Sorry, Jilli, I thought you wouldn't go near those books because of your phobia of the title creatures. I must be misremembering.

No, I won't go near the Circ du Freak books, because one of the characters has a telepathic bond with a giant tarantula. Which is a shame, because I've been told those books are fun. But giant psychic spiders are a deal-breaker for me.

One must have standards, Jilli.

I was going to rec those, Jilli, but you said it had to be age-appropriate and I guess school-appropriate, too, right? And the covers of those are a little grotesque.

I'm wary of recommending anything I haven't read myself. Otherwise I would have added the Circ du Freak books.

(Hey, has anyone here read them? If so, please tell me how prevalent the giant psychic spider is in them.)

I am very curious about the contents of this girl's (I am assuming a girl) letter. What determines "school appropriate?" Is the school mandating her books? Is she not allowed to read above level?

I'm remembering getting my parents called in 6th grade because I was reading a romance, and my dad being all "Um, she can read whatever the hell she wants, if she's done with her work, kthxbye!"

I can't tell if Hunter is a girl or boy from the letter. But the first piece of advice I plan on giving her is to go ask her teachers what they mean my "age appropriate", and what their suggestions are. Then I'm going to ask her what her parents think. Because yeah, my Dad was also all "She can read whatever she wants" with a side of "Look, she's developing research skills, looking for spells and charms to ward off the monsters in the closet! I'm so proud!"

Good. As a teacher, if I saw a student reading, I didn't give a flying fuck if it was "age appropriate" at all; I was all "Get on with yer bad reading self!"

I had a coworker who really wanted to ban Zane novels from classrooms (high school) and I was flat-out "No. You can do what you wish in your classroom, but if they're done with work, and reading a novel (I DID ban manga with nudity), it is up to their parents to determine what is appropriate."

Books that I knew were glorifying gang life and violence, espcially with kids I knew were mixed up with gangs, I would read, and talk with the student about what was and was not realistic and/or biased, and had some great talks with kids on some very tough subjects. Same with the Zane novels. I had a 17 y.o. girl use one as a book report and she delivered a really thoughtful analysis of relationships.

I think I was twelve when I started with true-crime and I turned out...well, never mind. Although I also read a lot of Lois Duncan.

Me, too, erika. For my 7th grade history class, I wrote my term paper on Leopold and Loeb.