Friday, June 3, 2011

What life changing book would impress a very gifted, liberal 6th grade girl who reads at college entry level?

She is easily bored if the book is not a page turner. She liked Truman Capote's book, In Cold Blood, but didn't like Obama's books or Gone With the Wind. GWtW was too mature perhaps and Obama's books were draggy. I want something that is more significant than ICB.What life changing book would impress a very gifted, liberal 6th grade girl who reads at college entry level?I was also reading at the college level when I was in 6th grade. At the time, my favorite books were:



Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

The Once and Future King by T.H. White

Short stories and poems by Edgar Allan Poe

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo



Les Miserables in particular has some epic themes. I don't know if the books were %26quot;life-changing%26quot; (that's a tall order), but I still have a fond place for them in my heart, many years later. I also don't know if they are page-turners, but my pure little 11-year-old heart devoured them. There's really no way of knowing what emotions and plots will appeal to a young girl with acute intelligence. The best you can do is expose her to books that you think are good and hope that something sticks.What life changing book would impress a very gifted, liberal 6th grade girl who reads at college entry level?Without you telling me what kind of books she likes, I'll go over the life-changers for me. Brandon Sanderson is a great author who knows how to play out complicated plotlines and keep it interesting. Dune, of course, George Orwell books.



If she's at all inclined for religion C. S. Lewis is well written (if he's a bit insane) and No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam Dr. Reza Aslan was a good summary of Islam and it's future, and was a page-turner to boot!