I have the great pleasure of teaching a class for reluctant readers in addition to my regular English 9 courseload this year. And yes, I'm serious. Watching the kids in this class grow as readers, learn to pick out books that they will enjoy on their own, and most of all develop a love of literature (some more than others, of course ... I'm not delusional :-)) has been one of the highlights of my school year.
I just went through their reading logs and wrote down all the books that have been read in class since school started in August. I was absolutely blown away by the list ... and just so, so proud of my students : )
Since many of you that read this blog are aspiring writers (not to mention teachers), I decided to post the list. I realize it's long, but I thought it would be valuable to give you some ideas of what appeals to YA/reluctant readers--if you're a writer or a teacher. I should also note that I log along with the kids, and I did include the titles from my own reading log. What makes me especially happy, though, is that it isn't easy to figure out where on the list my titles are.
Monster (Walter Dean Myers)
Cracker Jackson (Betsy Byers)
Maniac Magee (Jerry Spinelli)
The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
Hole in my Life (Jack Gantos)
Tears of a Tiger (Sharon Draper)
That was Then, This is Now (S.E. Hinton)
Forged by Fire (Sharon Draper)
Darkness Before Dawn (Sharon Draper)
One Good Punch (Rich Wallace)
The Old Man and the Sea (Ernest Hemingway)
The River (Gary Paulsen)
Holes (Louis Sachar)
More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (Alvin Schwartz)
Sharpe’s Rifles (Bernard Cornwell)
The Boy Who Dared (Susan Campbell Bartoletti)
Loser (Jerry Spinelli)
Paranoid Park (Blake Nelson)
The Boxer and the Spy (Robert B. Parker)
Crackback (John Coy)
Iceman (Chris Lynch)
Bringing Down the House (Ben Mezrich)
Acceleration (Graham McNamee)
Paper Trail (Barbara Shaw Gilbert)
Skate (Michael Harmon)
Digital Fortress (Dan Brown)
Bone Chiller (Graham McNamee)
A Gathering of Days (Joan W. Blos)
Come Spring (Ben Ames Williams)
Eragon (Christopher Paolini)
Eldest (Christopher Paolini)
Brisingr (Christopher Paolini)
A Separate Peace (John Knowles)
A Thousand Splendid Suns (Khaled Hosseini)
The Beans of Egypt, Maine (Carolyn Chute)
The Castle of Llyr (Lloyd Alexander)
Taran Wanderer (Lloyd Alexander)
Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man (Fannie Flagg)
Here on Earth (Alice Hoffman)
The Host (Stephenie Meyer)
The Joy Luck Club (Amy Tan)
The House on Mango Street (Sandra Cisneros)
The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
Just Listen (Sarah Dessen)
Lamb (Christopher Moore)
The Ladies of Missalonghi (Colleen McCullough)
Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
Caretakers (Tabitha King)
Twilight (Stephenie Meyer)
New Moon (Stephenie Meyer)
Go Ask Alice (Anonymous)
Crank (Ellen Hopkins)
Glass (Ellen Hopkins)
Impulse (Ellen Hopkins)
Burned (Ellen Hopkins)
Beastly (Alex Flinn)
The da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
Nineteen Minutes (Jodi Picoult)
The People of Sparks (Jeanne DuPrau)
Friedrich (Hans Peter Richter)
Just Annoying (Andy Griffiths)
Slam (Walter Dean Myers)
Omega Place (Graham Marks)
“The Body” (Stephen King)
Black Hawk Down (Mark Bowden)
Blood Brothers (Richard Price)
The Compound (S.A. Bodeen)
L8R, G8R (Lauren Myracle)
Stealing Heaven (Elizabeth Scott)
Someday this Pain will be Useful to You (Peter Cameron)
Confessions of a Not-It Girl (Melissa Kantor)
The Break-Up Bible (Melissa Kantor)
My Sister’s Keeper (Jodi Picoult)
Perfect (Natasha Friend)
Fearless (Tim Lott)
Boy Meet Boy (David Levithan)
Hangman’s Curse (Frank Peretti)
A Life Without Consequences (Stephen Elliot)
All that Remains (Bruce Brooks)
A Girl in Parts (Jasmine Paul)
That Summer (Sarah Dessen)
Becoming Chloe (Catherine Ryan Hyde)
How to Deal (Sarah Dessen)
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Ann Brasheares)
Head Games (Mariah Fredericks)
Two-Way Street (Lauren Barnholdt)
13 is Too Young to Die (Isaacsen-Bright)
A Lifetime of Secrets (Frank Warren)
Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key (Jack Gantos)
The Great Gilly Hopkins (Katherine Paterson)
Deadline (Chris Crutcher)
The Truth About Forever (Sarah Dessen)
If I Have a Wicked Stepmother, Where’s My Prince? (Melissa Kantor)
Tiger Eyes (Judy Blume)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Are Minorities Discouraged from Taking Upper-Level Classes?: The Elephant in the Room
As a public school teacher for sixteen years, I sometimes feel like I’ve seen it all. I’ve seen Standards come and go (and despite the brou...
-
Friendship is an amazing thing. It's so odd how you can connect so strongly and completely with other people sometimes. Perhaps the be... -
I have probably said this before, but it probably bears repeating. The weather is an ever-changing state, a difference in temperature and p...
-
.JPG)
I've come to the conclusion that, when I'm having trouble sleeping, it's far more beneficial to find something to occupy my tim...
I found that reluctant readers REALLY took to Twilight. I don't teach highschool anymore, but my kids used to ravish those books!
ReplyDeleteThis list is priceless! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThere is a lot of great ones on that list.
ReplyDeleteIt's varied and includes quite a few that I wouldn't have guessed (Sharpe's Rifles).
ReplyDeleteI just let my two teenage home-ed boys pick what they like, but make sure that they read a little every day.
Not easy for the eldest who is Dyslexic and Aspergers.
That's a great list with so many wonderful books! Keep up the good work. :D
ReplyDeleteWhat I loved about this list is how broad it is--it's got classics, it's got cliches, it's got pulp, it's got everything.
ReplyDeleteWhat it doesn't have is a teacher standing over a kid requiring them to read a certain number of pages a day in a book they have no interest in reading.
The kids in the class are so incredibly special because they are, to a child, extremely bright and capable--just reluctant readers who, as a result, missed out, fell behind, and are trying desperately to catch up.
They are doing such phenomenal things. This list is the least of it, but it's probably the most impressive on the surface.
Thanks for commenting--I told the class I was going to blog about the books they've read (in list form, very anonymously, et cetera), and they were thrilled. They'll be even more stoked to see your responses. THANK YOU :) !
Exactly! The love for reading has to come from within, it's not something that can be forced. And, we all have different reading tastes. Doesn't make it good or bad, just makes us different. :D
ReplyDeleteGreat list! Teaching is so rewarding. I miss being in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteWindsong--And getting them to develop their own reading tastes and not look to me with blank faces each time they finished a book was the hardest challenge.
ReplyDeleteSolvange Sherrie--It is rewarding in many ways. It is also exhausting and very frustrating at times. I am exceedingly fortunate in my job this year : )
That's a great list for any ninth-grade class. I appreciate your comments and wish you could teach this class in every school in the country. Please pass on my congratulations to your students and tell them I'm honored to be on their list with Crackback.
ReplyDeleteJohn--I can't tell you how privileged I feel that you took the time to write. "Crackback" was a hit with several of my students, and they will be beyond excited to know that its writer took the time to respond to a post about them. Thank you again : )
ReplyDeleteWhat a great list. I'm so honored you have The Compound on there, I hope the students liked it:)
ReplyDeleteWhat a terrific idea to post this list! You amaze me!
ReplyDeleteStephanie--"The Compound" is impressing the young man currently reading it very much. In fact, he asks some questions that I'm having a hard time answering (about the nature of nuclear bombs and such) because I have a literature-focused brain and I've never read it (yet :)). There's an e-mail on your site ... would it be possible for me to e-mail you a question on his behalf? Thank you again for the great work you do and for giving my students a good, quality, thought-provoking book to read.
ReplyDeleteJanine--Your positive comments (coming at just the right time) always amaze me : )
ReplyDeleteGreat to see Stephanie here, too, and glad the Compound is on the list. Those students who liked Crackback might also like BOX OUT, which is also published by Scholastic. Turning nonreaders into readers is deep, great work. Thank you again.
ReplyDeleteYes, feel free to email any questions:)
ReplyDeleteCan I just tell the authors that commented here how totally pumped my students are that you acknowledged them? They make me check this post every day to see "if anyone else is on there." That's not a hint : ), just a note of appreciation. : ) : ) : )
ReplyDelete