Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Top Ten Books You'd Pair With A "Required Reading" or Books that Should be Required Readings

For a list of past and future Top Ten Tuesday topics and to find out more about Top Ten Tuesday, click here!

Contemporary Books Paired with Required Reading


Jana's pick: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury paired with Matched by Ally Condie
The entire focus of Fahrenheit 451 is censorship. Books were burned because they had "objectionable" information in them. Even though this is not the main theme of Matched, it shows up as well. Cassia's society makes all of her decisions, not just who she marries. They also decide what she can read. In this book, the Officials have removed all art, literature, and music from the Earth except the best 100 pieces. Of course, all that's left is what agrees with their rules and ways. I think reading the two together would be very interesting, as one was published in 1953 and the other in 2010. Time changes, but ideas/fears don't. It's also interesting and almost poetic that a book with the theme of anti-censorship (F451) is on the ALA's top 100 challenged/banned books list. (You could totally read this for challenge 5.5 (banned books) of the Goodreads College Students Fall 2013/Winter 2014 reading challenge that just started!)

Jen's Pick: The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood paired with Bumped by Megan McCaffery
Each book tells the story of a a specific girl (but if I remember correctly Bumped had twins as the main character) living in a dystopian world where they have no control over their bodies, thoughts, etc. I think pairing these two books would be an interesting view of how females are viewed in a dystopian world.  

Daisy's Pick: Dracula by Bram Stoker paired with Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead 
I think it would be great to compare a more classic take on vampires with this modern version and discuss the differences. Also: there's always the added bonus of getting to swoon over Dimitri in class ;)


Jamie's Pick: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins paired with either 1984 or Brave New World
I stole this from a conversation I had earlier this summer but a teacher I made friends with at my pool said he's really used The Hunger Games to help his class really understand both of these novels a bit better and drew parallels on dystopian societies. I think sometimes we forget dystopian novels aren't really a NEW thing so it's fun to compare the classic ones with newer ones.


Tahleen's Pick: Paper Towns by John Green and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Both of these books deal with loving the idea of a person, and what a person represents. Do we really love a person as they are, or how we envision them in our own minds? Can we really know someone completely? Gatsby loves what Daisy represents, and Q loves the idea of Margo Roth Spiegelman. I think there are a lot of parallels we could talk about here.


Books that Should Be Required Readings


Daisy's Pick: Golden by Jessi Kirby
This is a really recent love of mine that I kinda stumbled onto when I was bored. And it blew my mind. I think this would be such an interesting read to discuss in a class and I'd have loved doing the assignment these kids get from their English teacher! What is it you plan to do with your one wild an precious life?

Jana's Pick: Night by Eli Wiesel
This is the most beautiful and thought-provoking account of the Holocaust. I learned so much.

Jamie's Pick
: Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick

Such a powerful novel and it definitely would be a good discussion starter!


Jamie's Pick: Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein/ Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys/ The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

I think any of these 3 books would be great picks for a WWII lesson tie in or just a required reading in general!

Tahleen's Pick: Annie On My Mind by Nancy Garden
This really should be required reading for everyone. It's a classic of YA lit about a lesbian teen couple, and it's a beautiful love story.


43 comments:

  1. As for The Hunger Games, I honestly think kids will actually read that book instead of Sparknoting it!

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  2. I wish more Russian literature were taught in schools. I still remember the not-so-quiet sounds of exasperation/disgust from some rather backwoods-mentality guy at my Pennsylvania high school when he saw I was starting yet another presentation on a Russian topic, like he couldn't believe anyone would be that interested in Russian language, culture, or history. I know some of the people at that school had to think that meant I were a Communist, not that there's anything wrong with it. More world literature in general would be great, not just Russian literature.

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    1. I have a strange thing about Russian stories as well. That and anything Hitler related (not a fan of his, just enjoy reading things) in high school people knew what subject I would sign-up for to do presentations. They had a theory that it was more interesting if I talked about Hitler then if the teacher did.

      Ashley
      Books Buying Beauty
      @Bookz4Nerdz

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  3. I LOVE the pairing of The Great Gatsby and Paper Towns! Night was actually required reading for me in middle school and it is a really important read. The Book Thief is on my list, too! :)

    My TTT

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  4. Wow, those are some book pairings I wouldn't have thought of! I did choose The Hunger Games, but paired it with Lord of the Flies. And I think The Book Thief was required reading this summer. Hurrah!

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    1. The Book Thief is my absolute favorite book! I'm glad it is making it's way onto the required reading lists!

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  5. Night is a fantastic book, it was actually required for me in my 12th grade English course - I suppose not everyone curriculum is that lucky, however. I recommend reading Night outside of school or in!

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  6. Ah I ALMOST had Between Shades of Grey on my list - there are some amazing WWII historical fiction books that would have had me far more interested in history at school!

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  7. Great list :P
    Code Name Verity should be required reading!
    http://theyabookbutterfly.blogspot.com/

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  8. I think everyone is going to have Code Name Verity on their list, it's so good! It made me interested in the Second World War again despite having WW2 overload during my time at school.

    Cx

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  9. Great picks! This was a fun top ten tuesday. I agree about Forgive me, Leonard Peacock. A great read for high school age students.

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  10. These are some great pairings that I think students would really get into and some wonderful contemporary books that can be learned a lot from! I loved this week's theme!

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  11. The Handmaid's Tale also made my list, just with a different pairing. Love your pairing though, it's excellent. And YES for Code Name Verity.

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  12. Labor Day got me off my "rhythm" - if I ever had one. I think I'm going to have pop-up ideas about this subject for WEEKS.

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  13. This was a little hard! There are so many amazing books that people (especially teens) should read.

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  14. I totally agree with Matched trilogy and The Hunger Games trilogy but Vampire Academy sounds a bit difficult - considering it involves a student/teacher sort of relationship - it might not be accepted in an academic setting.

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    1. That was what I was thinking with VA. Plus it would be hard to get kids (teens) to read a whole series.
      My co-blogger put Harry Potter on our list. He said just the first book to show how even in one story characters are able to develop and grow in any situation. HP also shows strong a female character and less of a romance.

      Ashley

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  15. I love your pairings! And I wish contemporaries paired with classics was done when I was in school, because I think I would have been a lot more interested in the classics if I had something contemporary to connect it with. I think I'm going to have to move The Book Thief and Code Name Verity up my reading list because I've seen them on so many lists that I think it's time for me to actually read them! Great list!

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  16. We read Night in 10th grade :)

    Great picks, I love the matching!

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  17. Some cool pairing ideas... if only it weren't so hard to get most students to read one book, let alone two.

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  18. Ooh man... I made it easy. I only chose three books. Of course they were on the challenged and banned book list. ;p

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  19. Good choices ladies! The Handmaid's Tale with Bumped, great thinking!

    As book lovers, we should all read/choose Fahrenheit 451. I read it in high school way back when books such as that and Animal Farm/1984/Lord of the Flies etc were required reading. The old movie of it is downright creepy. You could die for trying to learn about the world from books. Think about our lives without one single book--boggles the mind!

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  20. I love all the choices on the required reading list.

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  21. There are so many excellent books on this list.

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  22. I couldn't think of pairings to make ten, so I decided to do the other option. I'm excited to participate in this meme - it's my first time doing TTT! :D

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  23. Great picks! I'm hoping to join the meme next week! :)

    Sarah @ Kitties Like Books Too

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  24. There are a ton of great choices on your list!!

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  25. I'd never heard of Bumped, but it does sound like it would pair well with The Handmaid's Tale! Also, I actually did read Night in 10th grade English class-it would be interesting to look at English curricula by state...

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  26. I think your blog's amazing! I really love this kind of initiative and I'll upload my first TTT in my own site soon.

    XX

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  27. love your list! i agree with all of it!

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  28. Night was required reading for me, and I thought it was really good. And I definitely agree that The Book Thief would be a great choice!

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  29. I love this idea! Definitely made me think.
    I completely agree about Fahrenheit 451 and Matched. That would be a great match up!

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  30. Great choices! I particularly like the Great Gatsby/Paper Towns one; I would love to be in a class comparing those two books, which despite their apparent differences hold many similar morals at their heart.

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  31. I really want to read Annie On My Mind and I loved the book pairings you came up with. Awesome!

    Here's my Top Ten Tuesday if you'd like to check it out.

    Rebecca @ Vicariously!

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  32. These are great picks. I especially loved the pairing of The Hunger Games with 1984. Amazing.

    Thank you again for this wonderful meme.

    Here's my Stacking the Shelves

    Rebecca @ Vicariously!

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  33. Night by Ellie Weisel and The book Thief by Markus Zusak were both required reading but, I took AP class my junior year as well as honors my 9th & 10th grade years.

    I have seen 1984 and Brave New World come up frequently the past month. For my English class in college those are the two books we are reading. I have read two books this month that reference 1984`s "Big Brother," which goes to show how popular the classics truly are still.

    Ashley
    Books Buying Beauty
    @Bookz4Nerdz

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  34. "Night" by Elie Wiesel was required reading at my school!

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    1. I think it's great that so many people were required to read Night! I wish it were required here. :)

      - Jana

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  35. Just Signed up for Top Ten Tuesday :)

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  36. I really should read Fahrenheit..and lots more from that list

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  37. We read "Night" as part of my US/World History class in 11th grade. And I definitely agree on The Book Thief, Between Shades of Gray, and Code Name Verity! All of them were fantastic

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  38. Love this idea. Will have to suggest some of them to my English teachers.

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