Read alouds of "classic-ish" literature for a 5th and 7th grader

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

This year, one of the most enjoyable experiences we've shared was an in-depth reading of The Black Pearl by Scott O'Dell.  This led to some great conversations about superstition vs science vs religion, a (child-requested) research paper on pearl diving, a combined family report on pearl diving, learning how to insert pictures in a word document...  

I'd like to make this happen more often.

I'm looking for:

Books that are not too hard for 5th grade, but would be good, high-quality and high-interest literature for a family book club for my two oldest.  They both just read and enjoyed Witch of Blackbird Pond but I didn't have my act together to read it with them, so I missed an opportunity there.  We are studying US history, but the books don't have to align.  I do not mind newer high quality literature, it doesn't have to be old.  I do not want series, they read enough of those on their own.  

Give me your top 2-3 and inspire me for 2020!  

[annegables]

(You said no series books, but have you done Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain series? We love it as a read aloud! And it feels and sounds like a classic)

Bud and Me: The True Adventures of the Abernathy Boys    This is a fascinating book that you can easily incorporate US geography into it. i cannot recommend this book strongly enough.

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (difficult topic, lots of the N-word, but used in a proper context, if that makes sense)

Bud, Not Buddy is same time period as Roll of Thunder, but much more palatable, which dealing with difficult topics (no n-word)

Island of the Blue Dolphins (great as a car audiobook; Scott ODell is author)

 

[8filltheheart]

Princess and the Goblin

Chronicles of Narnia (if they havent)

Christmas Carol

Wind in the Willows

Wizard of Oz

 

 

[Lori D.]

All of these prompted thought, discussion, or looking into related topics: 

books that go with US History
- The Great Turkey Walk (Kerr) - based on a true person; 1859, a young entrepreneur, the west, an escaped slave
- Bullrun (Fleischman) -- pivotal Civil war battle, from 16 different points of view
- The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg (Philbrick) -- Civil War; touches on some serious topics
- The Great Wheel (Lawson) - immigration; first Ferris wheel at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago -- definitely enjoyed doing some research of the actual wheel and its construction, as well as about the Chicago World's Fair

books I did with a middle school lit. co-op class
- The Cay (Taylor) -- shipwreck survival; prejudice -- the kids loved this one
- A Long Walk to Water (Park) -- based on a true person, interwoven with a fictional person; the kids loved this one too
- Enchantress from the Stars (Engdahl) -- raises questions about imperialism, how to help/not help, anthropology, etc.
- A Wrinkle in Time (L'Engle)
- The Hobbit (Tolkien)

books that might work -- the last 2 are more geared for late middle school
- The Phantom Tollbooth (Juster)
- The Great and Terrible Quest (Lovett) -- knightly chivalry; the power of honor and fulfilling your promise
- Maniac Magee (Spinnelli)

traditional 19th century classics
- Call of the Wild (London) -- not for sensitive animal lovers, but it prompted interest to learn more from our DSs
- Five Children and It (Nesbit)
- A Christmas Carol (Dickens)
- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Twain)
- Treasure Island (Stevenson)

Edited December 7, 2019 by Lori D.

[Quercus]

Across Five Aprils

Watership Down (might be too long for what you are looking for)

I, Robot by Asimov is short stories but easy to read and definitely brings up a lot of ideas to plumb

 

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

Thank you for the suggestions!  We've done about 2/3rds of the books mentioned, but some may be due for a re-read.  We do Narnia at least once a year just as relaxing read-aloud.  I'd like to do an in-depth study of Silver Chair when they are just a bit older though as I think it is philosophically the most interesting..  We've done the princess and the goblin, but we haven't tried the Light Princess...  Also, now would be a good time to do Tom Sawyer because I'd like to do it before we do Huck Finn, and that will be towards the end of the year or early next fall.  

[annegables]

39 minutes ago, Monica_in_Switzerland said:

Thank you for the suggestions!  We've done about 2/3rds of the books mentioned, but some may be due for a re-read.  We do Narnia at least once a year just as relaxing read-aloud.  I'd like to do an in-depth study of Silver Chair when they are just a bit older though as I think it is philosophically the most interesting..  We've done the princess and the goblin, but we haven't tried the Light Princess...  Also, now would be a good time to do Tom Sawyer because I'd like to do it before we do Huck Finn, and that will be towards the end of the year or early next fall.  

This is going to be a weird comment, but if you do Tom Sawyer, I would also do Roll of Thunder, if you havent yet. This is because both books use the n-word a fair amount, but they are used in different ways, and I think it is an important distinction to teach the kids. In RoTHMC, every time it is used, it is clear that it is derogatory and a dehumanizing word. I was able to teach the kids that the word means, "I dont think you are fully human (or fully in God's image if you are Christian)" and their stomachs should clench up when they hear it. We practiced having that terrible gut feeling when hearing the word. We listened to it as an audiobook, so there was no getting around it. 

With Tom Sawyer (we listened to Tom Sawyer, Detective), the n-word isnt really used like that. It is more used as a substitute for "black person," but with something extra. Because of the time period it was written in (and that it was written by a white man), all the characters say it, but there seems to be an undercurrent of derision. After all, there is a reason it is a highly offensive word today.

By listening to both books, it was the first time I really understood how context matters with the n-word. I in no way defend its use, but I think that it is an important part of our history to understand.

[Lori D.]

6 hours ago, Monica_in_Switzerland said:

... Also, now would be a good time to do Tom Sawyer because I'd like to do it before we do Huck Finn, and that will be towards the end of the year or early next fall...

I suggest waiting on Huck Finn until high school. IMO, students don't really have the historical background knowledge, plus the experience with literary analysis and digging into complex and subtle ideas that run all through Huck Finn.  I would guess that most 5th and 7th graders would just end up being disappointed it's not a funny sequel to the funny Tom Sawyer.

And that's because Huck Finn is really not *meant* as a sequel, and certainly does not have the same author 'tone' and purpose as Tom Sawyer. Huck Finn was written about 20 years later. The "shenanigans" are no longer funny "boy hi jinx" but have consequences to others. The whole tone is much more serious and deals with some adult topics (child abuse, for one, in addition to the seriousness of consequences to a runaway slave). Also, purpose: Twain wrestled in the writing of it, just as he wrestled with some of the not-so-positive or helpful changes he was seeing in America in the second half of the 19th century, and I think he wanted readers to wrestle, too. Huck Finn is a "grown up" work, not the author remembering with humor and fun the light-hearted boy pranks of his pre-Civil War childhood that all come out in Tom Sawyer. JMO!

Check out this past thread for some more thoughts on WTMers trying to get through this work: Help us like Huck Finn.

At the very least, I recommend that you pre-read Huck Finn so you can decide for yourself if it will work for your students at this age, or not. (Or maybe not at all...) Also, by waiting a few years, you can do The Day They Came to Arrest the Book (Hentoff) as a great discussion go-along book (written/set in the early 1980s, about a community arguing over censorship with Huck Finn as the book at the center of the controversy).

Edited December 7, 2019 by Lori D.

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

10 hours ago, Lori D. said:

I suggest waiting on Huck Finn until high school. IMO, students don't really have the historical background knowledge, plus the experience with literary analysis and digging into complex and subtle ideas that run all through Huck Finn.  I would guess that most 5th and 7th graders would just end up being disappointed it's not a funny sequel to the funny Tom Sawyer.

And that's because Huck Finn is really not *meant* as a sequel, and certainly does not have the same author 'tone' and purpose as Tom Sawyer. Huck Finn was written about 20 years later. The "shenanigans" are no longer funny "boy hi jinx" but have consequences to others. The whole tone is much more serious and deals with some adult topics (child abuse, for one, in addition to the seriousness of consequences to a runaway slave). Also, purpose: Twain wrestled in the writing of it, just as he wrestled with some of the not-so-positive or helpful changes he was seeing in America in the second half of the 19th century, and I think he wanted readers to wrestle, too. Huck Finn is a "grown up" work, not the author remembering with humor and fun the light-hearted boy pranks of his pre-Civil War childhood that all come out in Tom Sawyer. JMO!

Check out this past thread for some more thoughts on WTMers trying to get through this work: Help us like Huck Finn.

At the very least, I recommend that you pre-read Huck Finn so you can decide for yourself if it will work for your students at this age, or not. (Or maybe not at all...) Also, by waiting a few years, you can do The Day They Came to Arrest the Book (Hentoff) as a great discussion go-along book (written/set in the early 1980s, about a community arguing over censorship with Huck Finn as the book at the center of the controversy).

 

Thank you, you may be right.  I read Huck Finn in high school with a teacher who taught it very well and I loved it.  I see it as a natural follow-up to Tom Sawyer in the sense that we can learn about Mark Twain, learn his literary devices and style, etc, on the easy book, then dig into Huck Finn.  

I might not have my kids home for high school 10-12th grades (Swiss Gymnasium), so I'm afraid I sometimes fall into the trap of wanting to shove everything in (especially what I consider keystone American cultural studies) before the end of 9th grade.  I need to remember that we can still read books together, even if they are in public high school.  

Thank you!

[Junie]

The Bronze Bow

I, Miguel de Pareja

The View from Saturday

The Westing Game

Hans Brinker

 

[Lori D.]

7 hours ago, Monica_in_Switzerland said:

... I read Huck Finn in high school with a teacher who taught it very well and I loved it.  I see it as a natural follow-up to Tom Sawyer in the sense that we can learn about Mark Twain, learn his literary devices and style, etc, on the easy book, then dig into Huck Finn...

YMMV -- this certainly could be the right time for your family to read Huck Finn as a follow-up to Tom Sawyer -- you know your DC best! Another idea for learning more about Mark Twain, you might consider doing some of his short stories. Esp. your 7th grader is right at that great age for introducing and discussing short stories. Some ideas:
- Story Without An End -- frame story; you decide the ending
- The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County -- hyperbole; irony; allusion
- A Ghost Story -- suspense; mood; twist ending to humor
- What Stumped the Jaybirds -- anthropomorphism; personification; humor

Two other Twain novels you might consider that are lighter:
- A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court -- plot summary; read online (free); audiobook (free)
- The Prince and the Pauper -- this might esp. connect with your 5th grader, as the protagonists are about that age -- plot summary; read online (free); audiobook (free)

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

2 hours ago, Lori D. said:

YMMV -- this certainly could be the right time for your family to read Huck Finn as a follow-up to Tom Sawyer -- you know your DC best! Another idea for learning more about Mark Twain, you might consider doing some of his short stories. Esp. your 7th grader is right at that great age for introducing and discussing short stories. Some ideas:
- Story Without An End -- frame story; you decide the ending
- The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County -- hyperbole; irony; allusion
- A Ghost Story -- suspense; mood; twist ending to humor
- What Stumped the Jaybirds -- anthropomorphism; personification; humor

Two other Twain novels you might consider that are lighter:
- A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court -- plot summary; read online (free); audiobook (free)
- The Prince and the Pauper -- this might esp. connect with your 5th grader, as the protagonists are about that age -- plot summary; read online (free); audiobook (free)

 

Thank you for this fantastic list!!!   I short story sounds like JUST the thing to launch our new literature study course.  

[Porridge]

The references to Mark Twain brought this to mind -- not a novel, but a short story.

A Story Without an End, by Mark Twain.

Hilarious....

 

My kids have also really enjoyed Leon Garfield's Shakespeare Tales (Vol 1 and Vol 2) as read a louds.

[8filltheheart]

Thinking in a different direction,  maybe something like The Westing Game would be fun. (Maybe followed by a Holmes.)

[Lori D.]

19 minutes ago, Monica_in_Switzerland said:

 

Thank you for this fantastic list!!!   I short story sounds like JUST the thing to launch our new literature study course.  

Monica, for more short story ideas, check out this thread that links up lit. with Figuratively Speaking:
- Figuratively Speaking paired with short stories

And these past threads for short story ideas -- YMMV on what is appropriate or workable for your age students:
- Short stories for an 11yo girl
- Short stories every middle school student should read
- Best short stories for middle grades
- Favorite short stories for 6th-8th grade
- Suggestions for short stories for literary analysis - 7th/8th grade level?
- Middle school literature using short stories?

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

21 minutes ago, JHLWTM said:

The references to Mark Twain brought this to mind -- not a novel, but a short story.

A Story Without an End, by Mark Twain.

Hilarious....

 

My kids have also really enjoyed Leon Garfield's Shakespeare Tales (Vol 1 and Vol 2) as read a louds.

Sounds great!  We do a dedicated Shakespeare month in February... this is a good reminder that I need to start planning!  

 

12 minutes ago, 8FillTheHeart said:

Thinking in a different direction,  maybe something like The Westing Game would be fun. (Maybe followed by a Holmes.)

This would be a new one for me, but Holmes is on my list for my oldest this year so I will put it on the list!!!  

9 minutes ago, Lori D. said:

Monica, for more short story ideas, check out this thread that links up lit. with Figuratively Speaking:
- Figuratively Speaking paired with short stories

And these past threads for short story ideas -- YMMV on what is appropriate or workable for your age students:
- Short stories for an 11yo girl
- Short stories every middle school student should read
- Best short stories for middle grades
- Favorite short stories for 6th-8th grade
- Suggestions for short stories for literary analysis - 7th/8th grade level?
- Middle school literature using short stories?

This is a fantastic idea.  I'm going to give some serious though to short story work.  

[annegables]

6 hours ago, Monica_in_Switzerland said:

Sounds great!  We do a dedicated Shakespeare month in February... this is a good reminder that I need to start planning!  

What a great idea!!

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

4 hours ago, annegables said:

What a great idea!!

The Bard just kept slipping through the cracks until I finally said, ENOUGH!  If I want to do a play, we need to do nothing but the play (and some of our most automatic subjects, like math) for a month.  So I drastically cut down all other reading work and we just do Shakespeare.  Last year was our first year and we did Midsummer Night's Dream and I think it was a great success!  

[Earthmerlin]

On 12/6/2019 at 9:59 AM, Monica_in_Switzerland said:

This year, one of the most enjoyable experiences we've shared was an in-depth reading of The Black Pearl by Scott O'Dell.  This led to some great conversations about superstition vs science vs religion, a (child-requested) research paper on pearl diving, a combined family report on pearl diving, learning how to insert pictures in a word document...  

I'd like to make this happen more often.

I'm looking for:

Books that are not too hard for 5th grade, but would be good, high-quality and high-interest literature for a family book club for my two oldest.  They both just read and enjoyed Witch of Blackbird Pond but I didn't have my act together to read it with them, so I missed an opportunity there.  We are studying US history, but the books don't have to align.  I do not mind newer high quality literature, it doesn't have to be old.  I do not want series, they read enough of those on their own.  

Give me your top 2-3 and inspire me for 2020!  

That’s so adorable & heart-warming!