A Separate Peace?

[Liberty Belle]

I didn't see this suggested, but you can just go to the Lexil homepage (http://www.lexile.com/) and enter the lexile number you need to accommodate. Then you can choose from various genres and the site will recommend some books.

Thank you. I did that back with the 1385 number and got some pretty scary results. , but haven't done it with the new lower level, have just been putting in books to get the number.

 

[Cindy B]

Congrats on a high Lexile level. Be mindful that the next MAP test may show a lower level due to many factors. MAP tests are great for specific measures, but sometimes a "higher level" student may drop off .

I'm a teacher- and forcing to stay at a higher level at such a young age may cause problems at a later date. Students may feel "pressured" to read older books and drop off interest. If I were the teacher, I'd let him read grade level books - even if the Lexile was lower- but in a higher quantity.

Since he has a high level, you will need to look at high school reading lists.

How about the Following: These are books that were required reading for my high school children

I pulled all these from the Find A Book: Lexile Search on the Lexile website.


1984- George Orwell 1090

Animal Farm- George Orwell 1370 (I read this and 1984 in 6th grade!)

The Good Earth- Pearl Buck 1530

A Farewell to Arms- Ernest Hemingway - 1270

The Namesake- Jhumpa Lahiri - 1210

Great Expectations (the longer version) -1200

I know why the Caged bird sings - Maya Angelou - 1070



***********These are ones that weren't used in School*****

The Legacy of the Holocaust Jason Skog - 1130

Bear and the Dragon- Tom Clancy 1060









Fathers and Sons - Turgenev (It shows up in lists with 1984, so it may be just a tad higher)

 

[HM]

I wonder whether it's really doing children much good reading books that are their correct lexile when it's really high, but aren't aimed at their age group. Seems to me it's a better fit for them to read books (more and faster) that might be more age appropriate. Won't they get turned off to reading to some extent? Just a thought.

I hope you find some books that will keep his love of reading in place, OP.

 

[Mama Mouse]

I also read it as a freshman for the honors program. I loved the book, but I think some of the subject matter emotionally may be too mature for your DS.

Just gonna ditto this.

I think it's too heavy for a 10 year old.

 

[Liberty Belle]

Congrats on a high Lexile level. Be mindful that the next MAP test may show a lower level due to many factors. MAP tests are great for specific measures, but sometimes a "higher level" student may drop off .

I'm a teacher- and forcing to stay at a higher level at such a young age may cause problems at a later date. Students may feel "pressured" to read older books and drop off interest. If I were the teacher, I'd let him read grade level books - even if the Lexile was lower- but in a higher quantity.

Since he has a high level, you will need to look at high school reading lists.

How about the Following: These are books that were required reading for my high school children

I pulled all these from the Find A Book: Lexile Search on the Lexile website.


1984- George Orwell 1090

Animal Farm- George Orwell 1370 (I read this and 1984 in 6th grade!)

The Good Earth- Pearl Buck 1530

A Farewell to Arms- Ernest Hemingway - 1270

The Namesake- Jhumpa Lahiri - 1210

Great Expectations (the longer version) -1200

I know why the Caged bird sings - Maya Angelou - 1070



***********These are ones that weren't used in School*****

The Legacy of the Holocaust Jason Skog - 1130

Bear and the Dragon- Tom Clancy 1060









Fathers and Sons - Turgenev (It shows up in lists with 1984, so it may be just a tad higher)

Thank you! Will add to the list.

His MAP score started out high in Kindergarten and except for one weird one in second or third grade, has kept climbing. Though from spring score to this early fall score it only jumped one point (243 to 244). He scores consistently high in MAP math, as well, though slightly lower. His reading is always at 99% and his math typically ranges from 95 - 99%.

He's a smart little cookie. Unfortunately his dysgraphia throws a pretty big wrench into things.

I wonder whether it's really doing children much good reading books that are their correct lexile when it's really high, but aren't aimed at their age group. Seems to me it's a better fit for them to read books (more and faster) that might be more age appropriate. Won't they get turned off to reading to some extent? Just a thought.

I hope you find some books that will keep his love of reading in place, OP.

I agree. Though I am excited about the books I found and people have suggested. And, again, am very thankful the teacher told him he could read at a little lower level. Am going to go check out Half-price books today and see what I can find.

 

[NHdisneylover]

I'm a teacher- and forcing to stay at a higher level at such a young age may cause problems at a later date. Students may feel "pressured" to read older books and drop off interest. If I were the teacher, I'd let him read grade level books - even if the Lexile was lower- but in a higher quantity.

I wonder whether it's really doing children much good reading books that are their correct lexile when it's really high, but aren't aimed at their age group. Seems to me it's a better fit for them to read books (more and faster) that might be more age appropriate. Won't they get turned off to reading to some extent? Just a thought.

I hope you find some books that will keep his love of reading in place, OP.

I tend to agree that forcing a child to read so much higher than age level can have negative consequences. That is the reason I focused on books written and intended for kids or young adults that still had high lexile levels (they DO exist). The lexile level is really an indicator of the complexity of vocabulary and sentence structure a reader will encounter--NOT the complexity or level of the plot itself.

On the flip side, I am not a fan of telling children they may NOT read above grade level. That can be just as frustrating to a strong reader.


OP--did you see the post I made while you were posting, with suggestions of juvenile books for most of those categories? It gives you more to look for at half price books (and don't forget the library! ).

 

[Tralliam]

And just for reference:

War and Peace - 1240
Moby Dick - 1200
Brothers Karamazov - 1010 - 1150 (depending on the version).

I read a Separate Peace in 6th grade, so around your sons age. I think the symbolism is probably too deep at that age. My 10 yo son is a huge reader as well, just recently finished the first 2 books in the Orson Scott Card's Enders series. I'm sure some of the thematic points went over his head but he enjoyed the story and comprehended it well. He's currently reading Salvatore's Legend of Drizzt series, again missing some symbolism/themes but enjoying the story and picking up more than I expected.

I quoted the above post to suggest you point this out to the teacher. Based on her numbers only view point War and Peace is "okay" but she'd rather he read something at a higher level. I would never suggest my 5th/6th grader read War and Peace. Maybe ask if he could read something along the lines of the Yearling but have projects or reports that need to show a more in depth analytical understanding of the book.

 

[Liberty Belle]

I tend to agree that forcing a child to read so much higher than age level can have negative consequences. That is the reason I focused on books written and intended for kids or young adults that still had high lexile levels (they DO exist). The lexile level is really an indicator of the complexity of vocabulary and sentence structure a reader will encounter--NOT the complexity or level of the plot itself.

On the flip side, I am not a fan of telling children they may NOT read above grade level. That can be just as frustrating to a strong reader.


OP--did you see the post I made while you were posting, with suggestions of juvenile books for most of those categories? It gives you more to look for at half price books (and don't forget the library! ).

I did. Thank you! Added to the list.

My son has always had a very large vocabulary, so I'm sure that drove his score up quite a bit.

 

[NotUrsula]

I would recommend getting yourself a copy of the newest edition of Some of My Best Friends are Books. It is a well-regarded guide to choosing books for gifted readers K-12.

You will have more luck with older books for the most part. "Decency" standards pre-1945 kept a lot of mature topics out of popular literature.

Mark Twain's better-known books are generally at this level, as are the works of Jack London. James Fenimore Cooper is also worth considering, keeping in mind that his works do contain quite a bit of violence. For historical fiction focusing on the middle ages, consider the works of G.A. Henty. Among more recent YA authors, Paulsen is definitely a good choice.

As for Newbury winners, the older ones are generally going to be tougher reads. Dark Frigate (1924) is in that Lexile range, as is Tales from Silver Lands (1925) and The Trumpeter of Krakow (1929).

 

[Imzadi]

I read this book at about the same age and it is still one of my favorite books---from what I remember it would be fine for that age. It starts out with the main character returning to the boarding school he had graduated from years earlier and the majority of the book is spent with him retelling his memories of his days at the school with his friends as a member of the first class that was not busy preparing for war--the games they played and the "adventures" and their thoughts about being in this generation. If he enjoys this one, there's a follow up called Peace Breaks Out.

Sounds like I'm the only one that liked this book...oh well

If you read the book at the same age and what you mentioned, that they played and had adventures, is all you got out of the book, then this is an example of exactly what the rest of us are talking about. That A Separate Peace, is too emotionally mature for that age.

A Separate Peace, is about the friendship between two college best friends. One was the "Golden Boy" who could do nothing wrong, things came easily to him and was a dare devil. The other was his best friend, but always stood in his shadow. And in a moment of jealousy and envy, did an unconscious, impulsive move that ended up inadvertently causing his friend's death. He then had to deal with and live with the guilt and remorse of that incident and how to put it into perspective, revisiting that time when he is an older man. That is why it is called: A Separate Peace. How to make peace with that time, his friendship, inadvertant betrayal, and his actions and feelings.

No 10 year old, no matter how intelligent, will get the emotional layers and nuances of what that friendship was about.


Mrs Pete, pretty much says the same thing. At 10, he will get the surface elements. At a slightly older age, he will start to understand the layers that go into friendships and the book will have richer meaning. Older than that, that theme is too mundane as we understand and see it too many times in real life.

A Separate Peace was my favorite book from high school English. I think I read it in 10th grade honors English, and that was just the right age. I read it again as an adult and thought, "why did I enjoy this so much?"

I do think its "too old" for a ten year old. Oh, he could move his eyes across the words without trouble, but the themes are just too mature: a friend's death, guilt in having contributed to that death, moving on after tragedy.

I definitely recommend it for later, but not now.

 

[Cindy B]

Thank you! Will add to the list.

His MAP score started out high in Kindergarten and except for one weird one in second or third grade, has kept climbing. Though from spring score to this early fall score it only jumped one point (243 to 244). He scores consistently high in MAP math, as well, though slightly lower. His reading is always at 99% and his math typically ranges from 95 - 99%.

He's a smart little cookie. Unfortunately his dysgraphia throws a pretty big wrench into things.



I agree. Though I am excited about the books I found and people have suggested. And, again, am very thankful the teacher told him he could read at a little lower level. Am going to go check out Half-price books today and see what I can find.

Once students get to 6th-8th grade I do see some MAP score levels drop. Some of it is only a point or two, sometimes it is higher than that. My high achievers tend to get a bit burnt out by mid 7th grade so the MAP test tends to be "I didn't try so hard". The 244 for 5th grade is very high- it does correlate with the high school level books.

My son was a very high reader at a young age- and he did get burnt out by the time he got to high school. In fact he was like "I read this book in 5th grade" (Animal Farm)- so he didn't really give the assignment his all.

Try the library as well for books. Some of the older books tend to be in the "donation" pile at the library. If your library has a "donation" box, don't be afraid to take a few and check the Lexile.

 

[Cindy B]

I went to the Lexile site and input the range of 1100-1300 and selected history, social studies and social issues (for the historical fiction assignment)

Here are the results

http://www.lexile.com/fab/results/

 

[FireDancer]

I had to read A Separate Peace in 10th grade so I would have been 15 and thought it was pretty good at the time despite not really wanting to read it. I can't recall of the nuances of the book and it probably had some symbolism that might be a little hard to grasp for a 10 year old but it did have a lot of stuff boys growing up did so he might relate to it as well.

We read the book I am the Cheese in 9th grade and I think it was also really good and probably would be good for someone your son's age.

I read as a kid and in high school because I had to, not because it was how I wanted to spend my free time. I was a kid that would rather be out playing a sport or running around with friends then sitting there reading so since I remember these as good books they had to be at least a little compelling.

 

[NHdisneylover]

I had to read A Separate Peace in 10th grade so I would have been 15 and thought it was pretty good at the time despite not really wanting to read it. I can't recall of the nuances of the book and it probably had some symbolism that might be a little hard to grasp for a 10 year old but it did have a lot of stuff boys growing up did so he might relate to it as well.

We read the book I am the Cheese in 9th grade and I think it was also really good and probably would be good for someone your son's age.

I read as a kid and in high school because I had to, not because it was how I wanted to spend my free time. I was a kid that would rather be out playing a sport or running around with friends then sitting there reading so since I remember these as good books they had to be at least a little compelling.

I am the Cheese is only 810. A lot of middle schoolers really like Cormier's work (personally, I greatly dislike it and was kind of happy neither of my kids cares for it ), but I can't think of any of his novels that might hit a high enough lexile level for the OP's purposes.

 

[FireDancer]

I am the Cheese is only 810. A lot of middle schoolers really like Cormier's work (personally, I greatly dislike it and was kind of happy neither of my kids cares for it ), but I can't think of any of his novels that might hit a high enough lexile level for the OP's purposes.

Maybe not. I have no idea what the lexile level is, I was just throwing an option out there. At 10 I'd think all that matters is that the book is age appropriate and that the kid enjoys what he is reading. Why add all these extra constructs and restrictions to it?

 

[NHdisneylover]

Maybe not. I have no idea what the lexile level is, I was just throwing an option out there. At 10 I'd think all that matters is that the book is age appropriate and that the kid enjoys what he is reading. Why add all these extra constructs and restrictions to it?

Why would you throw "options" out there if you "have no idea what the lexile level is" given that the whole point of the thread is that the OP is searching for books with levels above 1100 because her son is REQUIRED to read them for school (she is not putting this restriction on him, the school is)?

I suspect she'd have no trouble finding things her son likes (or, more likely HE' find what he liked) if he could read whatever he wanted for the reports

 

[wgeo]

Thanks to op for starting this thread and for all the helpful comments. I have spent the summer struggling with getting my son to read books that I thought were at the right level. We had his map scores but the number didn't tell me much, I didn't realize the lexile numbers were also on that sheet. I just went and looked and his number is 1130 and with the links provided I can bring a list with me to the library tomorrow - thanks for the links! I'm relieved to see that a number of his summer choices were over 1000 at least.

 

[aprilchem]

Just wanted to jump in to say that my DS7 is a high-level reader and he LOVED Moby Dick and Call of the Wild. He says he highly recommends them!

One thing you may want to do is check Common Sense Media if you not sure if content or themes would be appropriate for him. I don't know anything about having a 10 year old (yet) but I'm pretty careful with content for DS7. For instance, he was allowed to read Harry Potter books 1-3 but has to wait until he's older for the other ones.

 

[EmJay2001]

I loved the Sword of Shannara as a kid. I was surprised to see it come in at 1220. My son is also a high level reader and I also have trouble finding appropriate reading material. This website is great. Thanks for starting this thread!

http://www.lexile.com/book/details/9780345314253/

 

[blana]

I'm glad you've found some books that should work for him this time. While looking up Lexile scores, I found this site, which might help: http://www.macarthurschool.org/stustuff/scholastic/lexiles/1100_1500/export.html