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Bibliophiliac is the space where one passionate, voracious reader reflects on books and the reading life. You will find reviews, analysis, links, and reflections on poetry and prose both in and out of the mainstream.

A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us. Franz Kafka

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Calling All YA Experts

I'm sitting here in my empty classroom.  The walls are stripped, there is junk all over the classroom.  Our hallways look as if a tornado just went through: every locker is hanging open, and there is an unbelievable tide of notebooks, papers, and clothing on the floor in front of the lockers.  Yes, indeed, today was the last day of school.  Well, not for me.  I still have two more days to clean up, get grades in (done) and check out.  So what am I doing?  Of course, I'm thinking about next year!

Here's where I really need some help.  Event though I teach young adults, I don't know as much as I should about current YA literature.  So I need all you YA folks to give me a shout-out (comment) about what I should order (novels, non-fiction) for a group of sophomore repeaters for next year.  For some reason that I really can't remember at this moment, I requested a class of "repeat offenders."  What high interest books would you recommend for this class?  I would expect my class to have more male than female students (in the past the ratio of males to females in such a class was about 10-1) so guy-friendly books are in order.  Our school serves a diverse population; most of my students have never left this part of the South in their lives.  What else?  Give me your best ideas!

13 comments:

BookQuoter said...

I have personally bookmarked this:http://potterpercyandi.blogspot.com/2010/04/top-100-ya-books.html
It's Ann's blog and she is my source for YA books.

I personally like 'the Outsiders' for boys, and The Book Thief is a classic, which are on my list, but then again, I am just starting to read them too.

Unknown said...

Paul Volponi books would be perfect! They're extremely high interest for boys, written at a very manageable level if you have struggling readers, and they raise big questions about why the world is the way that it is without being overly preachy.

I would also recommend Swim the Fly by Don Calame b/c it is hilarious and a perfect boy book.

Finally, Bluford Books are definitely written at a lower level but all of the middle schoolers at my school eat them up like candy. They're great "at home" reading books, since kids actually want to read them.

Good luck!

Super Librarian said...

I just finished reading We Were Here by Matt de la Pena, and it was excellent. I think it would appeal to males who are reluctant readers.

Super Librarian said...

I just finished reading We Were Here by Matt de la Pena, and it was excellent. I think it would appeal to males who are reluctant readers.

Anonymous said...

wish i could help ,not really a ya reader but hunger games seems popular ,all the best stu

Anonymous said...

I just read two YA novels that might be good for your class.

Does This Make My Head Look Big? by Randa Abdel-Fattah

Ashes by Kathryn Laskey

Melissa said...

My advice? Reach out to Shanyn of Chick Loves Lit. Here twitter is @shanynlee and she is a YA expert!

Laura Kozy Lanik said...

Anything by Walter Dean Myers. He is awesome and all my boy students love his books. I would also strongly suggest Graphic novels, like Maus I and II, American Born Chinese and don't forget non-fiction. Boys love non-fiction.

bibliophiliac said...

Thanks for your thoughts, everyone. There are lots of good ideas (keep them coming;)

thomascalvocoressi said...

My daughter says "The Perks of Being a Wallflower."

Iliana said...

I also recommend The Book Thief. Such a wonderful book.

Unknown said...

The Book Thief, yes.
The Outsiders, yes.
Also, since you're asking for books for boys, Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider books.

For girls (I'm assuming these are reluctant readers), Ally Carter's The Gallagher Girls series.

bibliophiliac said...

Thanks Tom, good to hear from you. Today was the last day of school, and I got a look at my roster for this class--should be interesting. Saw a couple of "infamous" names!