My Sci-Fi/Horror/Fantasy reading list...how does this look?

[RhondaM.]

I'm really trying to find way to connect with my oldest (ds age 15). He does not read often, not because he dislikes it, but just generally because he'd rather be playing drums, reading programming books, programming (to make computer games) or playing computer/video games.

 

He has listened to Eragon and Eldest over and over...and with the 3rd in the series (Brisingr) being released in late September I made a deal with him. I told him I'd buy him all three books and read them if he would. He was so excited that I'd read the books that he agreed to reading them himself.

 

Here is my plan for the year:

 

Over the summer: Eldest and Eragon

September: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

October: Brisingr

Nov. - Jan.: Lord of the Rings (w/ Progeny Press guides)

Feb.: Frankenstein

March: Jekyll & Mr. Hyde

(the above two while also reading Baldwin's The Deadliest Monster)

April: The Island of Dr. Moreau

May: Out of the Silent Planent

 

He is a slow reader. And since I'll be reading these too I don't think we could add more to this list (as I intend to have a seperate read aloud list to read to all my children together.)

Does this look like a good list for covering fantasy, sci-fi and horror?

Are these interesting? Enjoyable?

Are there better ones for a kid who really needs something *good* to hold his attention?

Would any of these books take more time than what I'm giving them? (considering that he is a slow reader)

Will 3 Progeny Press study guides be too many? Could we add more? Are there better ones for LOTR or any of the other books?

 

You know...maybe none of these are even classified as horror. But actually just sci-fi and horror. Not really sure.

 

Anyway, I've not read ANY of them...so I really don't have a clue about them. I could really use your help making this enjoyable.

 

Thanks very much.

[HollyinNNV]

Hi Rhonda,

I love the idea of reading sci-fi/horror! Sci-fi is my favorite genre. I'm going to give you some comments on your list. Please take 'em or leave 'em.

 

First-it looks like you are trying for a list of variety. I love beginning with Hitchhiker. Its funny and will start your year off on a humorous note. I don't think it will take you a whole month-even with a slow reader. It pretty short and very quick reading in terms of difficulty level. My version is only 200 pages.

 

But, since you would have extra time, I'd suggest adding in a few of Poe's short stories/poetry. They are appropriately gruesome! I wouldn't miss the "Tell-tale Heart."

 

I know nothing about October's selection.

 

I am going to go out on a limb and suggest that you do not spend 3 months on the LoTR trilogy. I-personally- love the trilogy! However, not all kids do and I think that if your child doesn't particularly love to read-this would be a huge pile of pages to plow through. I think that he would be better off reading 1 of the books (and reading the 2 later on his own time) or just reading The Hobbit.

 

I also think that one of the benefits of staying away from trilogies is that the child knows that even if they don't like the book, once they are done they are DONE. And on the flip side, they can look forward to completing the series in the future.

 

And I'm not sure how close you want to stay to your theme of sci-fi/horror, but I think LotR is probably classified Fantasy.

 

Jekyll is pretty short (my version is 124 pages). How about adding The Martian Chronicles by Bradbury for that month?

 

I'd also try and slip in an Arthur C. Clarke book. I particularly enjoyed Childhood's End.

 

And then I think you might be missing out on one of the great sci fi classics of all time-Farenheit 451! That would be the book that would absolutely not skip!

 

I'm sure many here will offer great opinions! Good luck!

Holly

[HollyinNNV]

Oops-sorry! I reread your post and see that you do want to cover fantasy!

[Nan in Mass]

I think 3 months for LOTR is a great idea. Just be willing, if he is adoring it and thinks discussing it is ruining it, to let him just read it. This is my family's all-time favourite book, so we read it aloud (not really discussing it much) and I just had my children do an illustration for it. I think 3 months sounds about right for reading it aloud.

 

Hitchhiker is great fun. My non-reading, engineer father read this aloud to us in one 3-day weekend when we were stuck in a tiny cabin by bad weather. It took the whole weekend. That might give you some idea of how long it will take to read? If reading it silently doesn't seem to be working, I'd get the tapes and do this one aloud. Same with LOTR. They are both too good to be missed just because they are hard to read to oneself.

 

I haven't read Frankenstein or Jek/Hyde, but from what I've heard, they are perfect for what you are wanting. I agree with the suggestion to include a Poe story or two, but only if your child is strong GRIN. They are very twisted and gruesome.

 

I know nothing about your last two selections.

 

If you find something doesn't work, you might consider substituting Artemis Fowle (sp?) (modern fantasy), which my boys loved and considered a suck-you-in-quick, easy-to-read (won't take more than a few weeks), and The Red Planet or Starship Trooper, which are pretty quick-moving, boy-friendly, youngish classic scifi's.

 

From what I can tell, I think you have a nice mix of classics and quick, easy moderns.

 

Have fun! I think this is a great idea for a year's English. If you have trouble with the writing part, then I'd look for a formula for a book report and have him follow that. Or see if he can think of something, anything, to try to write a 5 paragraph paper about. Often my boys are able to think up good subjects on their own.

 

-Nan

[RhondaM.]

Hi Rhonda,

I love beginning with Hitchhiker. Its funny and will start your year off on a humorous note.

 

My thoughts exactly.

 

I don't think it will take you a whole month-even with a slow reader. It pretty short and very quick reading in terms of difficulty level. My version is only 200 pages.

But, since you would have extra time, I'd suggest adding in a few of Poe's short stories/poetry. They are appropriately gruesome! I wouldn't miss the "Tell-tale Heart."

 

 

Good to know...and adding Poe is an awesome idea. Don't know why I didn't think of adding that. In fact, I should probably round up a list of short stories to read for when we finish a novel with time to spare. Any others I should consider besides Poe?

 

I am going to go out on a limb and suggest that you do not spend 3 months on the LoTR trilogy. I-personally- love the trilogy! However, not all kids do and I think that if your child doesn't particularly love to read-this would be a huge pile of pages to plow through. I think that he would be better off reading 1 of the books (and reading the 2 later on his own time) or just reading The Hobbit.

 

Again, I agree. He has been telling me all year he wants to read Lord of the Rings for school. He is reading the Hobbit now. But I can see how he might get bored with LOTR after a time. (I can see how I myself might get bored.) I'll plan on the first one and have some other ideas on hold in case he wants to be done after that.

 

I'll look into the Martian Chronicles. I had also considered Something Wicked This Way Comes by Bradbury. Do you know anything about this one?

 

I've never heard of Clarke. I'll have a look at Childhood's End.

 

I had thought of saving Farenheit 451 for when we do 20th century history. That is one I happen to own and have read.

 

Thanks Holly for your suggestions and ideas.

[Mama Lynx]

As much as he is into programming, you might consider Asimov's "I, Robot."

 

I also strongly second Poe, and "The Martian Chronicles." In fact, Bradbury, Asimov and Clarke wrote tons of short stories. If short stories are appealing to him, consider looking into their anthologies.

 

I love "Frankenstein." FYI, we studied "Frankenstein" in college, and as part of the class we compared the book with the 1931 movie version, and then with the spoof "Young Frankenstein." This was part of a fairly demanding, upper-level literature course - just to give you an idea of what you can do.

[Nan in Mass]

My son thought it was boring. And what about the movie 2001? And Star Wars? He could write a few movie reviews, and it might round things out.

-Nan

[HollyinNNV]

Any others I should consider besides Poe?

 

I'm sure there are many out there. Nothing is springing to mind. The Giver is a juvenile novella with lots of ethical interesting issues. But, I'm having a hard time thinking of any short stories.

 

I'll look into the Martian Chronicles. I had also considered Something Wicked This Way Comes by Bradbury. Do you know anything about this one?

 

I do not know that book. I'd just suggest pre-reading any of these sci fi books as it seems that mature language/issues always seem to crop up. Your tolerance level will probably end up helping you make some of these choices.

 

I've never heard of Clarke. I'll have a look at Childhood's End.

I really enjoyed this book. It is in the tradition of a great Twilight Zone episode. It is also quite tame in terms of content. I wanted to schedule it for the class I was teaching until I realized that Clarke is a brit and I was teaching Am Lit. The gist of it is that Overlords come to earth and help mankind eliminate every problem. Peace reigns. But is there a hidden cost that nobody anticipates?

 

I had thought of saving Farenheit 451 for when we do 20th century history. That is one I happen to own and have read.

 

That is a good category to put it in. F451 is a great novel.

Have fun reading!

Holly

[HollyinNNV]

My son thought it was boring. And what about the movie 2001? And Star Wars? He could write a few movie reviews, and it might round things out.

-Nan

 

Hey Nan,

I'm just about to teach F451. Could you elaborate on what was boring about the book for your son? I'm wondering if there's anything I can do (proactively) to increase the pleasure value for my lit students.

Holly

[Ailaena]

Hey Nan,

I'm just about to teach F451. Could you elaborate on what was boring about the book for your son? I'm wondering if there's anything I can do (proactively) to increase the pleasure value for my lit students.

Holly

 

 

Hi, Im not Nan (obviously), but I did just finish this book with dd. The part where The Captain goes off in his long lecture in the first part was SO thick, I almost lost her. It is a fabulous book and a great introduction to dystopia in literature, but I found that I needed to really give her a large background on the era in which the book was written and make sure that if she found something too thick, we could pull out and analyze it closer.

 

 

However, as far as the original list goes, like the others, I highly recommend some Bradbury, Clarke, Asimov or even Heinlein. At this point, I really appreciate and love the "older" books, but when I was younger, I just could NOT make it through LOTR and anything written before 1900 was SO boring I would not even pick the book up. Of course, just to contradict me, dd reads that stuff for fun :glare:

 

I picked up a version of Jekyll and Hyde that included some of Stevenson's other short stories and they are really quite good, although Im not sure that they would be considered science fiction. But you cannot go wrong with counting Gulliver's Travels or Jules Verne as early science fiction, plus the history in those books are amazing!

[AnneD]

maybe as lighter alternates? ...having also enjoyed Eragon/Eldest a great deal!

Orson Scott Card - Ender's Game, etc.

Cornelia Funke - Dragonrider ( also Inkheart, Inkspell )

Alas, Babylon ( end of the world, nuclear annihilation survival story)

Andre Norton

Red Mars - Kim Stanley Robinson

The Weirdstone of Brisingamen: A Tale of Alderley

Chronicles of Chrestomanci - Diana Wynne Jones

The Golden Compass

 

not sure if these are exactly what you're looking for - kind of a grab bag of sci-fi, fantasy we've enjoyed recently

Clarke and Bradbury are musts

[mooooom]

very modern and an easy read. It's been a long time though, pretty sure the older ones don't have abjectionable materials in them, someone please correct me if I am wrong.

[Montana Peach]

Eyes of The Dragon by Stephen King is more fantasy and a fabulous book with less horror as I recall but its been ages since I read it. I have read just about all of his stuff and am a huge fan.

 

Something Wicked This Way Comes is one of my all time favorites but I like Bradbury in general. A movie was made of this int eh 80's I think adn while not the book it might give you a good quick overview. It is pretty creepy int eh skin-crawling way.

[Nan in Mass]

He didn't like it, as well as thinking it was boring. I'll ask him why and get back to you.

[nmoira]

 

Over the summer: Eldest and Eragon

September: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

October: Brisingr

Nov. - Jan.: Lord of the Rings (w/ Progeny Press guides)

Feb.: Frankenstein

March: Jekyll & Mr. Hyde

(the above two while also reading Baldwin's The Deadliest Monster)

April: The Island of Dr. Moreau

May: Out of the Silent Planent

 

 

I know you don't want to add anything to your reading, but I'd highly recommend one of E.T.A. Hoffman's short stories (especially if you add some Poe), perhaps "The Sandman" (1816) (available in numerous collections of tales). If your son is into graphic novels at all, I'd also recommend you both read The Sandman series by Neil Gaiman. I know many here frown on graphic novels, but this series is first rate.

[Nan in Mass]

I, Robot is a great idea. It is written as a series of short stories that shows how society slowly comes to accept and trust robots in their lives. I think I remember that the first one was sad, but the others were ok? It has been a long time. My son liked it fine once he got past the first one.

[elizabeth]

A few more suggestions. Spin by Wilson is an amazing novel and won several awards...post apocalyptic(sp?) great writing and character driven rather than plot driven. World Made by Hand by Kunstler is brand new just finished wow-heavy stuff- maybe just for mom. Bradbury is one of my favorites and a must read IMHO ,From the Dust Returned. If your young man has taken Latin then A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller is a treat. IF he likes fantasy and comedy Terry Pratchett's Discworld series is superb as well. Off to B and Noble to pick up another classic of the genre for myself , one that I missed , Terry Brooks' Sword of Shannara . Try also Earth Abides by George Stewart-masterful and fairly old thus less likely to offend with regard to language.I have a dd that loves to read and is a skilled reader but I try to avoid excessvely coarse language as it disturbs her . I think you are a really great hser and even better mama to foster your son's interests this way. I hope you find some works that fit the bill. Happy hunting!

[Stacy in NJ]

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. I've yet to meet a teenaged boy who hasn't loved this book. It's not a difficult book to read, even for a reluctant reader.

[nmoira]

IF he likes fantasy and comedy Terry Pratchett's Discworld series is superb as well.

And will keep him going for almost 40 novels.

[HollyinNNV]

Hi, Im not Nan (obviously), but I did just finish this book with dd. The part where The Captain goes off in his long lecture in the first part was SO thick, I almost lost her. It is a fabulous book and a great introduction to dystopia in literature, but I found that I needed to really give her a large background on the era in which the book was written and make sure that if she found something too thick, we could pull out and analyze it closer.

 

 

Thanks Ailaena,

I'll go flag that part of the book so I don't forget to make a point of explaining that part of the story!

Holly

[CAMom]

Rhonda,

 

I just wanted to jump in and say that my computer programming, non-reading (super slow, too) 15 yo read Jekyll and Hyde as well as Frankenstein last year. We did the Jeff Baldwin book along with them.

 

He like J & H alright but he loved Frankenstein and he got so much out of the Baldwin book. He still talks about them and all of the thought he put into them.

 

We're reading F451 next and really looking forward to it. Thanks for a peek at your reading list.

 

Ronette

[elegantlion]

A book series I enjoyed is from David Eddings. "Pawn of Prophecy" is the first book. It definately falls under the fantasy heading. I haven't read them in years but I just pulled my copy off the shelves and I bought it when I was 15. (goodness that was too long ago)

[RhondaM.]

Thanks everyone for such wonderful ideas. I'm writing all of them down. I went to B&N tonight was able to find many of the suggestions. Many of them were very short so I know we will have time for more than just one a month. They all looked good! I could have spent way too much money tonight.

 

Now the question is: Should I use guides? Or just go at them with WTM/WEM discussion?

[Nan in Mass]

He said that it was boring because it was unneccessarily wordy. He is sensitive to the slightest nuances of sentence order and word choice, and prefers economical grace so I think maybe Bradbury's style isn't something he appreciated. He also said Bradbury went on and on after he'd "gotten" it. As for why he didn't like it, he said that the whole book is the "slow breaking up of a man's life" and that was very depressing, and that although the man "began to put it back together at the end of the book there wasn't enough of that part of the book to balance out the rest of it".

 

I'm not sure you can do anything about those two factors, except perhaps talk about style beforehand and have your students try writing something in several different ones. Bradbury should be pretty easy to immitate (badly) because it is pretty distinctive. You could point out some particularly Bradbury-ish descriptions and try to give them some appreciation for the writing. My children point things like that out when we are reading aloud, but they tend to be the poetic bits of Iliad or Beowullf, much more ancient in style, than the freedom of words in Bradbury. Since they have their own things that they appreciate, I haven't done anything at all with this sort of thing. Probably I should.

 

-Nan

[HollyinNNV]

Thanks Nan! And thanks for the great suggestions for teaching strategies! I find Bradbury's style wordy, too. I guess that the great story makes it possible for me to overlook the wordiness. I'm definitely going to try your suggestions.

Holly

[Kareni]

Would The Picture of Dorian Gray fit into your category? It's an intriguing story.

 

If your child is not easily distracted visually, I'd like to recommend the Whole Story series of books. They have fascinating sidebars and illustrations of items pertaining to the time and setting. My teen really enjoyed them. The series includes:

 

Frankenstein, Hound of the Baskervilles, Picture of Dorian Gray, Pit and the Pendulum and Other Stories, and Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde amongst others.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[RhondaM.]

Thanks so much for reminding me of these! I looked at them years ago and thought they looked like something I'd like to use. I didn't look at them closely enough to notice if they were unabridged or not. Would you happen to know?

 

Thanks again!

[nmoira]

 

I didn't look at them closely enough to notice if they were unabridged or not. Would you happen to know?

The Whole Story books are unabridged.

[Nan in Mass]

If you think he will have trouble with comprehension, then I'd look for some sort of guide and use the simple comprehension questions chapter by chapter. That will make sure he doesn't get lost. Or if he's pretty good at picking out the plot from what he reads, but not perfect, then I'd do TWEM suggestion of keeping a list of characters with a brief description of who they are, just enough to keep track) and writing a one sentence summary of each chapter - Pooh style, TWEM suggests, something along the lines of: "In which so-and-so goes to college and discovers he has to study." Or if he gets the plot and what the characters are doing just fine, then I'd skip that part, which is a bit tedious if you don't need it to keep track of a difficult classic.

 

When you are done reading, then you can useTWEM questions for a novel to discuss the book. I found these worked much better than book-specific questions for my children; mine answered specific questions with a yes or a no, boom, leaving us nothing to discuss. Me, too. TWEM questions also have the advantage that after using them for a few books, the student begins to keep them in mind as they are reading a new book, since they are the same for each time. I wrote them out, so I'm not always flipping through the book to find them. We don't write out the answers, just do them orally together. The other thing I've tried to do is get my children to write in the margins of the books; even simple things like "Yuk!" or "Good idea!" or "Stupid!" or "Wrong!" get the student reacting to the book. For escape literature, this is obviously a bad idea, since it makes it impossible to escape into the book completely, but for literature you are trying to study, it is part of digesting the book. I made sure I pointed out the difference, so my poor children wouldn't be feeling guilty if they read for fun without that sort of processing going on.

 

This is what I'd do anyway.

-Nan

[RhondaM.]

Thanks for your good ideas. I love the WTM/WEM way of doing literature. I just find it so very hard to do with this particular kid. Like you mentioned, I'll get yes or no answers from many questions. This kid..errm...doesn't like to think a whole lot.

 

BUT...he does appreciate literature and certain writers for their play on words and literary techniques.

 

I'm reading aloud (the 'Reader's Digest' version..editing as I go... )The Talisman by Stephen Kings & Peter Straub to both my boys (ages 11 and 15). They are really getting a kick out of how he writes. I really do not know much about literary techniques but we are discussing what I do know...even if I don't always know the right term for it.

 

They both love metaphors and similes and the technique of using the same sound over and over in a sentence. (Can't remember the name of that one). We've been able to talk about foreshadowing and mood and tone .... and these are some of the things they enjoy. I'll read a sentence now and then and one will comment on it...that they like it very much. How a metaphor can so simply express something that would otherwise be hard to put into words. (I discovered recently that my oldest often writes down sentences from books that he reads and likes. Keeps them on his computer. I was thrilled!)

 

Anyway...going through this book with them will be easy...partly because I've read the book two or three times in the past.

 

I guess I'm wanting something to help me in this way. So that they can see how one story often contains several stories and how the writer weaves them all together. I want them to pick our their favorite parts and understand what it is about it that makes them like it. And then be able to use those things in their own writing.

 

These are the things I want a guide for...because I very often am not familiar with the books I read, and because I know so little about literature.

 

I picked up How to Read Literature Like a Professor, but I keep forgetting that I have it, so I haven't got very far. I wonder if this book will be all the help I need and I can skip any sort of guide...besides the WEM.

 

I'm sorry. My thoughts are pretty muddled. I'm not even sure if what I want is out there. I don't simply want a list of questions, that is for sure.

 

Thanks again for all your help.

[Guest Lorna]

 

Here is my plan for the year:

 

Over the summer: Eldest and Eragon

September: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

October: Brisingr

Nov. - Jan.: Lord of the Rings (w/ Progeny Press guides)

Feb.: Frankenstein

March: Jekyll & Mr. Hyde

(the above two while also reading Baldwin's The Deadliest Monster)

April: The Island of Dr. Moreau

May: Out of the Silent Planent

 

 

To add to the Arthur C. Clarke idea '2001: A Space Odyssey' is way better as a book. I really disliked the film but I found the book an engaging, exciting and moving read. I would consider this because it really makes one think about one's place in the universe.

 

'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' is a great idea. If you really want to get him reading, and he enjoys this then keep in the flexibility for him to read all five books (although I wouldn't present him with them all unless you are sure he will love them).

 

I would like to second Dianne Wynne Jones' Chrestomanci series for fantasy. Our two love these books and they are read over and over again. There is a fantastic anime 'Howl's Moving Castle' based on one of her books he might enjoy too.

 

This looks like a wonderful list!

 

Robert Louis Stevenson is also a fantastic writer with many books to jump into if he takes to him.

[RhondaM.]

Thanks, I'll look into those you mentioned. I'm very curious about the book 2001: A Space Odyssey, because it was a such an odd movie.

 

I'm getting more and more curious about The Island of Dr. Moreau because noone has said one word about it. Is it that dreadful a book? Or how noone read it? My ds thought the plot line looked interesting. It was the one on the list (besides the Eragon series and LOTR) that he was wanting to read.

 

Does anyone know anything about it?

 

Thanks.

[SwimmerMom]

I want to second (or third) the recommendation for Ender's Game. I love this book so much. To me, it is what good sci-fi should be without all the twisted s*x stuff that seems to permeate so much of the genre.

 

It's actually on my 12-year old's list for this summer, so it's totally clean, but very thought-provoking and extremely entertaining.

[Kareni]

They both love metaphors and similes and the technique of using the same sound over and over in a sentence. (Can't remember the name of that one).

 

I believe that would be alliteration.

 

Glad to hear that you liked the idea of using The Whole Story series. Yes, they are unabridged.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Nan in Mass]

It sounds like your family is rather like mine. Mine like the nitty gritty of the language, it's subtlties (I obviously have never written that word before in my life - it can't possibly be spelled that way), why it was phrased the way it was. They love alliteration and things like that. Reading Strands has a list a few pages long of terms and a brief explanation of them that I found helpful. I don't fuss too much over the names of things. I'm just happy we're talking about them. I'm interested in this part, too, so we all happily notice and discuss stuff like that. I'm not as good at noticing how the bits of the plot fit together; how if this hadn't happened, then that couldn't have; or the larger writing stuff, like why the author described this in detail or this only briefly, or why the author decided to include that bit but not that bit, even though it obviously must have occurred. I CAN do this for children's books, especially illustrated ones. We still read these aloud together because we all like the pictures. (Ok - now we sound pretty infantile, sigh, but we are rather visually oriented and there are some really beautiful children's books out there, ones well worth reading and discussing with teenagers.) I can point out or wonder about why the author chose to do it this way or that way or how this book has pictures that match the text, like Beatrix Potter, making these super easy to read to a very young child who's language skills aren't yet good enough to understand. When the farmer tries to pop the seive over Peter Rabbit, there is a picture of the farmer trying to pop the seive over Peter Rabbit, so that a braindead parent doesn't have to explain what a farmer or a seive or popping means for the child to enjoy the book - I was SO grateful - but that is beside the point. To continue... In other books, the text doesn't match the picture at all, and sometimes the picture is what makes the plot work. It is easy to talk about why the author chose to include this bit of the story because the stories are more compact and you can view them all at once. Each spread is a chunk. If I wanted to discuss longer adult works this way, I think I'd do a few children's books, and then break the bigger work into sections like a children's book's spreads. Maybe this is why people outline books? I don't think it would necessarily need to be a formal outline; a list of the sections might work equally well. Then you could discuss how one leads to the other, what would happen if one were left out, why each ws included, stuff like that. Is that what you are talking about?

 

I have found that TWEM questions does lead us to discuss this a little. Writing Strands, which the children did much of, made them aware of the choices an author makes, like which voice an author uses. Reading Strands contains sample dialogs where parents discuss books with children. That might be more helpful for you than the prof book. I've read that. It was more about the symbolism behind books, things like caves meaning subconcious, and external weather being an indication of the internal state of mind of the characters. Some of it was very obvious like that, and some of it, like the stuff about a vampire being anybody who used up the energy of someone else and then discarded them, wasn't so obvious to me. I passed it over to my son to read because I thought the author did a more entertaining job of explaining it than I would, and I knew that we probably wouldn't be discussing much symbolism. We aren't very interested in that aspect of books. I told him to skip any bits that were inapproriate or made him uncomfortable, or would spoil a story he thought he might like to read later. He enjoyed it. I don't see him applying it much, but we are either reading things where the symbolism is obvious, as in some of the medieval stuff, or things where there isn't much symbolism. We aren't doing many modern novels where it would be important to the meaning of the book. The other book people talk about and I keep meaning to check out is Deconstructing Penguins. Maybe this would be helpful? You might want to see if your library can get it.

 

I found that when I wanted to discuss something like that, I could make a discussion simply by asking, "How would you have written the book? What would you have changed?" (No yes or no answer - ha!) Or if that didn't work, then I start asking things like, "What if the author had omitted this character?" or "What if were set in blank instead of blank? Would the story still work?" or "What if this chapter or event weren't included?" or "What if this character were good instead of bad? How would that change the book?" Maybe you could take turns asking the questions. Even random questions like this sometimes lead someplace interesting. We don't do this very often for books. Mostly we do it with the illustrations of those children's books. What if the author had used a different set of colours? What if the author had used a different style of drawing? Why did the author choose to have this character peeking in from the edge of the page? Maybe you can use familiar children's books as a starting place?

 

I haven't found any guides that did this the way I wanted to, but I haven't really looked, either. Mostly guides seem to talk about content questions, historical background, symbolism, character motivation, or the author's purpose or background or opinion about things. I haven't found ones that talked about the construction of the book. But as I said, I haven't looked very hard because we seem to do plenty of discussing without them.

 

Hopefully something in all this muddle is helpful. If not, then ignore it GRIN. Maybe someone else will have some good advice for you.

 

Good luck!

-Nan

[Nan in Mass]

PS - Have you read Farmer Giles of Ham with your children? Mine loved this.

[RhondaM.]

PS - Have you read Farmer Giles of Ham with your children? Mine loved this.

 

Never heard of it. :) I'll look for it in the library. Is it a children's book? We still like them here too.

 

And thanks for taking the time to write and discuss all this literary stuff with me. It has been very helpful.

[Nan in Mass]

It's Tolkein. It has his choice of words, which is why I thought your family might like it. Farmer Giles feels "loose about the belt" when he is petrified of doing something, is one bit I happen to remember every time I do something like jump off our second story deck into a snowbank, something physically scary.

 

It helps me to discuss this stuff, too. I guess SWB and JW are right and writing it all out clarifies it for me. It helps me do more of what we do right deliberately.

 

-Nan

[nmoira]

I know it's only halfway through summer, but how's this going for you so far? I rather liked this idea. :)

[RhondaM.]

I know it's only halfway through summer, but how's this going for you so far? I rather liked this idea. :)

 

We just got started yesterday. The three of us (2 boys and myself) took turns reading chapters of The Island of Dr. Moreau by H. G. Wells.

 

I'm not at all sure how to do this...just winging it. The boys are writing down the characters as we come to them, as well as a sentence summing up each chapter. They hate that part of it. Rolling eyes, the whole bit.

But we are going to do it anyway as TWEM suggest. No great discussions happening so far. Probably because I have no idea what we are doing and I've never read the book before. Oh, well, at least we are reading.

 

It is a short book and I hope to finish it by the end of the week, then next week go into the next levels of discussion. Then write about it.

 

It will probably be the only book we do this with this month, though we may read something else more informally.

 

RhondaM.

[SkateLeft]

Good to know...and adding Poe is an awesome idea. Don't know why I didn't think of adding that. In fact, I should probably round up a list of short stories to read for when we finish a novel with time to spare. Any others I should consider besides Poe?

 

 

Hmm... You could sneak in Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story "Young Goodman Brown." Then maybe something like Horace Walpole's "Castle of Otranto" which is also a very short read and was the first of the gothic genre. Henry James' short story "Turn of the Screw" would also be another good addition from the late 19th century.

 

Actually, you could organize them time-wise and see how some of the earlier writers (like Walpole) influenced the later ones (like Poe, Hawthorne, and James).

 

Ooooh, you've got me thinking about putting together a gothic literature course for my daughter now. :D

[lauranav]

You beat me to it. I highly recommend Orson Scott Card. Ender's Game fits in well with the purpose of this reading list.

[JFSinIL]

I'd slip in some Edgar Allen Poe short stories.

[SheWhoWaits]

I wouldn't do Out of the Silent Planet. I just finished that book. It's very cheesy as science fiction. Definitely shows its age. As a book of theology, it's a little better, but most teens aren't that interested in theology. I'd suggest Asimov's Foundation instead. It's a much better read. Then if he likes it, maybe he'll consider the rest of the Foundation books. Or for something a little shorter, you could try Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game. I personally think science fiction short stories are among the best science fiction. Just choose an anthology from the library. One published by Analog or Asimov's science fiction magazines is bound to be good.

[SheWhoWaits]

very modern and an easy read. It's been a long time though, pretty sure the older ones don't have abjectionable materials in them, someone please correct me if I am wrong.

I guess it depends on what you object to, but I certainly found all of King's books objectionable.

[RebeccaC]

You might want ot consider some contemporary christian authors in this area. My 16 y old son is devouring Ted Dekker books. The book that got him started was Showdown, which he found when he was 15, and it looks like one of the better Dekker books. Dekker writes in the flavor of Steven King or Dean Koontz. Dekker books are similar to Frank Peretti's work and the two co-authored House which is on my sons list to read next. While in the flavor of King the book is heavy with christian allegory that is not always obvious till the end of the book.

 

It might be a book/author that you look at to raise fluency levels while working on the more traditional books in this genre. I consider these to be free reading or pleasure reading for my son. Any way I just thought I would give you a heads up on a christian author that your ds might enjoy.

[RhondaM.]

I wouldn't do Out of the Silent Planet. I just finished that book. It's very cheesy as science fiction. Definitely shows its age. As a book of theology, it's a little better, but most teens aren't that interested in theology. I'd suggest Asimov's Foundation instead. It's a much better read. Then if he likes it, maybe he'll consider the rest of the Foundation books. Or for something a little shorter, you could try Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game. I personally think science fiction short stories are among the best science fiction. Just choose an anthology from the library. One published by Analog or Asimov's science fiction magazines is bound to be good.

 

I've had a chance to look over the C.S. Lewis book and did not think it would be anything my ds would enjoy.

 

There are so many good books to consider, and my ds is a slow, unmotivated reader so I am quite sure we will not run out of books. Orsan Scott Card has been mentioned several times, so I'll probably look into this, as well as Poe and other short stories. Asimov is a good suggestion. I've never read anything by him, but I keep hearing about what a good writer he is.