Thursday, September 11, 2008

PopCandy: 25 Great High School Books

I check in daily with USA Today's Whitney Matheson and her PopCandy blog. Last week she got an e-mail from a teenager starting her first year of high school. The teenager was asking for some advice. Whitney put out the call and several readers offered some great tips for getting through high school angst. This then led Whitney to start a series of posts about movies, TV shows, books, etc., that are either good reads/watches for teenagers or that represent teenagers in a good way.

Here is a link to her list of 25 Great High School Books. I actually haven't heard of several of them. But I definitely agree with Catcher and the Rye, The Outsiders, Harry Potter, Brave New Girl, The Perks of Being a Wallflower and A Separate Peace.

(I don't agree with Running with Scissors. This book disturbed me to no end and I was in my 20s when I read it. I really wouldn't reccommend it for teenagers, especially since I believe Burroughs did a little exaggerating and a childhood like this is most definitlely NOT ordinary.)

I've tried to think of books I would list or recommend, but I don't do well under the pressure - my mind goes blank! But, what about you? What do you agree or disagree with? What tomes would be on your list of best high school books?

1 comment:

CMS said...

1984 by George Orwell, Lord of the Flies by william Golding, and The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. I also remember reading Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler when I was in high school (many moons ago) and realizing that my family isn't the only dysfunctional one out there.