Dream High School Reading List | Tolerability Index

MrsLangdonAlger
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In your face, space coyote

Posts: 8,768

Dream High School Reading List Feb 9, 2016 21:23:15 GMT -5 Ice Cream Planet likes this

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Post by MrsLangdonAlger on Feb 9, 2016 21:23:15 GMT -5

Here you go, Ice Cream Planet. I just know I'm probably missing a ton, but these have been some I really appreciated in the LGBT YA genre.

Aside from the aforementioned Two Boys Kissing (David Levithan) and Am I Blue (various authors), there's also

Keeping You a Secret by Julie Anne Peters

The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth

Ask the Passengers by A.S. King (who is just generally one of my favorites)

Beautiful Music for Ugly Children by Kirstin Cronn-Mills

Huntress by Malinda Lo

I am J by Cris Beam

If You Could Be Mine by Sara Farizan

Luna by Julie Anne Peters

The Dangerous Angels series by Francesca Lia Block, which isn't just LGBT but has queer characters just living their own lives

Sparks: the Epic, Completely True Blue (Almost) Holy Quest of Debbie by SJ Adams

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun by Jacqueline Woodson

The entire Abhorsen series is great, but Garth Nix's Clariel has an asexual character

Look, just gimme some inner peace or I'll mop the floor with ya!

Desert Dweller
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Posts: 8,471

Dream High School Reading List Feb 10, 2016 1:30:39 GMT -5 Paleu, Ice Cream Planet, and 1 more like this

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Post by Desert Dweller on Feb 10, 2016 1:30:39 GMT -5

Feb 8, 2016 3:52:49 GMT -5 Ice Cream Planet said:

Desert Dweller : You and me both. I love to read, and even while I loved to do so in high school, the horrible way my English classes were taught made me have to relearn, in a way, the joy of reading in undergrad and the years after. My high school English classes were all part of the International Baccalaureate program, so even with a large section of theoretically great global literature, was so poorly taught, even now, the idea of reading Gabriel Garcia Marquez makes me gag. Probably not what my sophomore year teacher intended, but he certainly succeeded in that regard.

My 10th grade teacher made "Great Expectations" feel like the worst book ever. The class spent forever on it. I've still never re-read it. Even though I like Dickens, there's a part of my brain which is still convinced this is the worst book ever.

Some day I will give it another try, I swear.

Mrs David Tennant
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Posts: 7,189

Dream High School Reading List Feb 19, 2016 14:32:57 GMT -5 Ice Cream Planet likes this

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Post by Mrs David Tennant on Feb 19, 2016 14:32:57 GMT -5

Feb 7, 2016 19:28:23 GMT -5 Desert Dweller said:

The essay linked in the original post was great in how it challenged the status quo of American high school English. It made me realize why I hated my English classes even though I love books. I even remember being acutely aware at the time that the classroom teaching was ruining otherwise great books like "Huck Finn" and "Great Gatsby".

And I have often wondered why we don't use these classes to simply teach about great writing. The way literature is currently taught makes it very unsurprising that so many kids don't learn to love to read.

I don't think I could teach in high school. I'd want the class to be much more like a college class.

I always hated the literature part of English classes. I don't want to analyze literature! I just like to read it and let it sink in.

Based on some of the high school book lists I've seen, I think they are actively trying to make kids hate to read.