Resources
Book Recommendations
Reading beyond the classroom improves spelling, boosts vocabulary, and builds a habit that can last a lifetime. But with so many books to choose from, it can be challenging to figure out where to start. I frequently field questions from parents and students about recommendations for pleasure reading.
Below are some of the books my family has loved and read over the years. You can find these at your local library or independent bookstore. We are big fans of Watchung Booksellers, so I’ve included their book links (which feature descriptions, reviews, and ordering information).
One note: even if you’ve already seen the movie or series, the book will give you the story in a different way. It’s fun to revisit that world and see how much the different formats overlap or diverge.
Highlighted Books
These featured selections offer a glimpse into some beloved favorites; continue below to explore a wider range of reading recommendations.
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is a New York Times bestselling novel by an author with whom I worked for many years. It tells the story of a Chinese-American boy, Henry Lee, and his friendship with a Japanese-American girl, Keiko, during World War II in Seattle, set against the backdrop of Japanese American internment camps. Told in two timelines, the book follows young Henry's innocent first love and the later-life discovery of Keiko's family's belongings in the basement of the real-life Panama Hotel, prompting him to confront his past and the sacrifices he made.
A worldwide bestseller for over fifty years, Watership Down is a novel I first read in school and came back to over and over again. Set in England’s Downs, a once idyllic rural landscape, it follows a band of rabbits who barely escape their warren’s destruction and must search for a new place to live. Their adventures make for an unforgettable journey—they face down predators and unexpected adversaries, learn to work together, and gather others along the way (including pet rabbits) who dream of a permanent home where they can be free.
The Hunger Games is a dystopian story set in Panem, a nation where the wealthy Capitol forces each of its 12 impoverished districts to send a boy and a girl ("tributes") to fight to the death in a televised annual event. It follows Katniss Everdeen, who volunteers to take her younger sister's place in the brutal competition, sparking a rebellion as her defiance against the Capitol's tyranny makes her a symbol of hope. This is a fast-paced book with more in the series including prequels—so if you like it, you can keep going.
All the Pretty Horses follows 16-year-old John Grady Cole, who leaves his Texas ranch after his grandfather's death and rides into Mexico with his friend Rawlins, seeking adventure and the dying cowboy way of life. What he finds instead are harsh realities, forbidden love with a ranch owner's daughter (Alejandra), betrayal, imprisonment, and violent encounters that test his ideals. This novel won both the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award. It was also one of the American Library Association’s Best Books for Young Adults.
If you like…
Animals, try:
The Call of the Wild by Jack London
All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
Watership Down by Richard Adams
Cannon/Classics, try:
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Dark Academia, try:
A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik
The Lake of Dead Languages by Carol Goodman
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Dystopia, try:
The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Passage by Justin Cronin
The Stand by Stephen King
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Fantasy, try:
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
The Earthsea Cycle by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
Fantasy + Historical Fiction, try:
A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin
His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik
The Night Circus by Erin Morganstern
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Gothic, try:
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Historical Fiction, try:
The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
Mystery/Thriller, try:
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson
The Maid by Nita Prose
One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus
Science Fiction, try:
Dune by Frank Herbert
The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein
Westerns, try:
All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
Monte Walsh by Jack Schaefer
YA Fantasy Series, try:
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
The Dark Artifices & The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare
Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor
The Folk of the Air by Holly Black
The Iron Fey by Julie Kagawa
The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Random Riggs
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
Tips for Parents
Taking certain steps at home can help set your child up for success in English classes. Below is the advice I share with parents when I begin working with a new student.
