What are some recommended books for a 10th grader?

As a 10th grade teacher, my students enjoyed Go Ask Alice, Of Mice and Men and Fahrenheit 451, but they didn't like Dandelion Wine.

When I was in 10th grade, I read lots of Michael Crichton and Dean Koontz novels and, for literature, I liked A Separate Peace.

If you are a 15 to 17 year old person interested in reading, you may be surprised to find out that a lot of the best sellers out there are geared to your reading level. You could pick out almost anything from the NY Times top ten list and have no trouble at all.

Wow, so many books so little time!  I suggest the following:

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

Night by Elie Wisel

Huck Finn by Mark Twain

The Odyssey by Homer

"The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell

"A Tell-tale Heart" by Edgar Allen Poe

This is my first year teaching 10th grade World Lit.  We are reading the following:

Like Water for Chocolate

The Joy Luck Club

Cry, the Beloved Country

A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

Siddhartha

House on Mango Street

The Metamorphosis

Things Fall Apart

The Poisonwood Bible

and lots and lots of short stories and poetry.

Good Luck!

Congratulations! Independent reading is one of the best things you can do to improve your academic performance and develop your vocabulary. When I answer questions like this, I always like to know what was the last thing that you read that you really liked. We can't do that so here's a few I recommend:

The Call of the Wild by Jack London--If you missed this during your piror education, it's worth reading. Use enotes to help you decipher the layers of meaning.

Feed by M.T. Anderson, a science fiction novel.

You Don't Know Me by David Klass

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. It's based on the Holocaust, but the characters are amazing.

Soldier X by Don Wulffson about a German boy drafted into the war.

Looking for Alaska by John Green covers friendship and the fringe part of adolescent live.

Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is a must-read at some point, preferably several times at different ages.

Perks of being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. It is a blend of Looking for Alaska and Catcher in the Rye.

The First Part Last by Angela Johnson

Under the Wolf, Under the Dog by Adam Rapp

Don't forget to check out graphic novels like Superman, Batman, V is for Vendetta, Full Metal Jacket, and Bleach.

Enjoy!

It depends to a large extent on the student. Students have a wide range of interests and of reading skills. Students often enjoy stories featuring people of their own age, and thus Lord of the Flies, To Kill a Mockingbird, or The Catcher in the Rye are often included on reading lists.

Students interested in science can enjoy H. G. Wells, Jules Verne, and works such as 1984 or Brave New World. For students in the United States, reading works set in other cultures such as the Arabian Nights, Things Fall Apart, or even the travel and animal-collecting stories of Gerald Durrell can open up new worlds. Traditional epics, such as the Homeric poems and Beowulf, seem also to be popular, though they work best for the more advanced readers in this age group. Many collections of myth, legends, and fairy tales can also be of interest; the Norse sagas will appeal to those students who have enjoyed recent movies and comics based on them. Shorter fables and fairy tales might work well for less advanced students.

History books, especially local histories or stories of Native American culture, can also spark interesting discussions.

What books are recommended for an 8th grader?

I live and teach in Florida, where every year they have a list of books they recommend for teen readers.  These are what I would call "fun reads" with a point.  In other words, they aren't classics of literature, but they have something important to say.  Here is the list of books for this year:

*Jay Asher - Thirteen Reasons Why
- A great book about a girl who commits suicide and the friends/classmates she leaves behind.  It follows them as they try to piece together her life and death.

Meg Cabot - Avalon High
- A new take on the King Arthur legend, starring a modern-day Lady of the Lake as the narrator.

*Deb Caletti - The Nature of Jade
- Jade has a panic disorder that sometimes isolates her from other people, but draws her to animals (especially the elephants at the zoo).  Then she meets a boy and his son, and begins to examine the difference between what feels right and what is right.

*Cassandra Clare - City of Bones
- The first in Clare's Mortal Instruments trilogy; it follows Clary, a girl who has recently discovered a hidden world of demons and the warriors who hunt them. 

*Chris Crutcher - Deadline
- If you only had one year to live, and it was your senior year of high school, how would you spend it?  That's what Ben has to figure out.

Alane Ferguson - The Christopher Killer
- If you like CSI, NCIS, and other forensic-science mysteries, this book is for you.  Cameryn is the daughter of a county coroner, and she becomes his assistant in order to further her interest in forensic science.  She soon finds out, however, she's getting more than just career training out of the experience.  WARNING:  Includes some very graphic forensic details.

Gail Giles - What Happened to Cass McBride?
- Not for the faint of heart.  Cass is buried alive, and she has to try to negotiate with her captor to get free before she runs out of oxygen.

Alice Hoffman - Incantation
- A historical fiction about two girls in an unusual friendship during the Spanish Inquisition.

Khaled Hosseini - A Thousand Splendid Suns
- A book about growing up in Soviet-occupied Afghanistan; for mature readers.  This is the author of The Kite Runner.

David Klass - Firestorm
- James Bond meets Al Gore in this environmental thriller about a boy named Jack, who discovers that he is really a long-lost prince and the only one who can save the planet from imminent destruction.

*Melissa Marr - Wicked Lovely
- Aislinn has always been able to see faeries, but she has tried her best to ignore them (these aren't Disney fairies, to be sure).  Now, though, they seem to have a very keen interest in her, and pursue her until she can't ignore them any more.

Walter Dean Myers - Street Love
- A Romeo and Juliet story set in inner-city New York.

Susan Beth Pfeffer - Life as We Knew It
- If you like futuristic thrillers about the end of the world, this is the book for you.  Warning, though:  you may get pretty scared about your future after reading.  This book was both gripping and disturbing at the same time.  When an asteroid hits the moon, the citizens of Earth face disaster at every turn; how one family copes with those disasters is the central focus of the book.

Todd Strasser - Boot Camp
- Have you ever wondered what life is really like for juvenile detention camp residents?  In this book, Garrett finds out first-hand that life is no picnic when you're a juvenile in boot camp.

Ishmael Beah - A Long Way Gone
- This one is also labeled for mature readers.  It follows the author's experiences as a member of national army in Sierra Leone, starting at age 12 when he was kidnapped and forced into service.

I put a star next to my favorites on this list.  Happy reading!

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