This is a list of some of the books I have read before tenth grade. They are all well-written books that had a significant meaning to me. All of the books listed here are books that I have truly enjoyed reading.
Lord of the Flies by William Golding. An airplane crashes on a tropical island, leaving about twenty young boys, ages four to twelve, stranded and alone on the island. The boys form a society in which everyone has separate jobs and Ralph is the leader of the group. No one does their assigned jobs on the island, and soon the boys form a barbaric tribe. They hunt and kill each other, until they are finally rescued from the island. This book is an allegory, so every thing symbolizes a thought or feeling. It results in a very interesting reading experience.
A Separate Peace by John Knowles. Gene and Phineas, two boys who are roommates at a boarding school, are very competitive. On an impulse , Gene pushes Phineas from a tree, and Phineas is crippled. This novel is the story of two boys who are making the transition from boys to men, during the first world war.
Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes. A thirty year-old retarded man named Charlie desperately wants to be smart. A breakthrough in medical science allows doctors to operate on Charlie and triple his I. Q. The experiment works, and he gets more intelligent every day. He learns a lot about society and how people sometimes behave, and he is disgusted. Eventually, the experiment wears off, and Charlie's I. Q. drops back to it's original level. The book is actually a collection of Charlie's self-written progress reports. As his intelligence changes, you can see the differences in his grammar, vocabulary, and the experiences he writes about. It is a fascinating and very moving novel.
Lolita by Vladmir Nabakov. A middle-aged man falls in love with a twelve year old girl named Lolita. He marries her mother Charlotte, but Charlotte is hit by a car and dies. The man takes Lolita, and repeatedly rapes her. The subject matter is terrible, but the book is very well written.
Where The Broken Heart Still Beats by Cynthia Ann Parker. An eight year-old girl is captured by Indians, and over time, becomes an Indian herself. When she is in her early forties, all white people living with Indians must be returned to the white society. It is a hard struggle for the girl to figure out who she is and where she belongs: with the Indians or with the whites.
The Cay by Theodore Taylor. An old black man named Timothy and a prejudiced white boy named Philip are stranded together on a desert island after their ship explodes. Philip is blind from the explosion, and the Timothy teaches him how to fend for himself on the island. Then Timothy eventually dies, but the Philip now knows how to take care of himself. Eventually, Philip is rescued from the island.
Timothy of the Cay by Theodore Taylor. This sequel to The Cay is written in a very interesting fashion. The odd numbered chapters describe Timothy's life before being in a shipwreck and getting stranded on the cay. The even chapters describe Philip's life after he returns from the cay. His blindness is cured, and he and his family go back to the cay so that Philip can see what it looked like.
A Wrinkle In Time by Madeline L'Engle. This is a science fiction and fantasy book, with many unusual characters and settings. A girl named Meg is transported through time and space, and enters many different dimensions. It is very interesting and out of the ordinary.
The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank. Anne and her family were Jews during World War II, and they were forced to hide in an attic for more than two years to escape from the Nazis. The whole time, Anne kept a detailed diary of the struggles they had to go through, and how much they suffered, just because of their religion.
One Child by Torey L. Hayden. Torey was a special education teacher, who had to deal with many different types of disturbed children. But nothing could ever prepare her for Sheila. Torey dedicated herself to helping Sheila to grow and learn, even when it seemed impossible. Finally Torey was able to teach Sheila how to behave, take care of herself, and handle problems. In the end, both Torey and Sheila had changed each other's lives for the better, and neither of them would ever be the same.
One More River by Lynne Reid Banks. Leslie, who is the most popular girl at school, lives in Canada with her rich parents. All of a sudden, her parents decide to sell their successful business and move to Israel to live in a Jewish kibbutz. Leslie has to learn an entirely new language and way of life, but after living there for about a year, she is happy with her parents' choice.
Broken Bridge by Lynne Reid Bands. This is the sequel to One More River, and it takes place during the Desert Storm War in the middle east. Leslie has now grown up, and has kids of her own. Her nephew is randomly shot by Arabs in the small town center, and everybody at the kibbutz is in shock. Leslie and her family have to deal with the boy's death and decide whether or not they want to face the man who shot him.
A Handful of Time by Kit Pearson. Patricia's parents are in the middle of a divorce and Patricia always argues with her mother, so her parents decide to send her to her cousins' house for the summer. Her cousins are mean to her because she doesn't like to catch snakes and bugs, she won't get dirty, and she doesn't know how to swim. During the day, Patricia spends her time in an abandoned cabin, where she finds an old pocket watch. When she winds it, she is transported back in time to when her mother was a child, living at the house on the lake. Although she cannot communicate with any of the people in the past, Patricia finds that her mother as a child was just like her.
Wise Child by Monica Furlong. Wise Child is an orphan who is taken in by a lady named Juniper. The people in town think that Juniper is an evil witch, because she practices herbal lore. Juniper teaches Wise Child astronomy, Latin, and the study of medicines and herbal lore. She also teaches Wise Child to be a doran, which is a good witch. Each doran specializes in a certain area, and Wise Child concentrates on healing. Wise Child's life as a doran is not easy, but she is happy. Then Wise Child's mother, who had abandoned wise Child when she was a baby, comes back and offers Wise Child a life of luxury at the palace. Wise Child has to choose between the life of a doran or the life of a princess. This book and its sequel are my two all time favorite books because they are so mystical and unusual, and because they are written with so much detail.
Juniper by Monica Furlong. This story is the prequel to Wise Child, and it takes place when Juniper was a child. Juniper is a princess, and her parents are the king and queen. They decide to send her to live with her godmother, Euny, for a year. Euny teaches Juniper to be a doran, but it is very hard work and Juniper is used to being served on. When Juniper has finally become a true doran, her childhood friend is captured by evil sorcerers. Juniper needs to use everything that she has been taught in her doran training to be able to challenge the powerful magic of the evil dorans that hold her friend a captive.
The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen. A Jewish girl named Hannah opens the front door during the seder to symbolically welcome the prophet Elijah. She is brought back in time to a Polish village during World War II. Germans force everyone in the village to get into cattle cars and go to a concentration camp. Hannah knows exactly what is going to happen to them, but they don't believe her. Hannah has to live through each day at the camp as she watches her friends suffer and die. When she finally returns to the future, she vows to remember what she's seen, and to make sure that it never happens again.
To see an annotated reading list of all the books I read in tenth grade this year, click here.