What did YOU read in 6th grade?

[mskelly]

I'm putting together a reading list for my son who will be in 6th grade in the fall.  It got me thinking about the books I read waaaaaaay back then. I only remember 2. :-( A Wrinkle in Time and Flowers for Algernon.

 

Can you remember any of the books you read and would you suggest them for your DC?

 

 

 

PS-I forgot about Algernon until I searched for A Wrinkle in Time and saw it on the same page.  I want to reread it now.

[Ethel Mertz]

I was in 6th grade 47 years ago. All I remember are the Chronicles of Narnia and Anne of Green Gables. DS is not interested in Anne of Green Gables, but he loves the Chronicles of Narnia.

[Julie Smith]

Perhaps, "The Babysitter's Club". I'm not sure if that was sixth grade, but likely was. I had so many of those books. I went from those almost directly to, "Clan of the Cavebear" series. 

 

ETA: I wouldn't recommend either series to my boys.

Edited June 4, 2016 by Julie Smith

[SanDiegoMom]

I read Little Women and the Dark is Rising Series.  That's all I can remember but I read them over and over!

[Tanaqui]

Oh, gosh. Other than a lot of BSC books and Sweet Valley, I'm not sure. I can recommend some books anyway, but I can't promise they were published prior to 1994, when I was in the 6th grade.

[SilverMoon]

I was being homeschooled by grandparents with all ACE paces. From what I can tell on the website they've changed the literature titles since then. I remember Treasures of the Snow, Hinds Feet on High Places, Young Pilgrim's Progress, Twice Freed, something about the little servant girl in the Naaman story (can't remember the title), God's Smuggler, Jungle Pilot, an Abraham Lincoln biography. Generally all missionary biographies or very Christian fiction. Oh! Little One, Maid of Israel is the Naaman one. They have it in the grade 8 set now, but I'm positive I wasn't that old when I had it assigned. There was a Heidi and Swiss Family Robinson in there somewhere too. Either they've really weakened their literature program since then or my grandmother cherry picked titles for me when she bought the yearly load of those awful paces.

 

I could rattle off the main plot and a random assortment of specific details on most of those titles.

 

Thankfully my grandmother hauled me to the library regularly and I was encouraged to have my nose in a book as much as I pleased.

[SemiSweet]

I do not remember reading anything of value. I read the Babysitters Club and Sweet Valley High. My sixth grade teacher did read alouds though, she did Matilda, The Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankenwieler, James and the Giant Peach, maybe Anne of Green Gables. I really liked her.

[maize]

For school I remember The Hobbit and part of Beowulf.

 

My favorite free-time read that year was Ivanhoe.

[bluedarling]

I don't recall reading anything outside of a textbook until 7th grade.

[Farrar]

Every shred of anything Madeleine L'Engle ever wrote (yes, even the adult novels, even the religious personal nonfiction stuff - it's called obsession, people, and I had access to a lovely little bookshop that let me order like it was Amazon way before there was Amazon).

 

Other stuff too... I can't remember exactly what I read in 6th vs. 7th per se...

 

The Dark is Rising

Anne McCaffery stuff

Piers Anthony crap

The Little Prince (my kooky German almost step-mother gave it to me and insisted I read it)

A Separate Piece (I was in a free reading elective and that was the one book the teacher was convinced I should read... which, in retrospect, is really weird to me)

The Belgariad

Lord of the Rings

Hitchhiker's Guide

lots of Scott O'Dell

 

I know 6th grade was the year I started drifting from the children's section to the adult fantasy section.

 

[arliemaria]

Anne of Green Gables, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh, Bridge to Terabithia, Island of the Blue Dolphins

 

 

[momof4inco]

I read Nancy Drew books at that age - my mom had the series through #64 from when she was a kid, I would read through them and then read through them again. I loved Anne of Green Gables and Little Women. I think that's about the age I got into Dean Koontz and Stephen King. I can't remember when I read Babysitter's Club, it might have been more like 4th grade.

 

I doubt your son wants to read any of that. I am going to try my daughter on Nancy Drew, Anne of Green Gables, and Little Women in a few years. The new Babysitter's Club books are graphic novels, I just can't get myself to buy them (I loved the originals so much).

[Syllieann]

I don't recall anything that I was assigned to read for school, but my 6th grade teacher recommended Jurassic Park to me. I read that and then many others by Michael Crichton. I also read the Clan of the Cave Bears series books that were published at that time. Another came out later iirc, which I promptly read, then watched all the movies. I know I read all the Wrinkle in Time books over 6th and 7th grade. I think the first book may have been assigned for school; not sure, fuzzy memory.

[MistyMountain]

I know I read the Flowers in the Attic series that year. I definitely do not recommend that though especially for a 6th grader. It is not really appropriate for that age with incense. I think I got into a few Steven King books too then. I read mostly twaddle.

Edited June 4, 2016 by MistyMountain

[athomeontheprairie]

For school, I only remember "Shiloh" and I only remember because we read it as a group... And it took for.ev.er. I kept getting reprimanded by the teacher for being so far ahead.

 

The only free reading I remember were the choose your own adventure books

Edited June 4, 2016 by athomeontheprairie

[ikslo]

Island of the Blue Dolphins is the only one I remember from that year. I had to do a diorama for it.

[sassenach]

For school I only remember The Outsiders, which was pretty provocative, now that I think about it.

[dlpardo]

The two books I can remember are Flowers for Algernon, and Roll of Thunder,Hear My Cry.

[fdrinca]

I know I read the Flowers in the Attic series that year. I definitely do not recommend that though especially for a 6th grader. It is not really appropriate for that age with incense. I think I got into a few Steven King books too then. I read mostly twaddle.

I clicked on this thread to say that I, too, read all of the then published VC Andrews canon by 6th grade. Lots and lots of terrible YA books. Non-textbook assigned reading started in 7th grade (Hobbit, Romeo and Juliet, To Kill a Mockingbird, probably more. I did not read the Red Pony or Where the Red Fern Grows, because those were options in the "regular" class, and I still have not read them.

Edited June 4, 2016 by fdrinca

[Chelli]

Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys Super Mysteries, Sweet Valley High, Anne of Green Gables was somewhere around that time.

 

I also read Uncle Tom's Cabin that year because I was fascinated with Civil War and I had read a quote that Lincoln said, "Here's the little lady whose book started this great big war," when he met Harriet Beecher Stowe. That automatically put it in my must be read pile.

[Holly]

From school, I remember Tom Sawyer, Call of the Wild, and Flowers for Algernon, but I had the same teacher for 6th and 8th, so I can't remember which grade I read them in.  We also read a bunch of plays out of some magazine.  They were of classic books like Sense & Sensibility.  The Pigman by Paul Zindel was one of my favorite books, and I think I read a few of his other books, but can't really remember them.  I also loved SE Hinton books and read all of them in Jr High.  My sister was really into horror books, so I read quite a few of her books when she finished.  Christopher Pike, Richie Tankersley Cusick, and RL Stine where favorites.  I also read Flowers in the Attic, which was really creepy, but my friend insisted I read it.  I wouldn't let my DC read Goosebumps when they were little, but they've seen some of the TV show on Netflix and we watched the movie as a family.  

 

ETA:  I forgot about the "Choose Your Own Adventure" books.  Our library has a bunch of these and my DC love them as much as I did.  I think the copies are from the late 80s/early 90s, so they are truly authentic.  lol  Not exactly quality literature though.  

Edited June 4, 2016 by Holly

[shadah]

Tom Sawyer , Huck Finn, Robinson Crusoe, Pollyanna, anything and everything by Dickens-Nicholas Nickleby was my favorite. I also read alot of biography and nonfiction. I never got into series for kids. I hated mysteries and wasn't big on fantasy. I read anything I could find in the library that I didn't think was stupid. Classmates at school were reading Sweet Valley High, Mandy...

[InParadisum]

In 6th grade I read Chronicles of Narnia, A Series of Unfortunate Events, an age appropriate version of the Odyssey, and I loved the Dear America series. I think that's what they were called. There was a diary of Anastasia from Russia, but I believe it was a work of fiction. Anyone care to deny/comnfirm that claim?

[alisoncooks]

I don't really remember when I read things, but I know I read: Babysitter Club, Sweet Valley High, Nancy Drew, Bobbsey Twins.

One particular book I remember was maybe called Megan, about Canadian settlers.

I also read Flowers in the Attic too young.

Edited June 4, 2016 by alisoncooks

[...................]

The only book that stuck with me from 6th grade was Chaim Potok's The Chosen.

I have re-read if many times since and get something new out of it every time. It is so thought provoking.

[Targhee]

I read hardly anything. Really. I played outside, played sports, played video games, played at friends' houses, etc. I ddin't read on my own time, and didn't have required books for school. I did read a children's version of The Odyssey, and some choose your own adventure novels, but mostly because the librarian made us check things out and the covers looked interesting.

 

I started to really read when I was 14. I don't think it held me back by starting then.

 

That being said, I do strew lots of books, take the kids to library frequently, listen to audio books with them, and do read alouds. I don't have a required book list, at least not yet (DD going into 9th will have some required reading).

[AggieMama]

I read Babysitters Club, Sweet Valley High, R.L. Stein, Nancy Drew, Bobbsey Twins, Hardy Boys, Jurassic Park, A Time to Kill, The Red Pony, Old Man and the Sea, and several other books my mom made me read.

[Ellie]

Horse books. I'm sure I read every horse book in every school library (four elementary schools, three junior high schools, four high schools).

 

ETA: I also read all of the dog books. :D

Edited June 6, 2016 by Ellie

[Joyofsixreboot]

Twaddle. All twaddle. I honestly don't remember any assigned books. I did have a dog phase where any sad dog book I could get my hands on I read so Ol' yeller, Where the Red Fern Grows, Big Red, and Sounder were slightly less twaddlish. I remember reading an entire set of biographies for kids -Clara Barton,Helen Keller, Florence Nightengale. Madam Curie. I gravitated to the girls. I was in 6th grade in 74/75.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

[lmrich]

i was really sick in 6th grade and then moved across country. I read The Little House series again - it was a comfort to read something familiar. I read From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs....., (made an angel statue), Babysitter's club (every one I ould get), Leon, I mean Noel.  I read a lot as a kid, but I cannot remember what year I read stuff.

[AggieMama]

I forgot I ha to read Where the Ted Fern Grows for school. I thought it was a bad book then, but now looking at the life lessons I'll probably make my kids read it.

[Caviar]

36 years ago....hmmm....free reading at home included Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew, Sugar Creek Gang Series (this would be good for a boy), Trixie Belden, The Little Prince, The Little Princess, Heidi, Follow My Leader by James B. Garfield (my Mom read this to us after supper and it made a huge impact on me, still does today, I'm always super cautious around firecrackers!).  Lots of those stupid tween romance novels.  But, can't think of anything that was assigned in school, except maybe Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, but I honestly think that was high school when I read those.  Who remembers Zoom!?  I had their book of jokes and crafts, etc.  Loved to read through that over and over.  I also had a "Spin the Tale" book, which had a little spinner on it, which helped to tell you what part of the story to go to next.  Also had a Norman Rockwell Picture Book which I loved to look through over and over.  Oh, how could I forget, "Alexander, and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day!"  Read that one over and over again too!

Edited June 5, 2016 by Caviar

[Serenade]

I remember two -- The Hobbit and Watership Down.  The Hobbit was assigned at school, and I read Watership Down because my mom read it.  :-)

[Incognito]

Perhaps, "The Babysitter's Club". I'm not sure if that was sixth grade, but likely was. I had so many of those books. I went from those almost directly to, "Clan of the Cavebear" series. 

 

ETA: I wouldn't recommend either series to my boys.

 

I've always felt some sort of resonance with what you post, but couldn't put my finger on why.  Now I see it is our shared literary history.  ;)  I did the same thing.  I too would not recommend either series to my children (or anyone's children!). 

[ForeverFamily]

For assigned reading in 6th grade I remember reading "The Giver" and "The worst Christmas Pageant Ever." I was supposed to read "The Bronze Bow" but switched schools before I had a chance. On my own I remember reading "Where the Red Fern Grows" and another fantasy series written by a local author but I can't remember the name of it.

[calihil]

Animorphs. Haha.

 

Where the Red Fern Grows, those pick your own ending books, The Green Mile, Number the Stars. Those are a few I remember. I wasn't much of a reader.

[tm919]

I know 6th grade was the year I started drifting from the children's section to the adult fantasy section.

Pretty much this. I read the entire shelf of science fiction and fantasy (adult section) in sixth grade. Sadly given the state of the library in the town I grew up, it didn't take that long.

[lewelma]

Well, I couldn't read in 6th grade.  :huh:  I remember Dick and Jane readers in 4th. 

 

Edited June 5, 2016 by lewelma

[Rosie_0801]

I don't remember what I read on my own, but I remember our teacher reading Bridge to Terabithia to us each day at the end of the day. (Sixth grade was still elementary school for us. And this was WAY before the movie came out.) By the end, the whole class was sobbing. It was horrible. (LOL)

 

Our English teacher made us read that in class in year 7 or 8. I don't think she was suited to teaching in a tech school. She sighed at the end and we all looked at her in disgust. I no longer remember anything about it. Was it any good? I have a vague recollection of being bored by the low reading level of the books they made us read until about year 11. 

 

 

I remember the teaching giving up on reading 'Playing Beatie Bow' to us in grade six because some of the kids couldn't follow the time travel. I remember competing with that teacher on which of us would finish Cynthia Voigt's Dicey series. I was probably still reading Trixie Belden for fluff reading, books like 'What Katy Did' and 'Little Women,' and my mother gave me a few Australian classics at the end of the year. 'Robbery Under Arms' by Rolf Boldrewood might appeal to a boy. I haven't read it in years, so I don't remember too well. 

 

I'm sure I read too many Babysitters Club books too, because girls weren't allowed to borrow Asterix comics.  :glare:

[Pink and Green Mom]

I remember sneaking copies of Flowers in the Attic and Wifey (Judy Blume).  Sigh.

 

On my own I remember being obsessed with the new "Sweet Dreams" series and reading them as fast as they could be published.  Ugh.

 

I do remember our 6th grade teacher requiring us to read a novel of our choice, only it had to be 500 pages or more, and we had to do a book report on it.  I picked - of all things - The Shining. 

 

None of these would be recommended to my children, LOL.

[RootAnn]

Babysitters Club, Flowers in the Attic, everything by M. L'Engle (although I didn't make it through the non-fiction stuff, I tried), and Cherry Ames (nurse series). I don't remember anything for school.

[blue daisy]

I read the Babysitter's Club, and Nancy Drew for fun.  I think we read some Scott O'Dell for school, but I don't even remember which ones.

[~Laura~]

Number the Stars, Maniac Magee, Phantom Tollbooth and Harry Potter.

I know there were others but those are the titles that I remember. And I realize this really shows my age, lol.

 

For free reading, that's when I first got into Robert Cormier (not something I'd recommend for that age). 

Edited June 5, 2016 by ~Laura~

[Kareni]

In sixth and seventh grades, I read The Valley of the Dolls, Airport, The Godfather, and a slew of Harold Robbins titles. I also read Georgette Heyer, Agatha Christie, Mary Stewart, Mary Renault, James Michener, and the perhaps more age appropriate series featuring Cherry Ames, the Bobbsey Twins, the Hardy Boys, and Nancy Drew.  I read just about anything that would stay still.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Kathy in Richmond]

I clearly remember my 6th grade teacher reading Treasure Island aloud to us, a little bit per day. That was the last year of elementary school, & we all thought we were old and grown up and ready to move on. But we eagerly awaited each new chapter of Treasure Island, hanging onto the edge of our seats in anticipation like young kids again.

 

My personal reading was more along the lines of Nancy Drew at the time. It took me a while (& a few more good teachers) before I discovered good literature on my own.

[AmandaVT]

I'm trying to remember what we read for school - we always had assigned books for school. 

 

I do very clearly remember that 6th grade was my Stephen King year. I believe I read almost everything he had written by that time. (1989)

[raptor_dad]

In 6th grade, I was in a new PS after my old one got shut down. My teacher refused to let use use the library and only let us read the *very* limited class library. I missed class as often as possible that year doing art enrichment, practicing for "The Wizard of Oz" as the scarecrow, and doing computer programming again after having the computer lab restricted for only academic purposes, ie math blaster, in 5th grade, and just flat out skipping class to walk the 2 miles home early.

 

The books I fondly remember reading that year are "Lord of the Rings" for the first time, "One Two Three... Infinity" by Gamow, and "LOGO for the Apple II" by Hal Abelson, who according to the cover was writing what would become SICP, the canonical intro CS text, at the time. All of these are books I would encourage DS9 to read.

[theelfqueen]

Ummm I remember reading Clan of the Cave Bear in 6th grade... my mother wasn't a reader and really didn't know that I was reading straight-up-SMUT. My Aunt came to visit and had a talk with me about it but I don't think she told my mom. Cause my mom never looked at any book I was reading ever.

 

And I think I read LOTR around 5th or 6th grade.

 

Oh and Michener's Alaska... apparently I was into cavemen.

 

[alisoncooks]

Oh yeah, Choose Your Own Adventure books and Judy Bloom!

[vonfirmath]

Number the Stars, Maniac Magee, Phantom Tollbooth and Harry Potter.

I know there were others but those are the titles that I remember. And I realize this really shows my age, lol.

 

For free reading, that's when I first got into Robert Cormier (not something I'd recommend for that age). 

 

Yep. Harry Potter didn't come out until I was out of high school and living in Washington state. I remember seeing kids sitting on the floors devouring the books while their parents waited for pizza at the pizza store though. I liked that!  I don't remember when I read the first book; didn't make that much of an impression I guess.  Though I eagerly waited for the next books to be out after I devoured everything already out, all the way through to book 7 the month (actually a couple of weeks) before my oldest son was born. His name? "Theodore" though we went with "Theo" and not "Teddy"  (Name chosen way before the book came out)

 

 

The only book I clearly remember from 6th grade is Treasure Island -- because I remember the diorama I did for the book in class.

 

7th grade I remember Hobbit and the first book of T.H. White's Once and Future King. And a whole unit on Myths and advertising related to myths.

 

8th grade was a whole series of dystopia like books. Brave New World, Animal Farm, Jonathan Living Seagull (Poem), 1984, Lost Horizon

 

In 6th-8th, in the library, they had lots of series books. So I read/Devoured Trixie Belden, Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Cherry Ames (What I could get my hands on). Enid Blyton's Naughtiest Girl in the School and its first sequel (We got this from missionaries overseas we supported). Choose Your Own Adventures.  Through the Harris County library system, I sought out and read all the Wizard of Oz books, and the Noel Streatfield "shoes" books.  ANd I'm sure there are more I'm not remembering at the moment.