The list(s) below are not meant to be lists of "books you must read before you go to college", nor are they required reading for my class. Simply, these are books that high school students have enjoyed -- some of them are funny, some deep. The lists contain groupings of books on a common subject or topic. I will try to add a new when I can.
Read them if they sound interesting to you; read them if you dare. Some of the books contain mature content. Your parents should be aware of and approve of what you are reading.
The African American Experience
Banned Books
Childhood Stories
The Latino Experience
Allison, Dorothy. Bastard Out of Carolina**. A heartwrenching story of child abuse and family violence set in South Carolina. Highly recommended.
Banks, Russell. Rule of the Bone. Whether a hero's journey, an antihero's journey, or a spiritual journey, this modern Catcher in the Rye is poignant and riveting. Many a teenage reader has fallen under the spell of Bone, a troubled and insightful young teen. Follow him from upstate New York to Jamaica in his quest for truth and meaning.
Dorris, Michael. A Yellow Raft in Blue Water**. Secrets and a generation gap threaten to break apart a Native American family, but Dorris braids together three generations of women by letting each one tell her own version of the story. Accessible, gripping, and poignant, this is Dorris's best novel and is often read in schools.
Elliot, Stephen. A Life without Consequences. Stephen Elliot describes the life of a teenage runaway in Chicago -- a modern-day Dante's Inferno. This look at the underbelly of the American bubble reminds us of the beauty of the human spirit and the many paths to redemption.
Karr, Mary. Liar's Club. Karr's matter-of-fact reporting of life from the point of view of a seven-year-old with a crazy mom is a real grabber. Her next novel, Cherry, takes it up to the girl's teen years, and is a much deeper and more insightful memoir than most of the books on the shelves these days.
Kotlowitz, Alex. There Are No Children Here. Set in a Chicago housing project, this book is a true story about two brothers; it reflects the brutal reality that many urban youth face every day.
Myles, Eileen. Cool for You. This is another harsh memoir/novel -- this time about growing up working class and Catholic in Massachusetts. All The characters in these moderns memoirs grow up too fast, but some describe the process beautifully.
Oe, Kenzaburo. Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids. This book is the antidote to Lord of the Flies. A group of kids -- juvenile delinquents and abandoned children in Japan during World War II -- are left alone in an isolated are. They build a community, and, in their own rough way, support each other.
Ray, Rebecca. Pure. Written by a sixteen-year-old high school dropout, Pure is narrated by a fourteen-year-old. Here Ray is dealing with rather dysfunctional hippie parents, like Saskia in The Saskiad, but in this case she lets herself in for physical abuse by her boyfriend in order to be popular. What's up with that? Ray works through this ugly reality to reach good insights.
Sapphire. Push. Push is a beautiful tale told from the point of view of a retarded and abused high school girl. Here you will find, in the fog of her confusion and misinformation, a daily struggle for dignity and her redemption.
Scoppettone, Sandra. The Late Great Me. A high school social outcast who doesn't fit in with her family finds acceptance and a first boyfriend through drinking, then suffers the consequences. Students have remarked on this book's realistic and honest approach to a topic most teenagers have to deal with and how true it rings for them.
