<p>Hi, my kid is at middle school and like writing and reading a lot. We are looking for some books (with good articles/essays) for him to read and serves as reference.</p>
<p>Any recommendations? Thanks.</p>
<p>Fiction? Non fiction? What are his interests?</p>
<p>I think Hemingway is a good choice for middle schoolers who are interested in reading and writing. The language is simple enough that it won’t overwhelm, and the topics aren’t too “adult” for even the youngest middle school students.</p>
<p>But it would be great if you could tell us his age and interests. I read Black Hawk Down in 8th grade, but it wouldn’t be appropriate for a 6th grader. It also wouldn’t be appropriate for a sensitive kid looking for fiction stories.</p>
<p>My kids hate Hemingway. They read mostly science fiction and fantasy in middle school. (Actually they still do.)</p>
<p>Favorite authors: Orson Scott Card (esp Ender’s Game), Lois McMasters Bujold, Eoin Colfer (Artemis Fowl), Phillip Pullman (His Dark Materials trilogy - movie version coming out soon)</p>
<p>My younger son likes Air and Space magazine and Scientific American.</p>
<p>You might try Tamora Pierce, although her books are geared more towards young girls than boys. Christopher Paolini is really good too, and he got published at 19. 
Great example, yes?</p>
<p>What age? what kind of interests? There is a list on hoagiesgifted.org that should be good for a variety of interests.</p>
<p>S liked Ender’s Game and its sequels; read tons of sci-fi and fantasy fiction (Piers Anthony, Terry Pratchett, Robert Zelasny, David Eddings, etc…) as well as lots of math and science books.</p>
<p>thanks for all recommendations.</p>
<p>My son is 11. He loves Time magazine regularly, read nearly every page. Others are not his cup of tea especially the fiction about love, care relation etc. Last Saturday, while escorting him home to see movie “the sound of music”, he showed his reluctance and indicated his lack of interest in such kind of movie.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>what to make him read more and enjoy “empathy and sympathy” part of the books?</p></li>
<li><p>Any books with short and precise essays or articles around 300 words as reference to improve his writing skills?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>by the way, he is now reading “Freak the Mighty” as his reading assignment. He has strong negative feeling about this book. His reasons are: not well written and weird…he didn’t further elaborate.</p>
<p>My S liked more plot-driven stories and did not care for psychological insights, relationships, etc… If you want to nurture your son’s love of reading, let him pick whatever he wants to read rather than force him to read “good” literature. Reading a lot will improve his writing, whether it’s detective stories or sci-fi.</p>
<p>OTOH there’s quite a bit of psychological relationships that gets sneaked into some very enjoyable plot-filled books. My kids would hate The Sound of Music too. How about old Alfred Hitchcock movies? Wonderfully made - very subtle.</p>
<p>I hated Christopher Paolini. His stories were so cliched and badly written, I thought it was hilarious. In middle school.</p>
<p>My 12 year old son reads everything, even books I would designate as “girl books”. Lately he has been very much into Clive Cussler.
[Amazon.com:</a> clive cusler](<a href=“http://amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/105-5126676-0943639?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=clive+cusler]Amazon.com:”>http://amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/105-5126676-0943639?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=clive+cusler)
He is also enjoying Plane and Pilot magazine, but that is a different story…</p>
<p>My middle school son, who HATES to read, loved the trilogy books:
- The City of Ember
2)The People of Sparks - The Prophet of Yonwood</p>
<p>The first book is about a couple kids who live in an underground city in a post apocolyptic world. </p>
<p>He also enjoyed Holes and Flush. </p>
<p>My son’s 8th grade gifted Language Arts teacher has recommended that her class read:</p>
<p>The Nine Rights of Every Writer: A Guide for Teachers by Vicki Spandel
The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
The Seven Habits of Effective Teens by Sean Covey
and On Writing by Stephen King (this is one of the best books about writing that his teacher ever read but it contains lots of language issues here, including the f-word). </p>
<p>HIs teacher actually has a huge online list for the kids (since they are required to read at least “100 points worth” every marking period quarter). My son, who again hates to read, usually tries to pick books with lots of points to minimize his quantity. He said that he did enjoy last book that he read (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain…worth a whopping 50 points). </p>
<hr>
<p>At our middle school all the kids have to read three books over the summer. One book is free choice and two from the list I’ve copied below for the incoming 8th grade students. The first list is for on target readers and the second list is for the rigorous and gifted reading students. </p>
<p>Angels Turn Their Backs- Margaret Buffie
Beast- Donna Jo Napoli
All Creatures Great and Small- James Herriot
Around the World in Eighty Days- Jules Verne
The Boxer- Kathleen Karr
Chinese Cinderella -Adeline Yen Mah
Dunk -David Lubar<br>
The Graduation of Jake Moon- Barbara Park
Just Ella -Margaret Peterson Haddix
Little Men or Little Women- Louise May Alcott
Profiles in Courage- John F. Kennedy
Streams to the River, River to the Sea- Scott O’Dell
Ties That Bind, Ties That Break- Lenzey Namioka
Twisted Summer- Willo Davis Roberts
Visiting Miss Caples -Elizabeth Cody Kimmel
The Yearling- Majorie Kinnan Rawlings </p>
<p>Alice En El Pais De Las Maravillas (Read it in Spanish) -Lewis Carrol<br>
All Quiet on the Western Front -Eric Maria Remarque
City Of the- Beasts Isabel Allende
Code Talker - Joseph Bruchac
Firegold- Dia Calhoun
Gorillas in the Mist - Diane Fossey
Robinson Crusoe- Daniel Defoe<br>
Speak - Laurie Halse Anderson (YA)<br>
Starship Troopers- Robert Heinlein
Tightrope- Gillian Cross
Under the War Torn Sky -Laura Elliot
Zazoo- Richard Mosher
Z for Zachariah- Robert C. O’Brien </p>
<p>My boys loved the same books as mathmom’s sons. We must own 20 Orson Scott Card books.</p>
<p>Back when my boys were in middle school, Grisham books were all the rage. They’re easy to read, move quickly, interesting, and are not emo, yet do have components of relationship issues without going soap-operish.</p>
<p>Consider some of the Jack London novels. Also, my D’s eight grade class read Jurassic Park – it was the one book that year that all the students appeared to like.</p>
<p>mathmom</p>
<p>why your kids hate the movie “the sound of music”?</p>
<p>I agree with a previous poster marite:</p>
<p>Let him find his own reading outside of school assignments. He’ll get enough litereature as he goes through school. The most important thing you can do now is not kill his love of reading by pushing stuff onto him that he is not ready to accept. Be happy that he enjoys the books and magazines he does. I defintely wouldn’t worry about him not reading typical “girl stuff” yet. AFter all, ask most 11 year old boys what they think of girls and the answer is still “Ewwwwwwwww.” But Time at 11? Whew! I’m impressed. </p>
<p>For what its worth my guys – one in HS, one in middle – revel ( and the older one did) in the “boy stuff”: sports, music, horror, science fiction, and fantasy. Sports Illustrated, Vibe, gaming magazines, as well as the Redwall books (Jacques) the Eragon books (Paolini), Tolkein, Ray Bradbury, Walter Dean Myers, and Stephen King. Occassionaly they will open up a newspaper to read. (This is all in addition to assigned school reading.) </p>
<p>“The Sound of Music” would have made them retch. I can hear them now. “Who cares about Maria? When are they going to shoot the Nazis?” Don’t worry about pushing romance and relationships onto your boy. If he doesn’t find it himself, in one book or another, he’ll “suffer” through the Brontes and Jane Austen in high shcool, just like the rest of us did!</p>
<p>" why your kids hate the movie “the sound of music”?"</p>
<p>They hate nearly all musicals - couldn’t stand any of the Disney movies. The only musical they have ever liked was Spamalot. Actually I hate *The Sound of Music *too, though I haven’t actually ever seen the whole movie. I just heard the songs ad nauseum when it first came out.</p>
<p>I want to add, I think the critical thing for good SAT scores and good reading skills in general is to read a lot. My son who reads nothing but sci fi and fantasy (and computer manuals) managed to get an 800 on the critical reading section of the SAT despite years of B’s in English because he hates analyzing literature.</p>
<p>I am a professional in this field and I have to just third Marite. Let kids lead and read what they like; writing will improve as language skills improve.</p>
<p>“Good literature” is an acquired taste that many never get. That’s okay. Can still be great readers and writers.</p>
<p>About empathy and emotional IQ == not sure that can be taught. But Vonnegut is a nice bridge between “boy” (forgive gender bias here) type books and great literature. S loved him. </p>
<p>An intelligent middle schooler can read any novel written for adults if he is interested. Let him browse Borders with no constraint and see what he likes.</p>