<p>S2 has to choose an independent reading book, something “significant and meaningful.” I’m blank. He does not love to read fiction, unless it’s a series like the Ranger’s Apprentice books. He reads things like this avidly. But we need something different for this English assignment.</p>
<p>What about something like Brave New World, Animal Farm or 1984?</p>
<p>All of these are relatively short and stimulate a lot of serious thought…</p>
<p>Ender’s Game - Orson Scott Card</p>
<p>Summer reading assignment for incoming freshmen at my son’s all-boy school - popular choice.</p>
<p>You may want to have your son find out what “significant and meaningful” actually means before finding out the book doesn’t meet that criterion according to the teachers/school. </p>
<p>While I agree that “Ender’s Game” or other sci-fi/fantasy books would be a good choice personally, I have encountered closed-minded teachers who wouldn’t agree and grade accordingly. </p>
<p>Are biographies of historical figures or historically-based fiction allowed? </p>
<p>That might be an option I’d personally enjoyed as a 13 year old…but then again, I’m not your son. :)</p>
<p>This is science fiction, but very thought provoking.
[Enchantress</a> from the Stars](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Enchantress-Stars-Sylvia-Louise-Engdahl/dp/0802787649]Enchantress”>http://www.amazon.com/Enchantress-Stars-Sylvia-Louise-Engdahl/dp/0802787649)</p>
<p>Was he given a list to choose from?
I agree the teacher may not consider science fiction to be appropriate, in that case perhaps one of these books.
<a href=“Ap Reading List Url Books”>Ap Reading List Lt A Gt Lt P Gt Books;
<p>The Crucible, To Kill a Mockingbird, Red Badge of Courage, Three Cups of Tea, The Kite Runner, All the King’s Men, The Jungle, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Lord of the Flies, the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.</p>
<p>This is last summer’s list from the all boys hs my S attended. They work hard to come up with a new list every year: (sorry for the length)</p>
<p>Flight of Passage Rinker Buck
Writer Rinker Buck looks back more than 30 years to a summer when he and his brother, at ages 15 and 17 respectively, became the youngest duo to fly across America, from New Jersey to California. </p>
<p>Peak Roland Smith
The only thing youll find on the summit of Mount Everest is a divine view. The things that really matter lie far below. Peak Marcello After fourteen-year-old Peak Marcello is arrested for scaling a New York City skyscraper, hes left with a choice: wither away in juvenile detention or fly to Kathmandu with his long-lost father. </p>
<p>The Things a Brother Knows Dana Reinhardt
Levi’s older brother Boaz returns from fighting with the Marines in the Middle East. He’s safe. Levi’s family has waited three long years for this. But Boaz is no longer the brother Levi thought he knew. Even if nobody else wants to see it, Levi can tell that Boaz has changed; something’s wrong. </p>
<p>Mexican White Boy Matt de la Pena
Danny’s tall and skinny. Even though hes not built, his arms are long enough to give his pitch a power so fierce any college scout would sign him on the spot. Ninety-five mile per hour fastball, but the boys not even on a team. </p>
<p>The Fault in Our Stars John Green
Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazels story is about to be completely rewritten. </p>
<p>You Dont Know Me David Klass
What bathroom fixture did his father have in mind at his birth? What amphibian plagues John in band? Does algebra have a use, besides torture? Who or what is Lashasa Palulu? Who is Glory Hallelujah? Who is Violent Hayes? What do they want from John? </p>
<p>Night Hoops Carl Deuker
Nick Abbott and Trent Dawson have nothing in common but basketball. It’s sophomore year and Nick is trying to deal with his parents’ divorce. He also really wants to be a star on the basketball team. Trent, his neighbor, is angry, and aggressive. The two form an uneasy bond as they quietly practice each night on Nick’s backyard basketball court. </p>
<p>Now is the Time for Running Michael Williams
Just down the road from their families, Deo and his friends play soccer in the dusty fields of Zimbabwe, cheered on by Deo’s older brother, Innocent. It is a day like any other . . . until the soldiers arrive and Deo and Innocent are forced to run for their lives, fleeing the wreckage of their village for the distant promise of safe haven. </p>
<p>Feed M.T. Anderson
For Titus and his friends, it started out like any ordinary trip to the moon - a chance to party during spring break and play with some stupid low-grav at the Ricochet Lounge. But that was before the crazy hacker caused all their feeds to malfunction, sending them to the hospital to lie around with nothing inside their heads for days. </p>
<p>Nation Terry Pratchett
Mau is the only one left after a giant wave sweeps his island village away. But when much is taken, something is returned, and somewhere in the jungle Daphnea girl from the other side of the globeis the sole survivor of a ship destroyed by the same wave. </p>
<p>The Lost Gate Orson Scott Card
Danny North knew from early childhood that his family was different, and that he was different from them. While his cousins were learning how to create the things that commoners called fairies, ghosts, golems, trolls, werewolves, and other such miracles that were the heritage of the North family, Danny worried that he would never show a talent, never form an outself. </p>
<p>First Shot Walter Sorrells
Two years ago, David Crandalls mother was murderedand with little evidence, no witnesses, and no motive, the crime was left unsolved. Now a high school senior, David is unable to shake the sense that someone knows more than theyre letting on. </p>
<p>Ghost Medicine Andrew Smith
The summer before Troy Stotts turns seventeen, his mother dies. Troy and his father barely speak, communicating instead by writing notes on a legal pad by the phone. Troy spends most of his time with his closest friends: Tom Buller, brash and fearless, the son of a drunk; Gabe Benavidez, smart enough to know hell never take over the family ranch; and Gabes sister, Luz, whose family overprotects her, and who Troy has loved since they were children.</p>
<p>DS loved Fahrenheit 451 (also relatively short & thought provoking); and that ever-relevant classic, Lord of the Flies</p>
<p>Personally, my next book is Ender’s Game–my son loved it so much he’s encouraging me to read it. It is on some HS reading lists.</p>
<p>Orson Scott Card has come under fire for some of his views (he’s rabidly homophobic). That may be where some teachers/schools’ views of him originate. </p>
<p>I think most kids like newer books compared to older novels. How about:</p>
<p>The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian-- Sherman Alexie
The Knife of Never Letting Go–Patrick Ness
Little Brother-- Cory Doctorow</p>
<p>Along with the list of contemporary books up there^.</p>
<p>Wow! Lots of great suggestions in only an hour! I love CC!</p>
<p>Thank you, everyone. I’ll go through these options with my son. I’m thinking that Animal Farm might be a great book for him at this point, but I see lots of other good possibilities on the thread.</p>
<p>He’s already read Ender’s Game. I will have him run his choice by his teacher. From what I can tell, she is anything but close-minded, but better to be sure that his choice makes sense.</p>
<p>I highly, highly recommend Flight of Passage. One of the best books I’ve read this year. Funny, insightful, adventurous. It is a true story, but more than just a chronicle of the boys adventures it tells the story of the two brothers relationship, their relationship with their father. It is a really good book and one that I often give boys in our library who fall into the group known as “reluctant” readers.</p>
<p>Just be aware that if your son reads this book he WILL want flying lessons. Or maybe a motorcycle. Or a boat. Or …</p>
<p>It does sound wonderful, lololu and sylvan! Maybe I’ll try this one first. S2 is a reluctant reader, I’m afraid, except for non-fiction. S1 has had his nose in an book ever since he learned to read, S2 not so much. S2 has excellent reading skills - I’ve had him assessed a couple of times to make sure that his disinterest in reading was not a result of a subtle disability. It’s just that he’d rather do anything else than read.</p>
<p>I thought of a couple non-fiction books</p>
<p>The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey - Candice Millard</p>
<p>A Walk in the Woods - Bill Bryson (humor +)</p>
<p>Great books ignatius! Loved them both and they are audio books also. I do more books by audio these days than reading.</p>
<p>Second “The Fault in Our Stars” and “The River of Doubt”. “Enchantress from the Stars” is one of my all-time favorite books, but I honestly do not think it is a 13 year old boy book (more of a girl book in my opinion).</p>
<p>And Orson Scott Card wrote one great book (Ender’s Game, already discussed), with a good sequel. I didn’t care too much for the third book in that series, and have found everything else he ever wrote since then to be drivel (and I read a lot of them, hoping for something as original as Ender’s Game, but eventually gave up on him).</p>
<p>Lots of great ideas that I agree with upthread, some more nonfiction ideas (all autobiographies):</p>
<p>*My Early Life: Winston Churchill *- funny (and appalling) tales from his school days, exciting adventures in the Boer War in South Africa and a smidgen of his early political career.</p>
<p>Boy: Tales of Childhood and Going Solo - Roald Dahl’s equally fascinating life. Even more appalling stories about British schools and then his stories working in African for Shell oil and then joining the RAF during World War II where he is the victim of some pretty incompetent superiors. Fascinating.</p>
<p>“Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!”: Adventures of a Curious Character - autobiographical stories from the Nobel Prize winning physicist. Everything from learning to crack safes, to Samba music, to working on the atom bomb.</p>
<p>inparent, I agree 100% with your assessment of Card’s writing. He was a one (possibly two) hit wonder! I LOVED Ender’s Game and would highly recommend it to kids or adults.</p>
<p>My son read Moneyball by Michael Lewis for his summer assignment. The combination of baseball & statistics enthralled him. He picked the assignment to compare/contract to the movie. </p>
<p>The other book he read was Shadow Divers. Our entire family dives and H & I have met one of the main characters. </p>
<p>For current assignment, he reading Iaccoca.</p>
<p>My son likes Orson Scott Card. Fiction: The Maze Runner Series has been a hit. Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (and the other series books) and The Harry Dresden Series. Nonfiction: Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand</p>