Sixth Grade Reading List Wanted

[Dakota rube]

Originally Posted by milosz

Twain - A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer Verne - Around The World In 80 Days Crane - The Red Badge of Courage London - White Fang, etc.. Golding - Lord of the Flies (hated this with all my soul, but it's still considered a classic by most) pick a 'classic' poetry anthology - American, European, whatever Austen - Pride and Prejudice (more apt if we're talking about a girl - 12-year old boys are not apt to not react well to the Jane)
This is a much more realistic list. I'd throw in some presidential biographies.

 

[denimdestroyedmylife]

Travels with Charley, J. Steinbeck

(and I second Calvino's Baron in the Trees, and Hemingway's Old Man and the Sea)

 

[indesertum]

Originally Posted by Thomas

To Kill a Mockingbird (Lee)
Baron in the Trees (Calvino)
Once a Runner (Parker)
The Fountainhead (Rand)
The Consolidated Memoirs of Elias Canetti
The Unabridged Yale Shakespeare
The Histories (Heroditus)

Some might seem a tad ambitious, but I say, Start them Young.

i think most 6th graders wouldn't even want to start an ayn rand book

 

[CunningSmeagol]

Anything by Brian Jacques.

 

[dopey]

Thanks. There were a lot more good suggestions.
I think Animal Farm might be perfect and maybe Old Man and the Sea, too.
It's for a girl. She enjoyed Little Women a couple of years ago, so maybe some Austen.

 

[dusty]

Originally Posted by milosz

Only a cruel, cruel bastard would make anyone read Rand at any age. Reprehensible ideology (and laughable philosophy) aside, as a writer she was a butcher.

Twain - A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer
Verne - Around The World In 80 Days
Crane - The Red Badge of Courage
London - White Fang, etc..
Golding - Lord of the Flies (hated this with all my soul, but it's still considered a classic by most)
pick a 'classic' poetry anthology - American, European, whatever
Austen - Pride and Prejudice (more apt if we're talking about a girl - 12-year old boys are not apt to not react well to the Jane)

I'm sure you can find some 'honors' reading lists out there for early teens. Don't get too ambitious - no 12-year old wants to wade through Tolstoy or Herodotus.

This is a very good list. What about Roald Dahl? Is that too young for this list?

 

[CunningSmeagol]

Originally Posted by dusty

This is a very good list. What about Roald Dahl? Is that too young for this list?

Danny Champion of the World FTW.

 

[dopey]

Originally Posted by dusty

This is a very good list. What about Roald Dahl? Is that too young for this list?

I know she has read some Dahl a few years ago, and that would be the only reason to go elsewhere. I am much more concerned that the stuff be "good" and enjoyable (which Dahl is) than it be advanced.

 

[dopey]

Originally Posted by Fuuma

War and peace? Honestly it's pretty epic and quite engaging Can't help you much with anglo-saxon litterature; I like Poe and Lovecraft and not much else. Maybe Stevenson and Melville? Julio Cortazar is dope in the terse, modern style but he's often about jazz and drugs so not sure.
War and Peace is too big. She likes listening to Poe's poetry and has read the Purloined Letter. I forgot to mention that she is also a scaredy cat, so no Pit and the Pendulum, Cask of Amontillado (my personal fave) or the Tell Tale Heart. Maybe the Gold Bug. Needn't be Anglo-Saxon, but it does need to be readable in a way that translations aren't always. Plus I award extra points for interesting use of language, which might give native writers a plus (actually, a non-American English language voice would be great - maybe Robertson Davies; any Indian or Caribbean suggestions?). I am keeping an eye out for age-appropriateness, too.

 

[milosz]

As far as non-fiction, that's trickier. I learned to read from my father's history library, but I'm not sure that many kids are as interested in the order of battle at Gettysburg as I was. I'm sure there have to be age-appropriate better-than-textbooks overview of American/western/etc. history, but I wouldn't know where to start.

non-Anglo takes:
Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God (written heavily in dialect)
Sandra Cisneros, The House On Mango Street

 

[TheIdler]

Tweak these according to her interests/level, I guess, but some classics that might work:

E.B. White (Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, Trumpet of the Swan)
Fahrenheit 451
Flowers for Algernon
The Little Prince
Steinbeck: the Pearl, the Red Pony
the Greek myths, maybe some Edith Hamilton

maybe Anne Frank for nonfiction?

Not "classics" but recommended:
Lois Lowry has some very good books for that level, I think...check out The Giver or Number the Stars
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing by MT Anderson is awesome, but it might be a little old for her...
The Curious Incident of a Dog at Nighttime (or whatever)--I've seen in a children's edition, but don't know what they did to it. The original was great, but lots of profanity.

 

[dopey]

Thanks again for the added suggestions. I confused To Kill a Mockingbird with Inherit the Wind in my mind, but I am thinking of adding the latter as well. Flowers for Algernon is a good rec as is all Steinbeck. The best part about these responses is the number of books with which I am unfamiliar. I look forward to checking them out.

 

[LabelKing]

Thomas Mann's Death in Venice.

If she doesn't want to read it, there's a film version too.

 

[dopey]

Originally Posted by LabelKing

Thomas Mann's Death in Venice.

If she doesn't want to read it, there's a film version too.

. . . and to think I bothered to shop for you.

 

[DocHolliday]

Prisoner of Zenda -- fun read.

Maybe some ancient myths. Greek, Roman, Egyptian, etc.

For poetry, I always think Tam o' Shanter is a blast to read aloud. Perfect for kids, if you're willing to sell it.