oh wow! it’s based on the myth of cupid & psyche, from the POV of the sister (just one) who tempts psyche to doubt cupid. it’s about the love of God and self-knowledge, essentially; probably not for 12-13, but i would encourage my highschooler to read it.
I would exactly agree with this. I think both Till We Have Faces and the Space Trilogy get mistaken for YA versions of Narnia by people who have not read them and . . . they are not. I feel pretty strongly that they are all high school level reading material, and while they are well worth reading, nearly all high schoolers would benefit from reading them in a guided context, not alone.
I agree, Amy! I think this transitional phase needs to involve discernment. Not every adult book will be a good choice for a young teen, but many of them are. Maybe if enough people comme, we can compile a suggested reading list of adult books for thiss age group.
Till we have Faces was my first "adult" CS Lewis read too. I was 12! For me at least, it was a great introduction to, well, the evils of the world (lust for sex and power, the temptation to sin to protect one's loved ones) but I was also a classical mythology nerd so I was extremely familiar with the cupid/psyche story to begin with.
That's neat. I think that's part of what young teens need from these books; they are becoming aware of the dark parts of the world and they need us to engage with them about these. Something changes once a kid is in or near puberty; they begin to know and notice, and we need to honor that by giving them serious (though not devastating) things to read about difficult things.
I think this matters too! If you don't know the parent material that Lewis is working with, your understanding is going to be completely different than if you do. I think knowledge of the original myth would allow a (slightly) younger teen to read it and learn from it, as opposed to being overwhelmed and perhaps even bothered by it, but I would still recommend it for 14+, which is essentially high school.
It's not one of his more popular books. I wouldn't say I necessarily enjoyed it, but I'm glad I read it. I read it as an older teen and found it very sad. I don't know that I'd reread it at this point in my life as I don't have a lot of emotional space for really sad books in this phase in my life. But teens often love/need these strongly emotional books as an outlet for all their crazy emotions inside. That is one of the benefits of quality classic fiction (highly subjective, I know).
That one is on my re-read list for the year. I haven’t read it since high school and I remember it hitting in a pretty deep way. I recommended it to a friend who ended up doing her extended literary essay (we were in the nerd program 😉) on the book. I read Becoming Mrs Lewis last year, which of course is fictionalized but because of the timeline of the book and his relationship with Joy it made me curious if it would change my viewpoint.
The Scarlet Pimpernel I read in maybe 8th grade and ADORED. There's an excellent movie version that might require screening (as has been a common thread here) that we watched after reading the book in our book club.
Curious if any of you have read Mary Stewart or Georgette Heyer. I enjoy them selectively. The latter has amazing Regency period details, slang and conversation.
I really enjoyed Stewart's Arthurian Saga when I was a young teen! I think I got one of the books for Christmas when I was 13, and then I was off and running.
I actually gave a copy of The Crystal Cave to my 14-year-old goddaughter recently. She loves mythology and fantasy. I haven't heard her opinion about it yet, though!
Rosamund Lehmann wrote some wonderful books about girls on the cusp of womanhood. Old-fashioned enough that you don’t need to worry about the content but still, I hope, relevant for today’s teenage girls.
Not to be that annoying older mom, but...that time will be here in a flash!!
Maybe some good stuff to read ahead and to be thinking about. I'm sure you also read lots of amazing stuff at Christendom that might well work for a younger teen, too!
I've read them, and...they getter better as the author matured/got ahold of her writing style, but they're honestly not that good. I respect what she was going for, and certain passages are very well done, but she treats certain subjects (homosexuality, sexual assault, feminism) in a way that reflect a certain lack of serious research and in a way where stuff gets magically fixed by the end. Put plainly, I think a kid who struggled with those realities would get some really confusing, mixed messages from those books, and get a picture of what our faith teaches about bearing those crosses that's not true. (Example: one character has his homosexual tendencies totally fixed by healthy male friendship and caring for a female friend within the course of about a year. Not super accurate, or helpful for someone actually carrying that cross).
I read them as a teen and in college; I'm not planning on buying copies for my daughters.
I've read both of these, and I couldn't agree more with the takeaways. Right now I'm thinking that as my daughter moves into middle school next year, that I will read Mere Christianity with her as "summer reading." Thanks, Dixie!
This is so encouraging; thank you! Screwtape Letters is on my 14 year old son’s homeschool reading list for the spring. As you perfectly describe, it has been so challenging to find good fiction for this age. Animal Farm is a favourite of his, and all things Tolkien!
Animal Farm is another excellent example and is a favorite at our house, too--thanks for mentioning it! It can be understood on so many different levels, and so it's great for rereading at different stages, too.
Another non-fiction recommendation is ‘Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage’ by Lansing. Written for adults, with terrific themes and values but nothing inappropriate for children.
Wow. That sounds like a great book for young people!
I actually read Richard Henry Dana's "Two Years Before the Mast" at this age (maybe 13?) for the first time and that was a great fit. Same with the Aubrey/Maturin series and Horatio Hornblower. I'm sure people think of these mostly for boys, but I loved them, too.
This kind of story (not just nautical ones, but great adventure, exploration, and war stories) would be great for a young teen who enjoyed "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" or "The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle" or "The Sign of the Beaver" when a little younger.
I love both of these classics! They are so wonderfully written and worth coming back to over and over again.
I think I was in about 8th grade when I read The Witch of Blackbird Pond, and remember really enjoying it and learning a bit about history too. I wonder what I would think of it as an adult....
I just got that one from the library for my 7th grader! I remember really enjoying it. She hasn't read it yet...we'll see what she thinks.
There are so many good books like that, but I think a lot of kids are capable of reading those books at 10 or 11...and then what is left for them when they're 12, 13, 14? You know? I think it sort of depends on how voracious they are as readers and their reading level, but at some point they get through the good kids novels written for this age and then...what?
It’s so true. I was such a voracious reader that I chose Gone with the Wind the same year. Obviously my parents didn’t preview that one 😂 and I can’t recommend it for younger readers!
It’s a really tough age/ stage to find good books for. I wonder if some classic lit short stories are a good fit? Like O.Henry’s the Gift of the Magi comes to mind. And Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn... I remember reading A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court and enjoying it at that same age, although I couldn’t tell you a thing about it now.
High school is a great time to get classics in, for sure! I read quite a lot of classic lit, including Dickens, Hemmingway, Austen, Virgil and Cervantes. I read most of the Space Trilogy, Till We Have Faces (which I loved), and of course quite of a lot of Tolkien's work (not just Lord of the Rings). George MacDonald's catalogue is also fascinating, thoughtful, and imaginative. I prefer his fantasy offerings, particularly the Princess and the Goblin, but he has quite a lot of fiction as well. He is an author Lewis liked. Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea is also worth reading: deep language, deep story (do not judge it by the tv adaptation). For YA by a living author, Naomi Novik has a wonderful alternative history series set during the Napoleonic wars (celebrating heroic virtues) and her work Spinning Silver is a Rumpelstiltskin retelling set in a land like Russia, featuring a Jewish protagonist and Russian ice elves. It's a thoughtful, beautifully written story.
Sounds fascinating, Abigail! It seems like some of these things would be great for the middle school age, too, which is the time of the most difficult transition in reading, I think. I like that both Tolkien's work and MacDonald's can be read either up or down (that is, people of many different ages can enjoy and benefit from them). These are the books that stay with you for much of your life, with many rereadings!
I think the Anne of Green Gables books are also like this, though they are vastly different from what you mention!
Good suggestions. I second the Novik rec, although, read first for your own content check. Different teens will be ready for it sooner than others. It's not about sheltering but equipping along the way at the time appropriate for that individual. (I saw several very sheltered friends in college crash and burn spectacularly because they went from extreme control/limits to no limits and didn't know how to develop healthy boundaries.)
On that note, I'd like to find more quality YA by living authors as most of the classics we're talking about operate from a modernist perspective. As our society has largely shifted away from that (although still heavily influenced by), it's helpful to engage with post-modern literature with our teens and point out the benefits and perils of each perspective. (I say this one someone who grew up in a Christian subculture that absolutely sanctified modernism and vilified anything post.)
I loved Austen at this age, although I probably could have used a reading order or a good set of films/reading guides for some of her books. Emma was hard for me to follow in late middle/early high school and left a bad taste in my mouth, but I recently reread it and couldn't stop laughing out loud!
Screwtape Letters, The Four Loves, The Great Divorce, and A Grief Observed were ALL a much richer, impactful experience after getting older, living and experiencing more life. (It had been several years!!!)
I have a 9yo son who I have never managed to get into the Narnia books despite repeated attempts!
HOWEVER.
We had excellent success with “The Great Divorce” and “Mere Christianity” is definitely on the docket. We started the audiobook together in the car and he liked it but then we got distracted by other things.
No religious value but we are also having a VERY good time with Arthur Conan Doyle. He read A Study in Scarlet with his dad, and how we’re most of the way through the first short story collection. After that I think we will skip ahead to Hound of the Baskervilles, which is my personal favorite.
The Iliad has sex and violence but it’s the Iliad and he loves it. We’re about halfway through. When we eventually finish it we will move on to the Odyssey, then the Aeneid.
Shakespeare’s historical plays are also on the near-term docket. I’m thinking of the Henrys especially. We won’t read them though — going to watch them first!
Since he is skeptical of all fantasy after disliking Narnia so much I am not sure if I will be able to get him into Tolkien but we are going to try!
Oh, what neat books! My daughter loves Agatha Christie and all the kids really enjoy Jim Weiss' audio versions of Sherlock Holmes stories.
I didn't much like Tolkien until I was well into adulthood, but all my children love his books. Go figure. Sometimes something just doesn't suit, or it's not the right time, you know?
One of our all-time favorite series is not fiction, but Ralph Moody’s autobiography, the “Little Britches” series. It has so many wonderful examples of good character, ingenuity, integrity and is plain fun to boot. We’ve had so many conversations from it as a read aloud but would be equally good as a book for (especially boys) a young teen.
I have heard so many people recommend this book! There are sequels, too, right?
I have shied away from it because I'm sensitive sometimes to stories in which a parent dies but that is particular to me -- it seems like a great book!
Yes, though you could easily start in the second book (Man of the Family -- maybe my favorite) and still read the rest of the series. His dad is a pretty formational part of his character, but I was sobbing in the kitchen at the end of the first book (while my husband was reading aloud in the other room). So I can definitely understand why it may be too much personally.
There's something about adventure stories at this age. I think kids are becoming energized to want to go out into the world and change things at this time of life!
Oh, I just remembered a great series of books that I adored when I was this age--The Great Brain books by John D. Fitzgerald. The humor made them feel more like an adult read to me at the time. Sort of bridging that gap between children’s literature and YA. And they’re Catholic (or half anyway 😏).
I *loved* the Great Brain books! I guess I do think of them more as children's books in terms of age of characters and language used; John and Tom are still very much kids in the first ones. But Tom is definitely in middle school by the end, and the books are so funny and so relatable and satisfying!
I read somewhere that Fitzgerald wrote a book for adults about his family too. I guess you’re right but for me I think they bridged that in between time. Tom was my first literary crush
I always meant to read it but could never find it. I may need to renew the search. Maybe it was Tom’s time at the academy that turned him off Catholicism 😂
Definitely want to put in a bid for Discworld, especially with Tiffany Aching as an entry point for younger teens, who, if they like that, will race into the rest of them and be infinitely richer for the experience. Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, too. The adult fiction that will draw them on. Consider also--mysteries. Series with a lot of entries to continue their middle-grade experience. After all, adults love that sense of abundance and discovery, too. For more “classic” classics, never discount the sheer power of giving a 13yo girl a copy of Jane Eyre and a copy of Pride & Prejudice and seeing which she prefers. And Dracula. Dracula is always a good time.
Also, very much based on my experience, If your teen isn’t interested in or isn’t comfortable with sex, they’ll probably just skim. If they are, then they have a lifetime of happiness in the romance section ahead of them and that’s a fine thing, too.
I second this!! Written by a witty British atheist with a strong moral center. There's definitely allusions to sexual stuff, but he never gets graphic with it. When he gets philosophical, it often gets downright profound (mixed with a lot of stuff that makes you laugh out loud). Tiffany Aching is definitely good, I also highly recommend Hogfather.
There's a cartoon version of one of the books online where Death is voiced by Sir Christopher Lee. I'm pretty sure it's free on YouTube.
I'd pre-read for a young teen, but I'd recommend whole heatedly for an adult.
There's some YA fiction that's actually good. The Giver series by Lois Lowry comes to mind, and the Redwall and Castaways of the Flying Dutchman series by Brian Jacques (which is sometimes put in YA, sometimes in Adult). I'd classify Hatchet by Gary Paulson as YA too, and there's a couple passages from that that have stuck with me for years. And, strangely, anything written AFTER the year 2000 by Caroline B. Cooney (prior to that, she wrote a bunch of garbage, but then she...matured, I guess?).
Now, the Twilight and Divergent series? Pretty much oversexed twaddle. The Hunger Games? Vastly overrated (written at an obviously immature reading level…the movies are actually better). The overblown politically charged stuff that's blowing up local library shelves? I tend to think that stuff’s straight up propaganda.
I don't think YA as a subset of literature is worth tossing out wholesale, but I concede that a lot of it is, indeed, trash or else vastly inferior. I'll probably be introducing my kids to my favorites from that genre, but not allowing them to check out much else.
But Emily, I don't say that nothing in that section is good. I'm really clear about that in the post. I think we actually more or less agree here.
Also, as I mentioned in my note, something like Redwall or the Giver can often also (or instead) be found in the children's collections in a library or bookstore. So they straddle categories in ways that so many good books do.
But yes, there are good books written specifically for youth this age. Of course there are!
Thanks for asking! My favorites I read as an adult (to study genre as a writer) in classic British and other YA novels:
--I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith. I admit this one got me hooked on reading YA as it has imaginative girl trying to bust loose from the abandoned English castle her family lives in. Who doesn’t want that? Written in 1948. But do NOT watch any of the movie versions.
--Five on a Treasure Island - Enid Blyton, part of Famous Five series, illustrations by Eileen Soper. Published in 1942. I went looking for this after fondly remembering it with my childhood library. A series with same children (ages 5 to 11) going on simple adventures that get complicated. I was hooked. Can be read by 8 year olds.
--The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon. A 2003 Brit novel also made into a play. Certainly good for a thinking mystery dog lover.
--Rodzina - Karen Cushman. Not Brit, a very American story of the “orphan train” but told by a feisty and overweight Polish girl, who does eventually find a true home. Afterwards one can read or watch about the real orphan train.
I read a bunch of Enid Blyton when I was about 11! I haven't read the others, but I have heard lots of people recommend "I Capture the Castle." Good recommendations!
what are your thoughts on Till We Have Faces?
I haven't read it yet. What are yours? I'd love to hear.
oh wow! it’s based on the myth of cupid & psyche, from the POV of the sister (just one) who tempts psyche to doubt cupid. it’s about the love of God and self-knowledge, essentially; probably not for 12-13, but i would encourage my highschooler to read it.
I'll have to read it! Thanks for the tip -- I knew of it, of course, but actually didn't know what it was about.
It's absolutely excellent. One of my favorites of his work. I haven't reread it in several years, but think about it probably weekly.
That's amazing. I'll have to read it!
I would exactly agree with this. I think both Till We Have Faces and the Space Trilogy get mistaken for YA versions of Narnia by people who have not read them and . . . they are not. I feel pretty strongly that they are all high school level reading material, and while they are well worth reading, nearly all high schoolers would benefit from reading them in a guided context, not alone.
I agree, Amy! I think this transitional phase needs to involve discernment. Not every adult book will be a good choice for a young teen, but many of them are. Maybe if enough people comme, we can compile a suggested reading list of adult books for thiss age group.
Till we have Faces was my first "adult" CS Lewis read too. I was 12! For me at least, it was a great introduction to, well, the evils of the world (lust for sex and power, the temptation to sin to protect one's loved ones) but I was also a classical mythology nerd so I was extremely familiar with the cupid/psyche story to begin with.
That's neat. I think that's part of what young teens need from these books; they are becoming aware of the dark parts of the world and they need us to engage with them about these. Something changes once a kid is in or near puberty; they begin to know and notice, and we need to honor that by giving them serious (though not devastating) things to read about difficult things.
I think this matters too! If you don't know the parent material that Lewis is working with, your understanding is going to be completely different than if you do. I think knowledge of the original myth would allow a (slightly) younger teen to read it and learn from it, as opposed to being overwhelmed and perhaps even bothered by it, but I would still recommend it for 14+, which is essentially high school.
It's not one of his more popular books. I wouldn't say I necessarily enjoyed it, but I'm glad I read it. I read it as an older teen and found it very sad. I don't know that I'd reread it at this point in my life as I don't have a lot of emotional space for really sad books in this phase in my life. But teens often love/need these strongly emotional books as an outlet for all their crazy emotions inside. That is one of the benefits of quality classic fiction (highly subjective, I know).
Nice point.
That one is on my re-read list for the year. I haven’t read it since high school and I remember it hitting in a pretty deep way. I recommended it to a friend who ended up doing her extended literary essay (we were in the nerd program 😉) on the book. I read Becoming Mrs Lewis last year, which of course is fictionalized but because of the timeline of the book and his relationship with Joy it made me curious if it would change my viewpoint.
Hurray for the nerd program, which sounds right up my alley!
How did you like Becoming Mrs. Lewis? Did it change your viewpoint?
Haha -- well, it also may have bordered on some liberal indoctrination so mixed bag there 😉. I wrote a bit about Becoming Mrs Lewis here: https://open.substack.com/pub/anneliseroberts/p/on-battling-for-belonging?r=17ws3w&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
Very mixed feelings overall! It was well written.
Oh, thanks for the link -- I look forward to reading the post!
I thought “Girl of the Limberlost” was wonderful for that middle stage between girlhood and womanhood.
Also Island of the Blue Dolphins and biographies of saints and missionaries
I remember reading that one!
Just checked in with my 14 yo daughter and she’s reading Pygmalion now and then The Scarlet Pimpernel
Your daughter is SO COOL. Three cheers for her!
The Scarlet Pimpernel I read in maybe 8th grade and ADORED. There's an excellent movie version that might require screening (as has been a common thread here) that we watched after reading the book in our book club.
I can’t find the 1982 version with Jane Seymour anywhere! Tell me if you find it pretty please
We have the DVD 😅 but I’ll keep my eyes peeled!
Curious if any of you have read Mary Stewart or Georgette Heyer. I enjoy them selectively. The latter has amazing Regency period details, slang and conversation.
I really enjoyed Stewart's Arthurian Saga when I was a young teen! I think I got one of the books for Christmas when I was 13, and then I was off and running.
I actually gave a copy of The Crystal Cave to my 14-year-old goddaughter recently. She loves mythology and fantasy. I haven't heard her opinion about it yet, though!
Yes! That is another. Some serious themes, but also a sort of movement between childhood and older things.
Rosamund Lehmann wrote some wonderful books about girls on the cusp of womanhood. Old-fashioned enough that you don’t need to worry about the content but still, I hope, relevant for today’s teenage girls.
Sounds neat!
Loved this! Thank you for sharing!
Have you read Regina Doman’s Fairytales Retold series? I believe they are intended for this demographic!
Yes, I have! I also want to particularly direct kids this age toward adult books, though.
Oh ok. Yeah I love this idea! Obviously I’m a ways away from putting this into practice. But I’m grateful to know about it now!
Not to be that annoying older mom, but...that time will be here in a flash!!
Maybe some good stuff to read ahead and to be thinking about. I'm sure you also read lots of amazing stuff at Christendom that might well work for a younger teen, too!
I've read them, and...they getter better as the author matured/got ahold of her writing style, but they're honestly not that good. I respect what she was going for, and certain passages are very well done, but she treats certain subjects (homosexuality, sexual assault, feminism) in a way that reflect a certain lack of serious research and in a way where stuff gets magically fixed by the end. Put plainly, I think a kid who struggled with those realities would get some really confusing, mixed messages from those books, and get a picture of what our faith teaches about bearing those crosses that's not true. (Example: one character has his homosexual tendencies totally fixed by healthy male friendship and caring for a female friend within the course of about a year. Not super accurate, or helpful for someone actually carrying that cross).
I read them as a teen and in college; I'm not planning on buying copies for my daughters.
I've read both of these, and I couldn't agree more with the takeaways. Right now I'm thinking that as my daughter moves into middle school next year, that I will read Mere Christianity with her as "summer reading." Thanks, Dixie!
I wish you lots of great conversations with your daughter over it, Jacob! I like the summer idea a lot!
This is so encouraging; thank you! Screwtape Letters is on my 14 year old son’s homeschool reading list for the spring. As you perfectly describe, it has been so challenging to find good fiction for this age. Animal Farm is a favourite of his, and all things Tolkien!
I don't use Seton, but that's great to hear!
Our family uses the CMEC (this is our first year following a formal curriculum).
Animal Farm is another excellent example and is a favorite at our house, too--thanks for mentioning it! It can be understood on so many different levels, and so it's great for rereading at different stages, too.
Another non-fiction recommendation is ‘Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage’ by Lansing. Written for adults, with terrific themes and values but nothing inappropriate for children.
Wow. That sounds like a great book for young people!
I actually read Richard Henry Dana's "Two Years Before the Mast" at this age (maybe 13?) for the first time and that was a great fit. Same with the Aubrey/Maturin series and Horatio Hornblower. I'm sure people think of these mostly for boys, but I loved them, too.
This kind of story (not just nautical ones, but great adventure, exploration, and war stories) would be great for a young teen who enjoyed "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" or "The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle" or "The Sign of the Beaver" when a little younger.
I just picked up a copy of Two Years Before the Mast at our local secondhand bookstore! And yes we are huge Hornblower fans :)
I love both of these classics! They are so wonderfully written and worth coming back to over and over again.
I think I was in about 8th grade when I read The Witch of Blackbird Pond, and remember really enjoying it and learning a bit about history too. I wonder what I would think of it as an adult....
I just got that one from the library for my 7th grader! I remember really enjoying it. She hasn't read it yet...we'll see what she thinks.
There are so many good books like that, but I think a lot of kids are capable of reading those books at 10 or 11...and then what is left for them when they're 12, 13, 14? You know? I think it sort of depends on how voracious they are as readers and their reading level, but at some point they get through the good kids novels written for this age and then...what?
It’s so true. I was such a voracious reader that I chose Gone with the Wind the same year. Obviously my parents didn’t preview that one 😂 and I can’t recommend it for younger readers!
It’s a really tough age/ stage to find good books for. I wonder if some classic lit short stories are a good fit? Like O.Henry’s the Gift of the Magi comes to mind. And Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn... I remember reading A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court and enjoying it at that same age, although I couldn’t tell you a thing about it now.
Yes! Good recommendations. It's time for things like Flannery O'Connor and "The Lottery" and "The Most Dangerous Game."
I read Steinbeck at that age!
O. Henry is a lot of fun. :)
O. Henry has lots of good short stories. I'd definitely recommend a solid O. Henry collection for that age.
The Gift of the Magi i a touchstone in our family conversations. The kid really get it.
High school is a great time to get classics in, for sure! I read quite a lot of classic lit, including Dickens, Hemmingway, Austen, Virgil and Cervantes. I read most of the Space Trilogy, Till We Have Faces (which I loved), and of course quite of a lot of Tolkien's work (not just Lord of the Rings). George MacDonald's catalogue is also fascinating, thoughtful, and imaginative. I prefer his fantasy offerings, particularly the Princess and the Goblin, but he has quite a lot of fiction as well. He is an author Lewis liked. Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea is also worth reading: deep language, deep story (do not judge it by the tv adaptation). For YA by a living author, Naomi Novik has a wonderful alternative history series set during the Napoleonic wars (celebrating heroic virtues) and her work Spinning Silver is a Rumpelstiltskin retelling set in a land like Russia, featuring a Jewish protagonist and Russian ice elves. It's a thoughtful, beautifully written story.
Sounds fascinating, Abigail! It seems like some of these things would be great for the middle school age, too, which is the time of the most difficult transition in reading, I think. I like that both Tolkien's work and MacDonald's can be read either up or down (that is, people of many different ages can enjoy and benefit from them). These are the books that stay with you for much of your life, with many rereadings!
I think the Anne of Green Gables books are also like this, though they are vastly different from what you mention!
Good suggestions. I second the Novik rec, although, read first for your own content check. Different teens will be ready for it sooner than others. It's not about sheltering but equipping along the way at the time appropriate for that individual. (I saw several very sheltered friends in college crash and burn spectacularly because they went from extreme control/limits to no limits and didn't know how to develop healthy boundaries.)
On that note, I'd like to find more quality YA by living authors as most of the classics we're talking about operate from a modernist perspective. As our society has largely shifted away from that (although still heavily influenced by), it's helpful to engage with post-modern literature with our teens and point out the benefits and perils of each perspective. (I say this one someone who grew up in a Christian subculture that absolutely sanctified modernism and vilified anything post.)
I loved Austen at this age, although I probably could have used a reading order or a good set of films/reading guides for some of her books. Emma was hard for me to follow in late middle/early high school and left a bad taste in my mouth, but I recently reread it and couldn't stop laughing out loud!
There is quite a bit of humor in Emma and P&P, I always forget that until I'm rereading.
I revisited several Lewis books last year and plan to do the same this year!
Always up for listening to how parents further down the road handle these things. I'm too focused on toilet training and a new walker over here! haha
Which is your favorite of the revisited books so far?
Screwtape Letters, The Four Loves, The Great Divorce, and A Grief Observed were ALL a much richer, impactful experience after getting older, living and experiencing more life. (It had been several years!!!)
I have a 9yo son who I have never managed to get into the Narnia books despite repeated attempts!
HOWEVER.
We had excellent success with “The Great Divorce” and “Mere Christianity” is definitely on the docket. We started the audiobook together in the car and he liked it but then we got distracted by other things.
No religious value but we are also having a VERY good time with Arthur Conan Doyle. He read A Study in Scarlet with his dad, and how we’re most of the way through the first short story collection. After that I think we will skip ahead to Hound of the Baskervilles, which is my personal favorite.
The Iliad has sex and violence but it’s the Iliad and he loves it. We’re about halfway through. When we eventually finish it we will move on to the Odyssey, then the Aeneid.
Shakespeare’s historical plays are also on the near-term docket. I’m thinking of the Henrys especially. We won’t read them though — going to watch them first!
Since he is skeptical of all fantasy after disliking Narnia so much I am not sure if I will be able to get him into Tolkien but we are going to try!
Oh, what neat books! My daughter loves Agatha Christie and all the kids really enjoy Jim Weiss' audio versions of Sherlock Holmes stories.
I didn't much like Tolkien until I was well into adulthood, but all my children love his books. Go figure. Sometimes something just doesn't suit, or it's not the right time, you know?
One of our all-time favorite series is not fiction, but Ralph Moody’s autobiography, the “Little Britches” series. It has so many wonderful examples of good character, ingenuity, integrity and is plain fun to boot. We’ve had so many conversations from it as a read aloud but would be equally good as a book for (especially boys) a young teen.
I have heard so many people recommend this book! There are sequels, too, right?
I have shied away from it because I'm sensitive sometimes to stories in which a parent dies but that is particular to me -- it seems like a great book!
Yes, though you could easily start in the second book (Man of the Family -- maybe my favorite) and still read the rest of the series. His dad is a pretty formational part of his character, but I was sobbing in the kitchen at the end of the first book (while my husband was reading aloud in the other room). So I can definitely understand why it may be too much personally.
Maybe I'll try the second one!
I read The Lord of the Rings when I was around thirteen. I don’t know if I got it on a deep level but for pure enjoyment it was a winner.
There's something about adventure stories at this age. I think kids are becoming energized to want to go out into the world and change things at this time of life!
Definitely! I was the kid crusading against litter and kids throwing rocks at the local ducks. 🦆
We would have been friends!
My husband teaches fourth grade, and his class reads The Hobbit every year, alongside Narnia and some George McDonald. They love it!
Tolkien + Lewis + MacDonald is such a great combination! My husband reads books by each aloud to our younger kids. They really love them!
Oh, I just remembered a great series of books that I adored when I was this age--The Great Brain books by John D. Fitzgerald. The humor made them feel more like an adult read to me at the time. Sort of bridging that gap between children’s literature and YA. And they’re Catholic (or half anyway 😏).
I *loved* the Great Brain books! I guess I do think of them more as children's books in terms of age of characters and language used; John and Tom are still very much kids in the first ones. But Tom is definitely in middle school by the end, and the books are so funny and so relatable and satisfying!
I love the Mormon/Catholic stuff in them.
I read somewhere that Fitzgerald wrote a book for adults about his family too. I guess you’re right but for me I think they bridged that in between time. Tom was my first literary crush
100% on the literary crush!!
He wrote one called "Papa Married A Mormon" that I read. I like the fictionalized version of his life better! But it's intriguing...
One thing that blew my mind was that in real life, Tom chose to be Mormon while the other boys chose Catholicism. It's such an interesting story!
I always meant to read it but could never find it. I may need to renew the search. Maybe it was Tom’s time at the academy that turned him off Catholicism 😂
It's surprising; he says, "Mama's God is love." If I remember correctly, he also liked the Mormon hymns better!
Would the Father Brown mysteries by Chesterton be age appropriate? (I read them in high school so can’t remember if some themes were too dark.)
I haven't read them, but my guess from watching the BBC show is that they would be good for this age! Worth a shot, at least.
Definitely want to put in a bid for Discworld, especially with Tiffany Aching as an entry point for younger teens, who, if they like that, will race into the rest of them and be infinitely richer for the experience. Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, too. The adult fiction that will draw them on. Consider also--mysteries. Series with a lot of entries to continue their middle-grade experience. After all, adults love that sense of abundance and discovery, too. For more “classic” classics, never discount the sheer power of giving a 13yo girl a copy of Jane Eyre and a copy of Pride & Prejudice and seeing which she prefers. And Dracula. Dracula is always a good time.
Also, very much based on my experience, If your teen isn’t interested in or isn’t comfortable with sex, they’ll probably just skim. If they are, then they have a lifetime of happiness in the romance section ahead of them and that’s a fine thing, too.
I haven't heard of Discworld! I'll have to check that out.
I save them for rainy days. Highly recommend.
I second this!! Written by a witty British atheist with a strong moral center. There's definitely allusions to sexual stuff, but he never gets graphic with it. When he gets philosophical, it often gets downright profound (mixed with a lot of stuff that makes you laugh out loud). Tiffany Aching is definitely good, I also highly recommend Hogfather.
There's a cartoon version of one of the books online where Death is voiced by Sir Christopher Lee. I'm pretty sure it's free on YouTube.
I'd pre-read for a young teen, but I'd recommend whole heatedly for an adult.
If you're sliding books towards a more martial child, I would start with Guards! Guards!
The only real danger of pre-reading these is that you will have too good a time.
There's some YA fiction that's actually good. The Giver series by Lois Lowry comes to mind, and the Redwall and Castaways of the Flying Dutchman series by Brian Jacques (which is sometimes put in YA, sometimes in Adult). I'd classify Hatchet by Gary Paulson as YA too, and there's a couple passages from that that have stuck with me for years. And, strangely, anything written AFTER the year 2000 by Caroline B. Cooney (prior to that, she wrote a bunch of garbage, but then she...matured, I guess?).
Now, the Twilight and Divergent series? Pretty much oversexed twaddle. The Hunger Games? Vastly overrated (written at an obviously immature reading level…the movies are actually better). The overblown politically charged stuff that's blowing up local library shelves? I tend to think that stuff’s straight up propaganda.
I don't think YA as a subset of literature is worth tossing out wholesale, but I concede that a lot of it is, indeed, trash or else vastly inferior. I'll probably be introducing my kids to my favorites from that genre, but not allowing them to check out much else.
But Emily, I don't say that nothing in that section is good. I'm really clear about that in the post. I think we actually more or less agree here.
Also, as I mentioned in my note, something like Redwall or the Giver can often also (or instead) be found in the children's collections in a library or bookstore. So they straddle categories in ways that so many good books do.
But yes, there are good books written specifically for youth this age. Of course there are!
I think we do, yeah. That's what I get for typing before digesting what I've read, lol.
Haha! No worries -- I have definitely been guilty of that myself!
Thanks for asking! My favorites I read as an adult (to study genre as a writer) in classic British and other YA novels:
--I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith. I admit this one got me hooked on reading YA as it has imaginative girl trying to bust loose from the abandoned English castle her family lives in. Who doesn’t want that? Written in 1948. But do NOT watch any of the movie versions.
--Five on a Treasure Island - Enid Blyton, part of Famous Five series, illustrations by Eileen Soper. Published in 1942. I went looking for this after fondly remembering it with my childhood library. A series with same children (ages 5 to 11) going on simple adventures that get complicated. I was hooked. Can be read by 8 year olds.
--The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon. A 2003 Brit novel also made into a play. Certainly good for a thinking mystery dog lover.
--Rodzina - Karen Cushman. Not Brit, a very American story of the “orphan train” but told by a feisty and overweight Polish girl, who does eventually find a true home. Afterwards one can read or watch about the real orphan train.
I read a bunch of Enid Blyton when I was about 11! I haven't read the others, but I have heard lots of people recommend "I Capture the Castle." Good recommendations!
Wonderful! Seems like the Brits have a good grasp of adventure stories. The fact these published in 1942 must be significant also.