stephen king for a 13 year old?

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.

They are pretty nasty. Is there nothing exciting but less scary you could suggest to him instead?
I have no idea what DS was reading at that age though.