Top Ten to Teach: Middle School Edition

Here is the list for my ideal two year course (7th-8th grade). You will see I start 7th grade with novels that are fairly easy in terms of reading (Freak the Mighty et al.) but contain powerful messages. By the time they are finishing up 8th grade they are tackling Bastard Out of Carolina (read it if you haven’t; it is not “Young Adult” but just great literature with a young protagonist). In between are great works of speculative fiction from the classic The Princess Bride to the outstanding Un Lun Dun, Summerland, and the dystopian Uglies. Of course there will be lots of important poetry, short stories, and essays to support the texts. The texts are interrelated by such themes as friendship, the hero’s quest, peer and social pressure, being the outsider, and being yourself. For space concerns, I won’t write descriptions for each.

Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick
The Schwǝ was Here by Neal Shusterman
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
Summer Reading and the start of 8th: The Princess Bride by William Goldman
Un Lun Dun by China Mieville
Uglies by Scott Westerfield
Summerland by Michael Chabon
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Bastard out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison

Comments?

Holiday Break Reading

What do you plan to read over the holiday break? I always pick a few books that I haven't been able to get around to during the school year. My picks for this winter: Matched and Speak, both of which I picked up at the Book Fair.