I love The Westing Game. One of my favorite children’s books.
I think Wonder by R.J. Palacio would be a great discussion book. I really enjoyed it.
The Lightning Thief is a fun book. Although not very “literary”, there is lots of fodder for discussions about Greek mythology.
A couple other suggestions: Chasing Vermeer, A Mango-shaped Space.
On the lighter side, I’d suggest Myst. It’s written by the guy who did Chung Kuo, but targeting a younger (and less insane) audience.
How about Count of Monte Cristo (I’m joking)
Teacher here, too. The Westing Game and Wonder instantly came to mind, so I’m seconding/thirding those recommendations. What’s nice about The Westing Game is that most of your voracious readers may not have read it on their own. Wonder is far more popular but can provide an incredible community-building experience as you discuss the characters and plot.
What’s wrong with the story of using shortening to escape unjust imprisonment?
It’s what I read in 6th grade. We all enjoyed it.
I think it was an abbreviated version, skipping a few scenes and simplifying the prose so that it was a smaller and quicker read, but still quite good.
When I think back to classroom books from fourth, fifth, and sixth grades, they were all depressing. Call of the Wild, Bridge to Terabithia, etc.
Why do we seem to have the notion that if it’s not depressing, it’s not quality?
One of my favorite books as a kid (granted, a very long time ago) was The Once and Future King by T.H. White. Granted, it’s A BIT tragic, but not in a depressing way (the ending is optimistic). What I really liked about the book are the anachronistic discussions (Merlin remembers the future, because he lives his life backwards). BTW, it was the inspiration for both the musical “Camelot”, and the Disney film “The Sword in the Stone”.
I also agree with “Tom Sawyer”, but have you considered “Huckleberry Finn”? It has a little bit more substance, but is still incredibly fun. There’s also
Add my voice to those suggesting Watership Down; I’d add Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH as well.
lalaith writes:
> It is the life that LIW actually lived.
Um, a lot of things weren’t accurate:
If someone is a really good reader in the sixth grade, they may be ready for the Sherlock Holmes stories.
Isn’t that about the inaccuracies of the TV series?
In the Suicide Mountains by John Gardner. Yeah, it has the word “suicide” in its title, but it’s a fun story about a handsome knight, a kick-ass girl, and a Six Fingered Man, very much an update of The Canterbury Tales.
There’s not a Man Jack among us who wouldn’t recommend The Graveyard Book. As it’s kind of a pastiche of The Jungle Book (I thought of it as “Tarzan of the Stiffs”), offer that as well.
6th grade is about the time teachers started shifting us towards depressing books. It would be a mistake to cut them out totally.
I think it’s about inaccuracies in both the books and the TV show, but I’m really not sure.
If we are going to mention the Graveyard Book, let’s also mention the books it is a remake of: Kipling’s Jungle Book and the Second Jungle book.
These are short stories for young people by a Nobel Prize winning author. There is quite a lot of variety, so you can pick and choose your message. There is just a touch of foreign culture: not enough to be confusing. It’s not infused with 1960’s American culture, so it’s not as offensive to modern sensibility as the Walt Disney film. It’s not just Mowgli and the cub scouts: there is also RiKki-TiKki-Tavi and “The Miracle of Purun Bhagat”
A weakness is that many of his stories (including “Kim” and “Captains Couragous” are stories for boys.
I’ll throw another vote for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. I taught Tom Sawyer to 7th graders many years ago, and they loved it.
It also provides the background that makes The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn more enjoyable. Many kids read Huck Finn in 10th or 11th grade.
OOH! OOH! I’VE GOT YOUR FUCKING LITERATURE RIGHT HERE!
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle.
It’s seriously the most exciting children’s book I’ve read outside of Treasure Island (which is way too difficult a read for most sixth graders, given its archaic Scottish dialect among other reasons–not knocking the book, it’s amazing, but won’t work for most sixth graders). It’s got history. It’s got gravitas. It’s got a bit of humor (not much, but some). It’s got profound social commentary buried in it, race and class and gender all three. And it’s a swashbuckling fucker of a book par excellence. I’ve done it both as a whole-class read-aloud and as a small-group selection for very advanced third graders; if I taught sixth grade, I wouldn’t hesitate to use it.
Seriously, anyone participating in this thread obviously cares about children’s lit. If you’ve not read this one, go out and find it. It is ALL KINDS of awesome.
War of the Worlds, by H.G. Wells? A classic of science fiction, but surely not out of the range of 6th graders.
…I’d suggest more, but I’m realizing that my ability to judge “appropriate for children” and “not depressing” can be “iffy,” at best. Adding “literary significance” to the calculus makes things even worse.
L.A. Meyer’s “Bloody Jack” series - historical fiction from the perspective of a young girl who goes to sea to escape the poverty of 1800’s London and meets every historical figure of that era while having exciting adventures. (Especially recommend the audiobook version, read by Katherine Kellgren, but you probably want them to read on their own.)
Maya’s Notebook by Isabel Allende: This is a very grim book in places, but it is told with hope and a good attitude towards adversity, family and recovery. Be warned: This book deals with drug abuse, rape, murder, love and political upheaval. Maya is in hiding off the coast of Chile recovering from most all of that and more. But it’s good - really!
Something by Neil Gaiman? The Graveyard Book, American Gods (might be a bit much for 6th graders), Good Omens(!)
You could challenge them with **Cryptonomicon **by Neal Stephenson. Historical fiction about code breakers in WW2 combined with modern treasure hunters. It’s thick, but fascinating. It might inspire a few of them to become cryptographers. (The Diamond Age is probably not appropriate for this age group.)
**Beauty Queens **by Libba Bray? I may be stretching with that one, but it’s funny and feminist. Bunch of beauty queens get stranded on a desert island and find that their “talents” come in useful for survival. Cute boy pirates, secret evil corporation, Lord of the Flies meets Legally Blonde.
Tell your daughter to read The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place.
You mean that book about infanticide was the bright spot? 