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Thread started 03/29/11 9:20am

dustysgirl

Inspiring, important books for a teen?

I've been homeschooling my 15 year old son with Asperger's syndrome this year. He's made some big strides and improved in his studies, so after listening to his begging for months, I'm letting him go back to regular school next year.

During this year, he has read more books than he's read in his entire life so far. Reading was not anything he ever wanted to do for fun, but I made him for school. Since September, he's read Roomful of Mirrors (about Jimi Hendrix), Romeo and Juliet, Artemis Fowl book 1, Black Heroes of the Wild West, The Kite Runner and Tom Sawyer. I'm thinking that when he's back in school, he will give up on reading for fun, so I want his last book with me to be something special and important. Maybe something he will remember for a long time.

Any suggestions?

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Reply #1 posted 03/29/11 9:31am

jone70

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Hmm, I don't know what kids read these days. I was going to say Judy Blume but probably not for a guy. lol Plus if he's reading books like The Kite Runner or about Jimi Hendrix, Judy's probably too tame for him!

Maybe Nelson Mandela's biography, Long Walk to Freedom or Obama's book Dreams from My Father?

The check. The string he dropped. The Mona Lisa. The musical notes taken out of a hat. The glass. The toy shotgun painting. The things he found. Therefore, everything seen–every object, that is, plus the process of looking at it–is a Duchamp.
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Reply #2 posted 03/29/11 9:44am

Empress

It's wonderful to hear that some kids still actually read. Good for him!

I highly recommend the following:

To Kill a Mockingbird

Kaffir Boy

The Book Thief

The Color Purple

Street of a Thousand Blossoms

I loved all of these books and I think they would be good for a young man of 15.

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Reply #3 posted 03/29/11 9:48am

Genesia

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"[S]pecial and important"? The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, hands down. Great, great, great book - and incredibly inspiring. He will love it.

We don’t mourn artists because we knew them. We mourn them because they helped us know ourselves.
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Reply #4 posted 03/29/11 11:15am

dustysgirl

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm going to look into all of these. A few summers ago, I tried to bribe my kids into reading, offering money for each finished book. No one did it. They can all read, and my oldest son has even tested at advanced reading levels when he was younger. They just hate it and find it terribly boring. They are 14, 15 and 18, by the way.

Texting, Facebook and Black Ops is the only thing worth doing, I guess.

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Reply #5 posted 03/29/11 11:18am

Shorty

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I always recommend Go Ask Alice for young girls....but I suppose it would be benificial to a boy also.

scared me from ever doing acid. smile

"not a fan" falloff yeah...ok
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Reply #6 posted 03/29/11 11:35am

Empress

Shorty said:

I always recommend Go Ask Alice for young girls....but I suppose it would be benificial to a boy also.

scared me from ever doing acid. smile

Great book suggestion. I agree that it's beneficial for both sexes.

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Reply #7 posted 03/29/11 11:44am

Genesia

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dustysgirl said:

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm going to look into all of these. A few summers ago, I tried to bribe my kids into reading, offering money for each finished book. No one did it. They can all read, and my oldest son has even tested at advanced reading levels when he was younger. They just hate it and find it terribly boring. They are 14, 15 and 18, by the way.

Texting, Facebook and Black Ops is the only thing worth doing, I guess.

Frederick Douglass would be terrific for all of them. They're old enough to understand what he went through, without being traumatized by it. (It'd be too much for a child under, say, 12 or 13.)

The book was written for use by anti-slavery forces prior to the Civil War. Douglass, himself, found it necessary to leave the country after its publication, lest he be captured and forced back into slavery. (He was a runaway.)

We don’t mourn artists because we knew them. We mourn them because they helped us know ourselves.
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Reply #8 posted 03/29/11 11:54am

NDRU

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jone70 said:

Hmm, I don't know what kids read these days. I was going to say Judy Blume but probably not for a guy. lol Plus if he's reading books like The Kite Runner or about Jimi Hendrix, Judy's probably too tame for him!

Maybe Nelson Mandela's biography, Long Walk to Freedom or Obama's book Dreams from My Father?

hey I read Judy Blume! Then Again, Maybe I Won't was kind of shocking!

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Reply #9 posted 03/29/11 4:20pm

XxAxX

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dustysgirl said:

I've been homeschooling my 15 year old son with Asperger's syndrome this year. He's made some big strides and improved in his studies, so after listening to his begging for months, I'm letting him go back to regular school next year.

During this year, he has read more books than he's read in his entire life so far. Reading was not anything he ever wanted to do for fun, but I made him for school. Since September, he's read Roomful of Mirrors (about Jimi Hendrix), Romeo and Juliet, Artemis Fowl book 1, Black Heroes of the Wild West, The Kite Runner and Tom Sawyer. I'm thinking that when he's back in school, he will give up on reading for fun, so I want his last book with me to be something special and important. Maybe something he will remember for a long time.

Any suggestions?

^ maybe he would like the work of authors like Rudyard Kipling and Robert Louis Stevenson.

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Reply #10 posted 03/29/11 5:27pm

Revolution

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This book sounds interesting, and it sounds like it would be perfect for a teenager.

It takes the negativity out of peer pressure and suggests that peer pressure can be

used for positive, even to the point of changing the world.

Who can argue with that?

Thanks for the laughs, arguments and overall enjoyment for the last umpteen years. It's time for me to retire from Prince.org and engage in the real world...lol. Above all, I appreciated the talent Prince. You were one of a kind.
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Reply #11 posted 03/29/11 5:38pm

Alej

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Letters to a Young Poet pray

The orger formerly known as theodore
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Reply #12 posted 03/29/11 5:40pm

emile58

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Burmese days by George Orwell.

All the scum in the world is in there.

If you're really in love (not in it for the money) and sensitive I wouldn't read it if I were you.

heartbreaking.

stoned That's some good shit!
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Reply #13 posted 03/30/11 5:02pm

davetherave676
7

The motorcycle diaries, ernesto che guevara.
Dave Is Nuttier Than A Can Of Planters Peanuts...(Ottensen)
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Reply #14 posted 03/30/11 5:14pm

Lammastide

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Some of the ones that immediately came to me have been namesd. You might also consider the Autobiography of Malcolm X.

Ὅσον ζῇς φαίνου
μηδὲν ὅλως σὺ λυποῦ
πρὸς ὀλίγον ἐστὶ τὸ ζῆν
τὸ τέλος ὁ χρόνος ἀπαιτεῖ.”
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Reply #15 posted 03/30/11 5:15pm

baroque

Alej said:

Letters to a Young Poet pray

i agree!

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Reply #16 posted 03/30/11 5:39pm

ZombieKitten

Call of the wild was a favorite of mine but maybe he is too old for it?
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Reply #17 posted 03/30/11 6:22pm

versiongirl

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Alej said:

Letters to a Young Poet pray

yeahthat

also: The Autobiography of Malcolm X

I teach Special Ed. to 9th graders on the spectrum, if you ever want to talk about things.....

So far this year we have read:

Surviving the Applewhites

Maniac Magee

Seedfolks

Heartbeat

Miracles Boys

All of these books are about teens and are very fun to read.

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Reply #18 posted 03/31/11 2:31pm

dustysgirl

Well, I made my decision this afternoon..."The Color of Water--A Black Man's Tribute to his White Mother" by James McBride. I don't think anyone mentioned it, but as luck would have it, the author is actually going to be speaking at our community college on Monday! Now I have to scramble to find a copy this weekend (only two bookstores in my town), so hopefully he can sign it!

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