DD is a 7th grader and her teacher feel like she's not being challenged enough. He contacted me to ask my permission to let her read 1 of the 4 books he suggested. The only book I ever heard of (didn't read) was To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Would you let your 13 year old read this book or one of the others?
Below is what he sent to me. Is there a website that can give me a diagnosis of these books so I don't have to read them for myself?
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
I know this is something Ashaunte will read later in her academic career, but it is so good, reading more than once will only enhance her understanding. While it is about a white man defending a black man in Alabama during the Jim Crowe era, I think it shows how people sometimes deal with cultures that are different from their own and what the consequences of those actions can be.
Life of Piby Yann Martel
This is a story of an Indian boy who decides to attend Muslim, Christian, and Jewish services. He attempts to adapt all three religions. His father is a zoo keeper and they take a boat with all the animals to America. On the way, they boat sinks and Pi ends up in a life boat with a Bengal tiger for months in the Pacific ocean. There is some graphic scenes of violence between animals and some with people, but it is not a violent book. It is a book that I feel explores the power of story as it relates to religion and our lives. I read it in college as a graduate student in a Myth and Culture class. It was written in 2001 and won the British Pulitzer Prize, which is called the Booker Award. It’s an excellent book and I’ll never forget it.
The Interpreter of the Maladiesby Jhumpa Lahiri
A Pulitzer Prize winning book that is a collection of short stories of American Indians (not Native Americans, but people from India living in America) who are trying to adapt to Western culture and tradition while still holding onto their Indian identity. I also read this as a literature major in college. Characters in this are trying to determine who they are; Americans or Indians, who they belong with, and what is important in their culture and beliefs. I’ll be honest, it has been a few years since I read this, but I think there may be some mild sexual references simply as it relates to characters’ marriages.
Angela’s Ashesby Frank McCourt
Another Pulitzer prize winning book about an American boy whose father is an alcoholic and his family is extremely poor. The boy (author Frank McCourt) and his family move back to Ireland during the 1930’s. They are beyond poverty as we know it here in America, their father spends all his money, when he works, drinking and staying out. The mother is forced to raise several children (some who do not make it) living in Ireland. It is a book about finding happiness and making a way for yourself despite your conditions. It takes place mostly in Ireland, but it does have references to drinking, and later in the book to sexual suggestions. The sexual references mostly refer to the strict Catholic community and how some characters feel oppressed and how that manifests itself in their actions. Those references are towards the end of the book.
The only one I have read is To Kill a Mocking Bird. It sounds like this teacher is tring to challenge your daughter to think and develop some more complex thoughts about the world. It sound slike a great idea. I think it would give her a greater understanding of other people and start introducing her to some complex life situations that she is at least going to hear about. I know another good one is Uncle Tom's Cabin (I read that when I was about her age) or The Old Man and the Sea. I loved and still love to read and will read almost anything. I think I am going to check out the other 3 here.
I read To Kill A Mockingbird and Angela's Ashes and they are both riveting. Angela's Ashes is quite sad. It has been years since I read it, but I don't really remember it being too inappropriate for a 13yo. IMO, it depends on the maturity level of your dd. On another note, Life of Piby sounds awesome!
Are there any full time gifted / academically advanced programs in your area?
The Center for Talent Development at Northwestern University is a fantastic resource for gifted children: http://www.ctd.northwestern.edu/
My daughter read both To Kill a Mockingbird (Survey of Literature, 8th grade) and Angela's Ashes (World Lit, 9th grade). If you google "book club" and the titles, you will come up with lot of talking points on the books. Read them with her, so she has someone to discuss them with. Alternatively, offer to host a teen book club.
I would let my kids read them. ALOT better than Vampire Diaries, which my girls wanted and had BJs described in them!
Yes, I would, too. I have a 14 year old daughter, and for the most part, I don't censor what she wants to read. I am thankful that at her age, she still loves to read, because so many teens see reading as "uncool". She reads at a 12th grade level, and she and often read a lot of the same books. Yes, I like reading her teen novels, LOL! She will pick up adult books that I am reading as well, and end up reading them herself.
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I'm ready to pull the earbuds out of his ears and put them somewhere less comfortable.
- mrjonesii
on Feb. 16, 2012 at 9:50 AM