Looking for upbeat literature selections

[hillfarm]

We will be doing 9th grade lit this year and I am having trouble finding book selections that are not so dreary and depressing. Are there any acceptable works of literature that are actually upbeat in tone? I'd like 4 - 6 books. They certainly don't have to be a laugh-a-minute or easy reads, but I know my dd's personality and I don't want to bring her down with so much doom and gloom. No casket transporting, no cholera, no suicide, no molestation and rape, no torture, no insanity, etc.

 

I don't mind that there are struggles for the protagonist to overcome, but come on, my kid is an impressionable 13yo. I won't let her listen to death metal music because of the lyrics. Why would I make her study death-focused literature?:confused:

[regentrude]

There are lots of books that fit your requirements.

 

Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility

Lewis Carroll Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass

Louisa May Alcott Little Women and sequels

 

short stories by Mark Twain (even though it is a shame to avoid Tom Sawyer just because a murder occurs)

 

plays:

the Importance of being Ernest by Oscar Wilde

comedies by Shakespeare (you would object to the tragedies)

 

poetry!

 

You can always assign non-fiction books about scientific topics or travel if she is interested in that (not memoirs- the only interesting memoirs are the ones by people who had bad things happening to them)

The Double Helix about the discovery of the DNA structure

The Code Book (Simon Singh)

Fermat's Last theorem (Singh)

Longitude (Dava Sobel)

Endurance (Alfred Lansing)

 

Many books where death occurs are not death focused. To kill a Mockingbird is a great book for the age group, even though bad things happen - it is not about the bad, but about the good.

Edited August 16, 2012 by regentrude

[TippyCanoe]

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[Sebastian (a lady)]

Robinson Crusoe is a survival tale that doesn't dwell on death.

[Candid]

Dickens has some good novels that would meet this and Shakespeare has comedies and histories that would work.

[Laura Corin]

There's an older thread that might help.

 

Laura

[TippyCanoe]

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[hillfarm]

Thanks, everyone!

 

It's not that we are so opposed to the concept of death, we are a farm family and consider it a natural part of life. I wouldn't object to one bad thing happening in a story, however, I don't think my 13yo is quite ready to dwell on it as the predominant theme throughout the entire novel.

 

She has already read Tom Sawyer, several of the Shakespeare tragedies, etc. and was fine with them. However, she does tend to have nightmares for a few nights after particularly gruesome or graphic murder mystery novels.

 

We live in a very isolated area, in a deep, dark hollow, at the end of a dead end road, in a shadowy, wooded area (about 10,000 acres of undeveloped woodland adjacent to us). It is a little too easy for her to get a bit depressed now that she is in those hormone drenched, angst ridden early teen years.

 

Thanks again for reminding me that there are some other "worthy" selections available.

[goldberry]

I totally understand....DD wanted to do Forensic Science this year in 9th. After I got the book and previewed it... Let's just say that after seeing a home security commercial she had nightmares and fears for two weeks about someone breaking in.

 

I talked to her about it and she is postponing it until later.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

How about something like Father Brown mysteries? I would say that these are both well written and not gruesome. Most are about theft rather than murder.

 

Another thought is to use a lot of short stories. This is not uncommon for freshman year. It could also help you do dramatic readings that aren't quite so fierce.

 

A great many of the great books authors also wrote short stories. Edith Wharton (author of Ethan Frome and Age of Innocence) wrote a great many well done short stories. Xingu is one of my favorites.