The schools require the students in each grade to read certain books for certain reasons. After going through the local school districts curriculum for 7th grade, I made a list of books they require or recommend. I figured I would read some and figure out which to assign for the school year.
Some I rejected outright for various reasons. For instance, my husband didn't like reading "the Outsiders". Vehemently didn't like it. But it came up several times in the curriculum, so I felt I needed to give it a chance. After struggling to read the first few pages, I figured my son would be horribly bored by it. Not that he will only be assigned books he is interested in, but that can only go so far. I need to be to deal with it too.
Others I knew right away I would include. Some because I've read them before. "The Giver" by Lois Lowry will be a tough one for me, because, although I liked the book, I hated the ending. So one of his assignments will be to write a different ending. That will be very hard for him, but I think it could be a good assignment.
A few I really needed to look through to see what I would be able to use. I found quite a few surprises. Some good, some not so good. Although Kwame Alexander's poetry is okay, I simply don't want to assign it. But an Agatha Christie book sounds pretty good for a tween who has already read Sherlock Holmes.
There were also some that my husband insisted he read that are not on the list, from his interest in career/professional development. After some discussion about that between us parents, we will determine which ones will be included from that list. The 12yo already read "Who moved my cheese?" so I'm sure some will be included.
Every month will have a new book to read. The first week, the assignment will be to read the book. Since he can finish these books pretty quickly, I'm sure that this won't take the full week. But just in case (busy week, lots of holidays, etc), he can have a little extra time. The second week will be to really get into the book. I have found a website called quizizz.com which has so many quizzes for free about so many different topics. I figure one page of vocab and one page about questions about the book specifically in that week will be decent for a week's assignments.
The last 2 weeks of the month will be for the book report. Some, like "the Giver", will have specific prompts for him to use. Others won't. I simply will want a synopsis of the book from his eyes. I will suggest he can write the report from the perspective of "I'm glad I read this book because..." or "I hated this book because..." We'll see how those reports turn out. He really hates them, but I really think they are important to teach critical thinking about the text.
So as of June 2020, here's the list I have so far:
"The Giver" by Lois Lowry
"The Watsons go to Birmingham" by Christopher Paul Curtis
"Skellig" by David Almond (of particular interest to me because one of the main characters is homeschooled)
"And then there were none" by Agatha Christie
"The Pilgrim's Progress: a readable modern-day version" by John Bunyan, revision by Alan Vermilye
I'm rereading "Lord of the Flies" to see if that should be one. I was surprised the 12yo hadn't read it before because I remember reading it earlier than grade 7. I also think I might include "Animal Farm" which I feel is great description of how governments can change. I have to look for open-ended questions/writing prompt ideas for these though.
I need a total of 9 books, and this is only 7. I'll be looking into a few others, and then I have to choose which month to assign them in. That will be tricky, but I am looking forward to the task.
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