QUESTION: High Interest 6th grade read aloud books?

[Justin]

Hi,

I want to start thinking about what novel I want to read aloud to my 6th grade students at the beginning of the year to really hook them on
reading.  I want something that I can then use as a mentor text to refer
back to during the school year.  I was tossing around The Hunger Games
but it is now on the Caudill list and I wonder if most kids have read it
already.  But something similar that will draw kids in right away.  Any
suggestions?

[Jennifer Sacks]

We use Seedfolks in the 6th grade in the beginning of the year, but it's certainly not as provocative as The Hunger Games. What is does have though is a lot of rich material for discussing point of view, perspective-taking, and stereotyping. Because it is written in different "voices" we also use it to tie into the writing curriculum and practice the use of 'voice" in writing.

[Justin]

Seedfolks is one of our required novels and we read it in 4th quarter. I might be looking for some cool & creative activities/lessons for it :) Thanks for the suggestion!

[Shirley Miller]

Once again (I saw this on EC Ning), I'd like to recommend The Goats. It will definitely catch your students interest. It addresses the issues of bullying and friendship, among others.

[Tina Booth]

I use Crash by Jerry Spinelli - some may have already read it but all of them love it. Great lessons on friendship, bullying and respect.

[Lisa Fink]

ReadWriteThink.org has a podcast series for 6-12th graders with book recommendations. It's called Text Messages: http://www.readwritethink.org/parent-afterschool-resources/podcast-....

There are lots of great suggestions there!

[Jaime Rosa]

Hi-

Last year a co-worker of mine mentioned that she used Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time with her 7th and 8th graders. I tried it with my 5th/6th grade class towards the end of the year and they loved it. It got us talking a lot about autism and the spectrum. We had a set of twins at our school with autism and it helped the kids get a better picture of what it means to be autistic. We then read Rules (forgot the author) which looks at autism from a sibling's perspective. Another teacher friend of mine read Animal Farm to her class. Not one I would think of for this age, but you can tie it into history lessons, politics, equality, etc.

[Kristin Fontichiaro]

Here are some recommendations that Kalamazoo, MI, was looking at for districtwide reading for 6th graders.

http://bedtimebooktalks.blogspot.com/2010/05/book-for-every-sixth-g...

Tell us more about the mentor text attributes you're looking for?

[Phyllis Ain]

It depends on the group of kids. Hunger Games is something I am considering myself, because of the themes and I hear it will be coming out in 2011 as a movie. I am also looking at Rick Riordan's Red Pyramid because it ties into social studies curriculum and is new. I love reading from Inkheart, though it's long. Am new to this website and am eagerly looking for suggestions

[Jennifer Trannon]

I might use Maniac Magee. Jerry Spinelli says if you're only going to read one of his books, read that one! I also just read The Mailbox and LOVED it (though it's a Caudill, too).

[roger wilcox]

Two favs from Nancy Farmer:

Sea of Trolls does a great job putting people from three different religions (Christian, Pagan/Druid, Norse) in an adventure together. They are confused by each other's behavior, but become friends as the quest progresses. Could be too long for a read aloud.

The Ear, the Eye and the Arm - My class loved it. Set in futuristic Zimbabwe; all characters are black unless otherwise described; and that makes for great class discussions.

[Phyllis Ain]

Someone on this blog mentioned a great website where you can download great audiobooks every week during the month of July. I wanted to thank the person who mentioned Sync and pass the info on. While this does not really respond to the 6th grade read aloud issue, the ability to download is time-limited. There are some great books for listening, including Hunger Games. Check it out if you are interested:

http://www.audiofilemagazine.com/sync/info.html

[Brian Huffman]

I am unsure of your level, but I have used Maniac Magee in the past.
It was an excellent way to help build community in my classroom.
That was for a class of sixth graders.
Brian