LatinLover Posted August 15, 2009 Share Posted August 15, 2009 Due to life circumstances, I am seriously considering applying to a private school for dd. Being the planner that I am, I poked around the school's website and found their Summer Reading List. I would appreciate the wisdom of you ladies in evaluating this list...good, bad or ugly. Let me just say, that if I were completely familiar and/or happy with the books on the list, this post wouldn't be necessary.:001_smile: Thanks everyone. 2nd Grade Nate the Great Amelia Bedelia Hey, New Kid Amber Brown 3rd Grade Freckle Juice Stone Fox Clementine Ramona Quimby 4th Grade Poppy Mouse Called Wolf 5th Grade Mixed-Up Files Harriet the Spy 6th Grade Surviving the Applewhites Double Identity The Phantom Tollbooth 7th Grade Listening for Lions Call of the Wild Swear to Howdy Robinson Crusoe 8th Grade All of the Above Under the Persimmon Tree Crossing the Wire Petey The Outsiders Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalanamak Posted August 15, 2009 Share Posted August 15, 2009 Do you mean academically superior or "old fashioned" morally? (Not that I can answer your question, but so others can understand your question better). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caraway Posted August 15, 2009 Share Posted August 15, 2009 The list seems full of very mainstream, popular books. And the books are up a grade level from what I remember doing as a kid. For example I read Harriet the Spy in fourth, and it is listed as fifth, etc. So, it seems a bit less than challenging. However there are some fun books on there - better than the depressing books many schools assign. And they are the SUMMER reading list, which might be a bit lighter than the norm. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LatinLover Posted August 15, 2009 Author Share Posted August 15, 2009 kalanamak, I'm really looking for any info. I can get. I browsed reviews of the unfamiliar books online and they all just sort of ran together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenneinCA Posted August 15, 2009 Share Posted August 15, 2009 I think they look like pretty good books for elementary school children. I am not as familiar with the books for 7th and 8th grade. But the others are very nice books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angela in ohio Posted August 15, 2009 Share Posted August 15, 2009 I'm not familiar with All of the Above. Who's the author? :lol::lol::lol::lol: Anyway..... It looks like they had a committe pick the books, and one teacher on the committe has some taste, and the rest don't. They put one pretty accessible "children's classic" for each grade to appease her, and the rest are picked based on what Scholastic says kids should read. :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenNC Posted August 15, 2009 Share Posted August 15, 2009 (edited) Here are my thoughts. "Not familiar" means that though I may be familiar with the title we haven't read it. The age levels depend on how well your child reads. I know that Nate the Great, for instance, is considered average 2nd grade reading level, but we were doing this series in kindergarten. My daughter is only 4th grade, so we haven't gotten to some of the upper level ones yet. 2nd Grade Nate the Great (we loved this series, lots of fun) Amelia Bedelia (ditto) Hey, New Kid (not familiar) Amber Brown (I nixed this series for my daughter---the parents are divorced and the mom is dating, which is fine. I wasn't comfortable, however, with what I remember to be fairly explicit descriptions of mom and boyfriend french-kissing in the one I picked up. I didn't think it appropriate for early elementary) 3rd Grade Freckle Juice (not familiar) Stone Fox (not familiar) Clementine (not familiar) Ramona Quimby (love these books) 4th Grade Poppy (liked this one) Mouse Called Wolf (liked this one) 5th Grade Mixed-Up Files (liked this one--it does involve kids runninng away and living in an art museum) Harriet the Spy (not familiar) 6th Grade Surviving the Applewhites (not familiar) Double Identity (not familiar) The Phantom Tollbooth (wonderful--one of my husband's favorite books from his childhood) 7th Grade Listening for Lions (not familiar) Call of the Wild (classic, don't remember a whole lot about it to be honest other than it involves a dog in Alaska. I know I read it at one point) Swear to Howdy (not familiar) Robinson Crusoe (another classic, will want to deal with racial issues, attitudes toward non-Europeans) 8th Grade (not familiar with any of these) All of the Above Under the Persimmon Tree Crossing the Wire Petey The Outsiders Edited August 15, 2009 by KarenNC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalanamak Posted August 15, 2009 Share Posted August 15, 2009 I only know 9 of the books (and I think all but Nate The Great were around 40 years ago) and they seem right for the age. The 40 year old books are okay by me morally, culturally, and while I found N the G rather repetitive, kiddo loved them and they kept him reading, which thrilled me. The Outsiders might upset some people. Its about kids from the wrong side of town, and parents are dead, and kids run away and die, etc. My beef with it is that it is melodrama, and I would hope my 8th grader would be reading what I was reading then...Of Mice and Men, all of Jack London, some St. Ex, The Moon is Down, etc. But I wouldn't bag a school on one book. :) HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngieW in Texas Posted August 15, 2009 Share Posted August 15, 2009 If these are the books/series listed as summer reading for kids rising up to the grade level listed, then they seem entirely appropriate. The books on the 2nd grade list seem like good choices for kids who have finished 1st and will be starting 2nd. 2nd Grade Nate the Great - very good series Amelia Bedelia - very good series Hey, New Kid - never heard of it Amber Brown - haven't read it 3rd Grade Freckle Juice - haven't read it, but supposed to be good Stone Fox - good, but tear-jerker ending, pre-read for sensitive kids Clementine - never heard of it Ramona Quimby - excellent series 4th Grade Poppy - never read it, but supposed to be good Mouse Called Wolf - great book like almost everything else written by Dick King-Smith 5th Grade Mixed-Up Files - excellent Harriet the Spy - excellent 6th Grade Surviving the Applewhites - good Double Identity - excellent The Phantom Tollbooth - excellent 7th Grade Listening for Lions - excellent Call of the Wild - I know I read this back in middle school, but I don't remember it Swear to Howdy - never heard of it Robinson Crusoe - not my choice 8th Grade All of the Above - excellent Under the Persimmon Tree - very good Crossing the Wire - never heard of it Petey - never heard of it The Outsiders - supposed to be good, but I haven't read it - my oldest loved it in 7th grade Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LatinLover Posted August 15, 2009 Author Share Posted August 15, 2009 I had a hard time researching All of the Above, but I believe it's the one by Shelley Pearsall. You guys are great! I didn't know where else to turn and this is very helpful to me. If dd ends up attending this school, I will be adding *mightily* to her Summer Reading List. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnandtinagilbert Posted August 15, 2009 Share Posted August 15, 2009 I don't know your moral standpoint, but I am somewhat conservative in allowing my dc to read books I think glamorize badly behaved children or witchcraft. As my prereqs, here's my 2 cents :) 2nd Grade Nate the Great great Amelia Bedelia better than good, not quite great Hey, New Kid ? Amber Brown? 3rd Grade Freckle Juice naughtiness Stone Fox Great Clementine ? Ramona Quimby naughtiness 4th Grade Poppy Mouse Called Wolf 5th Grade Mixed-Up Files Harriet the Spy great 6th Grade Surviving the Applewhites Double Identity The Phantom Tollbooth 7th Grade Listening for Lions Call of the Wild great Swear to Howdy Robinson Crusoe great 8th Grade All of the Above Under the Persimmon Tree Crossing the Wire Petey The Outsiders good story, and although may be objectionable to some, by this age, I trust my dc and it would be fine. I agree with the assessment RE: Scholastic says read this....probably not the books we will read for these grades, but we read more historical fiction and journey books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momco3 Posted August 16, 2009 Share Posted August 16, 2009 I have loved many of these books-- both as a child, and as a parent-educator. Ones I particularly love: Ramona Quimby - then and now Harriet the Spy - loved this as a child, but I haven't revisited it yet. The Phantom Tollbooth - loved this book. Listening for Lions - my husband loves this so much he gave it to about seven friends last Christmas Robinson Crusoe- I've only read the original, and I think the language will be quite a jump from the other books for 6th and 7th The Outsiders - I enjoyed it a million years ago __________________ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Alte Veste Academy Posted August 16, 2009 Share Posted August 16, 2009 (edited) I'm going against the previous responses here somewhat but as a CMer, what concerns me most is that it's very low on classics, particularly in the lower grades. I LOVED Ramona as a child and I would let my kids read it but the fact that it makes a summer reading list for a private school? Eh. That wouldn't thrill me. I consider it a brain candy classic, if that makes any sense. I feel the same about quite a few books on that list. They're easy reads so they have their place in developing fluency but I would prefer more classics. There are some great ones on the list (more in the upper grades) but they're not in the majority and that would bother me. Edited August 16, 2009 by Alte Veste Academy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Alte Veste Academy Posted August 16, 2009 Share Posted August 16, 2009 It looks like they had a committe pick the books, and one teacher on the committe has some taste, and the rest don't. They put one pretty accessible "children's classic" for each grade to appease her, and the rest are picked based on what Scholastic says kids should read. :glare: :iagree: Wholeheartedly. I would actually consider most of them in the earlier grades readers rather than literature. Readers have their place but literature salves the soul. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tree House Academy Posted August 16, 2009 Share Posted August 16, 2009 The only comment I have is that they don't seem challenging for the grade level. Are they supposed to read all 4 books or do you get to pick one of the 4? When I was in Highschool (private school), we got a list with about 30 books and had to pick 4. It was great andI read many of the classics that way. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovedtodeath Posted August 16, 2009 Share Posted August 16, 2009 :iagree: Wholeheartedly. I would actually consider most of them in the earlier grades readers rather than literature. Readers have their place but literature salves the soul. Excuse my ignorance, but how is a child going to read literature in early grades if they are reading on grade level? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patchfire Posted August 16, 2009 Share Posted August 16, 2009 I LOVED Ramona as a child and I would let my kids read it but the fact that it makes a summer reading list for a private school? Eh. That wouldn't thrill me. I consider it a brain candy classic, if that makes any sense. I feel the same about quite a few books on that list. They're easy reads so they have their place in developing fluency but I would prefer more classics. :iagree: They aren't bad books, at least as far as the ones that I know. They just aren't books that I would expect to be required as literature. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Alte Veste Academy Posted August 16, 2009 Share Posted August 16, 2009 Excuse my ignorance, but how is a child going to read literature in early grades if they are reading on grade level? Well, literature comes at all levels. There are ordinary books and then there is literature. For me, literature includes books with beautiful and expressive language that engulfs you and makes you sad when you turn the last page. For each person, the definition may be a bit different. However, you can find it from the earliest levels on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swellmomma Posted August 16, 2009 Share Posted August 16, 2009 The outsiders is one of my all time favorite books, great story! Listening for lions has literally fallen off the library carrousel enough times that today I borrowed it, apparently it wants to be read in my house. Call of the wild will be part of our school reading next year, written by a Canadian author, great story. Of the rest we have read or have listed on our school reading about half that list and so far all have been quite good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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