Friday, January 8, 2010

Book suggestions?

For my secondary ed class, I have to do a project where I do fifteen bazillion lesson plans on a specific novel. (Okay, take off the bazillion, and you'd have it right, but it seems like a lot.) And I can't decide on which book to do. It has to be a book that is commonly taught or could easily be taught in high school or junior high, but I'd prefer it not to be too terribly long (as I have to read it twice in the next month) and something that I've not read several times before (having read it once is okay by me). Both classics and young adult lit are acceptable. So, with that....

Any good recommendations?


5 comments:

  1. These are all books I enjoyed reading because I felt like I could see symbolism and things to discuss. Sorry they are mostly from high school:

    Secret Life of Bees
    Their Eyes were Watching God
    The Scarlet Letter
    The Outsiders
    The Old Man and the Sea
    The Great Gatsby
    Romeo and Juliet (may not be long enough for 15 lessons)
    Last of the Mohicans
    Harry Potter
    Lord of the Flies
    You could always read The Secret Garden...again... and again

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  2. Cold Sassy Tree is great, so is The Good Earth. Although the Good Earth is terribly long. Cold Sassy Tree.

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  3. Well, I was going to say Middlemarch until you said it couldn't be terribly long. Because I think everyone should read Middlemarch. You could always do Jane Eyre though. Or something Shakespeare that's not Hamlet. I love Hamlet, I've just read it about fifteen bazillion times. King Lear is my favorite, but Othello would be great too. I also love Winter's Tale, and it is great for discussion/symbolism type of stuff. Or Hard Times. Dickens=awesome, but Hard Times is actually a faster read! I know Dickens and fast don't really equate, but really! And it's short too! Or you could do Tess. Or I do like Vaughn's suggestion of Scarlett Letter. Um those are my choices. It is kind of long. But you shouldn't have asked me if you didn't want a really long, drawn-out list. :)

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  4. Well, I always love something from Shakespeare. I heard of one teacher asking what kinds of problems the students thought the teens faced and it ended up matching really really closely with some character. I think it was Romeo and Juliet.

    When I had to make 15 bazillion lesson plans on a book I did Comfort. I don't remember who it's by, but it was about a boy in Comfort Texas. I think I still have the mondo spiral bound packet. Do you want to see it?

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