<p>I am trying to persuade my daughter to read a “classic” book and I have no luck. I am looking for suggestions of classic titles that you think they would appeal to a 13+ year old girl. She is an avid reader. Some of the books she read this year include “Miss peregrine’s home for peculiar children”, “between shades of gray”, “speak”, “mango shape space”, “beautiful creatures” etc. You get the picture…
Any ideas?</p>
<p>If she’s an avid reader, woo hoo! Perhaps some of what she’s reading will be future classics…
But, if you’d like to suggest some interesting classics, try this list:</p>
<p>[Best</a> (Classic) Books for Teens (80 books)](<a href=“Best (Classic) Books for Teens (142 books)”>http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2225.Best_Classic_Books_for_Teens)</p>
<p>many on this list were required reading in school for my kids…</p>
<p>try this:
[Newbery</a> Medal and Honor Books, 1922-Present | Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC)](<a href=“http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/newberyhonors/newberymedal]Newbery”>http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/newberyhonors/newberymedal)</p>
<p>Gone With the Wind.</p>
<p>What do you consider a “classic” book - in other words, what specific titles would you like her to read??? Sounds like you have something in mind, but maybe she isn’t open to it?</p>
<p>As a literacy professional, I can’t stress enough that if she enjoys reading her choices, (and they are approriate)let her read them. She will grow and at some point will get to where she will WANT to read a classic". Or that it will be “cool” to read one. 
</p>
<p>Sometimes the best way to suggest a book is to be reading it yourself (modeling) and having her see/hear your comments about the book (discussion, not a lecture!) More people choose books because the storyline draws them in, not just because someone says, “you should read this”.</p>
<p>Thank you gosmom, this is a good list. I ll start with Romeo and Juliet.</p>
<p>Is there any particular reason you want her to read “classics”? I’ve learned since working in the library that the quickest way to turn someone off to reading is by pushing them to read things they don’t want to read. </p>
<p>I’m 22 and I’ve been an avid reader my whole life. I’ve tried, I’ve really tried, to read classics and truth be told, I’ve liked very, very few of them. Especially when I was younger.</p>
<p>With that said, have you tried Little Women?</p>
<p>I am going around the house to see what I have already. So far I found:</p>
<p>The scarlet letter
Of mice and men
Tales of two cities
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Eyre
peace and war</p>
<p>Just want her to give it a try.</p>
<p>Sorry, I do not mean her to read ALL of them or only to read books I suggest. I just thought that since she reads so much it would be nice once a while to read something classic.</p>
<p>Anyway, for the summer, I though to make a short list and show her hopping she might get intrigued and pick one.</p>
<p>Around here Romeo and Juliet is read in HS Honors English. My D’s didn’t care for it at all because of the Old English.</p>
<p>Has she read To Kill A Mockingbird? Bridge To Terabithia? Holes? The Giver? Here is another list of Classics for middle school students. [Middle</a> School Classics (83 books)](<a href=“Middle School Classics (127 books)”>Middle School Classics (127 books))</p>
<p>How about Anne of Green Gables and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn?</p>
<p>Another point is that if she is 13 she will be starting to be required to read some of the classes in junior high/high school - she may develop a liking for them at that point. There’s plenty of time. :)</p>
<p>The Hobbit, The Three Musketeers, any Ray Bradbury</p>
<p>I would start with classics that feature children of about the same age and have relatively accessible language: Little Women, To Kill a Mockingbird, anything by Lois Lowry.</p>
<p>In our public school they do Romeo and Juliet in 8th grade. I remember my son had to learn by heart a piece in the “old english” for extra credit.They also had to act a scene in class with extra credit if a boy played Juliet and the girl Romeo. My son, paradoxically (a tech guy) loved that unit.
In 9th grade they do Merchant of Venice.</p>
<p>She did not read to kill a mockingbird (thank you for the suggestion) but she did read the the rest.</p>
<p>Little Women was “the” classic among my friends, when I was a teen. I totally agree with P&P and JE. Make it girl-themed books, if she’s having any trouble getting past the language and structure differences. Wuthering Heights, too. Mine adored To Kill a Mockingbird, which offers a great chance for some parent-child discussions. Tried to get my avid reader into Great Expectations, to no avail. In my day, it was standard 9th grade reading. On the other hand, for school, she read Anna Karenina, as a rising 9th grader. Go figure.</p>
<p>Thanks for the Ray Bradbury tip. Not the classic I had in mind but it fits well with the dystopian books she likes and still great literature.</p>
<p>Maybe she’d connect with Diary of Anne Frank?</p>
<p>Or Never Let Me Go [Amazon.com:</a> Never Let Me Go (9781400078776): Kazuo Ishiguro: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Never-Let-Me-Kazuo-Ishiguro/dp/1400078776]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Never-Let-Me-Kazuo-Ishiguro/dp/1400078776)</p>
<p>And maybe she’d like short stories – Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies is fabulous.</p>
<p>Anne of Green Gables
Little Women
Ender’s Game
To Kill a Mockingbird
Cheaper by the Dozen
The Witch of Blackbird Pond
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Sherlock Holmes</p>
<p>Just talked to my literary daughter and she suggested the classics for that age group: there are classics that should be read in childhood. If she hasn’t read them yet, she should now before moving on. Examples of ones that shouldn’t have been missed:</p>
<p>The Secret Garden
The Little Princess
The Wind in the Willows</p>
<p>Classic? Define classic – modern classic, genre classic, going to be a classic, canon classic? The fastest way to kill someone’s love of books is to tell them what to read…but I suppose if there’s an escape clause where she can bail after 50 pages, there’s no harm in trying. (Don’t forget nonfiction and biographies, too.)</p>
<p>Wrinkle in Time books, of course
Dashiell Hammet (or however you spell it)
Agatha Christie
Night Elie Weisel
The Book Thief (okay, not a classic yet)
Something Wicked This Way Comes or Fahrenheit 451
Diamond Age (oops, not a classic classic, just a modern classic dystopia)
Prydain Chroncles (Lloyd Alexander)
Graveyard Book (Neil Gaiman. Best book ever)
Meinhart DeJong’s Wheel on the School (dystopia/fantasy fans often enjoy an unusual but real setting)
Half Magic or the other Eleanor Estes books
Z for Zachariah before the movie comes out
Treasure Island - Kipling. Pirates aren’t just for boys
Swiss Family Robinson
the original Tarzan</p>