beavismom

My son is having an issue and I am hoping some of you out there can help. Each six weeks as he reads his required number of pages he has to write down and define 5 words that he comes across that he doesn't know. The problem is that he has a very advanced vocabulary and any can't seem to find a book that he can enjoy and that will fulfill the assignment at the same time. So, any suggestions?

He will have to read The Hobbit and A Christmas Carol later in the year so those two are out and he doesn't want to try Lord of the Rings. Pretty much any genre is open for suggestion though. TIA

Nick Danger

I was reading a lot of fantasy and SF at that age: Lovecraft, Poe, Asimov, Bradbury, Clark, Heinlein youth books, Andre Norton, etc.

He should be able to pick up a year's worth of words from one Lovecraft story! Foetid, miasma, gibbous, eldritch, and coruscating for week one . . .

Canis Firebrand

What types of books does he like to read? Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Fiction, Westerns, etc?

I enjoyed reading the Dragonlance books when I was younger. There are 3 books,

* Dragons of Autumn Twilight (April 1984), Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, (ISBN 0-88038-173-6)
* Dragons of Winter Night (April 1985), Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, (ISBN 0-394-73975-2)
* Dragons of Spring Dawning (September 1985), Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, (ISBN 0-88038-175-2)

I have also enjoyed this series, broken into two 5 book series.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chronicles_of_Amber

Another series I liked was the Coldfire Trilogy by C S Friedman

fiver

When I was in middle school, I was starting to read Stephen R. Donaldson's fantasy series Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever (starting with Lord Foul's Bane). Donaldson pretty much regurgitates a dictionary in his writing. Some of the themes might be a bit much unless he's pretty mature, but he won't lack for vocabulary words.

I second the recommendation for Lovecraft, still a favorite.

Michael

mlemmond

If it's sci-fi he likes go with Heinlein, Asimov, or Clarke. If it's general fiction or thrillers Crichton, Koontz, King, Cussler or the team of Preston & Child are good options.

I was reading most of those guys in Middle School so it shouldn't be to bad.

dick_grayson

any Hemingway
Fitzgerald (This Side of Paradise, Great Gatsby, or Tender is the Night)


maybe some of the Beat writers like Kerouac or even Chuck Bukowski

The Bus

Is he 13 or 11? Big difference in those ages, IMHO.

I would suggest Crichton.

wewantflair

Some more suggestions:

Fiction:
Jaws (Benchley)
Rising Sun (Crichton)
Fahrenheit 451 (Bradbury)
Watership Down (Adams)
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Verne)
War of the Worlds (Wells)
Treasure Island (Stevenson)
I Am the Cheese (Cormier)
The Pigman (Zindel)
The Elephant Man (Sparks)
10th Grade: A Novel (Weisberg)

Non-Fiction

This Boy's Life (Wolff)
The Hot Zone (Preston)
Teen Angst? Naaah... (Vizzini)


I'd avoid a lot of the "canon" stuff recommended above, like Hemingway, Steinbeck, LOTF, etc., since he'll just read it in high school anyway.

Jay G.

I started reading Douglas Adams when I was in middle school, most notably the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, comical sci-fi. These books led me to Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, which is comical fantasy. Glancing at these books, I see that there's a good number of words that I probably wasn't familiar with when first reading these series. Although, I must warn that both of these authors occasionally invent their own words, and I don't know if these would count for his vocabulary requirement, although they do use a profusion of relatively advanced/obscure real words.

brainee

I remember having to do a similar vocabulary exercise in middle school. I liked sci-fi, and HG Wells fit the bill very nicely (both for my interest and lots of new words).

Though it seems silly to be choosing books based on what might have new vocabulary words. Just go for a book (of the appropriate reading level) that he might enjoy the most and don't sweat the vocabulary. If he reading the stuff mentioned in this thread and honestly can't find 5 words he didn't know beforehand ... well, first he's one smart kid (since I'm sure most of these would have some words that I wouldn't know). Secondly, just pick 5 hard words and use those for the assignment - nobody but you, your son, and us will know the truth (and we won't talk)

dugan

The Moorchild, by Eloise McGraw. Great book, aimed at young readers, and packed with words that would have been spoken in Scotland during the Middle Ages but aren't heard today.

Nefarious

To Kill a Mockingbird
Catcher in the Rye
The Great Gatsby
Animal Farm
Of Mice & Men
Wuthering Heights

beavismom

LOL. I tried to get him to just pick 5 words and do it, but he wouldn't. I know it is hard to believe, but he really does have an incredible vocabulary and probably knows or can grasp the meanings of most words in context. For this six weeks he finally picked a history of the Lockheed Corp. for the vocabulary he needed. I will keep this thread in mind for the next rounds though.

I am thinking he might like Crichton though. I will probably show him Timeline or Prey first and see if they click. My husband just finished the Discworld series and that might be something he could get into just for pleasure reading, but I am not sure how it would fare for the vocabulary. That is the big challenge, it has to have a decent amount of more obscure words and still be fun to read.

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions. Feel free to keep adding since we will have to deal with this all year.

Nick Danger

The middle third of Jaws is about an extramarital affair. I read it when I was 13, and the book really dragged.

Also, once you get him into adult novels, do you want to vet them for content? How do you feel about explicit sex scenes, or detailed instructions on how to build a bomb from household items? I was reading bestsellers from the age of 11, and my parents were pretty relaxed about it. But not everyone feels the same way they did. They did draw the line when my little sister bought an 'adventure novel' which was actually disguised porn.

brainee

Title?

It wouldn't be one of Eric Lustbader's books, would it? I remember my little brother pulling the scam of getting John Norman's "Gor" books under the guise that they were just Conan-like fantasy/adventure books.

Jay G.

Surely words he didn't know of before reading the book count, even if he's able to guess the meaning from the context. It'd also be good for him to double-check some of these words, since sometimes guessing via context can lead to word meanings that may fit that particular sentence, but aren't actually correct.

From the first 10 pages of the first Discworld book: astral, rheum, gantry, albedo, bifurcated, breasting, ruefully, and hitherto.

wewantflair

If he's a bit on the nerdy side, give him Robert McCammon's Swan Song. I read it when I was in 8th grade. You feel like you've really accomplished something once you hit page 900.

ElCambio

An older book would have some words that are not commonly used anymore but that might be good for him to learn. One that comes to mind is Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. It's a fascinating book on many levels. It contains some descriptions of life under slavery that can be tough to read on an emotional level, but I personally don't believe in shielding middle- and high-school age people from unpleasant realities of our past. I read this particular book around that age and it helped me begin to develop an interest in history. Richard Wright's Black Boy is another outstanding autobiography that I could barely put down when I read it (in high school but not for school).

neiname

Dune or Fountainhead might be a good fit.

AllHallowsEve

Lol, how encouraging.

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I say start out with Penthouse, and if he recognizes most of the words, he can move up to Playboy in about a month or two.

There was even a spread regarding "A Christmas Carol" one year. This should fit in nicely and reinforce some of the other titles he has already read.

The Bus

Ack! Those are among Crichton's worst books! You might as well start him with Eaters of the Dead!

My suggestions for good Crichton books: Jurassic Park, Congo, Airframe, Andromeda Strain, Sphere, Disclosure*.

The ones he should probably avoid (among his weakest): Timeline, Prey, Next, Eaters of the Dead.

* This one has a blow job scene although it is not "written" graphically it is a bit steamy. For what it's worth, I read it in middle school.

Why not have him read James Joyce's Ulysses?

beavismom

LOL, I picked Prey and Timeline because although they aren't Crichton's best work, they involve subject matter that would interest him like the nanotechnology. I did suggest Jurassic Park, but he hated the movie and can't seem to get past it even though I told him the book is nothing like the movie.

Thanks for all the suggestions and I am sure I will be referring to this thread often as he has to do this every six weeks.