My kid is about the same age. I find that at his age, he's more interested in fiction than non-fiction, unless the book is about someone he already knows, so I'll stick to mostly fiction recommendations. My kid has read a few books by Paul Langan including
The Bully,
(book list)
and one or two by Walter Dean Meyers who wrote
scorpions and
Monster .
(site)
They both, for the most part, write what I would refer to as "Urban fiction"- kids dealing with the realities of inner city life and rising above it. The protagonists are young black men or women.
Be advised; there is, in an attempt to be true to life, an abundance of "hood" language and improper speech- and plenty of "hood" ignorance...
He's also read a book called "Lebron's Dream Team" which mostly covers Lebron's middle-school /high-school team.
Also, though not a black series, there is a series of sports based young adult fiction; by Author Mike Lupica
(link)
I would also recommend "Yo, Little brother- Basic rules of survival for young African-American males" by Anthony Davis
(link (amazon)) and a book that just came out this year called
Black Boy/White School by Brian F. Walker (though this one might be a little mature for a 13 year old)
Link (amazon)
These are a few specifically black books, but I encourage mine to have an eclectic taste in literature (or what passes for it these days...) so I have a ton of recommendations that
aren't black if you're at all interested.
