Books every child should read
 

So a female friend of mine just got a job as a 7th grade reading teacher, which I find hilarious since she isn't a "kid" person (I've seen her throw a child over her knee and swat him on the rear in public. It wasn't her child.)

That isn't here nor there though, what I need is some literary suggestions on reading materials. She is going to have a list of books and each child will have to read from 2 to 8 books in a year, depending on the book's reading level and length.

She was asking me for suggestions since I basically read during class instead of actually paying attention from around 5th grade to my senior year. (What? School was/is a fantastic place to pleasure read.)

ANYWAY...

I've given her some titles, such as The Hobbit, Redwall, Wind in the Willows, Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, The Outsiders, The Hound of the Baskervilles, King Solomon's Mines, Treasure Island, Lord of the Flies.

Of course, there are more to give and considering she wants a list of about 100 books (In case some are not available.) of varying difficulty (I am a spectacular reader who has been reading at a college level since 6th grade, but when I graduated high school half my class was at around a 7th grade level or lower. Yeah.)

Any suggestions?

How old is 7th grade?

Err...

*does math*

12-13 I do believe.

I remember we had to read Shakespeare at that age- though the easier ones such as Midsummer Night's dream and Twelfth Night- and it good to introduce them to that early as they'll have to read it in high school at some point and they'll get a bit lost in the language otherwise. Also shorter than a novel so easier to deal with.

Also Under the Mountain is a classic but not sure if it published internationally.

Larry Gonick's Cartoon Histories. Cartoon History of the United States first if that's where the school is.

Mary Norton's The Borrowers series was a staple of my childhood, as was the poetry of Shel Silverstein (which is really for just about anybody, but it works here).

Also, the Mennyms series by Sylvia Waugh is pretty good--it's about the lives of magically sentient human-sized rag dolls (she also did a series about aliens, I think, which was also fine stuff). Might want to skip the last Mennyms book, however, because--well, I for one didn't like the ending.

A Series of Unfortunate Events. Those books are absolutely great reading.

Behind the Attic Wall by Sylvia Cassedy is a book that almost always managed to get me a bit choked up whenever I read it, partly because it's good (it involves more walking, talking dolls, actually, but not quite so much as the Mennyms) and partly because I am a complete sap. So other's mileage may vary.

Maybe, just maybe, you can slip in some Madeleine L'engle (A Wrinkle In Time and the books after that) and Philip Pullman (the His Dark Materials trilogy), but those have a history of being just a tiny bit controversial--the latter more than the former, I think. (I think Lois Lowry's The Giver might be in the "controversial" pile, too, but it's also pretty great.)

Just about anything by Roald Dahl is absolute gold. (Now I kind of wanna go read my copy of Matilda.)

Question: My memory's a bit sketchy on the details, and I only have the first book at home, but I remember reading John Christopher's Tripods trilogy without being unduly scarred for life. Is there anything terribly wrong with those that I'm forgetting? 'Cos if not, then add those to the list too. Every child needs a healthy dose of sci-fi.

I was a pretty bookish child, so I'm sure I'll remember more for later posts.

Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie. Great story as a kid, also great as an adult.

Seconding the Series of Unfortunate Events.

The Hatchet by Gary Paulsen was always a favorite of mine growing up. Along with the books in the series, like "The Winter" and "Brians Return". But I'm sure any of his books would be great, he's a great writer.

The Cay was a book a read a ton when I was younger too. "A 11-year-old boy living on the Dutch island of Curaçao with his family during World War II in 1942 After a shipwreck, he is separated from his mother and floats ashore a cay on a raft with an old black man, Timothy, who pulled Phillip onboard when he was hit in the head. This injury eventually leads to blindness for Phillip. The story is about how Timothy and Phillip live together on the island and develop an unbreakable bond as the two get to know each other."


I like survival stories I guess. I'm not sure how old I was when I read them, since, like EVILness, I was always way ahead of my class in reading ability, so I might have read those in 2nd grade or something, or they might be 2nd grade level. I have no idea what kind of difficulty they would be. :sweatdrop

We did the Cay in standard 3 or standard 4- I can't remember- so somewhere between 9-11. So could be good.
I think another class did the Hatchet at about the same time.

Lord of the Flies is probably not the kind of book that 7th graders should read for fun.