8th grade reading list What are your "must-read" lit choices for 7th and 8th?

[Halcyon]

Here's what we have so far--some we have ready already this year, others are on the docket for this year and next. What would you add? Listed in no particular order

 

The Hobbit

The Westing Game

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle

Banner in the Sky

Beowulf

Anne Frank

Unbroken

The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom

The Invisible Man HG Wells

Little Women

My Side of the Mountain

Old Yeller

Watership Down

1984

Animal Farm

The Old Man and the Sea

Brave New World

Catcher in the Rye

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

ETA: To Kill A Mockingbird

 

[Aurelia]

You listed most of what I was thinking of, but I also consider To Kill a Mockingbird essential. 

[Lori D.]

Just me: I'd probably hold off until high school on:

- 1984

- Brave New World

- Catcher in the Rye

- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

and save them for when students are more mature to handle the content, but also have "wrestled" more with literature and have the tools and experience to get the most out of these works...

 

Other possibilities:

 

To Kill a Mockingbird (Lee)

Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Twain)

Treasure Island (Stevenson)

A Day of Pleasure (Singer)

My Family and Other Animals (Durrell)

Call of the Wild (London)

Rip Van Winkle (Irving)

Something Wicked This Way Comes (Bradbury)

Fahrenheit 451 (Bradbury)

All Creatures Great and Small (Herriot)

Sherlock Holmes short stories (Doyle)

Wooster & Jeeves short stories (Wodehouse)

Cheaper by the Dozen (Gilbraith)

The Day They Came to Arrest the Book

The Pushcart War (Merrill)

The Wednesday Wars 

A Wizard of Earthsea (Le Guin)

A Wrinkle in Time (L'Engle)

The Never Ending Story (Ende)

Tuck Everlasting (Babbitt)

The Giver (Lowry)

The Cay (Taylor)

Island of the Blue Dolphins (O'Dell)

The King's Fifth (O'Dell)

The Great and Terrible Quest (Lovett)

The Samurai's Tale (Haugaard)

The Bronze Bow (Speare)

I Am David (Holm)

Warriors Don't Cry

The Book Thief 

 

 

cheers! :) Lori D.

[Garga]

Unbroken? Old Yeller? My son would literally fall into depression and have panic attacks reading those. We had to back off watching CNN Student News because he was having panic attacks before bed.

 

In my opinion, some of the books on there are pretty depressing for kids at this age. I would wait for some maturity. But, maybe that's just me and my son. I never thought he was particularly sensitive, but those stories are (I think) particularly sad. I wouldn't have been able to read them at those ages. I read Unbroken a couple of years ago and knew that I wouldn't have been able to read it before my 30's. That sort of thing would make me sob before my 30s, especially knowing it was real.

[Chrysalis Academy]

I love Lori D's great list, and I also agree with her omissions - I wouldn't make a kid read 1984 or Brave New World till they are older.  I also don't make my kids read anything with dying or suffering animals, so no Old Yeller or Call of the Wild here.  But that's an idosyncracy.

 

A couple of classicy things that have been great here, besides what you listed:

To Kill a Mockingbird

Tom Sawyer

Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde

Treasure Island

Around the World in 80 Days

A Midsummer Night's Dream

 

[Halcyon]

You listed most of what I was thinking of, but I also consider To Kill a Mockingbird essential. 

 

 

Yes!!! We just finished it last week--can't believe I forgot to list it--amending my OP. 

[Halcyon]

Unbroken? Old Yeller? My son would literally fall into depression and have panic attacks reading those. We had to back off watching CNN Student News because he was having panic attacks before bed.

 

In my opinion, some of the books on there are pretty depressing for kids at this age. I would wait for some maturity. But, maybe that's just me and my son. I never thought he was particularly sensitive, but those stories are (I think) particularly sad. I wouldn't have been able to read them at those ages. I read Unbroken a couple of years ago and knew that I wouldn't have been able to read it before my 30's. That sort of thing would make me sob before my 30s, especially knowing it was real.

 

 

My son read Unbroken and Old Yeller this year--he really enjoyed them. Different strokes, I guess ;)

[texasmama]

I read Unbroken aloud.  It is so very well written.  My boys loved it and asked me to read more and more until my voice was hoarse.  Then we went to see the movie, which was well-done and not too "gory", for lack of a better word.  I love the writer so much I now want to read Seabiscuit.

 

Mine are not overly sensitive, though.

 

They also loved To Kill a Mockingbird. 

[Halcyon]

Thank you Lori! Great list--lots of food for thought there ;) 

[Halcyon]

I read Unbroken aloud.  It is so very well written.  My boys loved it and asked me to read more and more until my voice was hoarse.  Then we went to see the movie, which was well-done and not too "gory", for lack of a better word.  I love the writer so much I now want to read Seabiscuit.

 

Mine are not overly sensitive, though.

 

They also loved To Kill a Mockingbird. 

 

Seabiscuit is great! I loved it--we will try and read that too LOL.  Yea, my older is not overly sensitive--my younger is another story. He can't read anything with death without crying.

[Halcyon]

I read Unbroken aloud.  It is so very well written.  My boys loved it and asked me to read more and more until my voice was hoarse.  Then we went to see the movie, which was well-done and not too "gory", for lack of a better word.  I love the writer so much I now want to read Seabiscuit.

 

Mine are not overly sensitive, though.

 

They also loved To Kill a Mockingbird. 

 

 

Did you read this article about the author? fascinating: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/21/magazine/the-unbreakable-laura-hillenbrand.html

[texasmama]

Did you read this article about the author? fascinating: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/21/magazine/the-unbreakable-laura-hillenbrand.html

I knew some but not all of that.  Interesting.  She is a very unusual person.

[raptor_dad]

I love Lori D's great list, and I also agree with her omissions - I wouldn't make a kid read 1984 or Brave New World till they are older.  I also don't make my kids read anything with dying or suffering animals, so no Old Yeller or Call of the Wild here.  But that's an idosyncracy.

 

 

Back in the '80s we read Gunther's "Death Be Not Proud" in 7th grade. Death is a reality. I had a classmate die in stages from a brain tumor in 4th and 5th grade. Literature can give an outlet to that stress...

[Chrysalis Academy]

Back in the '80s we read Gunther's "Death Be Not Proud" in 7th grade. Death is a reality. I had a classmate die in stages from a brain tumor in 4th and 5th grade. Literature can give an outlet to that stress...

 

Yes.  I agree.  And I don't avoid books with human death and suffering.  Just animals. I find it inordinately upsetting.  But I didn't want to derail the OP's thread with a long digression, because I know a lot of people value these books and don't agree with my feelings on this topic. That's fine.. But I won't assign to my kids a book I wish I hadn't read. They can read it on their own, but it won't be something I "make" them read.  I also want them to trust my suggestions, and not be horrified and upset by a book I assign them for school.  

 

When we read books with human death and suffering, I like to do them together or discuss them, at least while they are this young.  I think that helps them process, and provide the outlet, as you suggest.  I wouldn't present my 12 year old with the brutality and torture in 1984 and leave her to process it on her own.   We read To Kill a Mockingbird together when she was in 4th grade, which is pretty young, but it was a fantastic experience, because we discussed it throughout and then we went and saw a local theatrical production, where after the show the director and actors came out on stage and took questions from the audience.  There was an amazing discussion about how the cast felt in portraying these characters, their own experiences of racial discrimination, and what this story came to mean for them. That's the kind of scaffolding that can help a young kid process something so intense at a relatively young age, IMO.

 

I'm not trying to shield my kids from reality.  They are experiencing a pretty horrible reality in their own family right now, watching their grandparents deteriorate and fail in physical and mental health.  But I'm not going to push them into reading things that I find horribly upsetting without a lot of support, and I can't provide that for the animal suffering books, because *I* find them too upsetting to revisit.  So.  That's our choice, and the reasons for it.

[Homemama2]

I agree with the list and with Lori D.  I think the books she mentions omitting are books that you get so much more out of when you are a little older. 

 

And if your son likes Little Women, I'd add Little Men to the list.  My son read both this last month and really liked Little Men.  So much that he wanted me to find him other books by the author.

 

I think books like Call of the Wild etc. really depends on the child.  I hated them as a child.  My super-sensitive animal loving son LOVES them.  My tough-as-nails son can't handle them.  Go figure.  Lol!

[Halcyon]

He's read Call of the Wild a couple of times already and really like it. He's a huge fan of dystopian literature, so anything else in that department is always welcome. 

[Chrysalis Academy]

So, this isn't fine literature or anything, but if he likes dystopias, Shannon is currently raving about Steelheart and Firefight by Brandon Sanderson.  I read Steelheart too, it was really exciting.

 

She's also really enjoyed the City of Ember series by DuPrau, and the Shadow Children and Missing series by Margaret Peterson Haddix, and The Lord of Opium & House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer.

[AppleGreen]

I think you have been given a pretty comprehensive list, so I can only add one or two.

 

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Einstein Adds a New Dimension (you all have probably done this since you have a STEM kid) We followed up with The Time Machine

We will be doing The Devil's Arithmetic and I Am David along with The Book Thief (and watching the documentary Paper Clips this month)

We will be doing an author study next month. I think we are going to read a Mark Twain biography and then read a couple of his short stories and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. 

 

 

 

 

[Shannon in TN]

Wow, I so needed to see this list!

 

Ok, (and if this takes the thread off in a different direction - sorry!) but what, if anything, do you do when they finish the books?  Do you have them discuss with you?  Write anything?  Nothing - just have them read and enjoy?  A mixed bag of all three?  I sometimes struggle with this because I loved analyzing lit and getting deeper meanings out of the stories and such, but I haven't done it since college a lifetime ago.  There's no way I'd have time to read with her (plus, she's a much faster reader than I).  But I also remember Kern talking about how analyzing good lit just kills the book and the enjoyment of reading.

 

So, what do you do with them when they're done reading? 

 

 

[Punks in Ontario]

We just read and enjoy.  I agree that analyzing books can easily kill them.  When we do novel studies, I don't use favourite books either.

[EndOfOrdinary]

My son cannot handle the dying animals Old Yeller style, but has already done lots of dystopian lit. Catcher in the Rye and Brave New World will have been read by the 7th/8th grade for us as well. BNW is actually one of the best middle school/early high school books for many kids IMO as long as parents discuss the themes. The sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll is portrayed so negatively, as is the idea of abandoning your sense of self for society.

 

Has he read Fahrenheit451?

 

Anthem by Ayn Rand is a quick dystopian classic he might enjoy. The whole book is 105 pages and not dense writing, but quite a feat of storytelling. It is a good one to discuss her personal views on capitalism and communism due to how simplistic it feels on the surface. Very approachable.

 

The Martian Chronicles is another you might consider. It is a fun look at ways to question society.

 

Depending on how much sex you want involved Stranger in A Strange Land is cultural commentary by one of the best. Definitely pretreat this one. It is easily one to read somewhere between middle and high school, but where exactly is very much a parental decision.

 

Ishmael by Daniel Quinn discusses the philosophy behind cultural narrative and cultural mythology. It does so by using a telepathic gorilla. Again, very approachable and much along the lines of why dystopian literature hits home for so many of the middle/high school years. Not dystopian in and of itself, but more providing word to the feelings and thoughts of many dystopian lit junkies.

 

The short story Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut is a great introduction to Vonnegut and very dystopian. Google it; it's free.

[Chrysalis Academy]

Wow, I so needed to see this list!

 

Ok, (and if this takes the thread off in a different direction - sorry!) but what, if anything, do you do when they finish the books?  Do you have them discuss with you?  Write anything?  Nothing - just have them read and enjoy?  A mixed bag of all three?  I sometimes struggle with this because I loved analyzing lit and getting deeper meanings out of the stories and such, but I haven't done it since college a lifetime ago.  There's no way I'd have time to read with her (plus, she's a much faster reader than I).  But I also remember Kern talking about how analyzing good lit just kills the book and the enjoyment of reading.

 

So, what do you do with them when they're done reading? 

 

It depends on the purpose of the reading. DD is a voracious reader, so she reads a ton of books for fun that are just that - for fun. No discussion unless she wants to tell me about them.  

 

Then there are assigned nonfiction books that she reads and we talk about, but no further assignment.  She's reading The Omnivore's Dilemma, the Young People's edition right now and is having all these epiphanies about why we eat the way we do - and coming to really appreciate it, which is an added bonus! Before this she read The Third Chimpanzee for Young People.  I try to be sure that these assigned books are well within her reading level.

 

For more challenging nonfiction, I read aloud and we discuss. (I realize you may not be asking about anything but lit, but I'll leave these comments anyway).

 

Our literature books are discussed, minimally.  Then they may be written about - writing assignments alternate loosely between writing about books and writing for history/science.  So not every lit book is written about, but some of them are.   

 

So the vast majority of her reading is not discussed or written about.  To make that more concrete, she has read 80 books in the fiction category this year:  11 were "literature" books assigned and discussed, the rest were pleasure.  Of the 11 lit books, all were discussed, but she has written about just 3 of them.  So it's not so much analysis and writing as to kill the book.

 

HTH

[SilverMoon]

Have you seen Which 20 Books Help Prepare for Reading the Great Books? :001_smile:  I just ran down it to help flesh out DS/6th's list for 7th.

[RootAnn]

Depending on how much sex you want involved Stranger in A Strange Land is cultural commentary by one of the best. Definitely pretreat this one. It is easily one to read somewhere between middle and high school, but where exactly is very much a parental decision.

 

I can't wait to discuss some of the themes in this & a couple other books on my shelf with dd#1 & dd#2. However, I know that for my kids, it'll be late high school or possibly sometime in college before they are ready for some of the content in Heinlein. I think Starship Troopers will be their first Heinlein assigned - possibly during a "government" class. The ideas on voting, citizenship, war, politics, and responsibility are great. But I'm willing to wait until they are ready.

 

As far as writing/discussing/just reading, I agree that it depends on the book. For most books, it is just read/digest/enjoy. Other books, I want to discuss with them, mostly when they are in the middle of the book, to see what they are getting out of it & to ask questions to help them get more out of it by thinking more about it. Eventually, we'll do written literary analysis. But talking definitely comes first & foremost. SWB talks about this in her audio talk on Literary Analysis.

[happypamama]

DD isn't going to like animals dying, so I have to limit that.

 

She read Oliver Twist this year (7th), complaining the entire time about how awful it was. She loved Johnny Tremain, however. This year, she also read, among other things, a few more Madeleine L'Engle books, and she absolutely loves those. She liked The Story of My Life okay.

 

These are on her list for the rest of this year and next year (many are needed for history):

The Sign of the Beaver

Around the World in Eighty Days

Things Fall Apart

Call of the Wild

Summer of the Swans

All Creatures Great and Small

My Side of the Mountain

The Scarlet Pimpernel

War of the Worlds

The Purloined Letter

A Christmas Carol

The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County

The Jungle Book

The Red Baron

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

The Red Badge of Courage

Animal Farm

Anne Frank

To Kill a Mockingbird

Chinese Cinderella

No Promises in the Wind

Number the Stars

Winged Watchman

[Lori D.]

DD isn't going to like animals dying, so I have to limit that.

 

Just FYI: several dogs die in 2 of the books on your list

 

Call of the Wild -- several dogs (not the main protagonist dog)

 

All Creatures Great and Small -- elderly dog (and elderly master), and a dog hit by a car

[happypamama]

Just FYI: several dogs die in 2 of the books on your list

 

Call of the Wild -- several dogs (not the main protagonist dog)

 

All Creatures Great and Small -- elderly dog (and elderly master), and a dog hit by a car

Yeah, I know; she won't be thrilled, but she loved the children's version of the Herriot books, so I'm hoping ACGaS will be okay otherwise and not too depressing. I just don't want to add too much. She refused to read Island of the Blue Dolphins again, even though it was in her history work, because when we listened to it a few years ago, she was so upset about the brother. I'm not even suggesting The Giver because of the release scene. This kid is feisty and generally fearless and tough, but she has a super sensitive streak when it comes to babies and animals. . . Maybe that comes of being the mother hen to a bunch of little brothers. . . It can be tricky to find the right balance between evoking thoughtfulness and sympathy vs. totally dragging her down.

 

But thank you. :)

[EndOfOrdinary]

Yeah, I know; she won't be thrilled, but she loved the children's version of the Herriot books, so I'm hoping ACGaS will be okay otherwise and not too depressing. I just don't want to add too much. She refused to read Island of the Blue Dolphins again, even though it was in her history work, because when we listened to it a few years ago, she was so upset about the brother. I'm not even suggesting The Giver because of the release scene. This kid is feisty and generally fearless and tough, but she has a super sensitive streak when it comes to babies and animals. . . Maybe that comes of being the mother hen to a bunch of little brothers. . . It can be tricky to find the right balance between evoking thoughtfulness and sympathy vs. totally dragging her down.

 

But thank you. :)

The rest of The Giver series might work for her. In Messanger a character dies. He is probably in his early teens. He dies to save everyone else. A dog dies of old age, but it is only mentioned in passing to show that much time has passed - nothing horrific or much mention given. Other than that, no dying in any of the remaining three books. A bad guy is defeated, I guess that could be considered dying. It doesn't really go into it, so it is an assumed death. So she could read those if you would like her too.

[Lori D.]

... she loved the children's version of the Herriot books, so I'm hoping ACGaS will be okay otherwise and not too depressing. 

 

Most of the Herriot stories are either humorous or heart-warming, so the few sad moments are surrounded by many more positive moments, so I'm betting it will be okay in the end. :)

[FloridaLisa]

Here's one of every single one of my kids reads at some point in middle school: The Yearling by Marjorie Kinan Rawlings. It's a classic coming of age story and Pulitzer Prize winner. Plus, you can follow it up with family movie night and pop in Gregory Peck! Definitely watch the older version of The Yearling before watching the newer version.  Do I remember correctly that you're in Florida? If so, you'll love the setting of rural, cracker Florida. I grew up around the area of The Yearling and it's barely changed! Most of it is still very rural. You can visit Marjorie Kinan Rawling's homesite and orange grove as well. 

 

Other books my kids have enjoyed in middle school that I can recall off the top of my head:

 

The Giver

Huck Finn or Tom Sawyer 

The Bronze Bow

The Book Thief

The Hiding Place

 

Lisa

 

 

[mom2att]

My son is in a fantastic literature/writing class at our co-op. He has read the following this year (8th grade):

 

The Giver

The Call of the Wild

The Old Man and the Sea

Animal Farm

The Hound of the Baskervilles

The Book Thief

 

They have also read several short stories . . . The Necklace, To Build a Fire, etc.

 

They have questions to answer, discuss each book in depth, and have written several papers.

 

So far Animal Farm has been his favorite--it opened up so many discussions about history, politics, and ideology. My son has learned much and grown much as a result of his reading and this class.

 

I think they are considering finishing the year with The Maze Runner.

[KarenC]

I would leave 1984, Brave New World, and Catcher in the Rye for high school.  Especially Brave New World.

[KarenC]

The Yearling is a great book for this age.

 

Here's one of every single one of my kids reads at some point in middle school: The Yearling by Marjorie Kinan Rawlings. It's a classic coming of age story and Pulitzer Prize winner. Plus, you can follow it up with family movie night and pop in Gregory Peck! Definitely watch the older version of The Yearling before watching the newer version.  Do I remember correctly that you're in Florida? If so, you'll love the setting of rural, cracker Florida. I grew up around the area of The Yearling and it's barely changed! Most of it is still very rural. You can visit Marjorie Kinan Rawling's homesite and orange grove as well. 

 

Other books my kids have enjoyed in middle school that I can recall off the top of my head:

 

The Giver

Huck Finn or Tom Sawyer 

The Bronze Bow

The Book Thief

The Hiding Place

 

Lisa

 

[KarenC]

I also like the following for this age.

 

Alas, Babylon

Flowers for Algernon

The Outsiders

[Kfamily]

Here is our list for 7th and 8th

 

...though this changes with regard to the specific child, the time period we are studying in history to a small degree (this doesn't influence it heavily, but I do give some books more priority than others based on it) and which books we've read/not read.

 

ETA: I forgot to add the books that I have set aside to coordinate with history.

 

 

Literature for Year 7

 

Corresponding Literature with History:

• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl and Sir Orfeo by J. R. R. Tolkien
• Beowulf by Burton Raffel or Seamus Heaney
• Canterbury Tales Retold by Geraldine McCaughrean

 

Poetry:

• Poetry aligned with Anne of Green Gables (Part of the Anne of Green Gables Guide)
• Lady of the Lake by Sir Walter Scott (Selections)
• Evangeline by Henry W. Longfellow (Part of Anne of Green Gables Guide)
• The Courtship of Miles Standish by Henry W. Longfellow
• The Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Mythology and Tales:

• Bulfinch's Mythology  by Thomas Bulfinch
• Stories From Dante by Mary Macgregor

Shakespeare:

• A Midsummer Night's Dream William Shakespeare 

History of Literature:

• English Literature for Boys and Girls by H. E. Marshall (Used in Years 7-9)

Author Study:

• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Portrait of an American Humanist by Edward Wagenknecht

Literature:

• The Hobbit by J. R. R . Tolkien
• Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery
• The Story of King Arthur and His Knights by Howard Pyle
• Scottish Chiefs by Jane Porter
• Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott +Rebecca and Rowena by Thackeray
• The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle

 

 

Literature for Year 8

 

Corresponding Literature with History:

• The Iliad (Homer) translated by Richard Lattimore (+Great Course by Elizabeth Vandiver)
• The Odyssey (Homer) translated by Robert Fitzgerald (+Great Course by Elizabeth Vandiver)
• The Glorious Adventure by Richard Halliburton

Poetry:

• Fierce Wars and Faithful Loves: Book 1 of Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene edited by Roy Maynard  Optional
• Select Minor Poems by Milton edited by James E. Thomas (Google) or here at Archive Select Minor Poems  "Sonnet VII"(How Soon Hath Time)
• Donne (see list below)
• Raleigh "The Ocean to Cynthia"  and "The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd"
• Petrarch
• Shakespeare Sonnets

Donne:

• A Valediction Forbidding Mourning
• Death Be Not Proud
• Holy Sonnet 14 (Batter My Heart)
• The Bait
• Song: Go and Catch a Falling Star
• Meditation XVII

 

 

Mythology:

• Aeneid for Boys and Girls by Alfred Church

or In Search of a Homeland: The Story of the Aeneid by Penelope Lively

 

 

Note: This is placed here because the curriculum sequence has the student reading The Odyssey in Year 9.
 

Shakespeare/Drama:

• Henry V by William Shakespeare
• Everyman: A Morality Play

Short Stories: selected list

 

Essays:

• The Essays of Francis Bacon (selections)

History of Literature:

• English Literature for Boys and Girls by H. E. Marshall (Used in Years 7-9)

 Author Study:

• J. R. R. Tolkien: A Biography by Humphrey Carpenter
• Charles Dickens and the Street Children of London by Andrea Warren

 

Literature:

• The Utopia by Sir Thomas More
• David Copperfield by Charles Dickens*
• North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell*
• Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson++
• Bonnie Dundee by Rosemary Sutcliff
• Watership Down by Richard Adams++
• Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien (one volume for each term independently)

If you have not already read The Hobbit, you may wish to read this book before Lord of the Rings.

 

Notes

 

*These pair together nicely since Dickens and Gaskell were contemporaries. You could explore the industrial revolution. Some suggest that Hard Times rather than David Copperfield for an industrial revolution comparison would work better, but for a more enjoyable introduction to Dickens, I choose to use David Copperfield.

 

++I choose to pair these two books together. Read Bonnie Dundee first and begin a study of Jacobite uprisings in history and follow with Kidnapped.

[aprilleigh]

I was quite young when I read Old Yeller, but I can definitely see why you might want to skip it with a particularly sensitive child. I'm not sure I'd want my sister to read it even at 25, because she takes things very much to heart.

[VANURSEPRAC]

 DD started with Harry Potter in 2nd grade , then Percy Jackson , the all the dystopian novels and I can't get her interested in any other type of books. She did read The Hobbit. I want her to read many of the books mentioned. but I don't want to kill her love of reading, it has already went way down since technology entered her world.  

Any advice?

[My3girls]

7th Grade:

The Outsiders

Ender's Game

Black Ships Before Troy

Call of the Wild

The Wanderings of Odysseus

The Giver series

Aeneas

The Bronze Bow

The Miracle Worker

 

 

8th Grade:

Watership Down

1984

Animal Farm

The Midwife's Apprentice

Stealing Shakespeare

Beowulf

Robin Hood

A Wrinkle in Time

Little Women

Tom Sawyer

3 of her choice

 

We're saving Lord of the Flies, To Kill a Mockingbird, and some others for High School.

[prairiewindmomma]

I'm wrestling over my lists. I have two lists: one of fabulous get-sucked-into-this-world type of books to help keep ds's love of learning alive. I don't analyze these books with him. He disappears into these and I secretly stretch the length or complexity on him as the year goes on.  I'm building up his physical ability to tackle hundreds of pages in a week while managing the rest of school.  My other list, the prep for high school list, is where I'm asking him to analyze some part of the book with me: a chapter, a section, a whole book. I come at it from different angle, and I'm just getting him to kind of dig a bit for a metaphor here or a character's motive there. I follow SWB's question list for these.

 

I need to finish balancing out the rest of the school year, and then I'll make my final decision. We've already hit most of the books you guys have listed. I really love Rosemary Sutcliffe and ds hasn't read much of her yet, so I think that is going to make the mix of fun stuff. Ds is currently midway through the Ender's Game series, so I need to check in and see what he is craving next.

[VANURSEPRAC]

I'm wrestling over my lists. I have two lists: one of fabulous get-sucked-into-this-world type of books to help keep ds's love of learning alive. I don't analyze these books with him. He disappears into these and I secretly stretch the length or complexity on him as the year goes on.  I'm building up his physical ability to tackle hundreds of pages in a week while managing the rest of school.  My other list, the prep for high school list, is where I'm asking him to analyze some part of the book with me: a chapter, a section, a whole book. I come at it from different angle, and I'm just getting him to kind of dig a bit for a metaphor here or a character's motive there. I follow SWB's question list for these.

 

I need to finish balancing out the rest of the school year, and then I'll make my final decision. We've already hit most of the books you guys have listed. I really love Rosemary Sutcliffe and ds hasn't read much of her yet, so I think that is going to make the mix of fun stuff. Ds is currently midway through the Ender's Game series, so I need to check in and see what he is craving next.

 

 

What are your " sucked in " books. I need to get DD sucked back in. Anime  has taken hold and is not letting go

[mom31257]

Following

[Ethel Mertz]

Bump