SL – best books in high school years

You might have your high school student read Never Before in History concurrently with The Godless Constitution.  Have them compare and contract these two works as they read through them – a journal with weekly or 2x weekly conversations with you is good.  I would suggest a few books to read in addition to that, but they are not SL.

Classics that they might need to know for college:

The Best of Father Brown*
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde*
Jane Eyre*
Oliver Twist*
Robinson Crusoe*
The Screwtape Letters*
Till We Have Faces*
Alas, Babylon
Brave New World*
Cry the Beloved Coutnry
Murder on the Orient Express*
The Old Man and the Sea
Huck Finn*
The Best Short Stories of O.Henry*
The Chosen*
The Crucible*
The Giver*
The Grapes of Wrath*
The Scarlett Letter*
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn*
Walden & Civil Disobedience*
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes*
Beowulf*
Canterbury Quintet*
Frankenstein*
Right Ho, Jeeves
A Tale of Two Cities*
All Quiet on the Western Front
The Great Gatsby

Shakespeare & Poetry:
Hamlet*
Romeo and Juliet*
Robert Frost’s Poems*

Ones my high schoolers have enjoyed a great deal (perhaps to make a list of free reading – Some overlap from the above):
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer*
Amos Fortune, Free Man*
Ender’s Game
Maniac Magee
Pride and Prejudice*
The Best of Father Brown*
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH*
Oliver Twist*
The Great Brain
The Great Gilly Hopkins
Murder on the Orient Express*
Huck Finn*
Belle Prater’s Boy
The Best
Short Stories of O. Henry*
The ChosenSherlock Holmes*
The Importance of Being Ernest*
Right Ho, Jeeves
Wuthering Heights
Traitor: The Case of Benedict Arnold
Sequoyah & the Cherokee Alphabet
The Hiding Place*

Books we enjoyed reading together as a family:
Tom Sawyer*
Bonanza Girl
A Christmas Carol*
Oliver Twist*
Pilgrim’s Progress*
The Great Brain
When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit
Mere Christianity*
Alices Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass

There are also some I am so thankful that they read, though not necessarily their favorite or likely to be discussed in class or a lot of other literary references to them, however, that would just about cover nearly all of the book listed.  The ones with the stars by them are ones that I am absolutely sure to have my own high schooler’s read (the last three at home either have or will be reading these as they have we have not used the whole of the SL cores for high school for them as we did for our first and part of our second student’s education).

I really like several of these books, but some of them you might have already covered like Tom Sawyer &/or Sherlock Holmes, etc.  Honestly, we’ve been working on reading the books from the SL lists from the time our kiddos start junior high – depending upon the child.  Anyway, what I have done is to put them in various columns – history, reading, free reading and family reading.  The free reading list may not be completely covered as my girls are allowed to pick and choose from the list.  The other two, though, I really try to fit into our schedule so that none, or very few, are left out. 

I don’t know if that was in any way helpful, and I am sorry if I’m rambling.  This has been typed out while I’ve been cooking Sunday lunch and trying to get everyone rounded up for a trip to visit relatives.

I hope you are able to pare your list down to *YOUR* essentials.

Pax,

~jacqleene

EDITED: My formatting ended up getting scrambled for some reason.  I hope I’ve fixed it, but I think I might have erased some of the * in my hurry to get it fixed so that we could leave.  Just know that I would recommend all of these books that are listed as well as nearly all of the ones in the catalog that are not as they are high quality – which you know – however your student’s sensibilities need to be considered. (EX. I can’t handle Lord of the Flies and have 3 girls who have similar sensibilities and one who could force herself, but I refuse to ask her to do so.)