I have just finished reading Jason Reynold's Long Way Down to my eighth grade students, and they absolutely loved it. This is the second year in a row that I've read this aloud to them, and you can hear a pin drop during the reading. Now that we've finished, they want me to read something else – but I can't find anything as attention grabbing as Long Way Down. Last year I tried The Outsiders, but the students felt that it was a slow start and they were bored. We also tried Black Brother, but that seemed too preachy. Do you have any suggestions for YA books (around a 12 year old level, there is a reason I'm reading aloud) that is just amazingly gripping, well written, and quick moving?
by IAmPerpetuallyGrumpy
7 Comments
The Tail Of the Beph PiG. Came across this through a friend the other day and it-did not disappoint .
Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
Scythe by Neal Shusterman
The Crossover by Kwame Alexander/The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas/Early Departures by Justin A Reynolds.
If you’ve never read William Sleator’s House of Stairs, it’s definitely worth looking into and I think would make an excellent read-aloud.
Also would recommend The Raft by Robert Trumbull
*Feed* by MT Anderson
From 2002, about a near future that I think a lot of us can imagine. Not condescending and a fast read.
Bud, Not Buddy.
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer has a lexile score about appropriate for 8th/9th grade and I felt was pretty good the whole way through.