Booklist: Male Protagonists in Juvenile Fiction

Here you go, boys! (and parents, and libraries, and teachers, and booksellers...)

Classics
White Fang by Jack London
Call of the Wild by Jack London
The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Realistic Drama and/or Comedy (alphabetical by author)
Nothing but the Truth by Avi
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume (and subsequent books)
13 by Jason Robert Brown and Dan Elish (inspired by the musical 13, also written by Brown and Elish)
After the River the Sun by Dia Calhoun
The Henry Huggins books by Beverly Cleary
Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary (sequel: Strider)
The Matthew Martin books by Paula Danziger (start with Everyone Else's Parents Said Yes)
Totally Joe by James Howe (sequel to The Misfits)
Kimchi & Calamari by Rose Kent
Alvin Ho series by Lenore Look and illustrated by LeUyen Pham
Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick
- Companion: After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick
Zen and the Art of Faking It by Jordan Sonnenblick
Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli (HIGHLY recommended)
Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
The Trouble with Mark Hopper by Elissa Brent Weissman
The Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin

Historical Fiction
The Floating Circus by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer
The Storm in the Barn by Matt Phelan (graphic novel)

Fantasy
The Mummy, the Will, and the Crypt by John Bellairs (and subsequent books)
The Neverending Story by Michael Ende (one of my all-time favorite books)
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster (comedy/must-have for wordsmiths)
OutCast series by Christopher Golden and Thomas E. Sniegoski
The Brimstone Network series by Tom Sniegoski
The Owlboy series by Tom Sniegoski, illustrated by Eric Powell (action-adventure/superheroes/comedy)
Bone: Quest for the Spark by Tom Sniegoski and Jeff Smith
The Funeral Director's Son books by Coleen Purtagh Matore (he talks to dead people!)
- The Funeral Director's Son
- Kip's Gift

I'm also going to mention the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by cartoonist Jeff Kinney because it is a big hit with boys, especially those who like comics. I was over the moon when I got a reluctant reader to check the first book out and he couldn't put it down! If you like the movies, please pick up the books.

Related Booklists at Bildungsroman:
Male Protagonists in Teen Fiction
Middle School Must-Haves