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Not to miss classic books for Middle School and younger?


fourcatmom
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My girls are in middle school but I feel that there are so many books they have not been introduced to yet. What are some classics for kids younger then 7th that they should not miss?

 

They have a whole list for History and some for Science and some that they have picked out but I don't want to miss some of the really special classic books that they might not choose on their own.

 

Help? :lurk5:

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Narnia series

JRR Tolkien The Hobbit

The Penderwicks (cute, adorable read)

The unabridged Prince and the Pauper

Lad, A Dog

Treasure Island

Robinson Crusoe (about 7th grade level)

The Anne of Green Gables Series

All Creatures Great and Small (more like 8th grade ish) series

 

Those are all I can think of for that age which are kind of the timeless classics

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I would be interested, too. I have these lined up for ds10 this year, fifth, but I could add some more to his sixth and seventh grade reading and literature lists (planning ahead).

 

The Black Stallion (ds10 really enjoyed this!)

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Call of the Wild (I have this for 7th)

Island of the Blue Dolphins

Black Beauty

The In-Between Days

The Moffats

Twenty and Ten

Number the Stars

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

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I found a few more too...answering my own question. :laugh:

 

Huck Finn

Of Mice and Men

My Side of the Mountain

Lord of the Flies

To Kill A Mockingbird

The Giver

The Messenger

The Catcher and the Rye

The Red Pony

The Hobbit

 

This was a list that I have found, I haven't researched which one's I might wan them to read. :confused1:

 

ETA: I might skip Lord of the Flies...maybe others. Even though all these titles are familiar to me, I have to say I don't know what some of them about. I remember To Kill A Mockingbird but I don't really remember the story? I know these are real life issues but I really don't know if I want to introduce books about rape to 11 and 12 year old girls, even if they are classics.

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Sorry Sagira, I would nix Huck Fin.  It is hard to read with all the dialect, and the theme/concepts are very advanced.  Fourcatmom, have your girls read it *after* they have read every other book that has been listed so far.  It is a high school book and all the others listed so far are for middle school.

 

adding to your middle school list:

Sherlock Holmes

HG Wells: Time Machine, War of the Worlds,

Stevenson: Dr Jekyle and Mr Hyde, Treasure island

Oliver Twist

Jane Eyre

 

Ruth in NZ

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Thanks, Lewelma. I had Huck Finn for 6th and up but failed to include that. I may replace with Robinson Crusoe.

 

We are greatly enjoying Heidi right now.

 

I would not include Catcher in the Rye on this list until high school. I'm not even including it then. I hated the book as an older teen - too much profanity, negativity, not useful in any way IMO. There are too many good books out there to stick with this one.

 

I liked Lord of the Flies, but won't consider this book for ds until he's at least 12.

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Thanks. Yes, I looked at Catcher in the Rye last night and we will be skipping that one and Lord of the Flies, I am still not sure. I have pretty sensative girls and one has anxiety so it's a fine line what I introduce and when. I didn't realize Huck Finn was geared more towards HS. I really wanted some good old classics without a lot of issues in them.

 

 

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I hated Old Yeller, but we listened to it in 4th grade. I don't remember anything bad in it.

 

My list:

Heidi

The Wind in the Willows

Anne of Green Gables

The Princess and the Goblin

Understood Betsy

Island of the Blue Dolphins

Charlotte's Web

Bambi (if you can find it. It's OOP.)

Ozma of Oz

The Chronicles of Narnia

The Hobbit

The Secret Garden

A Little Princess

The Incredible Journey

A Wrinkle in Time

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

Impunity Jane (or another book by Rumer Godden)

Ballet Shoes

Little House in the Big Woods (and the rest of the Little House series)

A Christmas Carol

Treasure Island

Black Beauty

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Little Women

Where the Red Fern Grows

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I think most of my musts are already listed. I'll add Watership Down, Animal Farm, 1984, the original Dracula and Frankenstein as I didn't see any of these I think.

 

My older boy is a very advanced reader and read 1984 at age 12. He definitely would have gotten more out of it if he had been older.  It is a high school book IMHO.

 

Also, Dracula is supposed to be very scary (I've not read it personally, by my sister did at 15 and it freaked her out).

 

Also, out of the 200+ classics my older son has read, the only one he really hated was Frankenstein. It definitely has a horror element to it.  Plus everyone is murdered by the end.

 

Ruth in NZ

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Now could someone take all these suggestions and separate them out into grade levels.

 

 

 

Here they are sorted by my impressions.  I have not sorted them within the groups. Obviously, it depends on the level of your children.

 

HTH,

 

Ruth in NZ

 

Upper elementary

Narnia series

Black Beauty

The Moffats

Twenty and Ten

Number the Stars

The House of Sixty Fathers

Snow Treasure

Miracles on Maple Hill

My Side of the Mountain

Lassie Come Home

Heidi

The Princess and the Goblin

Understood Betsy

Charlotte's Web

Bambi (if you can find it. It's OOP.)

Ozma of Oz

The Chronicles of Narnia

A Wrinkle in Time

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

Little House in the Big Woods (and the rest of the Little House series)

 

Lower middle school level

The Hobbit

Anne of Green Gables

The Secret Garden

A Little Princess

The Incredible Journey

A Christmas Carol

Black Beauty

Little Women

Where the Red Fern Grows

Call of the Wild

Island of the blue dolphins

A Little Princess

The Giver

 

Higher middle school level

The unabridged Prince and the Pauper

Robinson Cruso

All Creatures Great and Small

The Wind in the Willows

Animal Farm,

Treasure Island

Lord of the Flies

To Kill A Mockingbird

Sherlock Holmes

Watership Down,

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Time Machine,

War of the Worlds,

Dr Jekyle and Mr Hyde,

Oliver Twist

Jane Eyre

 

High school level

1984,

Dracula and

Frankenstein

The Catcher and the Rye

Huck Finn

Of Mice and Men

 

Don't know these

Impunity Jane

Ballet Shoes

The Penderwicks

Lad, A Dog

The Black Stallion

The In-Between Days

The Owl in the Shower

The Messenger

The Red Pony

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My older boy is a very advanced reader and read 1984 at age 12. He definitely would have gotten more out of it if he had been older.  It is a high school book IMHO.

 

Also, Dracula is supposed to be very scary (I've not read it personally, by my sister did at 15 and it freaked her out).

 

Also, out of the 200+ classics my older son has read, the only one he really hated was Frankenstein. It definitely has a horror element to it.  Plus everyone is murdered by the end.

 

Ruth in NZ

 

 

uhoh! My ds11 is reading Dracula now.  Better look into that one I suppose.  Thanks for the warning!

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I really like the Mensa book lists as they are divided by grade levels. They include most of the books listed in this thread (they also have some books which are not classics, but so far we have really enjoyed everything on our list):

 

K-3: http://www.mensaforkids.org/ReaderAward/k_3.pdf

Grades 4-6: http://www.mensaforkids.org/ReaderAward/4_6.pdf

Grades 7-8: http://www.mensaforkids.org/ReaderAward/7_8.pdf

Grades 9-12: http://www.mensaforkids.org/ReaderAward/9_12.pdf

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Don't forget the Roald Dahl books.  So many great ones.

 

Also, Rudyard Kipling's "Just So" or "Jungle Book"

 

"My Side of the Mountain"

 

Oh...and one of my favorites in 6th grade was "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn"  (Great film too!)

 

I've also heard a lot of good things about Holling C. Holling's "Paddle the Sea"

 

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My older boy is a very advanced reader and read 1984 at age 12. He definitely would have gotten more out of it if he had been older. It is a high school book IMHO.

 

Also, Dracula is supposed to be very scary (I've not read it personally, by my sister did at 15 and it freaked her out).

 

Also, out of the 200+ classics my older son has read, the only one he really hated was Frankenstein. It definitely has a horror element to it. Plus everyone is murdered by the end.

 

Ruth in NZ

Well, I guess it depends on the kid. I read all these in the 7th and 8th grade and loved them. My dd11 loves scary movies and mystery type books so I'm guessing she will too.

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I noticed "The WOnderful Wizard of Oz" book for Grades 4-6.  This is such an awesome book!  I highly recommend reading it.  After watching the movie multiply times, I thought I could never read it because I know the story line so much. 

 

Of course, the book IS better And different.  I was really surprised about how different it was AND how wonderful this book was to read.  I wish I had read it when I was younger. 

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Now could someone take all these suggestions and separate them out into grade levels.

 

How do you decide what to introduce when???

 

Now, see, I couldn't separate them into "grade levels," because children aren't grade levels; they are ages. :-)

 

I tried to judge which books to read to my children based on how well I thought they'd be able to sit and listen, lol, and on the maturity level of the book.

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