mo2 Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 I'm planning my daughter's 8th grade year, and I want her to read some "easier" classics before starting high school. She was a late/struggling reader and still reads slowly but enjoys a good story. Which classics are not to be missed before entering high school? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Epicurean Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 I'd start with children's classics: A Little Princess Anne of Green Gables Peter Pan The Princess and the Goblin The Hobbit Get the illustrated versions when you can, and do audiobooks if the language is a little difficult for her. If you're looking for adult classics, I think some good ones to start out with might be: Little Women Jane Eyre The Gift of the Magi Northanger Abbey 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mo2 Posted March 6, 2015 Author Share Posted March 6, 2015 Thanks! That gives me a place to start. I read aloud The Hobbit to the whole family not too long ago. I love it when I can find books that hold the attention of all my kids AND my husband. :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 Which 20 books help prepare for reading the Great Books Top your coffee off before you click. :001_smile: 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 Love that thread! Lori D.'s list became our read-aloud list over the past few years. As far as first classics to read independently, I'd add to the above: Treasure Island Around the World in 80 Days (or other Verne, but this was our favorite) Tom Sawyer The Prince and the Pauper To Kill a Mockingbird 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 Which 20 books help prepare for reading the Great Books Top your coffee off before you click. :001_smile: Yes, I was going to post this thread, too! Regards, Kareni 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 The Hobbit was SOOO BORING! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mo2 Posted March 6, 2015 Author Share Posted March 6, 2015 Which 20 books help prepare for reading the Great Books Top your coffee off before you click. :001_smile: What a great resource! I'll have to print that one. (Not a coffee drinker, but I have a full Coke, so I'm all set!) The Hobbit was SOOO BORING! We LOVE The Hobbit but I could see how some would think it drags on a bit. Honestly, if my younger children hadn't already fallen in love with hobbits through the LOTR movies, I'm not sure it would have held their attention. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 We loved The Hobbit, but Shannon did not love LOTR. She slogged through the first book and gave up the series. I'm thinking that if a kid is bored by The Hobbit, they aren't going to dig LOTR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purduemeche Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 Check out the book lists for Dialectic level for Tapestry of Grace. This the entire middle school reading list and has some of the classics. http://bookshelfcentral.com/index.php?main_page=resources&year=1&units=all&LD=on&subjects=all&type=BSC http://bookshelfcentral.com/index.php?main_page=resources&year=2&units=all&LD=on&subjects=all&type=BSC http://bookshelfcentral.com/index.php?main_page=resources&year=3&units=all&LD=on&subjects=all&type=BSC http://bookshelfcentral.com/index.php?main_page=resources&year=4&units=all&LD=on&subjects=all&type=BSC 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 The hobbit was intended for adults I think. I enjoyed it and LOTR when I was 9 to 11. I watched the first hobbit movie a few weeks ago. It was beautiful, lovely props, good casting, stirring and oh so DULL. Fight orcs, run from orcs and repeat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmrich Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Do not overlook the importance of Fairy Tales. I have recently read the Grimm's book and Hans Christian Andersen; they are so beautiful and contain so much inspiration for other stories. 1001 Arabian Nights, and the Legend of the King Arthur were also read this year, and I can see how well they would prepare a young reader for meatier books. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 The hobbit was intended for adults I think. I enjoyed it and LOTR when I was 9 to 11. I watched the first hobbit movie a few weeks ago. It was beautiful, lovely props, good casting, stirring and oh so DULL. Fight orcs, run from orcs and repeat. No, actually. It started at his children's bedside. :001_smile: He created it as he went. Being created in that manner he borrowed ideas from other books that had influenced him over the years. DS/10th and I spent his 8th grade year doing a delicious lit study based on the annotated Hobbit. We read all the influencing works in their entirety as we went through it. I'm with you on the Peter Jackson version of the Hobbit. It had plenty of material he didn't use, only to embellish it with orcs that didn't exist, a completely fabricated character (though I laughed over it being the fickle Kate from LOST), and interjected the elves where they didn't belong. I haven't seen the third installment yet, and I'm not sure I want to. :tongue_smilie: 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadrunner Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 I printed a list of Puffin Classics. Plan is to read through about 80% of them (my son is unfortunately objecting to "girly" books). I am hoping we will be in excellent shape if we follow down this path. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeghansMom Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 The Hobbit was SOOO BORING! Bite your tongue, that is one of my eleven year old's favorite books! :D 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadrunner Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 My DS read The Hobbit twice and the entire Lord of the Rings series last year. You can say he is obsessed. :) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetpea3829 Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Just a heads up....you *might* want to screen Tom Sawyer before reading it outloud to your kids. Or...you might end up having to explain, on the fly, what an "orgy" is.... :leaving: :party: :blushing: 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeghansMom Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Just a heads up....you *might* want to screen Tom Sawyer before reading it outloud to your kids. Or...you might end up having to explain, on the fly, what an "orgy" is.... :leaving: :party: :blushing: My daughter read that last year and said nothing about it...hmmm. She hated The Witch of Blackbird Pond though, could not get through the first chapter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadrunner Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 My daughter read that last year and said nothing about it...hmmm. r. Neither did my son! :) now my 8 year old is reading it and won't put it down. So far, no questions or comments. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Just a heads up....you *might* want to screen Tom Sawyer before reading it outloud to your kids. Or...you might end up having to explain, on the fly, what an "orgy" is.... :leaving: :party: :blushing: A wild party? I'm pretty sure that's all Tom meant by it . . . :lol: 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TracyP Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Yes, I just explained "orgy" the way Tom (mistakenly) used it - as a big party. :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetpea3829 Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 LOL, we were listening to it on audiobook. There were a handful of references that I would have preferred my kiddos (at the time, age 8, 7, 6, and 5) hadn't heard. The orgy one was the most interesting...lol. "Mom...what's an orgy?" Uhhh..... I had never actually read Tom Sawyer before! Serves me right for not screening first. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 :lol: Yeah, I'd be pretty surprised if I got that question out of context, too! It's funny how many things we just read right over ourselves, but when a kid asks about it, it's like, gulp, oops, I forgot that was in there! I'm pretty good at matter-of-fact answers, and I don't give more info than they are actually asking for. Dh, OTOH, takes more of the Calvin's dad approach of coming up with a totally ridiculous response. Which trains them to detect sarcasm! But up to a certain age, it also completely distracts them from the question. If that doesn't work, there's always "Ask your mother." :lol: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 I printed a list of Puffin Classics. Plan is to read through about 80% of them (my son is unfortunately objecting to "girly" books). I am hoping we will be in excellent shape if we follow down this path. Eh. Make him read them. I had been telling my boys things like, "Well, it's a good book even if there's only girls in it..." and avoiding girl books. But then I read this: http://oinks.squeetus.com/2015/02/no-boys-allowed-school-visits-as-a-woman-writer.html ...and rethought doing that anymore. I told my son about the article and said that I wasn't going to tell him books were good "even though" there were girl characters. And I told him that I'd probably start throwing a few "girl" books his way because why should we avoid a good story because the main character isn't a boy? He totally got it and agreed that he's interested in these "girl" books now that he thinks about it. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 But then I read this: http://oinks.squeetus.com/2015/02/no-boys-allowed-school-visits-as-a-woman-writer.html ...and rethought doing that anymore. What an excellent (and sad) post, Garga. Thanks so much for sharing it. Regards, Kareni 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aprilleigh Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 I printed a list of Puffin Classics. Plan is to read through about 80% of them (my son is unfortunately objecting to "girly" books). I am hoping we will be in excellent shape if we follow down this path. You might get better results with the "girly" books if you do those as audiobooks. At least this way he would get the exposure in a manner that might be easier for him to accept. I definitely think all boys need exposure to these books, just like I think all girls need exposure to "boy" books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsutsie Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Top your coffee off before you click. :001_smile: Should have listened to this! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMJ Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 This year we have read both of Lewis Carroll's Alice books, Peter Pan, The Wind in the Willows, Heidi. We are starting on Swiss Family Robinson, with plans to go through at least some of the Anne of Green Gables books next. I also want my girls to read Hans Brinker, more Mark Twain (we read Tom Sawyer last year), A Patchwork Child, Kipling's Just So Stories, anything by Robert Louis Stevenson -- the list goes on and on! I'm also going to expose them to Terry Pratchett and Jasper Fforde soon. In previous years they have had exposure to the Wizard of Oz series, the Wheel of Time series (DH's audiobooks in the car), Jules Verne -- basically DH and I will expose them to most anything we find that has a good story. Lots of mythology. There was one Man From Mars type of book (older) that we started listening to, but then shut down pretty quickly. It started going into some sexual promiscuity stuff that was quite inappropriate for kids (basically started sounding like a bad romance advocating free love). Not everything that is old is quality literature, so do check out any items that are unfamiliar to you. I do know some would consider the Wheel of Time series to be a bit mature for this age group. The above aren't all "classics", but I think a lot of them should be. Great stuff! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMJ Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 The Hobbit was SOOO BORING! I read it in high school and liked it then. I might have found it boring when I was younger. It does go on a bit at times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Tick Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Eh. Make him read them. I had been telling my boys things like, "Well, it's a good book even if there's only girls in it..." and avoiding girl books. But then I read this: http://oinks.squeetus.com/2015/02/no-boys-allowed-school-visits-as-a-woman-writer.html ...and rethought doing that anymore. I told my son about the article and said that I wasn't going to tell him books were good "even though" there were girl characters. And I told him that I'd probably start throwing a few "girl" books his way because why should we avoid a good story because the main character isn't a boy? He totally got it and agreed that he's interested in these "girl" books now that he thinks about it. Oooh, that really burns me up! I wish she would name the school or the city or even the state so we could let people know how we feel about that kind if sexism. I think it would serve as an example and get a wider audience. I probably need to go read the thread about public shaming from a while ago before I get too high on this horse, but really, in this day and age?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eternalsummer Posted March 19, 2015 Share Posted March 19, 2015 The Hobbit was SOOO BORING! Agreed. All they ever seem to do, in The Hobbit and then the whole Lord of the Rings series, is walk around in the woods and get lost. Open to a random page, they are guaranteed to either be lost in the woods or reciting a long boring poem about getting lost in the woods. At least that was my perception of it :) I love Tolkein's literary criticism, though - I studied Old English in college and his stuff on Beowulf is wonderful. However, DD9 *loved* The Hobbit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluegoat Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 Yes, I just explained "orgy" the way Tom (mistakenly) used it - as a big party. :) Tom wasn't incorrect - orgy can refer to a wild party - which of course may include all kinds of excesses. The religious connotations I think are rarely applicable unless you are talking about classical culture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaughingCat Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 We loved The Hobbit, but Shannon did not love LOTR. She slogged through the first book and gave up the series. I'm thinking that if a kid is bored by The Hobbit, they aren't going to dig LOTR. I never liked The Hobbit but loved LOTR -- so there you go :laugh: I will say however that almost the whole first book of LOTR draaaags on -- when re-reading I would skip almost all of that (the whole moving/forest/Tom Bombadil section)-- and it makes me feel bad for the the DC who dropped it after the first book... to make it all the way through the boring part just to drop it right where it starts getting good :crying: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 I never liked The Hobbit but loved LOTR -- so there you go :laugh: I will say however that almost the whole first book of LOTR draaaags on -- when re-reading I would skip almost all of that (the whole moving/forest/Tom Bombadil section)-- and it makes me feel bad for the the DC who dropped it after the first book... to make it all the way through the boring part just to drop it right where it starts getting good :crying: I know, right? But I'm sure she'll come back around to it at some point. We just *won't* be doing LLLOTR any time soon! :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
go_go_gadget Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 I have nothing of substance to add to the already excellent responses to the OP, but while we're on the topic of "orgy" questions, this is how it went at my house when my then eight year-old son asked: DS: ''Mom, what's an 'orgy'?'' Me: ''Well. What's the context?'' ''I'm reading about freshwater pearls, and apparently these mussels reproduce by getting together in a big group and the males spray semen over the females.'' ''Oh. Really?'' ''Yeah. So that's an orgy?'' ''Right.'' ''Would you still call it that if it were humans instead of mussels?'' ''Yes, but that particular scenario isn't especially common.'' ''Yeah, I wouldn't think so.'' 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 I have nothing of substance to add to the already excellent responses to the OP, but while we're on the topic of "orgy" questions, this is how it went at my house when my then eight year-old son asked: DS: ''Mom, what's an 'orgy'?'' Me: ''Well. What's the context?'' ''I'm reading about freshwater pearls, and apparently these mussels reproduce by getting together in a big group and the males spray semen over the females.'' ''Oh. Really?'' ''Yeah. So that's an orgy?'' ''Right.'' ''Would you still call it that if it were humans instead of mussels?'' ''Yes, but that particular scenario isn't especially common.'' ''Yeah, I wouldn't think so.'' :smilielol5: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetpea3829 Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 I have nothing of substance to add to the already excellent responses to the OP, but while we're on the topic of "orgy" questions, this is how it went at my house when my then eight year-old son asked: DS: ''Mom, what's an 'orgy'?'' Me: ''Well. What's the context?'' ''I'm reading about freshwater pearls, and apparently these mussels reproduce by getting together in a big group and the males spray semen over the females.'' ''Oh. Really?'' ''Yeah. So that's an orgy?'' ''Right.'' ''Would you still call it that if it were humans instead of mussels?'' ''Yes, but that particular scenario isn't especially common.'' ''Yeah, I wouldn't think so.'' BA-DA-BING!!!! And I have to say...I must have a filthy mind because...when that scene came up in the book, my mind immediately went to the naughtiest definition of orgy. I didn't even know there were other meanings for it! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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