<p>Never could interest youngest D in classics at that age; she loved fantasy and devoured the books by Tamora Pierce, with strong female heroines.</p>
<p>Teens have so little control over their lives…let her have carte blanche on her summer reading.
Your good intentions are a not so subtle show of disapproval of your teen-that you think she is wasting her time reading fluff.</p>
<p>Nothing more satisfying than discovering a gem of a book on my own, especially when I was young.</p>
<p>Here is a quick list that comes to mind:
Jane Eyre
Three musketeers
Queen Margo
([La</a> Reine Margot (Oxford World’s Classics): Alexandre Dumas, David Coward: 9780199538447: Amazon.com: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Reine-Margot-Oxford-Worlds-Classics/dp/0199538441/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_1]La”>http://www.amazon.com/Reine-Margot-Oxford-Worlds-Classics/dp/0199538441/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_1))
Gone with the wind
The Headless Horseman; A Strange Tale of Texas
[The</a> Headless Horseman by Mayne Reid - Free Ebook](<a href=“http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35587]The”>http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35587)
Captain Blood: His Odyssey
[Captain</a> Blood His Odyssey - Rafael Sabatini - Google Books](<a href=“http://books.google.com/books/about/Captain_Blood_His_Odyssey.html?id=p6LpcV7OfV8C]Captain”>Captain Blood His Odyssey - Rafael Sabatini - Google Books)</p>
<p>Actually, your daughter is already reading some good adolescent literature - I think that “Speak” is a really good book and Laurie Halse Anderson in a fantastic writer.</p>
<p>In my adolescent lit classes (I’m certifying as a high school English teacher) we talk a lot about the classics that seem to hold up - like “Little Women” - and those that don’t seem to be as popular - “To Kill a Mockingbird” (and that makes me sad, because I LOVE Mockingbird.) Suggestions from my classmates would include:</p>
<p>“The Book Thief”
Philip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” trilogy
“The Graveyard Book” by Neil Gaiman (you’re right greenbutton - what an awesome book!)
“The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie</p>
<p>I realize that these may not be the traditional classic books, but most will be classics some day, I think.</p>
<p>Thank you all for the great suggestions!
We have a lot of those books in the house. I will make a pile and see if she is interested in picking any.</p>
<p>I’m not sure sending a 13-year-old off to read Romeo and Juliet (or any Shakespeare) on her own is a good idea. The vocabulary and verse will be alienating and might cause her to dislike Shakespeare rather than drawing her into it. Frankly it would be better for her to watch a film of the play. It was, after all, originally meant to be watched and heard, not read.</p>
<p>My D was an avid reader also, and at 13 loved “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.” She also liked “Jane Eyre” and “Rebecca.”</p>
<p>For Romeo and Juliet I was thinking to get an edition that the one page has the original text and the other has a modern version. I agree it might not be the best idea. I think in 8th grade they read a modern version and just a couple parts of the original text just for exposure.</p>
<p>“Never let me go” is one of my favorite books. I picked it from the library once without knowing anything about the story and it made a huge impression on me. </p>
<p>Z for Zachariah sounds like a book she would read overnight… I have to ask her about it.</p>
<p>I am placing “a tree grows in Brooklyn” , “to kill a mockingbird” and “Ann of the green gables” on top of the pile. I also have Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, you never know…</p>
<p>We read Shakespeare (not in modern wording, by any means) in 8th and 9th- at that time, it culminated in a class road trip to the old Stratford theatre in CT, for a performance. I loved rolling the words off my tongue. Still adore it. My girls were similarly taken with Shakespeare and loved going to outdoor summer student performances (never good, but still endearing) in our area. All that, fwiw. It’s another thing that’s good for the bonds.</p>
<p>From Post #16 “she read Anna Karenina, as a rising 9th grader. Go figure”</p>
<p>You know what’s interesting? 9th grade was when the school program required to read Leo Tolstoy books way back when I went to school in Russia. Granted, we graduated after 10th grade at the “ripe” age of 16-17. Somehow, Anna Karenina was a recommended reading while War and Peace was required to read.</p>
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<p>This is a wonderful trilogy, for young people or adults. You could read the books together and talk about them.</p>
<p>I think Never Let Me Go by Ishiguro is too depressing.</p>
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<p>I think this ship has sailed, and you are not going to get her to read anything you suggest. My ex-husband used to try to get my kids to read what he considered “good books”, and all he succeeded in doing was convincing them not to go near them. My kids are very avid readers of many types of books, and have great SAT CRs (and Lit scores) to show for it. My experience from them and in my own 50 years as a reader is that as long as they love to read, they will find many “classic” and more literary books in their lifetime. Maybe more as they get older, some introduced through necessity in classes, but they will read more of them. You should stop worrying about this at all. Let her find her own way to the books she wants to read, that discovery is a big part of the fun of reading.</p>
<p>^^^^
True, but still I ll give it a try :)</p>
<p>I know it’s not a classic – but has she read “When You Reach Me” ? Won the Newbery a couple years ago, and I did not see the twist coming. I think it’s okay to make her a stack and ask her to try a few. Sometimes my best books come from recommendations from other readers whose tastes are different than mine. </p>
<p>Dark materials!! Great suggestion! Philip Pullman also wrote some shorter novels that are also very very good. </p>
<p>The original Grimm’s Fairy Tales, she might like.
Phantom Tollbooth!!!
Chronicles of Narnia
Mixed up Files of Basil E Frankweiler
Redwall
Brave New World
Earthsea Trilogy
Grapes of Wrath or Travels with Charley
My Antonia
Edgar Allen Poe</p>
<p>I loved all of Ray Bradbury’s books. My sister gave me “I Sing the Body Electric” (short stories) as a BD gift eons ago. It still feels like a gift.
Another great read is Kurt Vonnegut’s first book “Player Piano”. I need to re-read that one. It’s about the automation of society.
Honestly, if your kid loves reading they’ll eventually hit on the classics. Maybe not soon but that doesn’t matter. A lot of classics are meant to be read as an adult.</p>
<p>I agree with many others. If she’s an avid reader, she’ll read the “classics” on her own, at her time. Either in high school, or because she found them around and thought she would like them. I would NOT tell her she should read “classics.” You’re sending a not so subtle signal that what she reads isn’t good (which might encourage her to read less).</p>
<p>With that (BIG) caveat: at her age I remember enjoying Anne Frank’s Diary (I could identify with her as a pre-teen/teen) and a book called “Sophie’s world” [Sophie’s</a> World - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophie’s_World]Sophie’s”>Sophie's World - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>While agreeing she should read what she likes, I gave my pre-teen niece. and avid reader adopted from China, The Good Earth for Christmas. These lists give me lots of ideas for next Christmas!</p>
<p>I’m an avid reader, and read lots as a teen, but I have to say I’d have been bored to tears by most of the books listed in post #13 at that age.</p>
<p>So some suggestions - instead of reading Shakespeare how about watching it? The Zefferelli Romeo and Juliet was a lot of fun. Josh Whedon’s new Much Ado about Nothing is supposed to be fabulous and it would be fun to compare it with the Kenneth Branagh version.</p>
<p>Jane Eyre is romantic and fun. Is Daphne DuMaurier classic enough? Rebecca and My Cousin Rachel are both books I loved as a teen. </p>
<p>French Revolution is a great setting. Desiree (historical novel set during the French Revolution) by Anne Marie Selinko. Maybe Tale of Two Cities by Dickens (but my son hated it.) And finally The Scarlet Pimpernel by the Baroness Orczy.</p>
<p>Little Women is a fine book, but I liked Eight Cousins and Rose in Bloom even better. Also by Louisa May Alcott.</p>
<p>Anne of Green Gables always struck me as more of a kids book and I hated A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, but I know lots of people love it. I agree that To Kill a Mockingbird is a good choice.</p>
<p>I got into sci fi and fantasy classics at that age - Dune, Left Hand of Darkness, Stranger in a Strange Land, Dandelion Wine, Lord of the Rings, The Wizard of Earthsea.</p>
<p>Personally I think having a kid that reads is much more important than what exactly they are reading.</p>
<p>I didn’t really enjoy most of the classics until I was in my 30s.</p>
<p>“I Never Promised You a Rose Garden” has stuck with me forever. Not necessarily a “classic” but resonated deeply.
There are SO many wonderful books. Of SO many genres. A “classic” is the one plucked out of time that has meaning over generations. But that doesn’t mean to discount the value of current books to current generations. Lots that you haven’t read yet. Or ever will.
Reading is for entertainment and enlightenment. Please keep it one of the most enjoyable activities for your kid! I know you will. Can’t you just wait to push them along into new adventures? Don’t you die to have them love “the classic” you love ?! Not gonna happen until the right time.</p>
<p>I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith</p>
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<p>Just know it can backfire – something about leading a horse to water… My D2 will NOT read “Mountains Beyond Mountains” by Tracy Kidder, mostly because D1 and I raved about it and really encouraged her to read it. She is actually very interested in public health (reads other books on it), and I think she would really admire Paul Farmer (how could you not?). Her friend refuses to read Harry Potter just because everyone else wants her to. You could just turn your D off more to “classic” books by pushing them. And kids are very sensitive to these things – you will not accomplish anything with a smart kid once they know what you want and they have decided not to do it. Heck, even if she reads something in the future she thinks you might like, she will probably hide it in her locker and never let you know because then you would “win”. (Has D2 read “Mountains Beyond Mountains”? Maybe… but I will never know).</p>