<p>My school has started a great new program to model reading for our students - we have a cute logo on our web pages and on the school-wide video system where we promote what we are currently reading.
Ok, I just (finally) finished Middlesex. Nope.
Reading The Known World, but too brutal and rape scenes.
Bring Up The Bodies…no again.</p>
<p>I love the YA literature and have Wonder on my page this week.
If you have read anything good lately that is also 11-14 year appropriate, please give me some suggestions.</p>
<p>I love reading biographies of successful people who overcame great odds. I don’t know if this is what you’re looking for, but I’m reading parts of this book about John Rockefeller:</p>
<p>My middle school daughter and her friends love the Divergent (by Roth) series. I have not read them because I dislike that genre of literature (the future and it is never simple).</p>
<p>Enders Game, Pride and Prejudice, I capture the castle, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, Who Could That Be At This Hour?, Violins of Autumn - all great reads for both adults and teens.</p>
<p>I love biographies/autobiographies–and my Nook! In the past 6 months, I have read biographies of President Obama’s mother, Doug Brinkley’s biography of Walter Cronkite, David Maraniss’ bio of President Obama and I just finished Sonya Sotomayor’s book. All were excellent portraits of exceptional individuals. Next on my list is Sandra Day O’Connor’s book. Also read the “Presidents’ Club.”</p>
<p>Autobiography
Roald Dahl’s two volume autobiography - Boy and* Solo.*
Feynman’s Surely You’re Joking Mr. Feyneman
Vera Brittain *Testament of Youth<a href=“probably%20too%20long”>/I</a></p>
<p>Sciency Stuff
Oliver Sacks * The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat *
Jared Diamond Guns, Germs, and Steel
Richard Preston The Hot Zone</p>
<p>Sci Fi
Ursula LeGuin -* The Left Hand of Darkness*
Isaac Asimov - The Foundation Trilogy or I, Robot
Joe Haldeman - The Forever War - shorter than most and a real page turner
Lois McMasters Bujold - Shards of Honor Georgette Heyer meets Space Opera</p>
<p>Fantasy
Tamora Pierce - Alana books (some discrete premarital sex in the last book of the set - nice strong heroine), or The Circle of Magic books (totally G-rated as far as I can remember)
Megan Whalen Turner - The Thief and its sequels
Robin McKinley - The Blue Sword</p>
<p>The Hunger Games series. Not great literature, but a terrific read. I’ll second To Kill a Mockingbird and Enders Game, and add The Hobbit. Gripping science books: The Demon Under the Microscope, The Great Influenza, Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded. In the inspirational and horse-lovers genres: Seabiscuit: An American Legend.</p>
<p>mathmom, I read The Hot Zone 20 years ago and found it pretty disturbing. It isn’t the first thing that would spring to mind for kids’ reading, but I’ve seen it on a number of lists and it was assigned to my D in HS. Any insight about why this book is becoming something of a standard for adolescents and teens?</p>
<p>Fall To Grace and Singer by Kerry Casey are great books for young readers. Check them out online. My BIL at a MN reservation school had a great response with his school readers with these books. A great middle school book is Touching Spirit Bear, great lessons. My girls read this for their TAG classes</p>
<p>Oh…I just finished reading Louise Erdrich’s novel The Round House that just won the National Book Award for 2012. Tough story but is a coming of age topic with tough sexual /rape issues and Native American issues. Lots of opportunities for discussion. read it and see what you think. My book club loved it.</p>
<p>Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn? I also remember reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, The Giver (one of my favorites), and 12 angry men. All middle school books so they’re definitely appropriate and also good reads.</p>
<p>The classic ,“A Wrinkle in Time”, Madeleine L’Engle. “Up A Road Slowly”, Irene Hunt -one of my all time favorites. A new favorite, “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children”, Ransom Riggs.</p>
<p>I’m one of those people who are always reading several books at a time. It bugs my mom to no end, but she’s a “one-booker”, what does she know? :P</p>
<p>Anyway, I started rereading some of my favorite books when I was younger so I’m reading:</p>
<ol>
<li>The Immortals by Tamora Pierce</li>
<li>Song of the Lionness by Tamora Pierce</li>
</ol>
<p>These, besides Harry Potter (J.K. Rowling was my idol :), were some of my favorite books when I was younger. I absolutely adored them. There’s a couple places in Song of the Lionness where sex is implied, but I don’t even remember noticing that as a kid. I was rereading it now and thought, “woah, that’s a little inappropriate”.</p>
<p>And then of course I’m reading this for class:</p>
<p>1) The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde</p>
<p>This play is hilarious and ridiculous. I’m way too excited to be reading something upbeat in English. :)</p>
<p>When my daughter was in middle school, all the parents hosted book groups & it had been a long time since I had read To Kill a Mockingbird.
I chose it for my group, but at least one of the parents decided her child wasn’t to read it.
:o
There are discussions of rape, racism, alcoholism & incest, so be prepared to discuss that and help the students put it in context.</p>
<p>Oh, I see you’re looking for suggestions not just what we’re reading! Well in that case I have a million and two!</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini (I loved Eragon, the later books didn’t live up to the first one, but they were still very good. They are a little violent, not too bad though.)</p></li>
<li><p>Percy Jackson & the Olympians, The Heroes of Olympus, and The Kane Chronicles by Rick Riodan (All of these are kid friendly and even though Percy Jackson was my favorite in terms of characters and plot, the later books are written at a higher level.) </p></li>
<li><p>The Gideon Trilogy by Linda Buckley-Archer (Cute, kid friendly, and much of the story takes place in 1763 England, that’s a win for me.)</p></li>
<li><p>Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (Has a bit of a spooky edge, but isn’t really scary. It ends up just being a fun read.)</p></li>
<li><p>The Penderwicks and The Penderwicks at Point Mouette by Jeanne Birdsall (The first one is absolutely adorable and amazing, but the second is fun as well.)</p></li>
<li><p>The Thief Lord, Dragon Rider, Inkheart, Inkspell, and Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke (Thief Lord is amazing. I read Dragon Rider many times. The “Ink” series is good, but the first book is by far my favorite.)</p></li>
<li><p>Hoot, Flush, and Scat by Carl Hiaasen (Good books for the animal lover/rights activist.)</p></li>
<li><p>The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathon Stroud (I only have the first and third of these books and I have never read the second, so it obviously wasn’t a favorite of mine. However, they were still good and appropriate.)</p></li>
<li><p>The Divide and Back to the Divide by Elizabeth Kay (These books had me making up all kinds of new creatures after I was done reading them. :)</p></li>
<li><p>Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett (And so the obsession with blue M&Ms begun…)</p></li>
<li><p>100 Cupboards by N.D. Wilson (Cute, not a stand out, but still a good read.)</p></li>
<li><p>The Lost Children by Carolyn Cohagan (Again, not a stand out, but still fun.)</p></li>
<li><p>The Unicorn Chronicles by Bruce Coville (Not as goofy as it sounds! :)</p></li>
<li><p>The Knightley Academy Series by Violet Haberdasher (Reminsicent of Harry Potter, but I still really enjoyed it.)</p></li>
<li><p>The Prophecy of the Stones by Flavia Bujor (I’d hoped to beat Flavia by publishing a book before fifteen. Unfortunately, I’m still working on that goal, but this book is very good!)</p></li>
<li><p>The House on Falling Star Hill by Michael Molloy</p></li>
<li><p>Dalemark Quartet by Diana Wynne Jones</p></li>
<li><p>Artemis Fowl Series and Half Moon Investigations by Eoin Colfer</p></li>
<li><p>Chanters of Tremaris Trilogy by Kate Constable (I’ve only read the first one, but that one was definitely appropriate.)</p></li>
<li><p>The Land of Elyon Series by Patrick Carman</p></li>
<li><p>The Time Quartet by Madeline L’Engle (They’re classics.)</p></li>
<li><p>The “Gregor the Overlander” Series by Suzanne Collins (I much preferred these to the Hunger Games.)</p></li>
<li><p>Incarceron by Catherine Fisher (A little bit of a freaky premise, but not inappropriate.)</p></li>
<li><p>The Secret of Castle Cant by K.P. Bath</p></li>
<li><p>The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin </p></li>
<li><p>Olive’s Ocean by Kevin Henkes</p></li>
<li><p>All of Sharon Creech’s books. She’s a great author for this age range. My favorites were: Absolutely Normal Chaos, Walk Two Moons, Chasing Redbird, Ruby Holler, and Bloomability. (Although, I still passionately hate Love That Dog. That book made me sob my eyes out. XD)</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I’m sure there’s more downstairs, but these are just the ones on my bookshelves in my room. Hopefully I didn’t inundate you with books (and my commentary)! Good luck with the program!</p>
<p>The Timeriders series by Alex Scarrow is quite good and there are now 7 volumes to keep you busy. It’s a time travel/alternate history series with some interesting characters; I especially liked the team’s friendly Terminator-type protector named Bob and a female version of Terminator-Bob, both of whom become less robotic and more human as the series progresses.</p>
<p>I will second Diana Wynne Jones - my daughter’s favorite author since she was a young teen. Try Howl’s Moving Castle or her Christomanci series.</p>