Below you will find the books we were going to read in small groups this term, based on your own preferences, in the alternate universe in which we were all still in the classroom together. The rough theme running through them relates to our Key Question: the rise, fall, and development of civilizations.
If one of these novels strikes your fancy and you are able to secure a copy, let me know and we can consider it extra credit in Language Arts. You can read just for pleasure, you can ask me to give you some ideas of how to conduct a novel study, or, if several of you are drawn to the same book, can secure copies, and would like to read it together, I can help you get set up a virtual book club!
For all those Math- and Science-nerds out there, or for anyone who just likes great writing, this Carl Sagan hard science fiction classic is a must-read. Follow radio-astronomer Ellie Arroway as she receives and deciphers a prime number message from an advanced extraterrestrial civilization, and as the world comes together to build a machine that will break the boundaries of space-time and allow them to make… contact. This is a mature read.
A plane carrying a group of English schools boys crashes during a storm, leaving the boys without adult supervision on a deserted island, where they must fight for survival and form their own civilization. What could possibly go wrong? Another mature read. The Burnaby Public Library does have e-book and audiobook copies. (Mark Burnett, the producer of Survivor, says he read this book over and over when developing the idea for the show!)
In the fantasy land of Pellinor, slave-girl Maerad learns she that is a Bard, with the power to shape magic in the aid of maintaining the Balance between the Light and the Dark. The is the first book in a series of four (plus a recent prequel, The Bone Queen) that my fourteen-year-old niece (and avid reader) said were the best books she had ever read.
A cosmic display of intense light renders most of the world blind, and a recently arrived species of huge, venomous, seemingly sentient and decidedly mobile plants takes advantage. John Wyndham writes this mature read in a very particular 1950s British style that can be an acquired taste, but this book is directly responsible for every zombie movie ever made, and it is intriguing in its depiction of how human civilization might be rebuilt after a world-wide catastrophe. The Burnaby Public Library does have e-copies of this book and you can listen to an audio-version here.
The Dark Is Rising is a classic Good vs. Evil series, set in 1960s England and Wales, that fits in brilliantly with our work exploring the ancient Celtic civilization. The first in the series, Over Sea, Under Stone, follows Simon, Jane, and Barney Drew as they vacation with their mysterious Great-Uncle Merry in Cornwall on the southwest coast of England, site of Tintagel, castle of the legendary King Arthur. Their adventure quest involves nothing less than finding the Holy Grail in order to save the world from being overtaken by the forces of darkness.
The second book in the series, The Dark Is Rising, introduces Will Stanton, who on his 11th birthday discovers he is one of the Old Ones, endowed with special powers and tasked with preserving the Light.
If you enjoy these two, you can continue on as the Drews and Will join forces in Greenwitch, the Newberry Award-winning The Grey King, and Silver on the Tree. Ancient artifacts of incredible power; Old Magic, Wild Magic, and High Magic; evil birds; telepathy and mind control; plus not one but two adorable and helpful dogs – this is a series that I can’t help but reread every ten years or so – so satisfying; so good!
At all costs avoid the movie adaptation, but e-copies and audio-versions of both books at available through the BPL: Over Sea, Under Stone; The Dark is Rising.
They don’t get more classic than revered fantasy and sci-fi writer Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea series: wizards, dragons, priestesses guarding the tombs of “The Nameless One,” a map on the inside cover, prophesies, and detailed physical, economic, historical and social geographies – you cannot consider yourself a fantasy novel lover until you have read at least the first book in the Tales from Earthsea, if not the whole dang thing. While you’re at it, why not watch the Studio Ghibli adaptation, too?
The BPL has audio-versions of all the books in the series, but sadly you’d have to find e-copies elsewhere.