Boomerang Book List 2008-09
At last! We have all the books picked out. I’ll update the website for both the Arrow and the Boomerang today. For now, here’s the book list for those who have kids 7th-9th grade. We’ll also feature both subscription styles: issues only and issues with discussion.
For those unfamiliar with the Arrow and Boomerang, here’s a brief summary of what they are. These are our language arts subscription programs. Each month we post an issue that features four dictation/copywork passages from a novel. I give you talking points for why I chose the passage, how to teach it and what to note in it (grammatically, literarily, in terms of spelling, and so on).
The Arrow then also includes a literary element that is taught and demonstrated through literature and includes a writing exercise designed to help your kids put the element into practice.
The Boomerang features 7-10 “think piece” questions related to the novel that enable kids to respond to the literature in writing.
Without further ado, here is the book list!
The Cay (an adventure story of a young, newly blinded man learning to survive on an uninhabited island) Theodore Taylor
The Chosen (story of two fathers and two sons and the pressures of growing up Jewish) Chaim Potok
Jane Eyre (classic tale of a poor, orphaned girl who falls in love with a rich man who hides a secret) Charlotte Bronte
The Eagle of the Ninth (classic historical fiction by renowned author) Rosemary Sutcliff
The View from Saturday (tells the story of four sixth grade quiz bowl champs and their paraplegic coach/teacher) E. L. Konisburg
A Tale of Two Cities (classic Dickens) Charles Dickens
Christy (Christy Huddleston leaves a life of privilege and ease to teach in the impoverished Smokey Mountains) Catherine Marshall
The Westing Game (a delightfully complex puzzle in the form of a “who-dunit”) Ellen Raskin
Treasure Island (classic pirate’s tale) Robert Louis Stevenson
The Hero and the Crown (captivating fantasy novel about a princess who determines her own destiny) Robin McKinley
This list looks GREAT!! I can’t wait for my dd to read all of these choices. Thanks, Julie!!
Yep. Looks good. And Tigger really enjoyed the discussions last spring.
Perfect!
Your choices match some already on our list for the coming year.
Thanks, We’re in:)
Julie,
How long has it been since you read “Christy”? I let my 13 y.o. daughter read it last year and later was very sorry I did. It has a retelling of a rape, fairly detailed. It was really inappropriate for my daughter. I had read it years before and had no memory of that aspect of the story. There are other references to sex in the book and the back half of the text deals much more with Christy’s romantic life than her experiences with the Appalachian people. In any case, I would urge you to urge your readers to preview this book before handing it to their kids.