Road Trip Wednesday is a “Blog Carnival,” where YA Highway‘s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.
This week’s topic:
First, I need to tell you I’m Brazilian. Hence, I went to high school in Brazil and read Brazilian classics.
However, I went to college in the US and took two literature classes where I was required to read only a few American classics, like Hemingway and Hawthorne and Harper Lee.
Thinking of what I would love for my daughter to read (if she was a teenager today), here is my list of teen-required-reads:
- Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (thoughts on Dystopian world)
- Looking for Alaska by John Green (teen issues)
- Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan (nice way of introducing Greek mythology)
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling (this is a classic all on its own)
- The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (sorry, had to add a Brazilian book. But it’s a quick, awesome, reflective reading about going after your dreams, not giving up and the meaning of life).
- Hunger by Jackie Morse Kessler (to start discussions about topics like anorexia and other disorders).
I want to add Eragon by Christopher Paolini to that list (to introduce high fantasy with a delightful reading), but it’s a large book and I think kids would dislike it before even starting because of the length.
By the way, I would ADD these books to the required-reading-list, and I wouldn’t take out all classics. After all, classics are a part of our history and should be appreciated and respected.
Do you agree with my list? Which books you would take out or add to this list?
Cheers,