Spin Off: Important Books for your kids to read?

[mamaofthree]

What books do you feel are important for your kids to read?

H

[bayberry*moon]

Another great question! But where to start? Is there a particular age we should focus on?

[mamaofthree]

I was thinking preteen/early teen.

Any ideas?

H

[Cajunmomma]

So many books, so little time. How about starting with the Lois Lowry books like "The Giver" and "Gathering Blue"? The Madeleine L'Engle books are on our list--"The Wind in the Door" etc. Tolkien. The "Narnia" books. "The Little Prince". "A Little Princess" and "The Secret Garden" "Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card (and all the sequels and prequels).

For fun: all the "Harry Potters" and the "Lemony Snickets".

I'll be back with more.

[Dar]

Hey, my daughter has read all the ones on your list except the Narnia series... she just never got into it. She was in the play, though :) Well, and she didn't finish the Lemony Snicket series or the Ender series - I think both went downhill bigtime after the first 3 or 4 books.

FWIW, I agree with your list... I would add a couple Richard Bach books (probably Jonathan and Illusions) and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Also some poetry - a little Sylvia Plath, a little John Donne, some Frost, Dickinson... a bunch. Maybe some Shakespearean sonnets, but not plays, since I think reading plays is a waste - it's like reading musical lyrics rather than listening to music.

I'll probably be back with more, too... oh, there's one I'm thinking of, an allegory... hey, speaking of allegories, how about short stories? There are tons of those on my should-read list. The Allegory of the Cave, The Lottery, The Birds, some Saki, The Most Dangerous Game...

Really, though, by preteen to teen, it's the same list of books I think all adults should read...

Dar

[Cajunmomma]

Dar, we loved all the "Ender" books--but everyone's taste is different. I like your list, too, but I was trying to keep mine a little younger, I think. I'm not sure that every early (I'm thinking under 15) teen is ready for "Zen" or Plath. I think that by 16 or so, adult and teen books are the same.

For older teens (if I'm taking the whole thread off course), I'd have to include Hesse ("Siddhartha" and "Damian", for sure), "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison, some modern drama (something like, maybe, "Angels in America" and "Waiting for Godot")....

The list goes on and on......

[grisandole]

DS1 is 13 and reads constantly. He's read all the HP books, and loves sci-fi. He picks his own reading material, but I do choose some books for him as "mandatory reading", lol......for his reading class at school; and his teacher chooses some books for him as well. This year, he's read "The Life of Pi" and "Ishmael"(sp?), as well as "Dracula" and countless others.......Another great book that I highly recommend is "The First Part Last", which is the story of a teen FATHER. It's an easy read, very powerful, and not preachy. The teen dad cosleeps with his baby, too :) I also really like "Pure" by Rebecca Ray; it is very graphic, but very realistic IMO. I'm going to have my ds read it, but I think it would have more impact on a teen girl.......Ms. Ray wrote the book when she was 16, it was published when she was 18.

I'm going to have ds1 read "1984", "Animal Farm", and "The Crucible" soon, and then "On The Road", and "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintainence".......of course, those come after he finishes the new Ann Rice book "Christ the Lord". Did I mention that he reads a lot?!

[ImoKit]

I'm 15 and an avid reader but whenever either my mum or step tell me I should read X, I won't as I find that it makes reading seem like a chore and I don't want to preached at.
But for the purpose of this thread can I recommend Lord of the Flies (despite the fact that we had to read in school it has good issues)
Also Blue Moon and Baby Blue by the same author about a teenage mother revelvent for girls as book 1 deals with preganancy and book 2 deals with how she copes (she also breastfeeds well) also talks about social implications and seemed pretty good to me.
Mainly though the News on TV is a good thing for people to watch (can be encouraged by having it on) and gives people a knowledge of the world around us.

[Alkenny]

All good suggestions! Newberry winners are usually good picks. DS just read Island of the Blue Dolphins and is starting on My Brother Sam is Dead.

[Snowdrift]

Johnny Tremain (Estehr Forbes?). Wonderful book for middle school--confronting adversity and overcoming character flaws in a rich historical context. An easy read too.

Silent Spring (Rachel Carson). Readable and powerful. Changed the world. Alerted me to how very possible and likely it is for the dominant paradigm to not care about killing off people and animals and well, the planet.

Kon-Tiki (Thor Heyerdal). Also great for middle school. Readable and ust a phenomenal advenutre story. Pseudo-science at best, but well, a great story. Ditto Voyages of Ra and Fatu-Hiva.

The Chosen (Chaim Potok). Like Johnny Tremain, a great coming of age type story. Introduction to the multi-layered nature of American Jewish culture.

Those are my top four, I think. Also the Green Gables books, but those are more upper elementary. I just didn't discover them until middle school.