Lexie's List

 

Lexie

Lexie just turned 16 . She is on a high school exchange in the Netherlands and her English teacher asked for suggestions for books for teens. 

 

So her mom in Canada polled Lexie’s  friends, her friends and teachers. What follows is a great Young Adult list just in time for Xmas.  And, take note, not a zombie on it. 

  

A teacher at the Hamilton Wentworth Separate Board suggested:

Suzanne Collins - The Hunger Games
Margaret Atwood - A Handmaid's Tale

Khaled Hosseini - The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns
Field of Joy ( set in China's Cultural Revolution)

A second high school English  teacher adds:

Aldous Huxley - Brave New World (still one of my favourites)

John le Carre - The Constant Gardener,
Ian McEwan - Black Dogs

 Anthony Burgess - A Clockwork Orange (so many people fail
to see the underlying moral perspective of the novel and fail to see
Alex's self confessed changed behaviour at the end for what its worth
 John Dunning - Booked to Die (entertaining mystery)
Tarquin Hall - The Case of the Missing Servant,introduces a delightful
Indian version of Poirot and depicts the huge changes occuring in modern
India (there's a series).

Martin Cruz Smith Polar Star, a classic mystery set in modern Russia (Arkady Renko is a remarkable
protagonist.  Same series - Wolves Eat Dogs,set in Chernobyl)
  Sylvia Fraser - Berlin Solstice  takes the reader into the nightmare experience of the Third Reich.
                   

 Stories featuring animals:
Donald McCaig's classic, Nop's Trials. (first chapter seems meandering - second chapter is a terrific hook)

 Wilbur Smith's, Elephant Song

 

 Most of the following are classics and all highly recommended.

J.Rowling – The Harry Potter series

JRR Tolkien -The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and The Hobbit
Phillip Pullman’s trilogy  - His Dark Materials (The Golden Compass, etc)
Sheila Burnford’s - The Incredible Journey (especially if you love animal stories!)

Betty Smith -  A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Joanne Greenburg’s - I Never Promised You a Rose Garden
Mazo de la Roche – Jalna series

Harper Lee – To Kill a Mockingbird

J D Salinger – Catcher in the Rye
Madeleine L’Engle – The Time Trilogy (A Wrinkle in Time, etc)
Kurt Vonnegut – Slaughterhouse Five
C S Lewis – The Narnia series
L M Montgomery – The Anne of Green Gables series
Margaret Mitchell – Gone with the Wind
Sue Monk Kidd – Secret Life of Bees

 Lots of books by the following writers:

Tim Wynne-Jones

Terry Pratchett
Neil Gaiman

Also for more lists and for descriptions of all of these books, let your teacher know about this fantastic website:  http://www.goodreads.com/

 Please post a comment.  New system makes it easy.  What books would you add?  Anyy suggestions?  Joan Baril