Books For Teenage Boys Who Hate Reading

There’s a particular kind of boy who claims he hates reading. You’ve met him. Maybe you were him in school?

He’ll read Reddit threads, lore dumps, watch YouTube videos – just not a novel. Especially those plastic-wrapped books we were handed out in school as part of our English Lit syllabus.

But here’s the thing, it’s not that most teenage boys hate reading. It’s that they haven’t found the right kind of book. We’re talking about books that make you laugh; books with bite and blood. This isn’t a list about “building better reading habits.” It’s about giving teenage boys a reason to want to read.

So, here are 12 books that might just make them fall in love with reading.

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

Written by a 16-year-old girl in Tulsa and set among boys from two different socioeconomic classes constantly drowning in their own bad decisions, The Outsiders is a coming-of-age novel and remains one of the purest distillations of teenage hurt ever put to paper. A short novel with a long shadow — all flick-knives, flickering streetlights, and the unbearable ache of growing up too fast.

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

Long before he was the most watchable man on late-night TV, Trevor Noah was just a kid born out of an “illegal relationship” between a white man and his black Xhosa mother. The book is a paean to his mother and chronicles his childhood in South Africa. His memoir reads like a stand-up routine sharpened by struggle: brutally funny, blisteringly smart, and tender in unexpected corners.

The Martian by Andy Weir

A man is left behind on Mars with nothing but potatoes, duct tape, and an engineer’s brain. This isn’t science fiction as spectacle — it’s survival as punchline. Every page is crackling with wit and improbable math. You root for Mark Watney not because he’s a hero, but because he’s exactly the sort of sarcastic bastard you’d want on a group project.

Scythe by Neal Shusterman

In a future where death has been cured, and artificial intelligence rules the world, two teenagers are trained to kill. Their job is to replicate mortal death to keep the population in check. But what begins as a philosophical thought experiment unravels into a razor-edged meditation on power, violence, and the quiet, terrifying comfort of systems that no longer require humanity.

Beast by Brie Spangler

Dylan is six foot four, covered in body hair, and absolutely not okay. When a fall lands him in group therapy, he meets Jamie — brilliant, beautiful, and not what he expected. What follows is a strange, tender, deeply uncomfortable unlearning. A modern fairy tale that smashes the mirror and asks what’s left to love.

Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas

Before The Hate U Give, there was Maverick Carter. At seventeen, he’s a father, a son, a dealer, and a boy trying not to be a statistic. Thomas writes him not as a cautionary tale, but as a living, breathing contradiction — loyal, lost, and occasionally luminous. This is a novel that believes in redemption, but doesn’t guarantee it.

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

If The Martian was man-vs-nature, this is man-vs-alien — and strangely, it’s a buddy comedy. A lone astronaut wakes up in deep space with no memory and a planetary crisis to solve. What unfolds is a surprising, emotional tale of interstellar friendship and problem-solving under pressure. It’s science fiction with soul.

Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds

Sixty seconds in an elevator. That’s all it takes for Will to decide if he’ll pull the trigger. Written in verse but paced like a thriller, this haunting novel folds grief, memory, and ghost stories into something that feels ancient and urgent at once. Spare, devastating, and unshakably quiet.

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

Yadriel is a boy who just wants his family to see him for who he is. When he accidentally summons the ghost of the wrong dead boy — who refuses to move on — what follows is a gorgeously strange story of magic, identity, and unexpected connection. Set against the backdrop of Día de los Muertos, it’s as luminous as it is grounded.

I Am the Cheese by Robert Cormier

This isn’t an easy book to love — but that’s exactly why it sticks. A boy rides his bike to visit his father in a mental institution, or so he believes. But the truth is far from it. The truth unravels like a riddle in this part psychological thriller and part memory puzzle. It’s also a horrifying tale of government corruption and espionage. The build-up is worth it.

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

In a town where every man’s thoughts are broadcast like radio static and women have mysteriously vanished, a boy discovers a silence he doesn’t understand — and then must run. Wild, kinetic, and terrifyingly prescient, this is sci-fi that cuts close to the bone.

Monster by Walter Dean Myers

Steve Harmon is sixteen, on trial for murder, and writing the courtroom proceedings like a film script. Is he guilty? Innocent? Or just trying to reshape the narrative before it consumes him? A taut, unflinching meditation on race, justice, and the blurry line between perception and reality.