lewelma Posted May 2, 2013 Share Posted May 2, 2013 You guys were so helpful last year, that I thought I would run this year's list by you too. I am looking to get him into some of the Great Books, but I also want to avoid those with adult themes (lots of WW1&2 are pretty icky) or just story lines that would really not be interesting to a 13yob (think pride and prejudice). I have a very broad selection of styles, but I would like to keep mostly to the "modern era" so it can coordinate with history (this is not a strict requirement). So I have listed the books under the topics I have planned for next year's history study. Please tell me if any of the books are inappropriate or just plain boring as I have not read all of them, and have picked them from a variety of lists. Also, additional titles are welcome, and tell me why you like them! Thanks, Ruth in NZ Victorian Era Pickwick Papers Life of Fredrick Douglas Importance of Being Earnest Wuthering Heights Dracula Tales of Mystery and Terror Poe Industrialization North and South Exploration King Solomon's Mines Heart of Darkness Beyond the 100th Meridian The Man Who Would be King The River Ran East Russia We by Yevgeny Zamyatin Cherry Orchard The Collected Tales of Nicolai Gogol WW1 Rilla of Ingleside Metamorphosis Between the Wars Great Gatsby Growing up by Baker (about great depression) Babbit by Sinclair Lewis Right Ho, Jeeves; Leave it to PSmith by Wodehouse WW2 Endless Steppe (I do not like Diary of Anne Frank) Catch 22 Slaughterhouse 5 Joy in the Morning by Wodehouse The Eagle has Landed Enigma by Harris Asia Rickshaw Boy The Good Earth (not sure of this one) Need more here Environmentalism Silent Spring Civil Rights Why we Can't Wait To Kill a Mocking Bird Cold War The Crucible Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy Other Lit Old Man and the Sea Travels with Charley Shakespear (his choice) Science Fiction The Tripod Flowers for Algernon Starship Troupers Arabesk Trilogy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted May 2, 2013 Author Share Posted May 2, 2013 And just because someone might want it, here is the book list my dh will read aloud to both boys that will coordinate with the above list. It is mostly award winning nonfiction, with some novels sprinkled in. Some of the gaps will be filled by library books. The books marked "B" are for my 9yo to read independently. Modern History Inventions Edison Bell, and Rutherford The Wright Brothers: How they Invented the Airplane by Russel Freedman Rutherford Life in the Victorian era Black Potatoes: The Story of the Great Irish Famine, 1845-1850 by Susan Campbell Bartoletti Flesh and Blood so Cheap: The Triangle Fire and Its Legacy by Albert Marrin 10+ Shutting out the Sky: Life in the Tenements of New York (1880-1920) by Deborah Hopkinson 11+ Oliver Twist by Dickens Around the World in 80 Days by Verne B- The Great Wheel by Robert Lawson B - Little Britches: Father and I were Ranchers by Ralph Moody Exploration Books about Livingstone and Stanley from the library Lost Photographs of Captain Scott Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart by Candace Fleming The Impossible Rescue: The True Story of an Amazing Arctic Adventure by Martin Sandler 10+ Reaching the Summit: Sir Edmund Hillary's Story by Alexa Johnston Trapped: how the world rescues 33 miners from 2,000 feet below the Chilean Desert by Marc Aronson 10+ WW1 The War to End all Wars: World War I by Russell Freedman 12+ Between the Wars Bootleg: Murder Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition by Karen Blumenthal 12+ Six Days in October: The Stock Market Crash of 1929 by Karen Blumenthal 12+ Years of Dust: The Story of the Dust Bowl by Albert Marrin 9+ Experanza Rising by Pam Ryan 8+ B- The Blue Willow by Doris Gates WW2 Dear Miss Breed: True Stories of the Japanese American Incarceration by Joanne Oppenheim 11+ Bomb: The Race to Build – and Steal-- the World's Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin 10+ Beyond Courage: The Untold Story of Jewish Resistance During the Holocaust, Doreen Rappaport 10+ The Good Fight: How WW2 was Won by Stephen Ambrose 11+ Frontier of Dreams: The Weight of the World Wars Diary of a Kiwi Soldier in WW2 by Cecil Coughlan Secret Armies: Spies, Counterspies Hitler Youth: Growing up in Hitler's Shadow 12+ B- Miracle on Maple Hill by Virginia Sorensen B- House of Sixty Fathers by Meindert DeJong B- Winged Watchmen by Hilda Von Stockum Asia Young Fu of Upper Yangtze by Elizabeth Lewis The Cat Who Went to Heaven by Elizabeth Coatsworth Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin 8+ Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea by Guy Delisle GFloor- Graphic Novel Burma Chronicles by Guy Delisle GFloor-Graphic Novel Shenzhen: A Travelogue from China by Guy Delisle GFloor-Graphic Novel Illustrated History of the South Pacific by Marcia Stenson B- Call it Courage by Armstrong Sperry Environmentalism Black Gold: The Story of Oil in our lives by Albert Marin 12+ Civil Rights After Gandhi: One Hundred Years of Non-violent Resistance Perry O'Brien 11+ They Call themselves the KKK: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group by Susan Campbell Bartoletti 12+ Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom by Sue Macy 10+ Cold War When the Wall Came Down: The Berlin Wall and the Fall of Soviet Communism by Schmemann 11+ Breaking Stalin's Nose by Eugene Yelchin 9+ Mao's Last Dancer by Chuxin Li B-Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai 8+ Technology Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different by Karen Blumenthal Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon by Thimmesh 10+ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted May 2, 2013 Share Posted May 2, 2013 I found The Good Earth to be a very long and arduous read, despite my being very interested in China. Rickshaw Boy might be a better choice, but I haven't read it for a few years, so you might want to look at some reviews. A Doll's House I suspect would not be very interesting to a boy of that age. Another Cold War book: something by Le Carre might be good. Probably Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Not a 'Great Book' but a good one. There's a bit about Smiley's relationship with his wife, but it doesn't take up too many pages, I don't think, and it's not explicit. Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted May 2, 2013 Author Share Posted May 2, 2013 Thanks so much! I will go look at those and re-assess the other 2. And I am having my younger read through the Puffin Classics that you recommended to me last year. So far, so good! ETA: Made the changes. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freerange Posted May 2, 2013 Share Posted May 2, 2013 I started hunting for reading lists after finding the a good proportion of the recommended books in our SYRWTL English to be unsuitable for us & found this list. English school's year 9 is around age 13. I haven't read all of the suggested books (it's a very long list!) but the ones I have read lead me to think that the rest are likely to be good reads & age appropriate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted May 2, 2013 Share Posted May 2, 2013 I started hunting for reading lists after finding the a good proportion of the recommended books in our SYRWTL English to be unsuitable for us & found this list. English school's year 9 is around age 13. I haven't read all of the suggested books (it's a very long list!) but the ones I have read lead me to think that the rest are likely to be good reads & age appropriate. Some fun things on that list. I noticed that the Mary Renaults mentioned are the Alexander trilogy. Most of her books are not explicitly sexual, but there are one or two scenes in those books that are a bit more so. You might want to pre-read. FWIW, I read all of Mary Renault at around age 13, so it just depends what the parent wants. Oh, and Calvin recommends Ender's Game for about age 13, but the rest in the series are much darker. He says not to give them to Hobbes yet. Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted May 2, 2013 Share Posted May 2, 2013 Hmm, I think I'd probably think twice about the Master & Margarita for a 13 year old boy. If you've read it, then by all means ignore my comments, but if you haven't you might want to check it out first? It's got sex, and some kind of gory/perverse/weird stuff all mixing up sexuality and power and witchiness. It's also just so dang surreal that it is hard to get your head around. I guess I just see it as more of an adult book, KWIM? Anyway, I love most of your choices but that one gave me pause, FWIW. ETA: What about subbing We by Yevgeny Zamyatin? It would give you a political satire by a 20th century Russian novelist, and I think I remember you saying your son liked Anthem. We has similar themes, but is much better, IMO. There is sex, but nothing graphic - just how it works in the society. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted May 3, 2013 Author Share Posted May 3, 2013 Thanks guys! Rose: Have removed Master & Margarita, and replace with We Laura: DS has read Enders game and first sequel and LOVED them! Will wait on Mary Renaults until we hit ancients. Freerange, your list is great! I'm going through the books now, and have added Dune and Old Man and the Sea and Wuthering Heights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted May 3, 2013 Author Share Posted May 3, 2013 Can someone recommend a few things by Wodehouse. And I am also interested in anything else by a humorist. Also, still need a couple of books set anywhere in Asia. Thanks, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted May 3, 2013 Share Posted May 3, 2013 I think I'd go with Right Ho, Jeeves & Leave it to PSmith. I'm not a huge Chesterton fan, but his Father Brown mysteries can be pretty funny. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenniferLynn Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 I second Ender's Game for Sci Fi. It is my go-to birthday and Christmas gift for boys around that age. I would also skip the others in that series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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