My School Reading List

Now that school has been in session for a while, most kids are finishing up there first assigned book for school.  I have always had mixed feelings about assigned reading.  Part of me hates being told what I have to read, especially because most books have some sort of pre-assigned moral or lesson to them.  On the other hand it is a great way to foster discussion and to discover new books you may never have picked up before. So in that spirit here is a list of books I would let my class choose from if I was a teacher.  These are books I feels have a good story to tell, while making the reader think beyond there own individual scope.  I realize some of these are probably already on most assigned lists, but that is fine 'cause this is my list and I can put whatever I want on it :-)

Number the Stars-Lois Lowery
This is one of my favorite books, I have read it multiple times and it gets better every time I read it.  The perspective of this book is of a young, non-Jewish, girl during WWII.  This perspective is a unique one and give the story a different flavor.  I would assign this one to middle schoolers, because it is easily understandable, a good story and would really let the kids dig into more than one aspect of the Holocaust and would hopefully inspire them to learn more on there own.

The Uglies Series-Scott Westerfeld
I love this series for not taking one side in any issue.  I really feel this series shows where if you go to any extreme it can result in horrible consequences and it is really all about the balancing act.  I like how it could promote discussion on different parts of being an individual vs being part of a safe group.  It brings up friendship vs ideals, romance vs reality.  Again a lot to think and discuss without one right or wrong answer.  Instead of a pre-selected moral I feel this series, especially while being a bit more contemporary then the average "classic" would give the students a chance to express any number of rights, wrongs and explore the inevitable ambiguity of reality (teeheehee there is my pretentious sentence for the day).

To Kill A Mockingbird-Harper Lee
I know this is on every schools reading list, but that is because it should be.  This is probably the only book that was assigned to me in school that I really got something out of.  It is the only one I continue reading to this day.  The potential lessons, feelings and issues to be explored in this book can really be applied today and probably in the future as well, if for some strange reason you have not read it yet, go get it right now...I mean it, this is required assigned reading!
Sherlock Holmes-Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

We all know my love of Sherlock Holmes, but besides that I think these stories would be a great lesson in deductive reasoning in the classroom.  You could read them out loud and have the students write down what they though the solution was, then finish the story and see how many got it right.  You could go back and look at the clues and see where Holmes figured stuff out.  It would be such a change of pace from the normal long dull "classics"

Harry Potter Series-J.K. Rowling
Ok so it may be a stretch to get the whole series in during a single school year...but maybe a long term project?  I like the Harry Potter series as assigned reading for several reasons.  The biggest reason is that kids will actually read these ones.  I think from a writing perspective a lot of discussion could be had on how the author foreshadows events, uses other myths and stories to add dimension to her world, builds the story from beginning to end.  You can also have discussions on how each of the characters grow over time, why a person would choose to be on the "bad" side, and how badly do you want a wand!

These are just a few of my choices for assigned reading, I am sure I could come up with a zillion more, but hey we only have two semesters at a time right.

What is on your assigned reading list?  Did you like having books assigned to you so you did not have to find a book yourself or did you wish you could pick your own?  What assigned book had the biggest impact on your life?  Did you ever get assigned a book you had already read (happened to me several times)?