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?

Hmm, I don't know what kids read these days. I was going to say Judy Blume but probably not for a guy. 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?

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.

"[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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.)

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. 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!

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.

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?

Letters to a Young Poet

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.

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

Alej said:

Letters to a Young Poet

i agree!

Alej said:

Letters to a Young Poet

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.

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!