Book suggestions for Gr. 9 Literature

[Eilonwy]

I’m coming to the end of my selection of novels from 1700 to around 1850 to read aloud with my 13 year old and so I need to come up with a new plan for next year.  My partner has suggested 1850 to present, which is pretty broad, and so I’m trying to come up with around 5 books that are age appropriate and ideally not too dark because we read them right before bed, as well as being well worth reading, and common cultural references.  They can be a stretch in terms of writing style because I read them to her. I’m finding this age kind of challenging because we’re moving out of children’s books but many adult books and high school typical books are dark and hopeless, and  I’m not sure whether to just go with this anyway if it’s some kind of developmental need or seek out cheerier books. I didn’t personally enjoy or feel like I gained much from the required books from high school English except the Shakespeare plays. 

Over the last year we read Lorna Doone, Pride and Prejudice, half of Oliver Twist (too depressing), Gulliver’s Travels, and we are nearing the end of Jane Eyre. 

Do any of you have suggestions for not-to be missed books since 1850, that would work well with a 14 year old?  This could include non-fiction too.  Do I need to include depressing books with hopeless endings? Thanks so much!

Edited May 8, 2022 by Eilonwy

[HomeAgain]

I don't think you need depressing books.

I think some of my favorites could be classified as adult or children, depending on your wants:

A Tree Grows In Brooklyn (there is talk of condoms and a girl's first time, but I think it's appropriate for 14)

Peter Pan (writing style is appropriate for high school, story for younger)

Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde

Sherlock Holmes

The Alchemist

Jacob Have I Loved

The Princess Bride - possibly doesn't fit what you're looking for, but a lovely read with a writing style that slightly reminds me of Peter Pan, with its nonsensicalish timelines and events.

Huck Finn

 

 

[Eilonwy]

10 minutes ago, HomeAgain said:

A Tree Grows In Brooklyn (there is talk of condoms and a girl's first time, but I think it's appropriate for 14)

I remember reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and really enjoying it at some point as a teenager.  
 

Thanks, these are great suggestions.  I’m open to all genres.  We have read Peter Pan but none of the others.

[Emerald Stoker]

We didn't do depressing, either. What kinds of books does she love? Funny, fantasy, love stories, adventures?

A few non-depressing ideas that are I think pretty accessible to a young teen:

EM Forster, A Room With a View

Nancy Mitford, The Pursuit of Love (note that the heroine dies at the end) or The Blessing

Carol Shields, The Republic of Love

Stella Gibbons, Cold Comfort Farm

WE Bowman, The Ascent of Rum Doodle

Jerome K Jerome, Three Men in a Boat

Evelyn Waugh, Scoop

Anthony Trollope, Dr. Thorne

Anne Tyler, The Accidental Tourist

Alan Bennett, The Uncommon Reader

Anne Fadiman, At Large and At Small, or Ex Libris (both essay collections)

Italo Calvino, Cosmicomics (one of mine adored this book)

About a century before your cutoff date, but all of my kids loved Oliver Goldsmith, The Vicar of Wakefield

Any of Ivan Doig--he's so wonderful--but I think possibly English Creek or The Whistling Season might be great ones to try first.

I wonder if she'd like some of the books published by Persephone (mostly neglected 20th-c. women writers from the UK); here's a list of their recommendations for teens: https://persephonebooks.co.uk/collections/grey-books-teenagers-books-for

Not on that list, but another Persephone book that looks intriguing (I've not read it) is Frances Towers's Tea with Mr Rochester: https://persephonebooks.co.uk/products/tea-with-mr-rochester?_pos=1&_sid=836e84da8&_ss=r

 

 

 

Edited May 9, 2022 by Emerald Stoker
added a couple more

[Lori D.]

Listed by publishing date; a few works take place a few decades earlier than when they were published. Sort of an eclectic list -- a number of books I did NOT list could be read by a strong young teen reader, but have mature or depressing content, so I didn't include them.

Another thought is that this would be the perfect age/stage for short stories and meaty YA books on current big topics or by authors from other nations/ethnicities for discussion.

Wasn't entirely sure what you wanted, so I stayed with traditional lighter classics (similar to what you listed you've covered) for each decade of your 1850 to present time period...

1850s
US - Wonderbook; and, Tanglewood Tales (Hawthorne) -- collections of Greek myths from Nathaniel Hawthorne

1860s
UK - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Carroll) -- fantastical/humorous
UK - The Moonstone (Collins) -- mystery
US - Little Women (Alcott) -- realistic

1870s
France - Around the World in Eighty Days (Verne) -- adventure
US - Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Twain) -- realistic/humorous
US - Eight Cousins (Alcott) -- realistic

1880s
UK - Treasure Island (Stevenson) -- adventure
UK - Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Stevenson) -- speculative fiction

1890s
UK - Sherlock Holmes short stories (Doyle) -- mystery/detective
UK - The Jungle Book (Kipling) -- adventure; talking animals
UK - Captains Courageous (Kipling) -- adventure
UK - Dracula (Stoker) -- gothic/horror (manageable amount)
UK - The Invisible Man (Wells) -- sci-fi/speculative fiction

1900s
UK - Five Children and It; The Phoenix and the Carpet (Nesbit) -- fantastical; humorous
UK - The Wind in the Willows (Grahame) -- fantastical; humorous
UK - The Scarlet Pimpernel (Orczy) -- adventure set in the French Revolution
US - Call of the Wild; White Fang (London) -- adventure (naturalism -- includes brutality to animals and by animals)
Canada - Anne of Green Gables (Montgomery) -- real life; humorous

1910s
UK - The Innocence of Father Brown (Chesterton) -- mystery; short story collection
UK - Peter Pan (Barrie) -- fantasy
UK - Pygmalion (Shaw) -- humorous play on which the film My Fair Lady was based

1920s
UK - Carry On, Jeeves (Wodehouse) -- humorous; short story collection
UK - The Enchanted April (Von Arnim) -- gentle, humorous, realistic

1930s
UK - The Hobbit (Tolkien) -- fantasy-adventure
UK - Murder on the Orient Express (Christie) -- mystery/detective
UK - And Then There Were None (Christie) -- mystery
UK - Strong Poison (Sayers) -- mystery/detective
US - The Good Earth (Buck) -- realistic; set in turn of the century China; preview: some mature topics

1940s
UK - Animal Farm (Orwell) -- "fable"; yes depressing, but very short and interesting for teens
UK - a Ngaio Marsh "Inspector Allyen" whodunnit -- books #9-15 in her 32-book series were published in the '40s
US - The Friendly Persuasion (West) -- realistic; set at the start of the Civil War

1950s
UK - The Lord of the Rings trilogy (Tolkien) -- fantasy; adventure/quest
UK - The Daughter of Time (Tey) -- mystery/detective
US - The Old Man and the Sea (Hemingway) -- adventure; does end somewhat sadly
US - I, Robot (Asimov) -- sci-fi; collection of loosely connected short stories
US - The Martian Chronicles (Bradbury) -- sci-fi; collection of loosely connected short stories
US - The Thirteen Clocks (Thurber) -- fantasy

1960s
Poland - A Day of Pleasure (Singer) -- autobiographical sketches of author's pre-WW1 Jewish Warsaw life
US - To Kill a Mockingbird (Lee) -- realistic; serious with scenes of humor
US - The Outsiders (Hinton) -- realistic; coming of age
US - A Wizard of Earthsea (Le Guin) -- fantasy
US - Something Wicked This Way Comes (Bradbury) -- speculative/tinged with a bit of (manageable) creepy 
US - Christy (Marshall) -- realistic

1970s
UK - All Creatures Great and Small (Herriot) -- autobiographical sketches; a lot of humor; some sad moments; overall heartwarming
UK - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams) -- sci-fi; humorous
UK - Watership Down (Richard Adams) -- fantasy; adventure-quest

1980s
US - The Hero and the Crown; The Blue Sword (McKinley) -- YA, fantasy

1990s
Norway - Sophie's World (Gaarder) -- fiction + retelling of philosophical movements through the ages
UK - Harry Potter series (Rowling) -- children/YA; fantasy
UK/Botswana - The Full Cupboard of Life (Smith) -- realistic/humorous/mystery

2000s
UK - The Eyre Affair (Fforde) -- speculative fiction; humorous  <--perfect for following Jane Eyre
US - The Goblin Emperor (Addison) -- fantasy
 

Edited May 9, 2022 by Lori D.

[HomeAgain]

I had some trouble with The Good Earth.  It was more mature than I thought it would be going into it.

Depending on your view of literature, I'd also suggest The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio.  It is a biography of a woman with nine kids in the 1950s.  She turned to contesting to supplement her family income and the book is packed full of her wordplay, poetry, and stories about how she found her writing support group.  One of her daughters wrote the story and it's evident how much she loved and admired her mom for making the best of a bad situation.

I only suggest this book because I think in a literature class, the process should be acknowledged as part of the end result.  There aren't many books out there that I know of that focus on the lighter side of writing, but I think at least one should be included.

[Lori D.]

Agreeing with @HomeAgain about previewing The Good Earth.

I also suggest previewing The Princess Bride.

The actual fantasy / fairy tale story is great. BUT... it is interspersed with the author's first-person adult contemporary telling of how his father read the book to him, and how he came to give the book to his son. He writes disaparagingly about his wife as a "frigid" psychologist, and his son is fat and lazy, and how he came to be a successful Hollywood screenwriter which comes with *ahem* the possibility of liaisons with actresses. It also contains his pessimistic worldview overall, which I guess he felt he had to include as a counter to the light and fun tone of the fairytale.

The book is alternating chapters -- Princess Bride fairytale, then contemporary time/author's observations. It is quite easy to completely skip the contemporary chapters and just read the Princess Bride fairytale chapters.

[Farrar]

Lots of good possible suggestions here. But so far every single author mentioned is white. I would personally not be comfortable with a reading list that white for that period unless I was specifically trying to focus on Europe alone and planned to cover the US and other places during a different year. I point it out especially given that several mentioned novels are white authors writing about other cultures or about issues around race.

I don't know how you could possibly do just five novels for a period that huge. It's too big. But I'm not sure what your whole long term plan is.

But also, if Oliver Twist was too depressing (it's a funny book with a happy ending! and yeah, some big sad parts and a lot of poverty, but still) then that's going to be super limited. I do think you can focus on happy books. But... I would also personally not be comfortable only reading happy books for a high schooler. There are too many important books and topics out there that aren't happy. I think it obscures too much about the world that's a key part of a high schooler's education.

[Lori D.]

We also don't know the full situation for OP of why the request for not dark/depressing lit. was requested -- for example, mental health issues may be at play here, so that dark/depressing would not really  an option at this time.

For ethnic diversity, in my thread above, I suggested YA, as that is not always dark/heavy.

Edited May 9, 2022 by Lori D.

[Eilonwy]

14 hours ago, Emerald Stoker said:

We didn't do depressing, either. What kinds of books does she love? Funny, fantasy, love stories, adventures?

She really likes fantasy and adventure stories, though probably Pride & Prejudice was the favourite from our last-year list, which is neither.  Thanks for all these ideas! Many of them I am not very familiar with so I will look them up.  

 

12 hours ago, Lori D. said:

Another thought is that this would be the perfect age/stage for short stories and meaty YA books on current big topics or by authors from other nations/ethnicities for discussion.

Wasn't entirely sure what you wanted, so I stayed with traditional lighter classics (similar to what you listed you've covered) for each decade of your 1850 to present time period...

Thanks for your detailed list! I picked mostly classics rather than obscure books from the first time period, but they ended up being entirely British writers (some deliberately female) so I do want to branch out more than this, in particular, people from different ethnicities and regions.  Do you have any particular favourites of YA books on current big topics or by non-white writers?

[Eilonwy]

3 hours ago, Farrar said:

But also, if Oliver Twist was too depressing (it's a funny book with a happy ending! and yeah, some big sad parts and a lot of poverty, but still) then that's going to be super limited. I do think you can focus on happy books. But... I would also personally not be comfortable only reading happy books for a high schooler. There are too many important books and topics out there that aren't happy. I think it obscures too much about the world that's a key part of a high schooler's education.

This is a question that I’m thinking about.  There aren’t mental health issues at play for my daughter (thanks, @Lori D., for considering this), it’s mainly that we’re reading right before bedtime, and for me, that the times are so dark in general that I don’t want to load on more.  For Oliver Twist, there was child abuse, anti-semitism, then more child abuse (which we both read and discussed) then I read ahead to Nancy’s murder, and I couldn’t bring myself to keep going.  Dickens’ appropriately named Hard Times is lighter. I’m not trying to avoid all books with difficulties, but I do want to avoid despair. 

[Emerald Stoker]

A couple of YA fantasies that one of mine loved were by China Miéville: Un Lun Dun and Railsea. I haven't read them myself, but I think he would have told me at the time had he found them upsetting at all; he was a sensitive soul at that age.

My youngest is just starting the Japanese novelist Soseki Natsume's I Am a Cat. So far I gather that it is witty and satirical; it doesn't look from the reviews that I have seen that it gets very dark. (I have no idea about how it unfolds, though, so it might be worth looking into first.) The same kid is also reading Beatrice Weinrich's collection of Yiddish folktales in translation, many of which are delightful.

Salman Rushdie's Haroun and the Sea of Stories was very popular here, but might well be too young for her. It could be worth a try if you are reading together with your younger ones some evening. (I think I remember that you have some elementary age children, but I could be mixed up!)

I don't want to sound political in any way, but considered just as pieces of excellent writing, I think you could do a lot worse than the Obamas' books if you are looking to add diversity without getting too sad or scary. Dreams from My Father is so beautifully written (I read it and loved it when it first came out in the mid '90s, when I didn't really know who he was yet), and Becoming is very good, too. (I am Canadian, so have nothing at stake here, but I wouldn't want to recommend anything that would make your family uncomfortable.) You might be looking mostly for fiction, though.

I will come back if I think of anything else that might suit.

Editing to add one more, this one a memoir; Antoine de Saint-Exupery's Wind, Sand, and Stars. All of my children loved this book; it's very close to all of our hearts. I also did it with a teen book club one year, and all of the twelve or so kids liked it a lot. It's special.

Edited May 9, 2022 by Emerald Stoker

[Farrar]

4 hours ago, Eilonwy said:

This is a question that I’m thinking about.  There aren’t mental health issues at play for my daughter (thanks, @Lori D., for considering this), it’s mainly that we’re reading right before bedtime, and for me, that the times are so dark in general that I don’t want to load on more.  For Oliver Twist, there was child abuse, anti-semitism, then more child abuse (which we both read and discussed) then I read ahead to Nancy’s murder, and I couldn’t bring myself to keep going.  Dickens’ appropriately named Hard Times is lighter. I’m not trying to avoid all books with difficulties, but I do want to avoid despair. 

Oliver Twist absolutely has dark parts, but it's hard for me to see it as a book about despair. I get that you're reading before bed. Maybe this is just your happy books time, which is totally cool. I just find it sad when students are not exposed to actual 20th century literature in high school. If you're not willing to have any books with poverty, death, grief, assault, or violence, then you're going to struggle to have any serious, non children's book, diverse 20th century literature at all. And that is an incomplete education in my mind. 

But if the question is more like, what happy books can we read at bedtime that go along with our overall time periods/themes for the year to round out a larger literature program, then that's totally cool. 

[Lori D.]

4 hours ago, Eilonwy said:

...it’s mainly that we’re reading right before bedtime, and for me, that the times are so dark in general that I don’t want to load on more...

5 hours ago, Eilonwy said:

... I do want to branch out more than this, in particular, people from different ethnicities and regions.  Do you have any particular favourites of YA books on current big topics or by non-white writers?

 

38 minutes ago, Farrar said:

... I get that you're reading before bed. Maybe this is just your happy books time, which is totally cool...
...when students are not exposed to actual 20th century literature in high school...that is an incomplete education in my mind...

...But if the question is more like, what happy books can we read at bedtime that go along with our overall time periods/themes for the year to round out a larger literature program, then that's totally cool. 

I really like Farrar's thought here, which leads me to suggest: why not have 2 reading sessions? During the day/school hours, read/discuss works with "harder" topics which would allow you to read more contemporary lit., and more diverse lit. And then wind down at night with those lighter, funny, fantasy, etc. lit. works before going to sleep?

For ethnic diversity, esp. if willing to do that during the day time and so you might have the ability to handle harder topics, check out @Farrar's book lists for her Global Perspectives Studies core 1 (Africa & Asia) and core 2 (Europe).

[Eilonwy]

On 5/9/2022 at 8:15 AM, HomeAgain said:

…I'd also suggest The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio.  It is a biography of a woman with nine kids in the 1950s.  She turned to contesting to supplement her family income and the book is packed full of her wordplay, poetry, and stories about how she found her writing support group.  

I am interested in this, because my daughter loves writing and writes every day for fun. Thanks, I will look this up!

On 5/9/2022 at 5:19 PM, Emerald Stoker said:

Salman Rushdie's Haroun and the Sea of Stories was very popular here, but might well be too young for her. It could be worth a try if you are reading together with your younger ones some evening. (I think I remember that you have some elementary age children, but I could be mixed up!)

Thanks for this suggestion, as well as the other ones you listed.  I do have two elementary age kids too, and my oldest listens to their stories too so she would hear it either way.  I like the idea of a biography, and I had thought of I Am Malala as a possibility. Either of the Obama’s’ books is another good idea (I’m also Canadian).

[Eilonwy]

On 5/9/2022 at 12:08 PM, Farrar said:

I don't know how you could possibly do just five novels for a period that huge. It's too big. But I'm not sure what your whole long term plan is.

It’s certainly not enough books to represent the whole time period. I figure we can finish about 5 books in a year, but we have three more years (maybe?) which will probably also be mostly more recent books.  We read together every night, so if we were done all 5 before the end of the year, I’d just pick a new one and keep going. 
 

23 hours ago, Lori D. said:

I really like Farrar's thought here, which leads me to suggest: why not have 2 reading sessions? During the day/school hours, read/discuss works with "harder" topics which would allow you to read more contemporary lit., and more diverse lit. And then wind down at night with those lighter, funny, fantasy, etc. lit. works before going to sleep?

This is a good idea.  My first reaction is that I fear the daytime reading would be the thing that didn’t get done, due to our schedule, while the bedtime reading has pretty much happened for the past 10 years and will keep going for a while longer. And it might, but she also might lose interest in read-alouds. 

With that in mind, I think I do need to broaden things out, both in terms of not being too focused on “happy”, and also to realize that as she gets older, this needs to supplement other work on literature rather than being the work on literature (even if we’re reading Goethe’s Faust or something similarly challenging).

[Eilonwy]

On 5/9/2022 at 9:23 PM, Lori D. said:

For ethnic diversity, esp. if willing to do that during the day time and so you might have the ability to handle harder topics, check out @Farrar's book lists for her Global Perspectives Studies core 1 (Africa & Asia) and core 2 (Europe).

Thanks, there are some really good ideas here too!  My book philosophy in general is that there are always more fascinating books to read, and it’s not about finishing a list. 

[Farrar]

But surely you do some reading as part of your regular homeschooling during the day, yes? You don't mean to say that these five books are the only books in any context that she is exposed to for a full year? She must to her own pleasure reading? Or have to read textbooks for school for other subjects?

If you're determined to keep it to these five books only, please consider exposing her to more diverse authors and more sensitive topics at least through short stories.

I think you're possibly at that transition point. It's hard to believe, but your 8th grader is going to be as different in three or four years as she was in fourth grade from her kindergarten self. That's the level of maturity jump you're going to see in some form. She will be a legal adult at the end of this high school journey. So she'll need to have been exposed to all the adult stuff you'll want to have exposed a young person to. And literature is a beautiful, thought-provoking way to do that in many cases.

[8filltheheart]

Dracula is a fav here around 14/15, but it may be too dark.  (I had a dd who couldn't handle Oliver Twist in 7th grade, but was fine with it in 9th.)

Night Diary is a good book that touches on Pakistan/India but isn't too dark.  For non-fiction, I read all of Barabara Demick's books to my 6th and 10th graders (and my 5th grade granddaughter) this yr.  Nothing to Envy is an excellent book and alludes to atrocities but isn't overtly dark.

 

[BusyMom5]

I've had years I stick with a theme or time-line, and others where I just read what sounds good at the moment. I still do read alouds, and my kids really enjoyed Murder on the Orient Express this year.  Don't forget shorter books, like The Great Gatsby, can still have a lot of literary value in discussing.  Even short stories and plays are good!  It doesn't have to be all long novels.  

[HomeAgain]

I like the idea of a theme, or a few mini-themes.  I'm a way from planning 9th grade, but if I did I like the idea of looking for things like

1 culture changing book

1 local author

1 book covering a war period

1 pop culture book

1 short story anthology

That way it wouldn't be just about reading the books, but exploring the ideas around each one.

[J-rap]

Given that I'm a big Charles Dickens fan, I'd probably try another one.  (I agree that Oliver Twist is depressing and I probably wouldn't have started with that one.)  I'd probably choose David Copperfield.  After reading the book, you can see the movie version.

I like the idea of a Sherlock Holmes book.

Little Women.

A favorite book of mine is Cry, The Beloved Country.  (Not sure if that would be better a year or two later?  I may have waited until 10th or 11th grade.)

A very different but very insightful book (not a classic) is In the Sea There are Crocodiles.  (I can't exactly remember but it's possible there are some instances of disturbing content -- men trying to take advantage of boys, nothing explicit.)

 

I agree about trying to stay away from books that are too depressing at that age.  I think there are a lot of books out there that raise awareness to the complexities of life that don't feel totally hopeless and depressing.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Emerald Stoker]

There are so many ways to think about our literature courses, aren't there. I found with my kids that a chronological arrangement didn't really suit us--we did literature in thematic groupings, by and large (though a couple of mine did do ancients in a single year). Depending on the kid, we did things like "Country Houses and City Streets," "Fathers and Sons," "European Literature in Translation," "The Idea of North," "Love and Romance in Literature," "Satire, Fantasy, and the Absurd," and some other groupings that were tailored to their individual interests or that gathered a group of thematically similar works around something they really wanted to read, or that took advantage of the opportunity to see some exciting theatrical productions.

Too, depending on what record-keeping requirements are like in your province (we have none), you can write up your course descriptions however you'd like--say you had read books from a certain period (or theme) in grade 10 but read something more challenging in grade 11 (when she was readier for it) that really "belonged" (chronologically, thematically, whatever) to the first group, there's nothing stopping you from retroactively including on paper that book with the previous year's work. This gives you the freedom to read what she seems ready for without having to conform to a scheme, and then sort out all the paperwork later. Just keep track as you go!

There's so much flexibility in homeschooling, and I don't believe that there are specific works that absolutely must be included to consider one's students well-educated. (It might be instructive to look at your province's PLOs for English 12--I was startled to see how few things they actually read; Literature 12 is better, but English 12 is the one that's actually required to graduate, at least in our province; I assume the standard reading lists for English 9, 10, and 11 are not more extensive than that for grade 12.)

One last thought--if she loved Pride and Prejudice, you might have a very happy year reading the other five Jane Austen novels. And then, if you had time, you could investigate some of her artistic antecedents and descendants as well as her contemporaries (read some of the works that Northanger Abbey is spoofing, for example), look into some of the secondary literature, find out about contemporary social issues (slavery is very much a part of the background to Mansfield Park, for instance), learn about publishing practices, all sorts of things. There is as much--or more, arguably--value to be had in a deep dive as in a broad survey, I think.

[Eilonwy]

22 hours ago, Farrar said:

But surely you do some reading as part of your regular homeschooling during the day, yes? You don't mean to say that these five books are the only books in any context that she is exposed to for a full year? She must to her own pleasure reading? Or have to read textbooks for school for other subjects?

Yes, she reads other things every day- many books she chooses, and textbooks, and she hears other books I read to her siblings. The one I read to her are often books that are more challenging than she would choose to read on her own, though, and are my deliberate contribution to the homeschooling effort. My partner is the main homeschool parent, while I am off at work most weekdays. 
 

22 hours ago, Farrar said:

I think you're possibly at that transition point. It's hard to believe, but your 8th grader is going to be as different in three or four years as she was in fourth grade from her kindergarten self. That's the level of maturity jump you're going to see in some form. She will be a legal adult at the end of this high school journey.

Yes, I’m trying to get my head around that! It’s not something that I have a good feel for yet, since she’s my oldest. 

[Eilonwy]

21 hours ago, 8filltheheart said:

Dracula is a fav here around 14/15, but it may be too dark.  (I had a dd who couldn't handle Oliver Twist in 7th grade, but was fine with it in 9th.)

Thanks, she might really like Dracula- she has some vampires in the story she’s currently writing.  I think that gradually she’ll be more comfortable with more difficult concepts and so will I in discussing them with her. 
 

21 hours ago, BusyMom5 said:

I still do read alouds, and my kids really enjoyed Murder on the Orient Express this year.

I’m encouraged that you have kept read aloud going- I hope she’ll still be up for it for a few more years!

10 hours ago, J-rap said:

Given that I'm a big Charles Dickens fan, I'd probably try another one.  (I agree that Oliver Twist is depressing and I probably wouldn't have started with that one.)  I'd probably choose David Copperfield.  After reading the book, you can see the movie version.

I’m open to trying a different Dickens-not right away because we need a change in style, but maybe the year after.  Maybe it was the combo of the more challenging language (so often meaning the opposite of what he literally says) and the challenging topics including violence to kids that made it not work well. Thanks for your other suggestions too.  I want to raise awareness without inspiring hopelessness. 

[Eilonwy]

6 hours ago, Emerald Stoker said:

I found with my kids that a chronological arrangement didn't really suit us--we did literature in thematic groupings, by and large

Your thematic groupings sound intriguing!  I’ve done a time period so far because that’s what my partner requested, but one thing I’ve enjoyed so far is seeing references to previous books if we read chronologically.  In Jane Eyre, it refers to both Gulliver’s Travels (which we read already) and Rasselas (maybe later?).
 

The Gr. 12 reading list here is also not that long and the  reporting requirements aren’t that onerous, so we also have a fair amount of flexibility.  
 

I’ve thought of doing more of the same kind of book like lots of Jane Austen but she says she wants some books with modern dialogue for a change.  I enjoy reading books in clusters, so that’s a possibility for later too. 

[Bocky]

I’d like to put in a plug for continuing to read the classics. I think continuing in your course of reading works that are well-established cultural touchstones and feature complex literary language is an excellent support to your partner’s homeschooling. You are doing bedtime read-alouds to dd13 and dd10. This is a great time to read books that might be passed over later in high school but that you haven’t read yet. For example:

Treasure Island, RL Stevenson

Hound of the Baskervilles, A Conan Doyle

A Christmas Carol, C Dickens

Anne of Green Gables, LM Montgomery (because Canada!)

The Jungle Book or Kim, R. Kipling

Wind in the Willows, K Grahame

The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien

When my students were 13 years old, I also felt pressure to engage with twentieth century works that seemed too depressing and dark. The best thing I did was put off US literature until 11th grade, when we were ready to engage with it and could discuss some of the mature themes intelligently. Your dd13 has lots of years of development and high school to come. There is time for Elie Wiesel later.

OP, I also gently encourage you to reimage how you think about heavy themes in literature. You maybe got a little too emotionally invested in Oliver Twist? Feeling things deeply is a good gift! But not necessarily while reading aloud. (Confession: I was fired as a reader-aloud during my girls’ elementary because I cried reading Molly, an American Girl. My partner did an excellent job, and often picked things I would not have but that have become wonderful memories and part of our family culture.) Fairy tales are full of child abuse – but we read them to young children, who love the gruesomeness of Cinderella’s stepsisters getting their eyes pecked out! Bad things do happen in Dickens, but there is also justice, redemption, love, and hope.

[Eilonwy]

On 5/12/2022 at 12:52 PM, Bocky said:

When my students were 13 years old, I also felt pressure to engage with twentieth century works that seemed too depressing and dark. The best thing I did was put off US literature until 11th grade, when we were ready to engage with it and could discuss some of the mature themes intelligently. Your dd13 has lots of years of development and high school to come. There is time for Elie Wiesel later.

Thanks, I agree it doesn’t need to all be included right now.  Reading books before there is the maturity to be interested in them seems like it would result in the ideas just going over their heads.  Did you specifically plan out which books you would cover later, or a general plan that you would look at those themes later?  

[Bocky]

Sorry - late responding to your question here. I am a planner - but my plans always flexed and changed as my daughters kept changing too (laughing at myself here). My carefully curated booklists adapted. I did very deliberately decide not to include works that had despair, indifference, or cruelty as major themes for 9th and 10th grades. I found it helpful to think in terms of literary genres - so 9th grade was about heroes - the hero's journey, epic, mythology, which shaped the themes we covered - what it means to be human, to be mortal, to excel (or not!) et cetera. For American Lit later in 11th grade, we started with Dark Romanticism - which led very organically to a focus on the Other, racism, and queer lit.

Back to your original question - what about looking at fantasy literature? It's arguably the most significant modern genre. In addition to Tolkien, there is Lord Dunsany, The King of Elfland's Daughter; Peter Beagle, The Last Unicorn; TH White, The Sword in the Stone, and so many others!  

[Porridge]

11 hours ago, Bocky said:

Sorry - late responding to your question here. I am a planner - but my plans always flexed and changed as my daughters kept changing too (laughing at myself here). My carefully curated booklists adapted. I did very deliberately decide not to include works that had despair, indifference, or cruelty as major themes for 9th and 10th grades. I found it helpful to think in terms of literary genres - so 9th grade was about heroes - the hero's journey, epic, mythology, which shaped the themes we covered - what it means to be human, to be mortal, to excel (or not!) et cetera. For American Lit later in 11th grade, we started with Dark Romanticism - which led very organically to a focus on the Other, racism, and queer lit.

Back to your original question - what about looking at fantasy literature? It's arguably the most significant modern genre. In addition to Tolkien, there is Lord Dunsany, The King of Elfland's Daughter; Peter Beagle, The Last Unicorn; TH White, The Sword in the Stone, and so many others!  

@Bocky I’d love to see your book lists for the themes you mentioned, if you’re willing to share!