Thank you to those of you who responded to my last post! You have been so helpful!! If anyone else has opinions/advice, I'd gladly welcome it all!
I agree that Hatchet seems too young....I picked up at Barnes and Noble after seeing it on the Summer Reading table. I tried to find middle school summer reading lists, but couldn't find any. I'm assuming some of these books were just taken from the Accelerated Reader/Battle of the Books lists for the county. Anyway, it looked like a "boy" book, so I thought I'd check it out. Maybe I'll just hold onto it for when Collen can enjoy it.
I was kind of happy to hear that The House of Dies Drear might not be the best choice. I'll save it for a desperate moment. I started reading and thought, "Who in the world wrote this?!" It was so hard to follow. Whew....probably taking that one off the list.
And for the reader who said her kids read Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry, you have no idea how incredibly happy you made me!!! I LOOOOOVE that book. Quick tidbit about me: This is one of my all time favorite books. I read it for the first time in the 5th grade. I fell in love with the characters, and I went on to read it at least once every year afterwards...through high school. I will definitely be adding this one to my list!
I'm also considering The Lord of the Flies. Have to check into that one a little more closely. If anyone else has any suggestions....I'm all ears!
I love Roll of Thunder as well. Have you read the other books about that family? There are at least 2 others that were also really good.
ReplyDeleteNot sure what age range 8th grade is over there but we read lord of the flys when we were 13/14 and it was brilliant. Perfect for us. As a treat when we finished we got to watch the movie!
ReplyDeleteThis is a subject dear to my heart. I have lots of resources and book sugestions, wish I wasn't late to the post....
ReplyDeleteRed Kayak by Priscilla Cummings
Theodore Boone by JOhn Grisham
The Young James Bond series by Charlie Higson
The Bogart by Susan Cooper
Frightful's Mountain by Jean Craighead-George
I could go on, but as the mother of 2 sons I am constantly searching for engaging material and useful links.
Sometimes an easier book can have useful discussion themes that would otherwise be difficult to dig into, so depending upon the particular group of students I might be tempted to keep Hatchet for the guys. Obviously if you have a whole group of college bound students you'll be looking for more challenging works.
Night by Elie Weisel
Oh, you have surely touched upon my favorite subject.
Code Talker by Joseph Bruchac
nearly anything by Lois Lowry (Gossamer Touch, I really liked)
Yes, I could go on and on. Just say the word. And forgive me if these are repeats because I haven't read the previous post or replies.
Also have included a link specifically for boys books that an all boys school links to on their library page. Not that I can vouch for the suitability of every book listed, but having a site targeting literature for boys is helpful for me.
http://www.guysread.com/
i'm a little late w/ this, i guess. i used to teach 6/7 english. one of my favorite middle school books is maniac magee.
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