Just want to add Siddhartha by Herman Hesse.
Mag- what’s wrong with that? We read the Scarlet Letter- in AP English- no less. 
I haven’t yet read the Grapes of Wrath though we did analyze a section for an in class essay.
I Grive: I agree. Required sucks all the fun out of it…as i have stated.
These kids could have handled very intense discussion of The Scarlet Letter; unfortuantely, to do so requires violating many of the values of this conservative school district. ::rolls eyes:: God forbid that sex (and its mighty repercussions) might be mentioned in the classroom.
So…
Much of the value and possible interest/identification that these eleventh graders might have had with the story is lost. That is why I feel that the kids would have been better off reading it in the ninth or tenth grade, since the curriculum called for the book to be taught at that (lower) emotional and intellectual level.
Had I been permitted to teach it my way…
many parents and, thus, administrators would have been very unhappy.
~Mag
I further cast votes for The Great Gatsby. I also vote for any of the Lord of The Rings books.
In 8th grade I said to my teacher (practically verbatim)(sp?)): “But testing us takes all of the fun out reading”.
Mrs. Osrow was a very sweet, intelligent young teacher who, I felt, really cared. She just smiled genuinely(sp?) at me me and simply explained that if we weren’t tested most of us probably wouldn’t do the actual reading. I read Orwell’s “Animal Farm” that year, (One of my favs for awhile after) and “The Pigman”, a book I do not remember but only remember loving.
The following year I asked the same question to my 9th grade english teacher, an old nasty unfriendly bitter bitch of a woman who shall remain nameless (you just never know who’s out there). She snapped at me, “Oh Kenny I don’t have time for your nonsense!”
I really disliked that woman. As luck would have it, I had her again in 11th grade.
Despite my respect for Mrs. Osrow’s opinion at the time, I still thought required reading sucks. However, since that time I have really come to appreciate the fact that I was forced to read.
I look back with envy at people I know who read on their own at a young age. I do not come from a well-read, intellectual background. We sat in front of the TV for hours together, me and my fam, and that’s what we did. I would not have even been able to fathom the concept of actually sitting down and reading a full-length novel had it not been for school, and what I read in school is pretty much all I have to show for my reading life as a growing kid, save few exceptions like Electric Kool-Ade Acid Test which I read for, well, other reasons besides reading itself.
Anyway, sorry for rambling.
Some of my required reading pix:
Tuck Everlasting for elementary level students.
Anything by Edward Gorey for the more darker and disturbed young lads, or older ones.
For grades 7-8, in addition to the 2 mentioned above:
** Catcher in the Rye**, I hate the book but I think it’s a good read for Jr. High.
** Lord of the Flies **
As I said, I didn’t read much back then. Most of my reading has been in my adult years, so here’s my pix for upper level students:
Steppenwolf by Hesse
The Castle by Kafka, though he died while writing a very climatic part leaving the work unfinished, the bastard.
The Karamozov Brothers by Dosteovsky for upper level college students or damn smart High schoolers.
1984
Anything by Vonnegut, though I really like** Sirens of Titan**
And no, I’m not forgetting about Adams, Pratchett, Robbins, etc. It’s just I don’t think they should be required reading since they only appeal to that small population of people who dig that type of humour.
I’m tired. Goodnight.