I was asked recently to suggest some books for summer reading for
one of my teen-aged granddaughters. You would think that this
might be an easy list to find on the internet. But I didn’t find any
I liked.
Although there is plenty of “Young Adult” fiction published today,
it seems to be of an odd nature in my opinion. Ditto the school lists
that encourage the frank true-to-life situations that might occur in
a teen-ager’s life: family illness, divorce, bullying.
I am a former eighth grade teacher and am familiar with some fine
old classics like The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare,
and I Am the Cheese by Robert Cormier, and Island of the Blue
Dolphins by Scott O’Dell and I would recommend those in a
minute. I haven’t included some books that will probably be
read as part of school assignments: Flowers for Algernon or
A Separate Peace for instance.
I wanted to introduce my granddaughter to some older fiction,
even books that I myself had read at her age. The list I came up with
has some variety, some humor, and some downright good reading.
In fact, maybe I’ll pull some from the library and make a little stack
on my own bedtable—-to reread myself!
So, here, in no particular order is a proposed list of 32 books.
Paul Gallico Mrs. ‘Arris Goes to Paris (to buy a dress)
Skinner and Kimbrough Our Hearts Were Young and Gay (young girls travel)
Thornton Wilder Our Town; The Bridge of San Luis Rey (classics)
Betty MacDonald The Egg and I; Onions in the Stew (humor)
Carson McCullers The Member of the Wedding (big brother marries)
Margaret Mitchell Gone with the Wind (southern drama)
Jane Langton Murder at the Gardner (Boston art museum)
John F. Kennedy A Nation of Immigrants (short biographies)
Adamson and Page Born Free (raising a lion cub)
J.D. Salinger Catcher in the Rye (teenage classic)
Betty Smith A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (girl’s memoir)
James Herriot All Creatures Great and Small (country vet)
Clarence Day Life with Father (family humor)
Frank & Ernestine Gilbreth Cheaper by the Dozen; Belles on Their Toes (humor)
Jessamyn West Cress Delahanty (teenage girl)
Anne Ylvisaker Dear Papa (young girl writes to her father)
Truman Capote The Grass Harp (short bittersweet classic)
Frances Patton Good Morning, Miss Dove (1940s schoolteacher)
James Hilton Good-bye, Mr. Chips (English schoolteacher)
Thor Heyerdahl Kon-Tiki (solo raft across Pacific)
Bailey White Mama Makes Up Her Mind (humor)
Kathryn Forbes Mama’s Bank Account (family stories)
Rosemary Taylor Chicken Every Sunday (family takes in roomers)
Alan Bradley Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (girl detective)
Beverly Cleary A Girl from Yamhill (memoir by children’s author)
Suzanne Clausen A Girl Named Sooner (memoir type)
Rumer Godden An Episode of Sparrows (lovely English story)
Shirley Jackson Life Among the Savages (humor raising 4 kids)
Eric Hodgins Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (humor)
Patrick Dennis Auntie Mame (boy raised by liberal aunt)
Daphne du Maurier Rebecca (second wife meets eerie atmosphere)
James Thurber The Thirteen Clocks (modern fairytale)
booksandbuttons 