HIT> Upbeat reading

[LEE GORDON <lgordon@NEVADA.EDU>]

So many of you asked for a list that I decided to post this to the net.
I asked for a list of works that were "upbeat" for use in a 9th grade
honors English class.  I received a truly ecclectic response.  Here is the
entire list.  Some of these are not suitable for the classes I had in
mind, but perhaps they are right for yours.
A Day No Pigs Would Die, Peck     Catcher in the Rye, Salinger
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Adams    The Hobbit, Tolkien
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Kesey    The Power of One
House on Mango Street, Cisneros           The Talisman
Arms and the Man, Shaw          All Creatures Great & SMall, Herriot
Demons Don't Dream, Anthony       Squashed, Bauer
Stotan!, by Crutcher            Harris and Me, Paulsen (2 votes)
books by Patrick McManus      Jason's Women, Okimoto
A Begonia for Miss Applebaum, Zindel     The Dragon series by Wrede
Semester in the Life of a Garbage Bag and Son of Interflux, by Korman
Here at Scenic-Vu Motel             Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare
P.G. Wodehouse's works            Fantastic Freshmen, Britain
You Know Me, Al, by Lardner       Shoeless Joe, Kinsella
Fried Green Tomatoes, Flagg       Cold Sassy Tree, Burns
Screwtape letters, Lewis          Northanger Abbey, Austen
Never Cry Wolf, Mowat             What's Eating Gilbert Grape?
Catch-22, Heller                  Something Upstairs, Avi
Weetzie Bat                       Phantom Tollbooth
Education of H*Y*M*E*N K*A*P*L*A*N   John LeCarre books
Up the Down Staircase, Kaufman     The Princess Bride
Adrian Mole books by Townsend      Summer of the Monkeys, Rawls
Knights of the Endless Day, Priest    It's Like This, Cat, Neville
Losing Joe's Place  and Don't Care High, by Korman
Reigning Cats and Dogs, Levitin     Essays by E. B. White
A Few select short stories from Athletic Shorts, by Crutcher
Walter Dean Myers books, Orphan train series by Nixon, books by
Rosa Guy and Mildred Taylor.
Edwin Mullhouse, by S. Millhauser (Parody of biographies & biographers)
What a list!  Hope some of you can find something interesting in it.
Lee Gordon
Eldorado H.S.
Las Vegas, NV  89110      lgordon@nevada.edu