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Has anyone read "The Watson's go to Birmingham" ? That book was one in my classroom cupboards that I was unfamiliar with, though appears to be centered on racial inequality in the 60's.
It's a good book. The author also wrote Bud, Not Buddy, which is set in the Depression (also good, maybe better). The Watson's isn't so much about racial inequality as about a certain family. The inequality part comes in when they take their trip to the South. The significance of 1963 (in the title) is that the author has put them in Birmingham at the time those four girls were bombed/burned in that Baptist church.
Both books will appeal to kids.
Another good one is Words by Heart (Sebestyen). It's about a black family that has moved to a white area (with all the problems that came with that) in the early 1900s. The book begins with the girl winning a scripture memory contest at the school. (She's got those words "by heart.") The father is a peaceful man who takes the scripture very seriously and would rather be hurt than hurt others. Late in the story, the girl witnesses what this means in her father's life (his death). It's a different kind of "by heart" - actually living by those words she could recite so fluently.
From one of the 7th grade teacher websites at my daughter's school...last year they used these novels:
The Pearl - John Steinbeck,
The Cay - Theodore Taylor,
The Watsons Go To Birmingham - Christopher Paul Curtis,
The Giver - Lois Lowry,
Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
There were also many short stories or poems (from their textbook and from online sources) like Dark They Were by Ray Bradbury and Norse mythology.
From one of the 7th grade teacher websites at my daughter's school...last year they used these novels:
The Pearl - John Steinbeck,
The Cay - Theodore Taylor,
The Watsons Go To Birmingham - Christopher Paul Curtis,
The Giver - Lois Lowry,
Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
My nephew read Fahrenheit 451 in 9th grade, which reminds me - be sure to check with the high school so that you don't steal any of their books, and with the elementary school, so you don't repeat any.
Do you know yet if your students are motivated or reluctant readers? Advanced or struggling?
My nephew read Fahrenheit 451 in 9th grade, which reminds me - be sure to check with the high school so that you don't steal any of their books, and with the elementary school, so you don't repeat any.
Do you know yet if your students are motivated or reluctant readers? Advanced or struggling?
Judging the test scores in the school, most would appear to be struggling/reluctant readers. This is my first year in the district, so I won't know all until I have a chance to meet my students and see first hand.
I will probably do a bunch short stories and poetry woven into our course work, since those can be done in a shorter period of time. But I also know that the way to become a better reader is to read more often and of broad texts. So I do want to challenge my students.
I know the HS teaches Lord of the Flies (thankfully-it's not one of my favourites), and I know one of the English teachers teaches Romeo and Juliet or some equivalent Shakespeare in the 10th or 11th grade.
Thanks for the ideas.... even if not read as a part of a classroom project, I might pick up several of these suggestions for the classroom library.
Here's the summer reading list from our MS. The 7th graders all have to read The Cay and The Outsiders and then their choice from one of these books:
Aiming
Angel on the Square - Gloria Whelan
Harriet Tubman: Conductor of the Underground Railroad - A. Petry
Knots in My Yo-Yo String: Autobiography of a Kid - Jerry Spinelli
My Brother Sam Is Dead - J.L. and C. Collier
The Pigman & Me - Paul Zindel
No Promises in the Wind - Irene Hunt
Out of the Dust - Karen Hesse
The Seven Songs of Merlin or companion books- T.A. Barron
The Upstairs Room - Johanna Reiss On Target
Arm of the Starfish - Madeleine L'Engle
The Caribbean and Its People - T.W. Mayer
Crusader - Edward Bloor
Ender’s Game – Orson Scott Card
Eva - Peter Dickinson
The Face on the Milk Carton or companion books - Carolyn B. Cooney
Fever, 1793 - Laurie Halse Anderson
Ghost Soldier - Elaine Alphin
Hoot – Carl Hiaasen
I, Robot - Isaac Asimov
The Last Silk Dress - A. Rinaldi
The Lottery Rose – Irene Hunt
The Moves Make the Man - Bruce Brooks
Rifles for Watie - Harold Keith
A Soldier’s Heart - Gary Paulsen
Taste of Salt - Frances Temple
The Trouble with Lemons - Daniel Hayes Bullseye
Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman - Ernest J. Gaines
Behind Rebel Lines - Seymour Reit
Women’s Voices: A Documentary History of Women in America - Lorie J. McElroy
For 8th grade, all the kids have to read Scribbler of Dreams and All Over but the Shouting They also have to read one of these books, their choice:
Aiming
Aquamarine – Alice Hoffman
Blackwater – Eve Bunting
Let the Circle Be Unbroken – Mildred Taylor
Living on Mars: Mission to the Red Planet – Michael Cole
Rumblefish – S.E. Hinton
A Single Shard – Linda Sue Park
Slave Dancer – Paula Fox
Woodsong – Gary Paulsen On Target
Angels Turn Their Backs – Maragaret Buffie
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
The Graduation of Jake Moon – Barbara Park
Just Ella – Margaret Peterson Haddix
Little Men or Little Women – Louisa 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 – Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Bullseye
Alicia En El Pais De Las Maravillas (Read it in Spanish) – Lewis Carroll
All Quiet on the Western Front – Erich Maria Remarque
City of the Beasts – Isabel Allende
Code Talker – Jospeh Bruchac
Firegold – Dia Calhoun
Gorillas in the Mist – Diane Fossey
Robinson Crusoe – Daniel Defoe
Starship Troopers – Robert Heinlein
Tightrope – Gillian Cross
Under a War Torn Sky – Laura Elliott
Zazoo – Richard Mosher
Z for Zachariah – Robert C. O’Brien
Wow, I can't believe that no one has mentioned Animal Farm. I read it in 6th grade and still remember the lessons re: government that I learned from reading that book. And even though the point of it is very advanced, the writing and metaphor make it very accessible to younger students (not to mention, it gives teachers a great opportunity to talk about metaphor with their students). There is also a cartoon movie version that can be shown in addition to the book. The only drawback is that it is a very sad story ):
There is also Mrs. Mike, which incorporates elements of Native American cultures.
I would suggest finding Native American authors and stories.
WALKING THE CHOCTAW ROAD by Tim Tingle (not a novel, a collection of stories)
THE BIRCHBARK HOUSE by Louise Erdrich (a story in the same time frame as Little House on the Prairie, but told from an Objibway perspective. This is the first novel of a trilogy)
DAUGHTER OF SUQUA by Diane Johnston Hamm
DOVE DREAM by Hendle Rumbaut
EAGLE SONG by Joseph Bruchac
GUESTS by Michael Dorris (Thanksgiving story told from the POV of a 7 year old Native boy)
THE HEART OF A CHIEF by Joseph Bruchac (Story set on a fictional reservation in New Hampshire told from the POV of an 11 year old facing many problems. Touches on mixed race themes)
LONGWALKER'S JOURNEY: A NOVEL OF THE CHOCTAW TRAIL OF TEARS by Beatrice O. Harrell
MORNING GIRL by Michael Dorris (won the Scott O'dell prize for fiction)
OWL IN THE CEDAR TREE by Natachee Scott Momaday
RAIN IS NOT MY INDIAN NAME by Cynthia Leitich Smith
SKELETON MAN by Joseph Bruchac
THE WORLD IN GRANDFATHER'S HANDS by Craig Kee Strete
Michael Dorris has several more novels.
Dorothy
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