<p>I am in a book group with my 13 year old 7th grader. All of the other girls are in 7th grade as well. The girls take turns presenting 3 books, then the girls vote on which book for the following month.</p>
<p>We are thinking of putting a spin on the selections for our turn of hosting/presenting. We are looking for books that have been made into movies. The thought is to read the book, watch the movie at our house, and then discuss.</p>
<p>So I am looking for suggestions. My sister and I came up with:</p>
<p>Golden Compass, To Kill a Mockingbird, I Capture the Castle, and Earagon (did I spell that wrong?). I thought that Little Women might be too preachy and considered Pride and Prejudice but I am an Austen purist and prefer the miniseries to the movie. Maybe if we watched Bride and Prejudice instead?</p>
<p>Any more suggestions? I’d rather not have anything gory like a Stephen King book/movie because I am a wimp.</p>
<p>Personally I wouldn’t do Eragon - it’s derivitive and just not that well written. I might consider:
E. Nesbit’s The Railway Children.<br>
Rabbit Proof Fench by Doris Pilkington.
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
Whale Rider DVD by Keisha Castle-Hughes</p>
<p>Kite Runner
Sisterhood of Traveling Pants
Princess Diaries
The Secret Garden
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Because of Winn Dixie
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas</p>
<p>My sister was trying remember who wrote the Railway Children. Thanks.</p>
<p>They read The Boy in the Striped Pajamas about 6 months ago. I haven’t read The Kite Runner. My impression is that it might be a little intense. Maybe it would bring up some good talking points.</p>
<p>I’ll start a list with all these suggestions and take my daughter to a big bookstore so that she look through them.</p>
<p>It is kind of a difficult group to shop for. Some reluctant readers, some read 3 books a week, some look 16, my daughter looks 10, some with makeup, some without, homeschool, charter school, regular school. The group formed out of soccer team about three years ago.</p>
<p>Here’s a few more:
Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen by Dyan Sheldon
Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
A Ring of Endless Light by Madeleine L’Engle
Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt</p>
<p>Classics… A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, My Antonia</p>
<p>Really old-fashioned, but might just hit the spot: “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn,” Betty Smith, 1943. D read it when she was in 7th grade and really loved it. It was made into a movie 1945.</p>
<p>Tuck Everlasting is a sensationally well-written book, but probably aimed a little below what I think of as the 7th grade level. </p>
<p>The Princess Diaries is an interesting idea because the movie is so deeply, deeply inferior to the book. Every single decision they made was wrong (and insulting to their audience). But the book is really only a B+ sort of genre novel in the first place.</p>
<p>Boys that age might like The Princess Bride. Not so sure about girls.</p>
<p>If you are swinging towards children’s books rather than adult books, you might think about Mrs. Frisby And The Rats Of NIMH (and The Secret Of NIMH). Or Howl’s Moving Castle (with its interesting cross-cultural discussion possibilities, since the film is a Japanese version of a British book).</p>
<p>If you really like the Jane Austen idea, how about Emma/Clueless (which is really quite faithful to the original, and a fine, fun movie)?</p>
<p>If it were MY kid and her friends back in 7th grade, we might end up with The Virgin Suicides or Atonement.</p>
<p>Holes by Louis Sachar. Discussed that in our MDBG when D was in 7th grade and loved the movie when it came out, even though D was in high school by then!</p>
<p>Maybe next year, when the girls are a little more mature, you could try Lovely Bones. D and I read it when she was in 8th grade. Very good. It will come out in theatres this December.</p>
<p>I still remember reading “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn”- I was probably in 7th grade. What a wonderful book- it addresses adult themes, but in a kind of oblique way, as opposed to the way things are presented in this day and age. It would be a unique reading experience. The movie is good, too.</p>
<p>My D seconds the “To Kill a Mockingbird” selection. She loves how the movie so closely follows the book. How about “The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe”?</p>