stephen king for a 13 year old?

I do get fed up of constantly having to check dates when threads started before responding.

Basgetti

I loved Stephen King books at 13! At 62, think I’m ok 🤪

Yes, same here.

I loved Stephen King books at 13! At 62, think I’m ok 🤪

There is no way you will be able to stop this boy from reading Stephen King books

As he is 26 by now presumably he has survived the experience!
🤣🤣🤣

GRRRRRRR Why and where do these old threads pop up!

Note to self, check dates before commenting

I started to read Stephen King books around age 14.

They are actually well written, real mix of horror and “oddness”.

If your GS is a bright and intelligent reader I see no reason why he shouldn’t read this genre, if this is what he is “into”.

His earlier books are less “horrific”, they do all have proper storylines and I enjoyed them without getting nightmares.

So, “Kujo” is about a demented aggressive dog, “Christine” is about a “possessed” car. “Thinner” is about a gypsy curse.

I’d steer clear of both “Carrie” and “Pet Semetary” both a bit gruesome!

“The Shining” is one of my favourites.

Of course it’s all personal choice, some people loathe this genre, I don’t and enjoyed all his books.

Stephen King books cover a range of genres, not just horror.

candidcover.net/stephen-king-books-in-order-list/amp/

Has he read the Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins?

MissAdventure

Some are more adult than others, I'd say.
I think I probably read them at about twelve years old.
I just always had an interest in the macabre, and still have to this day.

Some of the online games children play are more disturbing I think.

You are forgiven. You had a long day 😂

There is no way you will be able to stop this boy from reading Stephen King books.

I speak as an avid and precocious reader at the same age whose parents also tried to shield me from what they considered unsuitable material. In my case books that gave details about the horrors of the Holocaust and how British prisoners in japanese prisoner of war camps were treated. It was the 1950s.

They did not succeed, I found surreptious ways of getting access to the newspapers they kept out of the house, borrowed books from the library that they were unaware of and was not beyond creeping downstairs in the night to read things being kept from me.

So , my advice is, Let him read Stephen King, but control which ones you let him read. Take advice from people who had read SK's books and can suggest the least unpleasant. You may find he will read one or two and not want to read anymore. I have never read any of his books or have ever wanted to.

The books that gave me nightmares as child were not obvious ones like Stephen King, but Jane Eyre and two books by John Buchan, Witchwood and The Dancing floor, both books masters of suspense without any horror about them.

Oh!!!!! I didn't realise.

Some are more adult than others, I'd say.
I think I probably read them at about twelve years old.
I just always had an interest in the macabre, and still have to this day.

Some of the online games children play are more disturbing I think.

This thread is 13 years old. I expect the young man has read all the Stephen King books he wants to by now.

I read all SK books in my teens.
Loved the Stand.
Also James Herbert ‘The fog’.

Thanks for all so much your input.

We think it best to err on the side of caution but how long it will be possible to keep him away is anyones guess. A lot of teen fiction is very dark these days , or so I hear, so I suppose this will be the next step for many of them. DS and DIL have done a marvellous job of bringing him up and he is very sensible really , not quiet a terrible teenager just yet, but they have to be constantly vigilant about him spending too much time on the x box and requests for computer games with 15 or 18 ratings . Now even reading isn't safe!
Of course "everyone " else at school is allowed!

Stephen King did collaborate with Peter Straub for some of his later novels (The Talisman series, for example), but I haven't read any of those. I do think that some of his books have been over-sensationalised in film - Pet Semetary was dreadful - but The Shining wasn't too bad.

I haven't read that one rosearered, the ladt one I read was about a time traveller trying to prevent the kennedy assassination , it was very good.

I remember reading Dennis Wheatley at about that age and at 13 wrote a book review for an English class on Mandingo, not sure what the teacher thought of my choice but got 100%. I think it depends upon the child, I have never been keen on Stephen King, some of the TV programmes and movies which are aimed at teenagers now are very dark and violent, I think I would be tempted to let him read one of his older works, Salems Lot perhaps and see how it goes.

No, SusieB you are wrong there, I am a Stephen King fan and yet there are a few he has written in the later years especially the ones written with another author [Peter Straub] although that MAY be yet another S King writer name?]that are certainly sick or bordering on the sick depending on your point of view;[murdered children being part eaten by their killers hmmmmn?]The latest one Doctor Sleep features the torture of small children.
Many of King's books are classics I agree, and can be read by teenagers [I think 13 too young] but some are certainly for adults only.Some are very disturbing.

Really - Stephen King is a great author and wrote some amazing stories - they are no sicker than some of the crime novels /classic ghost stories that I have read, and many of his stories have been made into classic films - Shawshank redemption for one ! Usually good triumphs evil in his novels

I have no idea why someone would think them nasty

I would see no problem with a teen reading them..... back when |I was 12 we were passing around dog eared copies of skinhead/hells angels,/forever amber and mandingo !

No they aren't sick, although one or two are now bordering on that I have to say especially the last one Doctor Sleep [I won't be reading it but have read the reviews.]None of them are suitable for anyone really under 15/16. Advise against it if you can, but he may still read it anyway, but at least he has been warned.

My son read a lot od Stephen King while he was at school. I think he may have been a bit older - perhaps 15? He wrote some very good Stephen King pastiches around the same time.

I've enjoyed several Stephen King novels and I don't think they're sick!
I agree they aren't suitable for a 13-year-old though.

DD2, who is and was an avid reader, and who later did Eng Lit at Uni, wanted to read them at that age and I was similarly concerned.
The headmaster who was also her English teacher strongly advised against!

definetly not suitable for a 13yr old!!! i must be honest steven king books are sick!!!!

Most aren't suitable, but he did write for his daughter, who was 13 at the time and didn't like the sound of what he'd written so far.

Here's a forum discussing his books with regard to teenagers.

rasalvatoreforums.yuku.com/topic/5734#.Ur1h_38gGSM

No - not suitable. Once you have read something you cannot "unread" it - it becomes part of who you are. I would try and steer him away from it - although that may not work - it may make him more attracted to them.

Bit of a dilemma really.

I do not think the content is adult in the sense of sexual, but it is the product of a warped mind.