Starting 7th grader to read classics

[bethben]

I would like my son to read more classic books - think Treasure Island, Kidnapped, Count of Monte Cristo type books.  It seems as if he needs an intermediate step.  Are there any classics that are considered "starter" classics?  Something that would be a little bit easier to read, but help him eventually read true classics?  He can read "Around the World in 60 Days" type books.  Anything else?

Edited September 14, 2017 by bethben

[Lori D.]

Just an aside: 7th grade is a great time to *begin* transitioning, and it is also a great time to introduce beginning thinking / analysis / digging deeper -- and a mix of reading levels and types of books is a good way to slowly transition while still keeping alive a love of literature. So for 7th grade, along with introducing a few older/harder classics, I'd include some books from the level he was solo reading last year, some good young adult works; and a few "meaty" (discussion-able) books of a genre or author of special interest to your student.

 

More ideas of literature:

- short stories with some "meat" for discussing/thinking

- classic children's books written with older language/sentence structure

- young adult works with some "meat" for discussing/thinking

- modern works written in a straight-forward way, but with some "meat" for discussing/thinking

 

And, I definitely encourage you to help smooth the transition by:

- "buddy reading" the classics together ("you read a page, I read a page") for this next year

- listen to harder classics as audio books or read-alouds

- watch a good movie version of the book first to get the story and characters down, so then the focus can be on the language/sentence structure

 

Which 20 books  to help prepare for reading the great books?

What Lit for 7th and 8th grade to prepare for high school level reading

First formal literature course -- in post #3, I listed a books for middle school that would be stepping stone books for you

Short stories for an 11 year old -- post #15 includes links to an additional 5 threads with more middle school short story ideas

[purduemeche]

Any of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries would work. 

[ElizabethB]

Bears of Big River? I like the idea of short selections as a transition, there are a lot of good anthologies out there.

 

I would check reading grade level and get it up to 12th grade level with my Syllables program followed by more 2+ Syllable words in Webster is he is not at a 12th grade level yet, that will make reading the classics easier. I would check silent and oral reading speed, too, he should be reading at least 200 WPM silently with on of my War of the Worlds passages and at least 70 WPM orally with the type 4 nonsense words, all tests linked from my syllables page, use nonsense word documents and tracker in teacher file to test nonsense word reading speed. Nonsense words and phonogram drill should build up reading speed. Most older students just need 2 letter vowel team phonogram drill.

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/syllablesspellsu.html

 

ETA: It is actually Bears of Blue River, there are kindle versions is you search the title, here are the links:

 

https://www.amazon.com/Library-Indiana-Classics-Charles-Paperback/dp/B011SJAYHK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1506032404&sr=8-2&keywords=bears+of+blue+river

 

https://www.amazon.com/Bears-Blue-River-Charles-Major-ebook/dp/B01KN16L7Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1506034998&sr=8-1&keywords=bears+of+blue+river

Edited September 21, 2017 by ElizabethB