I think that might be a little too hefty. Not at a vocabulary or parsing level, necessarily, but at a sophistication level. TKAM can be read at a variety of levels, I know, but at it's core it's a pretty simple story and easy to get invested in, which is what grabs the girls. I don't think many of them (still essentially children) are quite ready for Marquez.
Yeah, we're building a race of frog-people. It's a good time
Xander ,'Selfless'
Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
Gris - May 16, 2012 5:12:53 am PDT #18700 of 28326
Hey. New board.
JZ - May 16, 2012 5:14:37 am PDT #18701 of 28326
See? I gave everybody here an opportunity to tell me what a bad person I am and nobody did, because I fuckin' rule.
Both very intense and possibly not appropriate for any but a very emotionally mature reader, but Mama Day, or Mister Pip?
eta: Mister Pip is probably way too intense. Skip that suggestion (but read it for yourself).
Gris - May 16, 2012 5:19:38 am PDT #18702 of 28326
Hey. New board.
Well now I want to read both of those... I'll pass the suggestions on to the teacher. Keep 'em coming!
erikaj - May 16, 2012 5:20:32 am PDT #18703 of 28326
Always Anti-fascist!
House on Mango Street's good. That girl kind of has it rough, but she doesn't really know that, kind of like the girl in "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn"
Gris - May 16, 2012 5:23:51 am PDT #18704 of 28326
Hey. New board.
They read House on Mango Street in 9th grade, and the girls don't get it, unfortunately. Our students are, well, exceedingly white and in many cases exceedingly privileged, and the subtlety of House on Mango Street passes them by.
I wish they would do excerpts from A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, but excerpts and abridgements seem to have become something worth staring down one's nose at. Which I think is stupid, since Great Expectations is far too long, but the abridged version we had in my literature textbook as a 9th grader was perfect, as one example.
sj - May 16, 2012 5:30:23 am PDT #18705 of 28326
"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."
Silas Marner?
Atropa - May 16, 2012 5:36:17 am PDT #18706 of 28326
The artist formerly associated with cupcakes.
The Weetzie Bat books by Francesca Lia Block?
erikaj - May 16, 2012 5:37:08 am PDT #18707 of 28326
Always Anti-fascist!
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry is written for kids that are a little younger but I think they would get it.
flea - May 16, 2012 5:40:19 am PDT #18708 of 28326
information libertarian
Would Pride and Prejudice or Emma work? They are girly/romantic, but simple issues, and possible movie tie-ins and discussion of real social issues, gossip, privilege, etc.
I am trying to think of what I read in 7-8th grade classes - not a lot of novels. Short stories. 9th grade we read Great Expectations, Romeo and Juliet, My Antonia.
Vonnie K - May 16, 2012 5:42:05 am PDT #18709 of 28326
Kiss me, my girl, before I'm sick.
Is she specifically looking for 20th century lit? How about Picture of Dorian Gray combined with The Turn of the Screw? They're both quick, fast read, fun and exciting, and the latter has a female protagonist (well, not necessarily admirable, but still) and has interesting things to say about ambiguous content / unreliable narrator.