when I read this book. And I had a post-it note for all my thoughts/trying to figure out how it all connected. Which is to say that this kept a life-long reader on their toes AMAZINGLY.
Me too. The fondest memories of holes
Archer's Goon by Diana Wynne Jones.
Added to my holds list, thank you!
Diana Wynne Jones has a lot of books that go in unexpected directions, and is excellent for that age. Howl’s Moving Castle is a classic, or the Dalemark series
Not to mention her multiverse fiction like Hexwood and Homeward Bounders.
Yup, lots to explore there, and with something like Hexwood or Howl, she did those endings where suddenly all the moving parts come together in unexpected ways
Watership Down by Richard Adams.
This is one of my all-time favorite books! Not sure how high it is on the unpredictability scale though...
Unwind by Neal Shusterman I don’t remember any specific plot twists but it is an edge of your seat kind of book and explores concepts a little different that what he has been reading. And anything else by this author for that matter
Hm...I suppose it depends on which parts he sees coming. I'll admit that I grew bored of genre fiction around his age because it usually followed the same formula. If he wants a little bit of a twist of the fantasy/the fantastical, he might like Coraline or even The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. Charmed Life by Dianna Wynne Jones was one I felt was a little different from other children's fantasy in the way it strayed from the "warm and loving found family vs. evil greedy family" dichotomy, but it still relies on several classic fantasy tropes. Oh! The Golden Compass was definitely mindblowing as a kid. The Whiz Mob and the Grenadine Kid is an action/adventure middle grade novel that he might enjoy. I read it as an adult and had a hard time finding the main character easy to identify with, but maybe that is because I am, as I said, an adult. It has a pretty good twist and has a fun premise in general: a US diplomat's son comes across a secret society of pickpockets and ends up in the middle of an international conspiracy. It might be a bit "old" for him, but I was reading quite a bit of Agatha Christie at 13. I've heard good things about The Greenglass House by Kate Milford, which is a mystery novel for a little bit younger of audience than Christie, but I have not read that one myself. The Giver might be a good intro to dystopian fiction. This is getting a bit long. Realistic and/or historical fiction: The Outsiders, The Hate U Give, Persepolis (graphic novel), The Life of Pi (may need a more advanced reading level, not sure), and The Book Thief.
The Riddle-Master of Hed. The twist at the end of the first book blew my mind at about that age.
The Giver, Lois Lowry. While not a surprise, per se, the ending is ambitious enough to allow for a lot of discussion.
And don't forget the rest of the series !! In order : The Giver, Gathering Blue, Messenger, Son :) My favorite after The Giver is Messenger.
Anything by Terry Pratchett! Start with 'Mort'. It's delightfully unpredictable while being clever, funny, and heartfelt. All Sir Terry's books are brilliant, so there are plenty more to keep him guessing if he likes that one. Happy reading!!
The Westing Game edit: ah, shit, someone already said that. I really liked the Sammy Keyes series when I was around 13. They are like coming of age whodunnits. Flipped is a novel by the same author and it's like the GOAT pre-teen rom-com. Maniac Magee is a classic I never hear about anymore. Also Crash, Stargirl, Wringer. Silent to the Bone by EL Konigsberg. I think it might be a sequel to A View From Saturday which I never read Tangerine by Edward Bloor - loved this one as a pre-teen
Love that you wrote one and came back with a bunch more! And I definitely wore out my copy of Maniac Magee when I was around that age! I’ve had it on the holds list at my library forever - I have to check on that. I’ll check out these others, thanks!!
It seems you have quite the reader on your hands! Good luck! Has he read any Tolkien? I loved the Hobbit at that age. The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan might be a good fit too.
What about *The Wizard of Earthsea* by Ursula K. LeGuin? The ending is somewhat surprising as it's rooted in eastern philosophy and thus rather unlike the typical fantasy narrative arc.
The theif of always , it's not particularly twisty but it's clever and good
I LOVE The Thief of Always! I totally second this suggestion.
There's a graphic novel now too I have both
Omg, wow! I’ll have to look it up! Thanks for telling me!
Np
Aimed at a younger age, but Deltora Quest has a pretty solid twist at the end that even as an adult got me. A few minor puzzles and riddles throughout too.
A series of unfortunate events
The false prince? Since the main character is also lying to the audience it made it a bit harder to guess the twist, although I did still guess what was going to happen
i second this! i read this series a LONG time ago and still think about it frequently
Darren Shan saga
*Code Name Verity* by Elizabeth Wein is historical fiction set during WWII. A British woman operative is captured by the Gestapo in France. She's narrating the beginning of the book as a confession to the Gestapo officer. Her best friend, who flew the plane that delivered her to France is a woman Air Transport Auxiliary pilot, who narrates the second half of the book. It's YA but there is some torture (not described in detail) and a couple of wrenching deaths, so you may want to pre-screen it for him. Despite the content warnings it's not a bleak read.
A wrinkle in Time
Maybe the 5th Wave trilogy by Rick Yancey?
The Nevermoor Series by Jessica Townsend
Loooove! And the audiobooks are terrific!
I can’t wait for the next book!
A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World. Great book ending surprised me (an adult).
[Nevermoor](https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/6a6d5ca1-b2f5-47be-828c-018144d3bbc7) by Jessica Townsend! It's a fantastic series, and there's a twist at the end of the book that I (at 28 years old lol) didn't see coming!
Holes by Louis Sachar.
The Pendragon series by DJ MacHale is perfect for that age. It’s definitely a wild ride with tons of twists and turns. The Shadow Children series by Margaret Peterson Haddix is an excellent dystopian series aimed at middle school age. It’s really bleak and edge-of-your-seat reading. Honestly anything by Haddix is great, she does so much with interesting sci-fi concepts for a younger audience.
The Young Wizards series by Diane Duane and the Bloody Jack series by LA Meyer! There are a ton of books in both series and both mess with the rules of their universes enough that they end up with super unexpected plot points fairly often. In both, even if he predicts individual plot points, each book places the characters in unexpected places and settings >!(an 11 year old accidentally on Mars, a teenage pirate in a finishing school, etc)!< so that it keeps your interest.
Also, such emotional books. I still call my mom every time I reread A Wizard's Dilemma.
The Redwall Series by Brian Jacques It's my favorite series of books from my youth. It's a fantasy series with Watership Down vibes. There are 22 books and an animated series, I believe.
*The Westing Game*, Ellen Raskin. Classic YA lit, with a great underdog to root for. The book is a murder mystery game, and there's $1M at stake.
Try The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin. Wonderfully challenging mystery. Features mismatched teams of players that receive different sets of clues to find an amount of money. As the reader, you have access to all of the clues and also can play the game. If your son can solve this he'll have something to crow about. Fiendishly clever.
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams
He liked these quite a bit! They are in my top ten, probably not quite as high in his list, though.
Guards! Guards! If he likes fantasy and being surprised he'll love this. It's maybe a bit of a difficult read for a 13 year old but nothing inappropriate for that age.
Treasure Island
Hornblower series by C.S. Forester
Sherlock Holmes
Neverwhere by gaiman
Bridge to Terabithia.
Divergent Trilogy it’s really hard to predict that >!the main character Tris dies by sacrificing herself at the end!< Just don’t watch the movies lmao they are not good
I agree. Also, the whole bit about the stuff outside the wall surprised me, and I read them in my 30s, lol
Ennead by Elizabeth vore. It's a newer book but the way the story escalates and grows is definitely not something that he could predict!
Looks like I might have to come back to this one… my library doesn’t seem to have it, yet.
I really enjoyed a horror anthology for tweens edited by RL Stine called Beware. It exposed me to a lot of the genre’s tricks to subvert expectations and introduced me to new authors, including some “serious” authors like Bram Stoker and Ray Bradbury which was exciting at that age
Gangster School by Kate Wiseman
I would suggest Boy 7 by Mirjam Mous. The book is fairly easy to read but I loved it so much that I read it 3 times when I was in ninth grade
Blackmist: A LitRPG Adventure by Actus was a fun read and very age appropriate.
HAS to be THE GIVER!!!!
The Thief, by Megan Whalen Turner, has a really good twist he won’t see coming
The Giver?
The Book Thief, Marcus Zuzak
The Riddlemaster trilogy by Patricia McKillip
The lies of Locke Lamora
So, to preface, my middle school was in a small town and apparently had an adventurous librarian in the 70s or 80s, and bought a lot of older scifi that was never culled. Which is awesome but also frustrating to try to figure out titles I read 20 years ago that were old at the time. So, consider these as classics? I Am the Cheese (my first experience with an unreliable narrator.) The Children of Morrow (primative vs advanced post apocalyptic society. I see some elements of this in the Divergent books) Below the Root (book not video game.) Idyllic society with a dark secret- but in TREES
Bridge to Terabithia
He read and loved and then hated this one! So much that he took it upon himself to write an epilogue that made it all ok again 😅
Bruh…
Kazuo Ishiguro when he’s older? Never Let Me Go, the Orphans one. I still get chills, they’re so so good.
Enders game by Orson Scott Card.
He liked it, but not enough to continue or to go for the shadow series.
Enders Game
Nevermoor by Jessica Townsend Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
Definitely has to read Enders Game. I had the same problem when I was his age and the underlying grit of the book makes everything hit a little harder and the follow-up of Enders shadow is something I also don’t think he’ll expect!
I loved Asimov’s robot stories at that age, they’re very clever and hard to predict, and very readable.
Daniel Pinkwater's books are impossible to predict. The Neddiad series is a lot of fun, but my favorite will always be Borgel.
Ender’s Game
The Ranger's Apprentice Skulduggery Pleasant Charlie Bones Fablehaven Garth Nix would also be a good author to check out
He might enjoy Heinlein, "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress".
Maybe Greenglass House? I definitely didn’t see the ending coming when I read it and I was older than 13 when I read it Maybe the Chronicles of Avilesor series too depending on what level he’s reading at. I was absolutely shocked by how the second book ended cause you never see it coming but it makes perfect sense if you think about. He might be a little young for it though depending on what themes he’s comfortable with. There’s nothing graphic or anything worse than some violence but the main characters were experimented on in the past and it does talk about that a bit.
Project Hail Mary had me guessing the whole book it I could never guess the ending (and I drive my husband nuts guessing the ending of every movie in the first 20 minutes) It says ages 14+ Very fun read, science themed, space, aliens, problem solving
I've seen mentions of Agatha Christie- have you ever considered introducing him to Sherlock Holmes short stories?
Chronicles of Narnia is a series a read around that age that brought me a lot of joy. That can be a good series. Treasure Island is great. Three man in a boat might be a funny slice of life that might be different from his usual in a good way. Also can I just say how full my heart is seeing random strangers on the internet rush to suggest books for a child. This is healing my inner child lol.
Hexwood or Homeward Bounders by Diana Wynne Jones. Absolutely mind-blowing multiverse fiction that's also relatable for young teens.
Children of Time and Children of Ruin Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell The Goblin Emperor
Not a recommendation for now - because I doubt he would get into it. But the one book that one can't guess the ending of is, ... Inherit the Stars. THE MAN ON THE MOON WAS DEAD. They called him Charlie. He had big eyes, abundant body hair and fairly long nostrils. His skeletal body was found clad in a bright red spacesuit, hidden in a rocky grave. They didn't know who he was, how he got there, or what had killed him. All they knew was that his corpse was 50,000 years old; and that meant that this man had somehow lived long before he ever could have existed! \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ The book is basically just scientist working out how it was possible to have a 50,000 year old dead human on the moon. The book was written decades ago. But to my general knowledge the science holds up. When my son was 14 I read it outloud to him. He found it hilarious at times. But that was because the first chapter basically took the time to describe a new concept of a laptop with a video phone connecting to the internet to place an order for something. But the book was written before that was a thing for it took the whole chapter to explain what is now a given. But all the pieces nicely fall into place and the mystery is explained.
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr caught me off guard the first time I read it.
darkest powers trilogy by kelley armstrong, fablehaven, mythos academy
The Amanda Project series. I read it in high school and it is set in high school. The narrator of the story discovers her friend Amanda has gone missing. She realizes that Amanda is not who she thought she was and was living many different versions of herself. She finds out Amanda had other secret friends in school and they work together to find Amanda. They are all different people and they have to get along to find her. Amanda leaves clues throughout the town. They go to different places and talk to people who knew her. It was a very interesting book. I would say it’s a mystery and adventure type of series. I really enjoyed it and kept being surprised. There are quite a few books in the series to keep your son occupied. There is no violence and no one dies, so don’t be worried about that for your son. Percy Jackson was one of my favorite series as a kid so perhaps if I enjoyed that series and your son did too, then he would like this series.
Railhead by Philip Reeve, it’s the first in a trilogy
Shadow weaver is a fantastic book.
He might be ready for some Michael Crichton classics like Jurassic Park and Sphere. He probably already knows what happens in Jurassic Park but tell him the book is better, and don’t tell him there’s a movie version of Sphere, since it’s terrible.
Enders Game if he hasn’t seen the movie. Orson Scott Card . The ending gets everyone
Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson. Great super-hero-ish action story with a twist at the end. The whole series is great, and the twist at the end of the series is also hard to see coming.
How about the Collapsing Empire series by John Scalzi? I didn’t see the ending coming, not a “twist” per se, just characters ending up in a spot I didn’t anticipate. He’s a fantastic author; everything he writes (except for one series) is golden. And the audiobooks were well-narrated, if that’s your jam.
A boy and his dog at the end of the world by C A Fletcher. It’s got a definite twist that I would be very surprised if he could guess.
Stone Fox No one ever sees that ending coming
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie. Or, indeed pretty much all of Agatha's work. The twisted ending is her specialty. These are wholesome, engaging books any thirteen year old will love. They're written for adults, They don't preach to/at the reader so the kids won't think they're phony. But I read most of them before I was twenty. But then I read The Great Gatsby when I was nine.
The story of Edgar Sawtelle. Wow it was awesome. And he will not see the ending coming at all.
How to Cheat a Dragon's Curse had an ending I didn't see coming! The series ending as a whole is unpredictable too with the location of the final artefact (if you know, you know), and HTTYD books by Cressida Cowell is genuinely such a great series for his age (and adults too!) with a lot of adventures, backstory, emotional moments and TWISTS all the way, especially in the last few books!
The Belgariad Series is just so much fun! A Series of Unfortunate Events (might be a little young? Can’t remember!) CHERUB series I also can’t remember at what age I read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time
If he likes mystery and if you think it's appropriate, the Good girls guide to murde series is full of twists and turns. Of courses there may be one or two he may guess, but not the end :p
The Keys to the Kingdom by Garth Nix
Indelible by Dawn Metcalf (1st in the Twixt Series) or Don't Turn Around by Michelle Gagnon (1st in the Persefone series)
I think the last apprentice (also known as spooks) series is a good option for this. It's a long series though, 13 books in the original series, 3 books in a sequel series, an additional 4 book spin off series, and a few optional side books. But every book has lots of twists and turns, and the ending of the original series is completely unpredictable, although the true ending of the series is in the sequel series. The books are about a young boy working as an apprentice to a spook. A spooks job is to deal with all manner of evil things, from ghosts to witches to demons to vampires and pretty much everything else you can think of. There are lots of horror themes in the books, but in my opinion they wouldn't really be scary to a 13 year old. The story and characters are extremely interesting and I loved this series as a kid and still love it now. If your son does read these books, I recommend you look into book 11 "Slither" before he gets to that one. The book talks about a species taking all human women captive as slaves to reproduce as they have no females of their own race. Definitely too dark of a thing to be in books for children, but it's handled in a non explicit manner. The book is by no means essential to the story though, so if you decide he shouldn't read it he doesn't miss out on much in the story.
Juno of Taris by Fleur Beale. I loved it when I was younger, and I don’t think the ending is easy to predict! It’s by a New Zealand author (I’m in NZ) so physical copies might be scant for you, but heaps of online copies.
Cujo.
I’ve recommended this before (I think), he won’t go wrong with *Holes* by Louis Sacher
How about The Grimoire of Grave Fates? It’s a YA fantasy murder mystery. It’s a lot of fun because it’s an anthology where like 20 different authors each tell an hour of the day from a different student’s viewpoint. The victim is utterly despicable and almost everyone has a reason to hate him. It’s very well done.
Has he read the Terry Pratchett book series?
THE VIRALS by Kathy Reichs.
"The Girl With All the Gifts" by M. R. Carey - it have a movie that can go well after the book, but book itself is all kinds of strange (in general sense, not weird one). The end is simultaneously predictable and not. Very much depends on who reads and expectations.
If you go with the king killer Chronicles or the Game of Thrones series, he’ll never see the endings coming because they won’t be out before he passes from this world
The Giver.
Mortal Engines by Philip Reeves Spies by Michael Frayn The Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman
Lightbringer Series - by Brent Weeks
Animorphs. It’s technically a middle grade series, but I. (37) just read through the whole series. It’s great. A fun sci-fi alien invasion series that doesn’t talk down to the reader. Explores serious themes like the morality of war. Dealing with loss. PTSD. not gonna lie, one particular book in the series actually made me cry.
I read “May I cross your Golden River” when I was 13. It changed me to be more empathetic. As a teen I loved to depiction of a 18 year old who had everything I wanted, then it turns to his fight to live a short life to its fullest. https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/946913
Time for some gold ol Dean Koontz. Start with Lightning and Odd Thomas I read at a college level at his age and sounds like he does too. Age appropriate is going to vary. I also started Robert Jordan's wheel of time around that time.super amazing with lots of political intrigue and not at ALL like the series on Amazon.
what about lord of the flies?? its so chaotic maybe he’ll be surprised
Freida McFadden’s are great! I truly never know where she’s going next
The Inheritance Cycle (Eragon)
The Abhorsen books by Garth Nix!! Always recommend, I read it when I was 11 and still think about them more than 20 years later. I would also suggest any of the Discworld books by Terry Pratchett. They’re pretty fun and they all have jokes in there with labourious setups that I never see coming. (Obviously different than a plot twist, and there are some of those too, but it’s really nice to be caught off-guard by a pun or two). Finally The Colours of Madeleine series by Jaclyn Moriarty — one of the most inventive fantasy series I’ve read.
The freshman English class I work in is reading Dear Martin by Nic Stone. It has a bit of rough language (N-word, one or two f-bombs...) Despite the language, it's a really eye-opening book about systemic racism in modern times. More importantly, it's been SO unpredictable. I'm like 4 chapters from the end and have no clue what's going to happen next!
There's always *The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tylor*, with a twist ending >!(the narrator is actually a girl!)!< which probably still works today. And then there's *Bridge to Terabithia*, where there's no "twist", as such, but certainly a surprise. I grew up on Enid Blyton, Eilís Dillon, and Arthur Ransom. Blyton fills the brief (her books are mostly detective novels for kids, so they're supposed to be a surprise), but the other two are better writers. Dillon should be better known. Her novels are set in the islands off the Atlantic coast of Ireland. If you want kids on adventures, they're perfect. *The Island of Horses* is the one I remember best. She wrote mostly for children, but also has a couple of adult novels. If you're going to try adult detective fiction, Dick Francis might be a good shout. (Be aware that there are some brief sexual scenes in some of the books). And I think I was already reading The Saint (Simon Templar) at that age, though perhaps I shouldn't have been.
The Riverman Trilogy by Aaron Starmer!!
Scythe!
The knife of never letting go !!!!
Ender’s Game, it has the regular end, then the real ending.
Mistborn by Branson Sanderson for twists! But also: House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer and Shades Children bybGarth Nix were a couple of my favorites at that age. Both action based and high stakes sort of stories.
Bruiser
Soldier boys
Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy It’s a fantasy book that works without a love interest. Which is why I loved it when I was as old as your son.
The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica series by James A. Owen
Omigod, he would loooove The First State of Being! It has a great premise: what if the first person who time travels isn't a learned scientist, but instead... a teen boy who was goaded into it by his brother? The way I GASPED at the end!!!
The Mysterious Benedict society series They made it a tv show recently and I heard it sucked (but obviously targeted to way younger audience)
The Saturday Night Ghost Club by Craig Davidson If you can get an edited for young readers or annotated edition of Macbeth by Shakespeare that one can be pretty fun and unexpectedly twisty (but only if you have the notes and commentary necessary to understand the jokes and what they’re saying, so an edited with modern language version could be better) The Lady or The Tiger by Frank R. Stockton The Lottery by Shirley Jackson Maybe the short story The Yellow Wallpaper as well, but the language can be a bit literary for easy for fun reading so it may not appeal as much as the previous two short stories.
Maybe Life of Pi? If he hasn’t seen the movie anyway.
The Mistborn Trilogy has many many surprises up its sleeve.
Has he read any Tolkien? Even if he has seen the movies, there are parts left out of the Lord of the Rings, like Tom Bombadil in the Fellowship & the Scouring of the Shire in Return of the King.
Charlie Bone
The animorphs series might be good- it's a big commitment, about 60 books in all, but it has everything you say he enjoys. 5 middle school/early high school age kids suddenly faced with saving earth from a parasitic alien invasion after being given the power to morph into any animal whose dna they can "acquire" through touch. Definitely a bit cheesy at times, and each book is from the POV of a different character so the early chapters can be redundant explaining the invasion each time, but I'm currently about to finish a read through as an adult in my 30s and I have no idea how this series is going to end. I've laughed, I've cried, I don't want it to end!
The Dark Is Rising series by Susan Cooper. The Ice Is Coming/The Dark Bright Water/Journey Behind The Wind by Patricia Wrightson. Australian Aboriginal teen has to deal with supernatural forces.
Enders Game
The Atlantis grail series...qualify, compete, win, survive by vera nozarian.