More Recommended Reads
Here are some more works that I recommend.
Title: The Catcher in the Rye
Author: J.D. Salinger
When I Read It: 2007, age 16
Summary: Salinger takes us through the events following Holden Caulfield’s expulsion from his prep school. A coming-of-age story much loved by many. Anyone can relate to Holden and his feelings and troubles. One of my favorites.
Title: Slaughterhouse Five
Author: Kurt Vonnegut
When I Read It: 2006, age 16
Summary: Billy Pilgrim was in the war. He finds himself traveling through time and is captured by the alien Tralfamadorians. No one believes him, and his family thinks he’s crazy. An anti-war novel. My favorite.
Title: Henry IV, Part I
Author: William Shakespeare
When I Read It: 2006, age 16
Summary: The king’s got a lot of problems in his hands, such as his son and heir to the throne who would rather spend his time drinking with the old, fat, lowly Falstaff. Other noble families who helped him get to his position feel they are being mistreated and plot to overthrow the king.
Title: The Grapes of Wrath
Author: John Steinbeck
When I Read It: 2006, age 16
Summary: When Tom Joad is released from prison, he meets up with former pastor Jim Casey, and they had back to his family’s home, only to find that they’re packed up and ready to leave. Set in the Great Depression, the Joad family migrates from Oklahoma to California seeking work, and Steinbeck chronicles the struggles they face.
Title: The Joy Luck Club
Author: Amy Tan
When I Read It: 2006, age 16
Summary: A four part novel broken up into several vignettes, each told from a different point of view. The novel follows four mothers and four daughters, and it demonstrates the importance of family relationships despite disagreements and misunderstandings.
Title: 1984
Author: George Orwell
When I Read It: 2006, age 16
Summary: A futuristic tale in the time it was written – Orwell describes how he saw the world would be by 1984. It is a very different world, in which there is a totalitarian government. Winston Smith works for the government, but he finds himself in a struggle against it, which is very tricky because everyone is always being watched – “Big Brother is watching you.”
Title: The Scarlet Letter
Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne
When I Read It: 2005, age 15
Summary: Set in Puritan times, Hester Prynne is publicly shamed and must forever wear a scarlet letter A on her chest, which represents her sin of adultery. A creeper Roger Chillingworth arrives on the scene and attempts to expose the father of Hester Prynne’s child born form her sin.
Title: The Crucible
Author: Arthur Miller
When I Read It: 2005, age 15
Summary: Set in Salem, Massachusetts, in Puritan times, the Reverend Parris’s daughter lies unconscious, and the cause is thought to be witchcraft. The town falls into hysteria as everyone goes on a witch hunt, and nobody is free from suspicion.
Title: The Things They Carried
Author: Tim O’Brien
When I Read It: 2005, age 15
Summary: A work of fiction based on O’Brien’s experiences in the Vietnam War. The story is broken up into several vignettes told from the point of view of a few soldiers about their experiences in and out of the war. A very moving read.
Title: The Lords of Discipline
Author: Pat Conroy
When I Read It: 2005, age 15
Summary: Set in the 1960s at a fictional military institute in South Carolina, Will McLean describes his experiences as a freshman and a senior there. He finds himself responsible for protecting the school’s first black student from being run out of school by the mysterious and elusive group known as The Ten.
Title: A Lesson Before Dying
Author: Ernest Gaines
When I Read It: 2004, age 14
Summary: Set in Louisiana in the 1940s, Jefferson, a black man, witnesses a shooting and is later convicted of murder, despite his merely being a bystander. After being called a “hog” in court, Grant Wiggins, the local schoolteacher, is asked by Jefferson’s family to visit Jefferson in prison so that he can become a “man” before his death. A very moving novel about the struggles and efforts of two black men in a prejudiced community.
Title: You Don’t Know Me
Author: David Klass
When I Read It: 2003, age 13
Summary: John is a teenager struggling to make it through each day. He feels he has no friends, is constantly abused by his soon-to-be stepfather, and he keeps trying to deal with all of his troubles on his own. The novel tells of the importance of trust and forming positive relationships.