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All of you moms and dads with teen or even pre-teen boys, listen up. Bestselling author James Patterson, along with Michael Ledwidge, is on a mission to get these kids into reading. And he’s doing a great job at it with ‘The Dangerous Days of Daniel X’.

I initially took the opportunity to review this book because I thought Bubba would like it. He hasn’t even had a chance to read it yet because I’ve been hogging it. Hey, I wanted to read it first! And I’m glad I did.

Just to give you a brief plot synopsis, Daniel goes on the hunt for aliens on ‘The List’ after witnessing them murder his parents and uses his superpowers, like shape shifting, to fulfill his mission. Its like Superman meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

As I was reading it, I kept thinking of how much it reminded me of Neil Gaiman’s ‘American Gods’. Its a little bit sci-fi but its more like a comic book. Wait, they don’t call them that anymore. What’s the phrase now? Graphic novel! Yeah, that’s it. It’s like a graphic novel only without the graphics. I could even “see” this book being made into a movie in my mind.

I don’t want to get into too many details about the plot and what happens because, well, that ruins it. But I wanted to address the concept of getting teen boys into reading. James Patterson has really tapped into a much-overlooked audience. Most YA (young adult) books are aimed at girls. Look at the popularity of the ‘Twilight’ series. But other than Harry Potter, can you think of a popular series that guys would enjoy?

Aside from drawing these kids in with the plot, Patterson also keeps them engaged with short chapters (hello? sons with ADHD anyone? *raising my hand*) but he also makes references to pop culture that readers will be familiar with which keeps the story modern.

Now I’m fortunate enough to have a son who does enjoy reading but if he didn’t, this would be the book I’d use to reel him in. And even though his reading tastes are a little beyond his chronological age - he’s into Nietzsche, Shakespeare, Darwin, and “quantum physics” or something like that - he’s still interested in reading this one.

But he’s going to have to wait…until I get done reading it again.

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