Best Teen Books discussion
Teen books about tragedy and/or the power of groups
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Shattering Glass - Gail Giles (I think) I used this as summer reading for rising 9th graders, but I think it would work for 7th grade advanced. It contains very descriptive violence near the end, but check it out. - Misty
I forgot two. The Last Book in the Universe
Killing Mr. Griffin
I think these might fit in.
Scorpion Shards by Neal Shusterman, Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (I have taught this before and it is great!), Protector of the Small series by Tamora Pierce, The Siterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares.
Battle for Jericho by Sharon Draper is great, tragic and involves group of HS kids!Breathing Underwater by Alex Flinn is great too! The group is his anger-mgmt meeting he attends...
When I was in 7th grade all those books bored me. I was so upset that I was forced to read them.Give a Boy a Gun, It was wonderful. It shows tragedy in a school as a whole. It shows how just two people can effect a whole town.
Pukebucket,All of the listed books bored you? Even Shudterman, Card, Pierce, Draper? Never reas Give a Boy a Gun, but it sounds like a similar tone to Sharon Draper's books. Check them out.
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson--although perhaps too much for 7th grade. It's an overused, over recommended book, but she deals really well with rape and how because of one girl's actions before entering high school, she gets shoved out of her group.
I love books that depict tragedy through the eyes of teens. Some of my favorites...Bless the Beasts and Children - Glendon Swarthout
That Was Then, This Is Now - S.E. Hinton
Tiger Eyes - Judy Blume
Daughters of Eve - Lois Duncan
The Pigman - Paul Zindel
A Day No Pigs Would Die - Robert Newton Peck
Gentlehands - M.E. Kerr
Can you tell I grew up in the 1970s? ;-)
Two that I just read may be too dark for 7th grade but great anyway and worth a mention--Tyrell by Coe Booth is about a 17 yr old whose family is homeless because his dad is in prison and his mom won't work. Now with his little brother, Tyrell lives in a roach infested halfway house waiting for a better place to live. But he has lots working against him and the book really explores how he copes--drops out of school, really loyal to a girl and taking care of his brother. Tyrell wants to provide but is also overwhelmed by how to do it and so we see Tyrell spiral and try to do right for himself. Another one I read right after that was Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin---Matthew the older brother tries to shield his two sisters from their crazy, abusive mother. Nikki professes to love her children but harms them, scares them and Matthew tries to get help from a man named Murdoch who he befriends after seeing him come to the rescue in a hold-up. Matthew's love for his sisters makes him do almost anything to keep them safe. Nikki's sanity slips as she is plunged into psychosis but she really thinks she is a great mom. These two books are great survival tales and the teens are heroes despite tremendous odds.
The Outsiders is a great one.
I just read the Outsiders at school. It was okay. Maybe I would have liked it better if I wasn't forced to read it! :)
I'm compiling books to do a literature circle with a theme of the power of groups in my 7th grade advanced class. As I've started, I realized I also have a slight theme of tragedy going. So far the books I'm thinking of using are:
The Lord of the Flies by William Golding, Watership Down by Richard Adams,
The Wave by Todd Strasser,
I am the Cheese by Robert Cormier, and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.
Any other ideas?
I like to offer 6 or 7 choices is I can...