Just Another Book on the Wall

[anicalewis]

Grade school is relevant to me just now because we at the library are taking down our Summer Reading display. (Which is on the wall. And it's books for schools. So there's a Pink Floyd reference. See? NO, I AM DEFINITELY NOT REACHING.) These are the books either assigned or recommended by several of the local public schools. We get special

Comments

[miss_maxine]

I thought I loved Where the Red Fern Grows...until the horrible horrible ending. That being said, I don't think it was badly written; in fact I remember telling someone after I finished it that it was a beautiful book...except for the gory death scene with Big Dan and the totally pointless death of Little Ann. That one was the real kicker for me. I ended up with mixed feelings about it; I loved the boy-and-his-dogs stuff in the rest of it, but, but, but...

I still have a copy, I think, but I never read it again, an extremely rare occurrence with anything I read at that age. I could never put myself through the ending again.

[toastedcheese]

See, I read Where the Red Fern grows in sixth grade and I was far from traumatized - I was just really bored. My favorite books were of the Anne of Green Gables and Secret Garden variety; I certainly had no interest in reading about people's hunting dogs. Especially a boring, anticlimactic tragedy about hunting dogs.

I like As I Lay Dying pretty well, though (My mother is a fish!)

I agree that it's awesome when fun and accessible books can be recommended. Although when they're actually taught it can be dangerous - I was reading a teaching copy of A Wrinkle in Time last weekend, and it had a list of suggested discussion questions that dumbed down the themes of the book and suggested fun but pointless class activities ("Mrs. Who uses a lot of quotes! Look up quotes on the Internet and create your own skits out of them!" Could be entertaining, but has nothing to do with the material!) I'm glad I was never taught that book in school.

[sunshinecampusa]

I guess you don't remember the teacher in third grade pulling those boys out of the class and we could hear her haraguing them through the door. I guess you were too upset to notice, but does that help?

[anicalewis]

Haha, the boy in question actually told me about that in tenth grade, but yeah, I was too upset to notice at the time. (Apparently the teacher made him cry, too. The lesson: With Where the Red Fern Grows, everyone loses!)

My recommendation

[lilmartha2]

Recommended reading: No Dead Dogs by Gordon Korman. The protagonist actually complains about all those books with dead dogs that teachers make you read. Bonus recommendation: This Can't be Happening at Macdonald High, which he wrote in seventh grade.