HIT #2: 9th Grade Class Novel

[Frankie Dilling <fdilling@TENET.EDU>]

Here is HIT #2 for 9th grade class novel for un-motivated but
bright students.

Thanks for the many responses and your comments.

Frankie Dilling
fdilling@tenet.edu
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One of my 9th gr. Eng. teachers has told me that her classes LOVED
     "Walk Two Moons" (Creech?)
     "The Mid-wife's Apprentice" (Cushman)...
She is also looking into "Annie John" (Kincaid)...

     Julie Hulten, LMC    EHAVENT@biomed.med.yale.edu
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Wolf Rider, by Avi
The first page will get them "hooked."

     Louise M. Schwarzchild   LibraryLu@aol.com
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How about Bearstone and Beardance.
    There are some good issues in these.

Come a Stranger by Voight is good.

     Linda Bryniarski <lindab@becnet.com>
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I really liked _Fallen Angels_,
BE advised that it gives a very true and accurate picture of soldiers in Viet
Nam including a lot of really strong lanugage and sexual thought.

Definitely a guy's book, but a GREAT adolescent motivator I
would think with some very "meaty" issues.

You might consider _Four Miles to Pinecone_ by Jon Hassler
   It is about a student who fails English and has to do a
   summer project to pass the class.  The main theme, however,
   deals with his realization that friends and other people he knows
   and has trusted may not always have his best interest at heart.
   It has some action such as his attempted murder by a "friend"
   who actually is involved in a theft ring.

     Rick Forrester <rforrest@citznet.com>
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"The Face on the Milk Carton" by Joan Lowry Nixon.
The sequel is "Whatever Happened to Janie,"
and now the sequel to that is "The Voice on the Radio."

They are good stories, deal with family relationships and
boy/girl relationships -- plus the first is a good mystery.

     "Dr. Dana McDougald" <dmcdouga@moe.coe.uga.edu>
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Marsden's Letters From the Inside?  Short, but thought-provoking.

     "Virginia M. Kerstetter" <vmk@umd5.umd.edu>
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Todd Strasser books like *working for Peanuts* or *The Wave*.
also *Hatchet*, *Tuck Everlasting*, and *The Road to Memphis*.

     Kathy Geronzin <kgeronzin@po-1.northeast.k12.ia.us>
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Our 9th grade students have been reading "The Plague Year" by
Stephanie Tolan for the past 5 years.
The teacher's comment has always been "it is the one book the kids read
all the way through and before the deadline.

Also Robert Cormier's "After the First Death."
"Killing Mr. Griffith" by Lois Duncan and
"Driver's Ed" by Caroline Cooney.
"What Daddy Did" by Neal Shusterman
       about a divorcing family in which the father kills the mother
       then returns after his prison sentence.

For science fiction--I'd recommend anything by William Sleator.

     ROBIN HOELLE <ba_hoelle@PO.SWOCA.OHIO.GOV>
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December Stillness...
It's about a 9th grade girl, somewhat of an outcast, who decides
to befriend a homeless man at her local library
(at first, just to staisfy her friends, who say she will not do it).
She decides to write her social studies paper about
the homeless and gradually becomes more and more involved in trying
to help Mr. Weems. She discovers he is a Vietnam Veteran with
Post-Traumatic-Stress Disorder. through her experiences with
Mr. Weems, she eventually becomes closer to her father, also a Vietnam
Veteran, when they visit the Vietnam Memorial together.

        There are lots of issues that can be discussed with this book:
homelessness, PTSD, etc. Also, there are many poetry tie-ins, such as
"Dulce est Decorum Est" by Wilfred Owens, I think.
        I think it's worth checking into!

     "Deanna M. Doyle" <doyl7492@kutztown.edu>
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The Gift of Sarah Barker by Jane Yolen
     Abel 16 and Sarah.  Live in Shaker community.
     They fall in love.  What do they do?

The Road to Memphis by Mildred D. Taylor
     Cassie Logan is 17 and dealing with racism before WW II.

Joyce A. Hintz