What is the first book your class reads? Does it change each year or is it always your go-to? Is there an important reason you choose to do that text first?

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This year, my district wanted us to read "The Diary of Anne Frank" first, and spend the first quarter focusing on the Holocaust. As if you can just have those kinds of discussions without building relationships with the kids first...We decided to do a different unit first instead. Can you imagine? "Hi kids, welcome back to school! We're gonna start things off by talking about mass death and genocide!"

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Often I've had students start with Stephen King's On Writing, for obvious reasons. But we also read The Things They Carried as well.

First book though? Not sure. If I had more time, I'd create a theme for the entire semester and base or on that, but... Yeah, just haven't gotten there yet.

Must do though: Brave New World. It never gets old, and scarily, seems to become more and more relatable each year.

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Seedfolks.

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I have started with S.E. Hinton’s, The Outsiders. Mostly because it is one that I have enough copies of. But it is also an easy read, high interest novel to start off with.

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My honors kids read Anthem by Ayn Rand. We read it primarily because it goes with the first unit in the book we teach. The publisher-recommended texts are too much for ninth graders.

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Seniors begin with Beowulf and sophomores begin with Fahrenheit 451. I start with Beowulf because my mentor did in my internship, and I start with Fahrenheit because that’s what I had copies of when I started working here. I do love both and the kids enjoy them too!

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Yes started with Beowulf!

I teach Amer Lit and we begin with “Seedfolks” and the ideals of community.

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A Long Way Gone, a memoir about a child soldier in Sierra Leone.

It's a tough read, but after we're done with it, my students will be able to step into someone else's life.

Plus, it helps them with their Cambridge exams, and it's very relevant to real world events every single year (read: Afghanistan right now).

6th: House on Mango Street
7th: Persepolis
8th: Lord of the Flies
9th: Bless Me, Ultima
10th: book clubs (The Color Purple, The Catcher in the Rye, All American Boys, The Glass Castle, The Kite Runner, The Handmaid’s Tale, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian)

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