one for the book sellers or Stephen King fans

[shoesonthegoau]

MY Son is 12 he has Asperger and is absolutely hooked on Stephen Kning, even thoughhe hasnt seen a movie or read a book. I would like to get him a couple of the stephen king books but i dont know which ones will be sutiable for his age (probably none but which are a bit more tame?)

thanks the input would really help,

[cosmosgrove]

I think I was around that age when I started reading Steven King novels although these were his earlier ones. Not sure if the later ones are much different but I loved them back then and couldn't get enough.

My son was nagging me to let him watch 'It' when he was probably 9 or 10, in the end I told him he could read the book instead. Well he started it and even though he also was an advanced reader he didn't get far.

[papermoon.lady]

Probably "The Green Mile".

[phorum_junkie*]

I started reading grown up books when I was 7, my first, Jane Eyre, because I Iiked the blue leather cover lol.

By the age of 12 I was reading anything and everything including Dracula, the Dennis Wheatley satanic novels and all the horror short stories that were popular at the time.

I would however be slightly worried about a 12 year old with this sort of diagnosis reading them as they sometimes have trouble seperating fiction from reality, If you are going to let him read one I would select the longest, most boring book you can find, he will probably lose interest very quickly.

[triptronic07]

The only Stephen King book that would be 100% ok for your son to read is The Eyes of the Dragon. It is a fantasy novel he wrote so his own children could have something of his to read while they were still young. As long as your son's reading skills were up to him reading a thickish fantasy book this should be no problem.

The Talisman would be your next safest bet but it is a huge book with suspense, bad language, violence and possibly some adult themes that you may not think appropriate for your son.

Anything else, I would suggest you read first so you can decide if it is ok for your son. Some of his short stories maybe ok like The Body but be aware King is an adult writing for adults so there will be swearing, adult themes like sex and drugs and usually some scary element to his work.

Firestarter, Cujo, Cycle of the Werewolf and The Green Mile would be at the lighter end of his work. Maybe the Running Man short story and he has a short story about Sherlock Holmes called The Doctor's Case that should be ok.

Hope this helps and if anything else comes to mind I'll be back.

[shoesonthegoau]

Thanks for the advice guys, I absolutly agree that he is too young however he has researched everything about Stephen king, and the books without reading them, he is absolutely obsessed with wanting to read his books. The only reason that I am thinking of letting him is that he has the mind of an 18 year old, he is not a typical 12 year old,
His fixation is out of our control, however we are lucky that he is also fixated on rules and he never lies, so he won't go behind our backs, and I would just like to be able to let him read something so he is happy and not so stressed all the time. Poor thing he is such a sweet and amazing boy but others out there who have a child or know a child with aspergers will know where I am coming from.

[tuffy42tuffy]

That is a very sensible reply and I know where you are coming from through experience. It always concerns me when people criticise postings such as this. Unless you have been affected by the issue,please think before making a comment.Too many people think that "googling" gives them the authority to be the judge.

[freshwater-2]

I can think of one that would not only be very suitable  I can't think of the name of the story.  It was in one of King's books containing short stores.  The move "Stand By Me" was based on it and the children in the story are about the same age as your son and parts of it are hilarious.....ie. the barf-orama.   He may enjoy the movie too.

Google is your friend.

[freshwater-2]

I just looked it up......

The name of the short story is "The Body".  The name of the book is "Different Seasons".  A beautiiful story. 

[b3llag1na]

I started reading the Dark Tower series when I was a little older than your son ( maybe 13 or 14, and also a very advanced reader) and loved it - yes, it gets quite dark in places but it was the only ones I could think of that may be even slightly appropriate.

You know your son best, and how well he can differentiate fact from fiction, so it is for your to judge how appropriate any book could be, IMHO