Book Categories:
The following list is a compilation of many sources, including:
Educational Task Force, book buyers from a variety of book stores in
Marin, San Francisco, Berkley,
and local middle schools, recommendations by parents and students
throughout the years. I have tried to include a few words that
reflect the plot or content of the book as well as the reading
level. This is a work in progress, so please feel free to
give me input. I have not read every book on this list; please
ask if you have any questions. For parents who are concerned
about adult themes, language or violence you may want to
check the book first.
I try to filter out anything gratuitous.
The reading levels recommended are from a variety of sources- again I
cannot
vouch for the accuracy of all of them. Before selecting an outside
required book from this list or others it must be approved by
Andrea -
not all books are appropriate for all students- see me. Key: (E)=Easy;
(I)=Intermediate; (A)=Advanced
American History
- Ulysses S. Grant:
Union general in the Civil War; 18th president of
the U.S.
- This House of Sky,
Ivan Doig: Pioneers (I - A)
- O Pioneers, Cather:
Pioneers; (I -M)
- To Be a Slave:
Lester: slavery; (I)
- Jump off Creek,
Gloss, Pioneers
- Cannery Row,
Steinbeck: America 20th Century; (I -A)
- Sacajawea,
Howard: Native American, explorer; (I)
- Cold, Sassy Tree,
Burns: Early America, (I)
- Letters on an Elk
Hunt, Stewart: Pioneer; (I)
- Education of
Little
Tree,
Carter: Native American; (E)
- Centennial,
Michener, James: Fascinating! Typically Michener, story begins in
the pre-history of North America, then explores the westward movement
as experienced by characters from early settlers to pioneers.
- Let The Circle be
Unbroken
- Slopes of War,
Perez:
Civil War
- Captain's Dog,
Smith, Roland: Fictional account of a dog that travels with Lewis and
Clark. (E)
- Sounder, Armstrong:
African American sharecropper and his family endure cruelty with
courage and dignity. (E)
- Walk the World's
Rim: A
shared belief in human dignity binds together an Indian boy and a black
slave in the 16th Century U.S(reading level unknown)
- The Deerslayer,
Cooper:
A young hunter is brought up among the Delaware Indians engaged in
warfare against the Huron Indians in New York State. grades 7-9
- Last of the
Mohicans: Cooper: A scout rescues two women and a British
soldier from Indians
during the French and Indian Wars. grades 7-9
- The Red Badge of
Courage, Crane: a beautifully written though difficult account
of the
state of mind of a young soldier in action at the Civil War battle of
Chancellorsville. (A)
- The Matchlock Gun,
Edmonds: New York State during the French and Indian War is the
setting. A boy helps his mother fight off an Indian attack by firing an
old Spanish musket in his father's absence. grades 4-6
- Johnny Tremain,
Forbes: The story of a young Boston apprentice during the year of the
Boston
Tea Party. grades 6-7
- Slave Dancer,
Fox: A 13
year old boy is kidnapped to play music on board a slave ship en route
to
Africa from New Orleans in 1840. grades 6-7
- Ishi, Last of His
Tribe,
Kroeber: True story of California Indian, last in his tribe, who leaves
his
primitive life and enters the modern world. grades (I)
- Cold Mountain,
Frazier, James: A Civil War soldier deserts the army tries to reach
home. (A)
- The Samurai's Tale,
Haugaard, Erik C.: The tale of a young boy who is captured by a band of
Samurai.
- A
Gathering of
Days: A New England Girl's Journal, 1830 -32, Blos, Joan: When
Catherine's mother dies in childbirth, and her father decides to
remarry, Catherine faces painful changes.
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General Fiction
& Student Recommendations
The Alchemist, Coelho,
Paulo -A shepard boy travels from his homeland in Spain to the
Egyptian
desert. grades 7
and up.
- A Tree Grows in
Brooklyn, Smith, Betty: A young girl's coming of age amidst the
suffering and poverty of a turn- of-the-century (20th) Brooklyn
neighborhood. (M-A)
- Watership Down,
Adams, group of rabbits searching for a place to live, grades 6-9
- Dido and Pa,
Aiken, Dido gets involved in a scheme against the king. His own wicked
father is involved. grades 5-8
- Little Women,
Alcott: An American family based on the life of the author. grade 7 up
- The Book of
Three; The Black Cauldron; The Castle of Llyr: Lloyd. "The
adventures of Taran, Assistant Pig Keeper, and his friends in a
mythical kingdom are chronicled in these three volumes, easy grades 4-7
- Requiem for a
Princess, Arthur: 15 year old girl spends her nights in dreams
in which she finds herself living the life of a sixteenth century
Spanish girl whose portrait she has seen. grades 6-8
- A Candle in Her
Room, Arthur: The evil influence of an antique doll haunts
three generations of a family on the coast of Wales in this sensitive
tale of mystery. grades 7-10
- Emma in Love,
Arundel: 16 year old suffers through her first emotional involvement
with a boy she meets on a summer archaeological dig. grades 7-10
- Pride and
Prejudice, Austen: Concerned with the conflict between the
prejudice of a young lady and the pride of an aristocratic hero. 8th
and up - (A)
- National Velvet,
Bagnold: A girl enters and wins a horse race and is disqualified when
it is discovered that she is a girl. (E)
- Rain of Fire,
Bauer: Steve's older brother returns from World War 11 and refuses to
relate his experiences, causing Steve's friends to doubt that his
brother was a hero. grades 7-9
- The Eyes of the
Killer Robot, Bellairs: A professor and a 13 year old boy are in
danger when they try to locate a robot. (E)
- The Me Inside of
Me, Bethancourt:17 year old Alfredo Flores is an orphan who
suddenly gets a million dollars, but he discovers this money gives him
a new set of problems. grades 7-9
- Jane Eyre,
Bronte: An orphaned young woman falls in love with her employer but
discovers that he
is married to a madwoman who is locked up in the attic. grades 8 up. (A)
- The Moves Make
the Man, Brooks; A sports story involving a black basketball
player and an emotionally troubled white boy. grades 5-8
- A Quiet Place,
Burchard; During a summer in Maine, a teenager learns about herself
through her relationship with two different boys. grades 7-10
- The Secret Garden,
Burnett (many students have recommended this): Colin, neglected by his
father, lives the life of a spoiled, incurable invalid until the
arrival of an orphaned cousin. The two secretly restore his mother's
locked garden and Colin to health and his father's affection - (E)
- The Incredible
Journey, Burnford: Three heroic animals travel 250 miles through
Canadian wilderness to be reunited with the humans they love. (E)
- Going on Sixteen,
Cavanna: A 14 year old girl who tries to escape her sense of inadequacy
by raising an orphaned collie puppy. grades 6-9
- The Adventures of
Don Quixote, Cervantes: A man who thinks he is a knight battles
windmills that he mistakes for giants and has other imagined
adventures. grades 8 up. (A)
- A Hero Ain't
Nothin' but a Sandwich, Childress: A young drug addict in Harlem
has difficulties facing the reality that someone cares for him. grades
6-9
- Robinson Crusoe,
Defoe: Based on a true experience, this is a detailed account of a
man's
shipwreck and life on an uninhabited island.
- David Copperfield,
Dickens: Primarily autobiographical novel set in 19th Century England-
depicts harsh realities of life of David's life. grades 7-9
- The Hound of the
Baskerville, Doyle: Sir Charles Baskerville is murdered, and
Sherlock Holmes and Watson move in to solve the crime. grades 6-9
- The Count of
Monte Cristo, Dumas: A young sailor is unjustly arrested and
imprisoned but he escapes, finds fabulous treasures and uses the money
to punish enemies and reward friends. grades 7-9
- Incident at
Hawk's Hill, Eckert: Based on a true incident - a six year old
boy is lost in a storm, is befriended and nurtured by a badger family
for two months. grades 5-8
- Enchantress from
the Stars; Engdahl: A girl from a highly advanced civilization,
in the future, becomes involved with a wood cutter's son. grades 7-10
- Captain Courageous,
Kipling: A rich, spoiled 15 year old is washed overboard in the
Atlantic, rescued by fishermen and spends the fishing season on board a
schooner where he changes from a snobbish adolescent to a self reliant
young man. grades 6-8
- The Jungle Book,
Kipling: The adventures of a young Indian boy who is raised by wolves
in
the jungle. grades 4-6
- Very Far Away
From Anywhere Else, LeGuin: A well written story in which two
young people explore love as they reach for mutual respect and
understanding. grades 7-9
- Catcher In the Rye,
Salinger, J.D: An alienated teen rebels against authority. Strong
language. grades 8 and older
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World History
- Arabian Nights,
Scheherazade, Islam: Scheherazade tells stories to her emperor husband
who is so fascinated with them, he stays her execution. He, therefore,
changes the vow he made to marry a new wife each day and kill her the
next.
- The Devils
Children, Dickenson: Merlin the magician transforms England back
to life as it was in the Middle Ages. grades 6-8
- The Three
Musketeers, Dumas: The antagonism between Cardinal Richelieu and
Queen Anne serve as a background to a series of adventures by the three
musketeers.
- Shakespeare
Stealer, Blackwood, Gary: London theater world, 1500's
- Little Sister,
Dalky, Kara: 12th Century Japan
- Spider's Voice,
Skurzynski, Gloria: Abelard and Eloise, 12th Century France
- Adam's Cross,
Mead, Brooks Alice: Albanian boy in Kosovo
- Weslandia,
Fleischman, Paul: World civilizations
- Seesaw Girl,
Park, Linda Sue: 17th Century Korea, girl's constrained life
- The Ghost in the
Tokaido Inn, Hoobler, Dorothy: 18th Century Japan/Samurais
- The Iron Ring,
Alexander, Loyd: Ancient India, adventure fantasy
- The Midwife's
Apprentice, Cushman, Karen: A homeless girl is found in a
dung heap and apprenticed to the village midwife - 14th Century, England
- Kiss the Dust,
Laird, Elizabeth: not ancient but counts - Iraq - A girl named Tara and
her family are Kurds who must flee for their lives
- Shabanu,
Staples, Suzanne Fisher: Torn between her family and her growing
independence and strength, Shabanu tells the story of her life as a
nomad in Pakistan
- Beyond the Myth:
The Story of Joan of Arc, Brooks, Polly Schoyer: Condemned as a
witch but later canonized as a saint, young Joan leads her French
countrymen in their battle against the English.
- Ivanhoe, Scott, Sir Walter: A tale
of the period following the Norman conquest includes knights from
the Holy Land, conspiracies, and the burning of a great castle.
- Ben Hur,
Wallace, Lew: Judah Ben-Hur, a rich man, loses his fortune and
family as a result of being accused of attempting to assassinate the
new
governor of Jerusalem. (A)
- The Sword in the
Stone, White, T. H.: The story of everyday life for two boys in
a great medieval castle. (I)
- The Scarlet
Pimpernell, Orczy, Emmuska: The leader of a band of titled
Englishmen who, during the reign of terror, assists condemned or
suspected emigres escape to England. (A)
- The Count of
Monte Cristo, Dumas, Alexandre: A young sailor who is unjustly
imprisoned in France escapes to Italy and, with newfound wealth,
sets out to punish his enemies and reward his friends. (I)
- Mists of Avalon,
Bradley, Marion Zimmer: The tales of King Arthur told from a feminist
point of view. (A)
- Girl With a Pearl
Earring, Chevalier, Tracy: Sixteen-year-old Dutch girl during
the 1600's in a tale of awakening and art based on a famous Vermeer
painting. (A)
- Deus Lo Volt! A
Chronicle of the Crusades, Connell, Evan S.: An engaging
explanation of the roots and causes of the Crusades and how they relate
to present day circumstances. A winner! (I - A)
- Gringa Latina,
DeFerrari, Gabriella: Cross-cultural exploration of Italian immigrants
in Peru. (I)
- Guns, Germs and
Steel, Diamond, Jared: Interesting, though advanced, reading on how and why things happen in history. (A)
- Sophie's World,
Gaarder, Jostein: Easy and informative story that tells the
history of (mostly) western philosophy and Christian thinking. (A)
- The Cure at Troy:
A Version of Sophocle's 'Philoctetes', Heaney, Seamus:
Great translation of the story of the angry Philoctetes who needs to
get over whining about his hurt foot and help the Greeks at Troy. (A)
- Sixteen Pleasures,
Hellenga, Robert: Young American woman goes to Florence to help
with flood relief encounters into history and herself. (I)
- Poisonwood Bible,
Kingsolver, Barbara: Amazing characters and a great history of
colonialism in Africa. (A)
- Catherine
Called Birdy, Cushman, Karen: 14-year-old girl born into
nobility faces the constraints as well as the privileges of life in the
aristocracy.
- The Burning Time,
Matas, Carol: The terror witnessed by a teenage girl whose mother is
accused
of witchcraft.
- Longitude,
Sobel, Dava: Lone genius solves scientific dilemma in the Age of
Exploration. (I)
- Year of Wonders,
Brooks, Geraldine: Through Anna's eyes, the story of the plague year,
1666, is told.
- A Great and
Terrible
Beauty, libba Bray, gripping, Gothic novel set in a Victorian
girls' finishing school in England. Set in 1895. Includes supernatural
plot twists. (I/A)
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Biography & Autobiography
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Non Fiction
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