pgr Posted September 8, 2023 Share Posted September 8, 2023 It looks like we'll be spending a fair amount of time in the car this year, and I thought my boys and I could listen to some of the books they'd otherwise read for literature. For some reason, I'm having a hard time coming up with a list of books with themes/scenes that are both appropriate for both a 7th grader and a 10th grader, and that won't be tuned out in the first five minutes. We've listened to a LOT of middle grade fiction with all three (oldest is 18 and now in college), but also really enjoyed works such as The Importance of Being Earnest and, just recently, Pride and Prejudice. We've also gone through the SOTW series. I do have a grand plan high school book list, but I don't know if my 12 year old is ready for many of them - e.g. (off the top of my head) The Catcher in the Rye, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Fahrenheit 451, The Grapes of Wrath, 1984, The Great Gatsby, Things Fall Apart, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, The Hate U Give, etc. There are so many good books out there - both traditional classics and ones that really need to be read, but I am just really struggling to come up with a list for both kids. Any ideas would be much appreciated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted September 8, 2023 Share Posted September 8, 2023 (edited) Hmmm... I personally would find car read-alouds (listen to as audio books) harder to use as literature -- i.e., listen in the car and then later on when we got home dig into more deeply... Maybe lean more towards works that are more just for exposure or for fun, and save the deeper digging works for things you can do at home?? Just a thought. In no particular order, and some you may already have done or be saving to dig into, but... car audio book ideas: YA - Maniac Magee (Spinnelli) - Tuck Everlasting (Babbit) - A Long Walk to Water (Park) - The Cay (Theodore Taylor) - Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (Mildred Taylor) - A Wizard of Earthsea; The Tombs of Atuan; The Farthest Shore (Le Guin) - Harry Potter series (Rowling) - The Hero and the Crown; The Blue Sword (McKinley) - Holes (Sachar) - Binti: the complete trilogy (Okorafor) older (pre 1950/1960) classics - mythology (Ancient Egyptian/Greece/Rome; Norse; etc.) - Around the World in Eighty Days (Verne) - Ivanhoe (Scott) - The Fall of the House of Usher, or, short stories by Edgar Allen Poe - something by Dickens -- A Christmas Carol... etc. - The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (Twain) - The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland; Through the Looking Glass (Carroll) - The Call of the Wild (London) - Dracula (Stoker) - The Prisoner of Zenda (Hope) - The Scarlet Pimpernel (Orczy) - a Wooster and Jeeves novel or collection of stories (Wodehouse) - Sherlock Holmes short mysteries (Doyle) - Father Brown short mysteries (Chesterton) - Animal Farm (Orwell) - The Old Man and the Sea (Hemingway) - The Outsiders (Hinton) - Farmer Giles of Ham; The Hobbit; The Lord of the Rings (Tolkien) more recent (1950/1960-2000) great books - I, Robot (Asimov) -- short story collection, loosely connected stories - Foundation (Asimov) -- short story collection; each jumps forward in time but stands alone, with an overall "arc" - The Sword in the Stone (White) -- 1st book of The Once and Future King -- next 3 books have mature content for a 12yo - All Creatures Great and Small (Herriot) - Watership Down (Richard Adams) - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (Douglas Adams) - Something Wicked This Way Comes (Bradbury) - The Martian Chronicles (Bradbury) -- short story collection, loosely connected stories - To Kill a Mockingbird (Lee) - The Martian (Weir) -- the school edition, which removes all the unnecessary 4-letter words Edited September 9, 2023 by Lori D. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
domestic_engineer Posted September 9, 2023 Share Posted September 9, 2023 I think Daniel Nayeri’s most recent 2 books might appeal to everyone: Everything Sad is Untrue and The Many Assassinations of Samir the Seller of Dreams 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusyMom5 Posted September 9, 2023 Share Posted September 9, 2023 Agatha Christie? Swiss Family Robinson, Kidnapped, Eragon- all things we enjoyed when mine were those ages. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted September 9, 2023 Share Posted September 9, 2023 My kids enjoyed the Here, There Be Dragons series (James A Owen) read aloud at those ages. It's not up there with Austen and Wilde, but it is loaded with literary references that could lead to some fun discussions. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pgr Posted September 9, 2023 Author Share Posted September 9, 2023 Thank you so much - these are all great suggestions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pgr Posted September 9, 2023 Author Share Posted September 9, 2023 15 hours ago, Lori D. said: Hmmm... I personally would find car read-alouds (listen to as audio books) harder to use as literature -- i.e., listen in the car and then later on when we got home dig into more deeply... Maybe lean more towards works that are more just for exposure or for fun, and save the deeper digging works for things you can do at home?? Just a thought. That's a good point, Lori. Thank you for all the suggestions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madteaparty Posted September 9, 2023 Share Posted September 9, 2023 (edited) Have not read the thread but I read to my 12 year old at night (she goes to school) and at this point it’s important for me to read things I personally am not hating going through (but cannot be fluff entirely as they’re not reading anything in school other than identity stuff and making PowerPoints on same). Anyway there are some “classics” or near classics that are actually enjoyable to read or if not enjoyable, not hard for two exhausted people to read at the end of the day. On this list I have: A Raisin in the Sun, Animal Farm, Of Mice and Men, Count of Monte Cristo, some short stories including Maupassant (which I have ambitions of doing in French and English, we will see, see: tired at end of day), A tree grows in Brooklyn, House on Mango Street. I also find Romeo and Juliet the easiest entry point for Shakespeare (despite sequence starting usually with Midsummers night dream—I disagree with that :)) and that’s what we will do this year. Always looking for more books in this vein so I will watch the thread. ETA my English prof friend with a DD same age as mine told me did Rebecca and Jamaica Inn with her girl. Oh. Audio of Jekyll and Hyde (while we were driving in Scotland :)) was somewhat followed by the kid, though she was younger then. Audio of Frankenstein(while driving in the Alps) freaked her out a little so there is a very fine line I’m always pushing it seems 🤷♀️ Edited September 9, 2023 by madteaparty 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madteaparty Posted September 9, 2023 Share Posted September 9, 2023 14 hours ago, domestic_engineer said: Everything Sad is Untrue Do you think this one lends itself well to audio? I just downloaded it for our drives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
domestic_engineer Posted September 9, 2023 Share Posted September 9, 2023 3 hours ago, madteaparty said: Do you think this one lends itself well to audio? I just downloaded it for our drives. Yes - I listened to the audiobook, and I enjoyed it. The author reads it. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
domestic_engineer Posted September 9, 2023 Share Posted September 9, 2023 You might check out Literary-type podcasts, such as Close Reads or A Literary Life podcast. See what books they have chosen and pick from that set of books. That way you can listen to the books in the car and also listen to a discussion about the book in the car, too! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pgr Posted September 12, 2023 Author Share Posted September 12, 2023 On 9/9/2023 at 3:22 PM, domestic_engineer said: You might check out Literary-type podcasts, such as Close Reads or A Literary Life podcast. See what books they have chosen and pick from that set of books. That way you can listen to the books in the car and also listen to a discussion about the book in the car, too! Oooo! That's a great idea!! Thank you! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idnib Posted September 14, 2023 Share Posted September 14, 2023 We did these as a year-long read aloud rather than car audio, but I would put The Hobbit and Lord of The Rings on the list. We also enjoyed Stuff Matters (but it's not lit) at that age. Other thoughts: Agatha Christie, War of The Worlds, Frankenstein 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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