LM_NET: Library Media Networking
The first book that comes to my mind is Maniac Magee by Spinelli. There are
also many books that recommend titles for reading out loud. I would also
recommend any thing
by Mildred Taylor if the is interested in discussing the history of race
relations.
Gary Paulsen novels are
usually very well received. Also, Slake's Limbo (can't remember
author), The Whipping Boy, Shilo, The Cay.
Try _Hatchet_ by Paulsen and _Loch_ by Zindel. Any Orson Scott
Card scifi books would be good. My fav is _Ender's Game_.
I'm at a 9-12 high school. Some of the most reluctant male
I-don't-want-to-readers that I've had responded to books by Robert
Cormier and Walter Dean Myers. Sometimes violent, no happy endings.
They also like fantasy novels by Robert Jordan and Terry Brooks,
though the length of these may deter them. They also like sports
biographies.
I had a teacher from our juvenile detention facility tell me that
these boys also like to read poetry! I wondered why and she told me
that these kids have a hard time expressing emotions and explaining
how they feel. Poetry gives them an avenue of expression in a short
work. Good choices would be the poetry books by Glenn, like Class
Dismissed, and anthologies edited by Janesco (sp?) or Gary Soto.
Our high-risk girls love Detour for Emmy by Marilyn Reynolds. Emmy is a
bright teenager from semi-functional family who struggles to complete
school after becoming pregnant and giving birth. There's a companion
book, Too Soon for Jeff, about a teenage father; it's not in high demand
at our school, but the boys who read it seem to pass it around.
Send No Blessings, by Naylor?, is about a teenage girl's efforts not to
get caught in the trap of early marriage & lots of babies even though she
gradually realizes that her mother sees each child as a blessing.
Walter Dean Myers and S.E. Hinton are also good authors for high-risk
students. Myers is a black author who writes both for middle and high
school; many of his books have inner-city settings. Hinton wrote The
Outsiders as a teenager twenty years ago; it's a young adult paperback
bestseller and one of the most frequently "lost" books in our library.
Here are a few of the titles that went over big with our 5th graders
this past year plus a few that might be of interest.
Frindle by Andrew Clements
Running out of time by Haddix
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Slake's Limbo by ?
Mick Harte was here by Barbara Park
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Viorst has a couple that are longer and may or may not hit the mark:
Bad Girls
Bad, Badder, Baddest
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
You might also try some of the YA recommended sites that have been
posted in the past week. Dale Copps also has a bunch at his site:
http://www.wcsu.k12.vt.us/~wardsboro/lists.htm#Lists
Good books include Far North by Will Hobbs, Hatchet and it's sequel by
Paulsen, Manic Magee by Spinelli are several that non-reading kids might
like.
Walter Dean Myers book Fallen Angels, is the ticket. I have put it into the
hands of
several of my low level readers and they love it. One boy told me his mother
could
not believe he stayed up all night READING. Two told me they had never read a
whole
book before this one, and wanted more like that.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*
Diane R. Chen, Library Media Specialist
Hickman Elementary School
3125 Ironwood Drive Nashville, TN 37214
Telephone: 615 885-8956
ChenD@ten-nash.ten.k12.tn.us
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=
To quit LM_NET (or set-reset NOMAIL or DIGEST), Send email to
listserv@listserv.syr.edu In the message write EITHER:
1) SIGNOFF LM_NET 2) SET LM_NET NOMAIL or 3) SET LM_NET DIGEST
3) SET LM_NET MAIL * Please allow for confirmation from Listserv
For LM_NET Help & Archives see: http://ericir.syr.edu/lm_net/
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=
LM_NET
Archive Home