Mature Reading for Teen High School Boys and Young Adults

It's a sad fact that the majority of teenage boys and young men do not read anything beyond magazines or newspapers. Here is list of literature guaranteed to get teen boys and men hooked on books. I've listed these tops reads for teen boys and men with the author name. Some of these books are newly published and others have been read and loved for decades. This list contains some former banned and censored books, and would mostly be rated mature.

The Pigman: Paul Zindel. Eerie, psychodrama about a pair of misfit teens who inadvertently befriend an old man near the monkey house at the Bronx Zoo. All of Paul Zindel's books will appeal to those who like cerebral drama.

The Chocolate War: Robert Corimer. Stark, sophisticated novel about wealthy boys in a private boarding school.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Douglas Adams. Off-beat serio-comedy and sci-fi.

Crank, Burned, Impulse, Glass: Series of psychodrama drug culture books by Ellen Hopkins.

The Green Mile: Stephen King. Haunting story about wardens and condemned men in a state penitentiary and a gentle giant convicted of murder with a mystical gift of healing.

The Chosen: Chaim Potok. Two Jewish boys from opposing Yeshivas meet on the baseball field. When one is injured both learn about the dilemma of duty to family versus following a call.

Cannery Row, In Dubious Battle and Tortilla Flat John Steinbeck. follow a group of vagabond paisanos in a little village in Monterey, CA.

The Jungle: Upton Sinclair's 1906 Expose on the wretched conditions in the meat-packing industry which led to the creation of the Pure Food and Drug Act.

Brave New World: Aldous Huxley Futuristic story about life in a utopian world. Urbane, chilling and farsical.

Animal Farm: George Orwell Allegorical drama about power, equality, political corruption, capitalism and betrayal.

Catcher in the Rye: J.D. Salinger Initially banned for vulgarity, the story of disillusionaed teen Holden Caulfield speaks to the philosopher in every man.

Fahrenhuit 451: Ray Bradbury. Utopian fantasy.

Hard Times: Charles Dickens. A fictional account of slum conditions and work houses in London in the 19th century.

The Oblong Box, The Masque of the Red Death, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Tell-Tale Heart - Edgar Allen Poe

Catch-22: Joseph Heller's wonderfully funny satire on government and military buracracy.

Go Ask Alice: Beatrice Sparks, psychotherapist, published a series of books based on excerpts from teen's journals, dealing with drug addiction, sexual issues and other teen issues.

The Killer Angels:Michael Shara. Fascinating novel about the men who fought the battle of Gettysburg. Taken from the journals of Col. Lawrence Chamberlain.

Johnny Got His Gun: Dalton Trumbo. Horrifying story of Joe, a soldier in WW1 who wakes up in hospital to find that he has lost both arms, both legs, along with his eyes, ears, nose and mouth.

Bartleby the Scrivenor: Herman Melville. Chilling tale of an insignificant clerk who one day chooses to disappear.

The Choirboys: Joseph Wambaugh's hard-hitting stories about the lives of New York police officers.

This list will provide hours of intense reading and should be on every teen and young adult male book shelf.