Re: [LM_NET] Hits on Stephen King Recommendations

[Janice Davies <jgdavies2004@YAHOO.COM>]

Here are the hits for the Stephen King for high school libraries

recommendations. Thanks to Hillary, Brenda, Kerri, Noel, Carolyn,

Lois, Nancy, Suzanne, Ellen, Dawn, Arlene, Deb, Diane,

and especially Rena for finding the

earlier post by Brian in the archives for me.



Jan Davies, Library Media Specialist

Laurel High School

Laurel, Maryland

Jgdavies2004@yahoo.com



As a King fan I would recommend Carrie, Danse Macabre

(the history of the horror genre), On Writing (about

the craft of writing, and very funny) and, my

favorite, The Shining.



There is quite a bit of language and brutality in all of Stephen King

books.  However, the kids who seem to read these books are the same kids

who are watching worst stuff on television and/or movies.  It does

bring in the kids who usually will not read anything else.  I would start

with the classics; Cujo, Carrie, Christine, It, ect.  If you want

something a little bit more tame, try the Green Mile Series and The Girl Who

Loved Tom Gordon.  Personally, we have every title that he has written.

In the summer, I have two shelves completely full but during school, I

am lucky if we have over 4 copies on the shelf.



I've read everything by Stephen King and the issue is that most have violence and 
language issues as most horror genre books do. However, I really believe that most 
of them are acceptable at the HS level particularly for older HS students but it 
depends on your community. I certainly would recommend The Girl Who Loved Tom 
Gordon -- it's good, pretty innocuous and there's a really cool pop up version of 
the book--there are even some lesson plans developed by English teachers now online 
at the NCTE website. It's also shorter which would appeal to some more reluctant 
readers and might get them into King books. From a Buick Eight is another shorter 
book without too much to find opposing. Green Mile, Misery, It -- are all titles 
that seem okay, again most King novels will have violence and strong language. If 
you need to build a short story collection, he has a few of those -- some are more 
like novella collections - I like both Skeleton Crew and Night Shift. King has a 
couple of
 nonfiction titles and On Writing was just purchased by our English department as a 
companion text for some of the composition courses.



Here are some warnings that pop out as I look at a list of all of his titles. It 
doesn't mean I wouldn't get these books but anyway, here they are: The Dark Tower 
series has a fair about of gun violence but it is a fantasy series so it appeals to 
both kinds of readers and is set in an alternate dimension -- there is some sex in 
certain parts of the series including a rape scene. Gerald's Game includes a 
husband handcuffing his wife to a bed for sex. Dolores Claiborne and one of the 
novellas in Four Past Midnight have some pedophilia but it is certainly portrayed 
as  a bad trait of the characters who commit such acts. The Running Man is a great 
story and early commentary on reality tv but the ending does include flying a plane 
into a skyscraper.



I love Stephen King. My personal favorites are Carrie (about high

school

bullying), The Stand (good and evil struggle after a plague wipes out

most

of the population), The Shining (a man goes crazy and tries to kill his

family due to cabin fever and ghosts), The Tommyknockers (aliens take

over

through changes in body chemistry), and Misery (a writer is held

captive by

a deranged fan).



I think you could use The Stand and Salem's Lot for upper high school students.

The earlier ones are less controversial (Carrie, Firestarter, Cujo)

One teacher suggests Hearts of Atlanta (Vietnam War based)

I put out a request in the high school staff bulletin for donations of books that 
high school students might enjoy. I was surprised at how many I received and most 
all in great condition. I listed authors that I was particularly interested 
in--ones that I didn't want to spend budget money for. That is how I got the S. 
King books we have. Paraprofessionals, custodians, secretaries and teaching staff 
all cleaned out their closets and were glad to donate to the school library. Those 
book I did not use I passed on to the local public library book sale. I do minimal 
cataloging on these titles as know they may not have a long shelf life.



If you look in Mackin Books http://www.mackin.com/, and do a search under Stephen 
King with a choice of reviews (at the bottom of the search page) you will come up 
with reviews for schools. Just specify VOYA,Wilson High School Bulletin, and School 
Library Journal, etc. You can do the same kind of search with Titlewave 
http://www.flr.follett.com/login/, and they will also give reviews.





The reality is that what the kids like might be too much for us. There are so many 
fiction books that are on teen topics, but the genre or content is more than I am 
able to deal with. I have never looked for reviews on Stephen King books, but my 
district does not ask me for reviews, only sometimes they might ask me to justify a 
book I want to order, and even that is rare. As scrutiny of district spending 
increases, these questions become more frequent, but I always have a justification 
handy, if only that the students will read this and part of my job is to get them 
to read for pleasure..

It is hard to find reviews for King books, as they are listed as adult.  But I 
wouldn't let that worry me.  That's one of the challenges of buying for high 
school.  Such a varied audience, and a lot of the titles are for adults.  Maybe you 
could test the waters with The Dead Zone, since it is/was a series on TV.  Your 
King collection will probably attract students you never knew were readers.

In my last job, we had ALL the Stephen King books we could get our hands on.  For 
the squeamish (of which I am one) I suggest The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon -- a 
lightweight in the world of King novels.  The hardcovers can often be found at book 
sales.  We found a lot at our local library's book store.  Just buy them and 
promote them, and you will have a  loyal audience.



My students enjoy Carrie, It, The Green Mile, The Stand, Salem's Lot, and almost 
any King book. I have two shelves of King and Bachman (his pen name) alone in my 
library. He is an easy read and for those reluctant high school readers his shorter 
books are very good.

Carrie, Christine both contain teenaged main

characters.



Pet Semetary is popular, as is It.



I am a huge Stephen King fan myself.  One book that I would put in a collection for 
high school students would be "Needful Things"  It also has a pretty interesting 
message.



I don't really like his genre, but his book called On Writing (half

autobiography and half about the writing process) is excellent. I have

read once and listened to it on tape in my car. What a powerful book!

His language is very graphic at times, but it suits the text, if you

know what I mean.



Back in 1998, someone asked the same question, and I saved the posting!

I've cut and pasted it into this message.  While it doesn't cover his

books

written after the posting, it does give you a good indication of the

content

of King's books.

Hope it helps.



the original posting:

  Hello LM_NETTERS:

     Could you please help me out and tell me which Stephen King novels

are

     appropriate for high school and which are not?  Like everywhere

they

     are very popular; but I don't read them.  So, I have no idea which

     ones are OK.  Thank you.  Darlene DeHudy Media Specialist

Muskegon

     High School ddehudy@muskegon.k12.mi.us





The response:



     Darlene -

     I've been a big fan of King since I was in high school and I've

read

     all of his books.  Below is a list I found on the net with a note

from

     me on each title.  I've also rated them using the movie rating

system.

      Bear in mind that it's the rare King book that doesn't have

something

     that COULD offend somebody, but I read them all(and worse) as a

teen

     in the 80's and I turned out ok.  Most contain some adult language

and

     sexual content, though it is generally not explicit. I've never

had

     any challenged (though others certainly have).



     Stephen King: Books



          Novels

          Carrie (1974) ok - a bit easier reading level than most that

     follow. PG

          'Salem's Lot (1975) ok PG

          The Shining (1977) ok PG-13

          The Stand (1978) ok, though a bit gruesome - also my favorite

     King book. PG-13

          The Dead Zone (1979) very good. PG

          Firestarter (1980) ok PG

          Cujo (1981) ok PG

          The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger (1982) ok - the start of an

epic

     fantasy series (not yet completed) PG

          Christine (1983) ok PG

          Pet Sematary (1983) (1984) pretty rough R

          The Talisman (with Peter Straub) (1984) very good PG

          It (1986) ok PG-13

          The Eyes of the Dragon (1987) Really a children's/YA book  -

     nicely done. G

          Misery (1987) excellent PG

          The Tommyknockers (1987) pretty far out PG-13

          The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three (1987) ok PG

          The Dark Half (1989) very good PG

          The Stand: The Complete and Uncut Edition (1990) epic, but

filled

     in some gaps I had questioned in the original edition - very

     thought-provoking for me.  PG-13

          Needful Things (1991) a bit extreme. R

          Gerald's Game (1992) deals with a sex game gone wrong - I

have

     it, but keep an eye on who checks it out. R

          The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands (1992) ok PG

          Dolores Claiborne (1993) very good PG

          Insomnia (1994) I loved it, but includes some fierce language

-

     one of the few I don't have on the shelf. R

          Rose Madder (1995) ok PG

          The Green Mile (1996) great story - soon to be a film w/ Tom

     Hanks - be sure to get the one volume version rather than the six

     "serial episodes".  Reluctant readers are forever walking up with

one

     75 page "episode" and expecting it to count as an outside reading

     book.

          Desperation (1996) very good story, but I'd restrict it to

older

     readers. R

          The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass (1997) ok, but some

editions

     include art plates that are potentially problematic. R

          Bag of Bones (1998) Just read it, loved it, but I'm probably

not

     going to put it on the shelf - pretty heavy stuff. R



          as Richard Bachman

          Rage (1977)

          The Long Walk (1979)

          Roadwork (1981)

          The Running Man (1982)  These four come in one volume - the

     Bachman Books - ok - Rage is probably R - very violent, the others

PG.

          Thinner (1984) ok PG

          The Regulators (1996) - companion of sorts to Desperation,

but

     not as good. ok R



          Collections

          Night Shift (1978) short stories of varying quality, but

     generally pretty good. PG

          Different Seasons (1982) excellent - if you only buy one or

two,

     get this.   It's four novellas, including the stories that became

the

     films Stand By Me (PG), Shawshank Redemption (PG) and the soon to

be

     released Apt Pupil (R).  Apt Pupil is pretty dark, but the first

two

     are actually quite uplifting.

          Skeleton Crew (1985) more short stories. good. PG

          Four Past Midnight (1990) Four more novellas, not as strong

as

     Diff. Seasons, but ok. PG

          Nightmares & Dreamscapes (1993) Short stories, kind of

scraping

     the bottom of the barrel.



          Nonfiction

          Danse Macabre (1981) As a fan of the horror genre, I found

this

     fascinating - it's King's musings on the genre in print, film,

etc.

     This is the way I first discovered Shirley Jackson's Haunting of

Hill

     House (King's favorite scary book).



     I hope this helps.  It was kind of fun going through all the

titles

     and my memories of them.  My kids read these books constantly and

so

     far none of them has turned into a serial killer.  Good luck.



     BR

#############################

Brian Regan

Librarian

East Rochester High School

East Rochester, NY 14445

Brian_Regan@ccmail.monroe.edu

bregan@frontiernet.net



My son doesn't like the real "horror" either, but he loved the Dark

Tower series by Stephen King. My son is 17 and will be a senior this

year.



I was in your same position a couple years ago when I

was working at a 7-12 school. I finally ordered the

ones that were on the H.W. Wilson books for high

school or whatever. The students loved them. The

readers among the staff loved them. After their

popularity I wrote grants to get more popular titles.

It increased our circulation checkouts by over 35% in

two years.




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