It might be a bit below their reading level, but Summer of the Monkeys is a good one for people who hate reading. It’s by Wilson Rawls, the guy who wrote the gut-wrencher about the coonhounds, um, Where the Red Fern Grows (depressing book, horribly depressing). It’s hilarious, and touching, and it deals with family dynamics, responsibility, and self-reliance. Wonderful book, and totally appropriate for your school. Turns my mother’s class of hate-to-read 12-13 yo boys into snivelling piles of jello by the end every single time. (She usually forbids them to read past the chapter before the deal with the pony, so they can read it together as a class. I’ve read the book a dozen times, and that scene still makes me cry.)
After The Rain is a good one, too. It’s about a teenage girl dealing with the impending death of her grandfather, as well as all the stresses and confusion about boys and all. Usually very relevant, as most kids that age have lost at least one grandparent, or have one in failing health. It’s very family-value oriented, and the only thing remotely objectionable I can think of is one scene where she tells a boy to make his own damn sandwich. That’s a Norma Fox Mazer, I believe.
Jack London is usually pretty interesting, but might be below their reading level. O. Henry stories tend to be good ones. Flowers for Algernon is usually good high-school fare, but the bits dealing with sexuality might be objectionable to the administration or parents. For poetry, she might try Shel Silverstein. There’s nothing objectionable in it, and it’s certainly more accessible and engaging to the non-reader than, say, Longfellow. Janice Holt Giles wrote some pretty cool historical novels set in Kentucky. My favorite is The Believers, but you might have better luck getting non-readers interested in Hannah Fowler. She’s got some really good short stories, too. I can’t remember the name, but the one about the guineas is hilarious.
I’m thinking Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card and possibly its companion novel Ender’s Shadow which is essentially the same story told from a different character’s perspective. (an interesting excersise for both readers and writers).
Not only is Ender’s Game an excellent book with relatively intense moral themes*, it is readable for any age level. I read it in the 5th grade, yet I have a couple friends who read it for the first time at age 25 and enjoyed it greatly. Plus a large section of the book is dedicated to describing a complex wargame. Boys like that stuff.
*Such as:
-Is it right to use and manipulate someone for a greater good?
-If you do something bad without knowing (at the time) you were doing it, how should you feel when you find out?
-What is leadership? What makes a great leader?
-Are human children naturally moral or immoral?
What about some of Kafka’s short stories? Like “In the Penal Colony,” “The Hunger Artist,” or “The Metamorphoses”? They are short, great literature, and just bizarre enough to hold the attention of teenage boys. Ditto for the short stories of Borges.
I’d also suggest *The Great Gatsby *.
And what about Don Quixote? It’s actually an amazingly funny and entertaining book, and there’s an english translation out by Burton Raffel that is in nice, modern English and is very easy to read.
It’s not ever going to be called great liturature, but Douglas Adams “Hitchhiker’s Guild to the Galaxy” is a fun read, not an intimidating size, and fast moving enough to keep the attention of a non-reader.
Hmmm…howabout The Butterfly Revolution by William Butler. Sort of Lord of the Flies light - easier to read and a more readily identifiable milieu for most American kids at least. Teens seize control of a summer camp under the leadership of an intensely charismatic, intelligent, but somewhat disturbed teen demagogue, as told by the younger geeky kid that gradually rises to become the leader’s trusted, but highly conflicted, right-hand.
Another vote for Ender’s Game (Hello Again beat me to it!)
My 10th grade students are reading it in their English class. They can’t seem to put it down, especially when they’re supposed to be learning about the wonderful world of biology from me!
This is completely blocking me. My kids go to the same kind of school and you wouldn’t believe how uptight the administration is about these things. I have to corrupt my kids at home!
I’d suggest Orwell’s Animal Farm. Very short and easy, has a lot of meanings, and is definetly classic literature. I read it in 8th grade and loved it.
Dang it, I was going to suggest Animal Farm. How about: Lord of the Rings (long, of course), The Old Man and the Sea, A Farewell To Arms or Night (these two might not be age-appropriate), The Golden Goblet (one of my favorite books when I was younger), To Kill A Mockingbird, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (maybe not appropriate either), or anything by Jules Verne.
I can’t believe that after 32 posts no one has mentioned Robert A. Heinlein’s series of juvenile novels. Rocket ship Galileo
Starman Jones
The Red Planet
The Rolling Stones (trouble for Tribbles anyone?)
Have Spacesuit will travel
Tunnel in the Sky
Plus a few others I have probably forgotten All of these are easy to read, plus they are fun to read.
I loved Of Mice and Men, but **The Pearl ** was pure torture, despite being short.
Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio is an excellent short story cycle centering loosely on a young male character in a small town. Hemmingway’s In Our Time may also interest them, being about boxers and soldiers and such.
Two words: Kurt Vonnegut. I read Cat’s Cradle and Slaughterhouse Five in my 10th grade English class, and then went on a Vonnegut kick that lasted for several years.
I don’t know if this would fly in a church school, but it’s also the perfect age to read Sartre’s No Exit. “Hell is other people”: teenagers know this better than anyone else.
My brother was a 10th grade boy who doesn’t like to read last year.
Books that he ended up reading, and liking: Ender’s Game, and the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
I am actually kinda stunned - Winesburg, Ohio? Slaughterhouse 5? Really!!! Don’t get me wrong, these are great books, but not for non-book-reading 15-year-olds…
I agree with those that recommend Ender’s Game - great book.
I would also recommend other sci-fi, like I, Robot and the Foundation trilogy by Asimov - simple, accessible, compelling.
The key here is - what’s more important, getting the kids to read or getting them to read “important” books? For my money, getting them to read, period, wins every time - once they’re hooked, switch to the important stuff.
They maybe too old, but what about Piers Anthony’s first Xanth books? A Spell for Chameleon is pulp trash, but addictive.
Dune is the ultimate, but is a little long - although if they get hooked (like many do) it is all over.
Think about the movies they might be watching - there are lots of books that are like those…
