Does your kid love Minecraft, gaming, monsters, battles, and wild adventures…
…but then somehow “can you read for twenty minutes?” turns into a boss fight?
Yeah. I get it.
A lot of kids — especially preteen boys — don’t think of themselves as readers. They’ll explore game worlds, memorize mob facts, watch lore videos, build giant bases, and talk your ear off about some obscure thing that happened in a game…
…but hand them a regular chapter book, and suddenly reading feels like homework.
That’s exactly why I made this new Skeleton Steve video.
Watch it here:
In this video, I share four of my Minecraft-inspired chapter book series that I think are a great place to start for boys around ages 8–14 who don’t like to read yet.
And yes, I’m saying “boys” because a lot of parents are specifically searching for books for boys who don’t like reading.
But girls read these books too. I have plenty of girl readers. These stories are for anyone who likes action, adventure, monsters, battles, friendship, survival, funny characters, and fast-paced Minecraft-style stories.
📚 Why Minecraft Books Can Work for Reluctant Readers
Sometimes the problem isn’t that a kid hates reading.
Sometimes the problem is that he hasn’t found the right doorway into reading yet.
For a lot of kids, especially gamers, Minecraft-style books can be that doorway.
Why?
Because the ingredients are already familiar:
⚔️ Monsters
🏰 Adventure
💎 Exploration
🐔 Weird mobs
🔥 Battles
😂 Funny characters
🎮 Video game-style worlds
📖 Ongoing series with more books waiting after book one
A kid who might roll his eyes at a “normal” book may still be willing to try a story about creepers, Endermen, chicken jockeys, survival, quests, bosses, and strange game-world adventures.
That matters.
Because with reluctant readers, the first victory is not finishing a giant impressive book.
The first victory is getting them to care what happens next.
📘 Series #1: Creeper King
The first series I talk about in the video is my Creeper King series.
This is one of the Skeleton Steve classics. In fact, the first Creeper King book was the very first book I ever wrote as Skeleton Steve, almost ten years ago now.
This series starts off especially friendly for younger or newer readers. Book one is shorter, easier to read, and illustrated. Then, as the series goes on, the story gets bigger and the stakes get more serious.
The story begins when Skeleton Steve meets Cth’ka, a friendly young creeper who wants to learn more about his people and eventually unite them.
The problem?
He’s still a creeper.
And creepers explode.
So Skeleton Steve tries to help Cth’ka find a way to protect himself without blowing up. That leads them to a witch named Worla, a special crown, and a whole lot of trouble.
This is a great starting series for kids who like creepers, powers, quests, armies, and stories where a small character starts becoming something much bigger.
📗 Series #2: Enderman Ninja
The second series is my original Enderman Ninja series.
This one is a fan favorite, especially for kids who like ninjas, martial arts, training, secret orders, and serious hero stories.
The main character is Elias the Enderman, an initiate ninja in the Order of the Warping Fist. He’s on his first Seed Stride, which is kind of like a teenage rite of passage, when he gets pulled into a dangerous mission involving Endermen deaths, Minecraftians, and a much bigger threat called the Skeleton King.
At first, Elias thinks he knows who his enemies are.
Then he finds out things are a lot more complicated.
This series has action, ninja lore, martial arts, friendship, failure, growth, and a strong hero’s journey feel. It’s a good pick for kids who want something with a little more intensity and a lot of cool Enderman ninja energy.
📙 Series #3: Chicken Jockey
The third series is my Chicken Jockey series.
This one is funny, action-packed, and full of quirky characters.
The main characters are Cluckington, a plucky, stubborn chicken who doesn’t fit in with her flock, and Sir Zebulon, a little zombie knight who eventually makes her into his mount.
Basically?
A zombie knight and his chicken battle steed.
If that sounds ridiculous, good. That’s part of the fun.
The first book is casual, easy to read, and illustrated. As the series continues, the adventures get bigger, the stakes get higher, and the story becomes a powerful adventure about loyalty and friendship.
There’s also a huge race event in book three, which kids tend to love.
This is a good series for kids who like funny characters, weird mobs, knights, races, battles, and adventure with heart.
And here’s a secret for the parents:
The first Chicken Jockey book is one of the free books kids can get when they join the Skeleton Steve Club. I usually keep the free fiction book a surprise, but since you’re the parents, I figured I’d tell you.
🎁 Series #4: Jack the Kid
The fourth series is Jack the Kid.
This one is a little different because it gets into LitRPG territory.
That basically means a story where the main character is from the real world and gets pulled into a video game-style world.
In Jack the Kid, a 12-year-old boy named Jack Walker gets sucked into the Minecraft world during a strange event involving a solar eclipse. Then he has to survive inside the game world with Steve and Alex.
For a kid who loves gaming, that premise is easy to understand right away.
What would happen if YOU got pulled into the game?
That’s the hook.
This series also had a fun feature called the divining pool, where messages from the real outside world could show up inside the story. When the books were being released, readers would request characters in reviews, and some of those reader-inspired characters eventually became part of the series.
Kids loved that. It made the books feel a little more interactive, almost like the readers were helping shape the world.
Also, fun fact:
The boy on the covers was one of my sons, a preteen back then. I do all of my own cover art, and I turned him into Jack Walker.
🎮 The Goal: Help Kids Find the Right Doorway Into Reading
If you have a kid who doesn’t like to read, I wouldn’t start by trying to convince him that reading is important.
He probably already knows adults think reading is important.
The better move is to find a book that actually feels interesting to him.
For some kids, that might be sports.
For some kids, it might be graphic novels.
For some kids, it might be dragons, jokes, mysteries, or scary stories.
And for a lot of young gamers, it might be Minecraft-inspired adventure books.
That’s what I’ve spent years writing: clean, wholesome, fast-paced adventure books for kids who may not think of themselves as readers yet.
So if your kid loves Minecraft, gaming, monsters, mobs, quests, battles, survival, and funny characters, these four series are a good place to start.
Watch the full video here:
📚 The Series Mentioned in the Video
Creeper King:
Enderman Ninja:
Chicken Battle Steed:
Jack the Kid:
📚 Looking for Minecraft-style adventure books that reluctant readers may actually want to read?
Start here:
🎁 Want some FREE Minecraft stuff?
Grab free Skeleton Steve books, Minecraft guides, and other goodies here:
📖 Browse the complete Skeleton Steve book catalog:
Subscribe for more videos about helping young gamers discover that books can be awesome too.