Not A Story, Just a Musing.

Here are some Books I wish I had been assigned in Middle School and High School

I used to hate rating. So much so in fact that for most of high school, I got by reading SparkNotes alone.

When I went to grad school, I lived on campus my first year, but that proved to be financially impossible to maintain so I decided to commute...3 and a half hours round trip, 4 days a week. Music and thinking about life worked for a while, but sitting in traffic day after day left me feeling like I was wasting my life -- or at the very least, doing something wrong.

Enter, audio books.

Which eventually led me to actually finish reading my first novel in about a decade, and I was so proud of my accomplishment that I decided to start keeping track of every single book I read or listened to.

The list has grown long now because I discovered that there are actually in existence quite a lot of books and authors I enjoy reading -- I just had not been introduced to them or at least not introduced properly. So if you have a reluctant reader in your life age 10+ then some of these books may be a great fit, and certainly by age 12+ most of these books have the potential for being a perfect fit.

Someday, I'll do something more with this list of books I wish I'd met sooner (in no particular order), and I'm sure it will only continue to grow, but for now, here's what I've got and a little bit as to why. If the list below is too long for you to read, then here's the abbreviated version: anything by Terry Pratchett or Ray Bradbury.

Note: bolded books are in the Public Domain, and this is important because being exposed to a literature-rich environment improves your reading ability, which in turn improves your writing ability, and also enhances your critical-thinking skills. Access to good books is important, and these public domain books are free to anyone.

Non-Fiction or Non-Fiction-ish

The Things They Carried - Tim O'Brien: This was assigned to me in high school, and to be honest, I wasn't in the write frame of mind to appreciate it, and I think a lot of that had to do with the presentation, "Here, read this depressing book about how messed up our country was during the Vietnam war." I think this book would've been better presented as an in-class read instead of a read-for-homework book because it's messages about war and government and life and humanity are really, truly valuable.
The Barbed Wire - Gerhard Hennes: this is an account of a NAZI soldier's experience as a POW in a US camp. Hennes talks about how they occupied their time, how their views on the war shifted during their stay, and how their sense of selves were shattered when they learned about the concentration camps. Hennes devoted his life to charity work after the war. This is a very short book, but also very excellent.
Warriors Don't Cry - Melba Pattillo Beals: Beals' memoir during her time in high school as part of the Little Rock Nine. A harrowing, but necessary read to understand what life was like during this time in our nation's history.
Dien Cai Dau - Yusef Komunyakaa: This is the first collection of poems that I ever read where I felt like I understood what I was reading, and it's about the Vietnam War (which for so many reasons is something that we need more conversation and reflection about), so there are a lot of angles here to attract averse readers.
Gold - Isaac Asimov: I love how this book has short stories, but it also has essays about writing. So it's a neat way to really learn about writing, while also finding a way to better enjoy reading.
How Soccer Explains the World - Franklin Foer: This theory of globalization and the problems of capitalism is accessible, making this a great read for teenagers to help gain a wider perspective on life and a broader worldview to help them understand how different people are impacted by the decisions our governments make.
Hyperbole and a Half - Allie Brosh: I do not know of a better book that literally and figuratively illustrates what it is like to live with depression and anxiety, nor do I know of a better book that is able to achieve this with comedic interludes. It would be hard not to have become a more empathetic and compassionate person simply by reading this book.

Assorted Authors

Dracula - Bram Stoker: I didn't know that "old-time" writing could actually still be interesting and exciting because most of my experiences had been with things like Wuthering Heights, which was just not my speed as a 15-year-old, maybe someday I'll try again.
And Then There Were None - Agatha Christie: This might have been the first mystery I read other than ABC Murders, which was too hard for high school me to get through with all of Hercule's untranslated French exclamations.
Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens: I really saw no point in reading this book in high school being well-versed in the Mickey and Kermit renditions, but with Jim Dale as narrator, I experienced that story in a profoundly magical way, that prompted me to actually read text version too. Sometimes we need a story to be read to us to help us get into it.
Sherlock Holmes (no particular story, I haven't read them alllll yet) - Arthur Conan Doyle: mystery + old-timey writing, but in a way that can keep me engaged because of the science and feeling like I could one day get that good too.
Carmilla - Sheridan Le Fanu: I think it's just really important that everyone knows Carmilla a female vampire villain came before Dracula, but that could just be the history major in me talking.
The Hobbit (LOTR series) - J.R.R. Tolkien: This book was actually assigned to me in high school and even the SparkNotes were too long to read so I re-watched the '70s animated film. I think the problem was it assigned as summer reading, and it felt too enormous to take on by myself. Another great example of where an audio version (Rob Inglis's narration specifically) would have been made a world of difference. This book could have opened up worldssss of fantasy writing to me so much sooner.
The Odyssey - which according to Stephen Mitchell is likely not by Homer: I loved Mitchell's translation probably because he is a poet and has the right sort of ear for that kind of work. I'd been assigned select excerpts from the book, but it was nothing that Wishbone the Dog hadn't already introduced me to in a much more engaging way. When you read the whole thing though - wow, there is some deep life stuff and also it introduces you to some themes or outright stores about life and death that reoccur throughout literature and creates a foundation to build a historical mental framework of human storytelling.
Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court - Mark Twain: The mistake that adults make, is assigning Tom Sawyer to kids. Twain says outright that Sawyer is for adults to remind them about what it was like being kids -- kids don't need that reminder, they need this book. It's hilarious, and it helps you understand what being an adult is all about (mostly navigating around idiots and crooks).
Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson: I read this book three times because each time I had forgotten that I had read it (but since I have my book list, I kept seeing that I had already written it down, when I went to go write it down). The book just feels so familiar now (I've also seen the Muppet's version many, many, many times), but it's actually just a fun adventure story that's easy to get through, and a good example of why old-books aren't always torturous.
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (series) - Douglas Adams: I did read this book in high school (as pleasure reading, not assigned reading) and it was possibly my first experience ever with a book that was funny that wasn't meant for 8-year-olds. And it was science fiction, and possibly the first and only science fiction I had ever read at that point in my life. I can't say this enough: introduce teenagers to science fiction (and fantasy) that isn't just coming of age, dystopian, high drama, nonsense -- let them read funny stuff that takes them to other worlds (teenage life is hard, comic relief escapes are crucial).
Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll: It's short. It's referenced so much. It's worth it for that alone, but it also opens the door for some interesting conversations about writing, life and thinking.
Wizard of Oz - L. Frank Baum: Also relatively short and endlessly referenced, it does a really nice job of making the solutions to problems in life feel more accessible simply by shifting your perspective.
Lathe of Heaven - Ursula K. Le Guin: If for no other reason, than that young people need to be introduced to her writing. It probably doesn't even matter if it's this book or not, but she's a master of the craft and good readers, as well as good writers, need to read her. This book in particular is just a crazy mind-trip, which makes for a memorable experience.
Beowulf - Stephen Mitchell translation (or I hear Tolkien's is very good too): similar to the Odyssey, many foundation elements of literature are present here, story pieces that have repeating themselves through the ages (borrowed historically from storytellers). Historically, it's just really cool to read the oldest "English" story, and it just so happens to be a good one, with quality adventure and solid moral lessons.
Carrie - Stephen King: It teaches you about how painful bullying can be, which is a lesson that some teenagers had to learn, whereas others have no clue.
Wind From the Sun - Arthur C. Clarke: A collection of quality short science fiction stories that get the imagination turning.
Ocean at the End of the Lane - Neil Gaiman: I love the fantasy, lore elements woven throughout this book and it has this beautiful sadness about it, which is nice to balance against higher drama books, which isn't to say it's not intense, deep or scary.
I Know What You Did Last Summer - Lois Duncan: A classic 90's movie that started, like most classic 90's films, as a book. It's a quick and easy read, and introduces readers to an author who has wrote a ton of books that they could also easily get into.
2001: A Space Odyssey - Arthur C. Clarke: The ending totally took me by surprise (because I've never seen the movie). Classic science fiction with a cautionary reminder about the potential lethality of robots and artificial intelligence.
Once and Future King - T. H. White: This is a long book, but it's funny, exciting, hard to put down, has cool mythology and really does a nice job of highlighting how screwed up humans can be. It's also a good way to experience the King Arthur legend without choking on ancient sounding translations.

Edgar Rice Burroughs

Land That Time Forget (trilogy) - Edgar Rice Burroughs: I love dinosaurs. What better way to get a 15-year-old guy to read than to give him a story about dinosaurs that secretly slips in some cool philosophical questions about our connection to the planet and life.
Princess of Mars (John Carter series) - Edgar Rice Burroughs: I think it's really important to introduce readers to series, and what I love about this series is that it appeals to young guys with is borderline-tropish heroics, but it basically always features a strong, independent woman too. It's got adventure, a fairly predictable plot skeleton from book to book (which is a welcomed brain-break for reluctant readers) and always manages to have a solid, yet subtle life lesson.
Fighting Man of Mars - Edgar Rice Burroughs: This might be one of the strongest examples of a female warrior in Burroughs' Mar series and the humor of male protagonist having no idea how hard he's crushing on this girl and she him is enjoyable. The plot is ultimately predictable but it has some horrifying twists, making the book a quick read.

Michael Crichton

Jurassic Park AND Lost World - Michael Crichton: Super long, but they're science fiction, with DINOSAURS and solid science facts, making them a great way to reach teen guys, and more importantly the environmental and capitalist ethics raised in these books are critical discussions that need to be happening.
Congo - Michael Crichton: The human darkness in this really gets me, but also the great scene descriptions, and of course the philosophical questions put on the table.

Jules Verne

Castle Transylvania - Jules Verne: I love the twist ending and the suspense, and I can practically feel the environment.
Journey to the Center of the Earth - Jules Verne: I love how Verne incorporates science into his work (even if the science isn't accurate anymore) and how his imagination lets him create fantastic flora beneath the Earth's surface.
Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under the Sea - Jules Verne: Okay, so I know I said I loved Terry Pratchett (who is tied with Ray Bradbury), but Verne and Burroughs are high on the list. The characters pulled me into this, as did the science, and as young person, I would've been chomping for more of these escapes.
Around the World in 80 Days - Jules Verne: So really what I'm saying, is I wish someone had put a Verne novel into my hands by age 12 or so, because so many elements just worked for me, and I wished I could've been the protagonist in most of his books.

Ray Bradbury

Something Wicked This Way Comes - Ray Bradbury: I fell hard for this book. It's dark, scary, shows the raw truth of growing up and celebrates being a kid.
Illustrated Man - Ray Bradbury: My first introduction to seeing how many places your imagination can go with short stories, since everything else had been some 18th Century colonial era stuff that was too stiff for teenage me to get into.
Martian Chronicles - Ray Bradbury: Honestly, I think we just need more science fiction (particularly SF short stories) in school because they are digestible for teens, but also because the spark the imagination and encourage copycat writing, which is a great thing for people learning how to write more than their next "character-symbol-theme-plot" essay. All that to be said, this book was actually assigned to me in high school, but I read it under duress because we had to identify story elements like "symbols, plots, foreshadowing, etc." and really wrecked the whole vibe for me and made it super hard to get into.

Terry Pratchett

Nation - Terry Pratchett: I love Sir Terry's work, but this book in particular says so much about life and perceptions and how those things shape our interactions with nature, others and even our individual self.
Wee Free Men (Tiffany Aching series/Discworld Universe) - Terry Pratchett: I could write a book about how impactful this book was on my life, and I didn't read it until I was a grown man. And this is a book about a little girl that hits monsters with frying pans. But it taught me so much about writing, story-telling and how to observe the world, as well as how to live as a better person.
Dodger - Terry Pratchett: I never read Oliver Twist, but this book at least makes me curious to do so eventually. It's got a cool mystery-adventure vibe.
Witches Abroad (Discworld series) - Terry Pratchett: Life lessons. Great commentary on how thinking works. Hysterical characters. Excellent example of fantastic writing.
Good Omens - Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman: It's possible I never would've read a single Neil Gaiman book if it wasn't for that fact that (in my mind) Sir Terry had endorsed him, and now I've come to love Gaiman so much. This is a perfect example of how you can get a reluctant reader to learn to trust that other authors can provide enjoyable reading experiences too.
The Long Earth (series) - Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter: The environmental ethics and political issues raised are fascinating. I connected so strongly with the main character Joshua, and I found the strength of the female characters really impressive (not surprising since Pratchett consistently does a great job of this).
Guards! Guards! - Terry Pratchett: My notes on this simply say, "life, the universe and everything."
Reaper Man - Terry Pratchett: Life and Death, featuring Death as the main character.
Strata - Terry Pratchett: A not-quite prequel to the Discworld, and a fascinating way to see into an author's mind for the seed of an idea. The book is still good without knowing about the Discworld, but having that context it makes the learning experience and reading experience much richer.
Small Gods - Terry Pratchett: by now it's sort of clear, I'm basically just going to recommend every third Pratchett book that I read, but what I like about this one is it's commentary on religion and technology and how humans advance while basically staying in the same place.
Lords and Ladies - Terry Pratchett: I like how he makes elves evil, I love that it features the Witches Abroad cast again, and how it explores parallel paths, something that as teenagers is sort of an ever-present experience (What if I don't go to college, what if I get this job, what if I go to prom alone, etc.)

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