[scienceteacher]

I have been rereading some classic literature that was required reading in school. I've been at it for years and I find I am learning new things and have a whole new viewpoint.

4th grade the Chronicles of narnia book 7 as a child I couldn't enjoy the view of heaven because I couldn't get over the fact the main characters died. Now it's my favorite of the series.
The little house series my first view that people can be self sufficient have nothing but what they can make themselves and be happy.
5th grade The girl who owned a city (my first PAW fiction) I thought it was so cool that kids had a chance to rule the world, now How can we fix this pampered generation so they have any kind of survival skills?
6th grade Johnny Tremain patriotism founded in faith WOW ! A million lessons to be learned. A glimpse into a time when people really knew how to produce what they needed to live. Faith with feet!
The Lord of the rings series - There is evil and good and the good must do battle good and cannot sit and let it be and hope it will all work out or the evil will win.
Roots (yes it probably wasn't appropriate for a 6th grader but it was a new book ) perseverence and strength will be reach beyond us to future generations.
7th grade Anne of avonleigh DETERMINATION! In the face of all odds it is not about feelings and emotion and drama.
Pearl S. Buck (all of them) Society's problems and accepted behavior is no excuse for evil actions. Evil will have repercussions even if society says its OK.
Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn - Adventure there is a whole world out there Grab it without fear!
8th grade A Christmas Carol ( The Salvation of scrooge) the original title says it all.
Below the root, and all between, and until the celebration (Zilpha keatly snyder )Every story has two sides!
9th grade Arthur Conan Doyle ad Agetha Christe books LOGIC !!!!!!
Swiss family Robinson - faith with hard work and planning not faith and hope and waiting for help / same message Robinson Caruso.
****ens - life is rough but it is to be survived.
10th grade world lit - Illiad, Odyssey, the brothers Karamazov, Don Qioxte, the 3 musketeers- there is no problem, evil or struggle we have that is new and unique to us. Every generation and every county has the same problems. Look to the past to find a clear path to the future.
11th AP english - tragedies /Job, Alas Babylon, Atlas Shrugged, Earth Abides, Othello, Julius Ceaser, Romeo and Juliet, Diary of Anne Frank, Heroshima, Hamlet, Death of a salesman, The Grapes of Wrath, Old man and the sea. Today I re-read many of them and what seemed far fetched sounds like the daily news or the near future.
12th grade Ap English British literature a tale of 2 cities, Beowulf, Canterbury Tales, Frankenstein, Gulliver's Travels, Jane Eyre, Lord of the Flies, Wuthering Heights. I haven't reread these yet so the vague memories of them is all I have.

What have you reread as an adult that is worth a second look?

 

[harleyrider86]

Thanks for the reminder on "Swiss Family Robinson".

1984
Lord of the Rings
Brave New World
War of the Worlds
Chariot of the Gods

Mark

 

[saaya]

Books from school life

Hello dear,
nice topic to discuss here..All always want their childhood back..but it never comes..but we can remember these memories..so here is the way that for the books which we read in our school life.I read lot of books from following link and enjoying still those books.if you are interested ,please read those books and share your views.

please check this here:

http://www.bookchums.com/category.php?catId=71

 

[demdesden]

I haven't reread any of these although I'd be willing to.

The Giver. I read that when I was ten or eleven I think. Not required reading or anything. Another kid had it from the classroom's bookshelf and the teacher commented on it, so I naturally became interested.

The Odyssey. My fifth grade teacher read it to the class. In the eighth grade I came across it and decided to read it for myself.

Secret of NIMH and it's sequel (not exactly the same as the movies, especially the sequel). Sixth grade. Loved both. Also wasn't required. Just happened to come across it and I picked it up for some reason.

The Cay (pronounced Key). Surviving while stranded on an island during WWII. I read it a couple of times. One of those times it was required reading.

The Tell Tale Heart. Seventh grade. The class was required to write a continuation of it. Mine involved the main character taking off, going into hiding in the Canadian wilderness, flying to Europe when he found wanted posters of himself, becoming an optometrist of all things, then it being revealed in the end that a detective had been tracking him for some time. The teacher gave me a A++ and wanted to copy my work for future classes : Not bad for a kid who never completed homework assignments. But then again, I also decided to take a risk and just let loose with my writing for once. There's a lesson in that alone.

A few of the "Diary of..." books. Fascinating reading real life accounts of people's lives during days passed. Anne Frank was one, I believe another took place on the Oregon trail, the third I think was during the Revolution. A scene that stands out for some reason for me was when someone was going door to door to get ingredients for a birthday cake for some important person.


There seems to be many classics that I haven't read despite that they're apparently required reading in many schools. I think I need to start making a list of books to check out from the library.

 

[jackelope]

My favorite book in the Little House on the Prarie series is The Long Winter. I think it should be required reading for grade school children in America. It tells a story of surviving great hardship with self reliance, frugality, ingenuity and family unity. The Ingalls family face slow starvation in a frontier town over a period of seven months. It's a great read for preppers as well. I recently re-read this book and it really touched me. Not to give too much away, but the family end up using a small coffee grinder to process their seed wheat for bread.

 

[PREPLAN]

As a kid I read Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. Swiss Family Robinson. Treasure Island. Jack London stories. Robinson Crusoe. Lord of the Flies. War of the Worlds. Books by Edgar Allen Poe. Alas Babylon. The Good Earth. Robin Hood. Fahrenheit 451. To Kill a Mockingbird. Wizard of Oz. Hardy Boys. Lots of science fiction and adventure books. My imagination ran wild and probably put me on the road to adventure.

 

[TasKit]

Great post.

My all time favourite book as a kid was the Coral Island by R M Ballantyne. Still have it, and I still read it every few years.

 

[jmbroberts]

Definitely not kid's books but books that were very important to me when I read them as a teenager are these:
"On the Road" by Jack Kerouac. The bible of the Beat generation, it's really just a book about a bunch of young guys having a good time on long road trips all over midcentury America. It's a hymn to the joys of total irresponsibility. Every kid who read it wanted to go right out and start hitchhiking with no destination in mind. Unfortunately, even by the mid-60s when I read it America and its road culture had changed drastically since Kerouac's 1947-48 adventures.

"From Here to Eternity" by James Jones. It's often classed as a war novel because of its Army setting and the Pearl Harbor sequence. But 90% of the book takes place before the attack. It's really about the last days of the old peacetime Army in Hawaii in 1941. It was the first book I read that dealt with real adult themes: real man-woman stuff, the abuses of authority, the helplessness of the individual against the System, the inability of people to communicate - really heavy stuff. As a bonus, it's a near-anthropological study of a vanished culture - the old, pre-WWII Army.