Hi, all! I’d planned on reading Flowers for Algernon with our 7th grader in November. However, he’s working through some mental health stuff right now and I need some quality suggestions we can dissect, appreciate, and enjoy together that are not depressing, death-filled, or terribly heavy.
Last books we finished were Animal Farm and the graphic novel When Stars are Scattered and he enjoyed them both a great deal. Thanks for any ideas!!
by Bibliophile1998
4 Comments
Damn, I was going to suggest Animal Farm since I first read that when I was in seventh grade. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich might be an interesting companion, I don’t think it’s too depressing. And I’m sure Maus is right out.
Maybe Eye of the Dragon by Stephen King. It might be skirting some things since there are deaths, there are those who suffer mentally/physically, but I also enjoyed it in middle school since my dad had all these Stephen King novels and it made me feel like a real adult. And, it does have a happy ending.
Old Man and the Sea might be interesting to read. There are themes to dissect and the melancholy nature of some of it might not be apparent to a seventh grader. I sure as heck didn’t pick that up when I was in high school.
I, Juan de Pareja
Hatchet, Where the Red Fern Grows, Old Yeller. My son likes the Last Kids on Earth series, and we just started Never Buy a Racoon at a Gas Station and it is promising so far.
this is kind of out of left field, but when i was around that age my dad read me Watership Down. there are definitely sad parts, so beware of that, but it’s cool and fantasy-esque, and there are lighter parts too
i also think Neil Gaiman is great for that age. its been a looooooong time since i was read anything by him, so i can’t speak a ton to the content, but i remember The Graveyard Book being good. and Coraline, obviously, always a hit
edited to say: another commenter mentioned Where the red fern grows — jsyk that is the saddest book i have ever read in my life. kid kills himself falling on his own hatchet, and both dogs die, one of them from grief for the other dog.