Our school librarians know what types of books you are looking for and can help you find a book.
The genres are either realistic fiction or distopian fiction. Please try to find a book that is at or close to your own reading level. Notice that your book this time must be fiction.
Realistic fiction includes books that are set in the real world and have characters that could really exist and plots that could really happen. For this term they should be contemporary -- set in modern times -- not historical fiction.
Joan Bauer is one writer of realistic fiction. We will probably read her book Stand Tall as a class later in the school year.
Some examples of realistic fiction include The Outsiders (which we read as a class), Gary Paulsen's Hatchet (1020L) and others, Because of Winn-Dixie (610L) by DiCamillo, Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie (560L), Stargirl (590L), No More Dead Dogs (610L) by Korman, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (700L) by Konigsburg, Walk Two Moons (770L) by Creech, Rules (780L) by Lord, Downriver (760L) by Will Hobbs.
For more, look under "Life and Its Problems" at
Recommended Books
To find out the lexile level for a book, go to lexile.comIf you've forgotten your own lexile level, look back at your print-out or check with Ms. Dorsey.
Distopian fiction is about a society (usually in the future) that seems to be trying to create a utopia, but has deep flaws. Examples include The Giver (which we will read as a class), Lowry's other books Gathering Blue and The Messenger, Hunger Games and Catching Fire, and The Uglies series.
More young adult distopian fiction include The City of Ember by Jeanne Duprau , Running Out of Time by Haddix, The House of the Scorpian by Farmer, Ender's Game by Card, Tunnels by Gordon, Tripods Trilogy by Christopher, The Time Machine by Verne, Feed by M.T. Anderson, The Last Book in the Universe (740L), Storm Thief (880L), the Among the Hidden series.
(Note: I have not read all of these books, so parents may want to find out more about them before approving of them for their children. I highly recommend reading books before or along with your children.)
Brave New World, Nineteen Eighty-Four, and Fahrenheit 451 (890L) are distopian books for older readers.
Unwind (740L) is an excellent distopian book, but probably for readers 9th grade and up. The same goes for Bar Code Rebellion (880L). Parents may also prefer that their seventh graders not yet read Hunger Games or Catching Fire.
Animal Farm, also distopian fiction, will be read by the students in ninth grade, so we don't use it as a class book or as an individual book.
More information at
January 2010 Book Assignment
Here's a new distopian novel I just found tonight (January 4, 2010) during a trip to Barnes and Noble:
The Roar by Emma Clayton -- Grade 5–8—In a bleak future, humans use terrible chemicals to fight The Animal Plague that causes all of the world's animals to go rabid and renders most of the planet uninhabitable. The population now cowers in overcrowded walled cities. Mika, 12, and his parents live in London in terrible conditions. His twin, Ellie, supposedly drowned a year earlier, but Mika is convinced that she still lives. He's right. The story begins with Ellie and a tiny monkey named Puck fleeing a spaceship in a stolen Pod Fighter. Sadly, their attempt to escape is foiled by the evil Mal Gorman, who has a plan to co-opt the entire first generation of children born after the Plague and make them into an army for his own nefarious purposes. And Gorman has special plans for kids like Mika and Ellie, whose mutations give them unique abilities. To save his sister, Mika will have to win a contest involving simulator battle games and many deadly challenges, using abilities he never knew he had. The story starts fast and never slows down. While the bad guys are a bit stereotypical, the good guys are interesting and realistic. There's a touch of the supernatural, some interesting philosophical questions, and a cliff-hanger ending that will leave readers hungry for more. Give this one to readers not quite ready for Orson Scott Card.—Mara Alpert, Los Angeles Public Library Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
