Greetings!
I received two requests a couple of weeks ago asking for ideas for books. One wanted books for the 7th and 8th graders and one wanted ideas for books they could get from the local Christian Book Store.
This week I will begin on titles you might find in your local Christian book store or even a thrift store. I will also note which books or series of books might appeal to the junior high level.
Our local Christian book store closed about a year ago, so we have only the Adventist Book Center as a source for Christian authors. There are plenty of choices available there. I doubt you will go wrong with any titles from the ABC. However, it can be a challenge to find books that the junior high student might want to read. If I could, I would take along a couple of kids to browse around and give them an amount they can ‘spend’ for books that look good to them. This way they will have ownership and the books might get read.
Another idea is to have students read the book; then write their name inside the front or back cover and the date they read the book. They could also write a short or a one word review so other kids can look at it and see what their classmates thought of the book.
You can also have your junior high students (or other ages, too) set up a display of books they like (from YOUR school library!) Call it “Jennifer’s Picks” and see what happens. This is a great idea for a small school. Larger ones might not be able to implement this idea as easily as a small school.
Well, on to the book ideas.
Nancy Rue is very prolific and writes a lot of series books. One favorite series at my school is the Lily series. Here’s Lily, Ask Lily, and Lily in London are just a few of the titles in the series. Nancy also wrote the historical fiction series The Charleston Years, The Chicago Years, The Santa Fe Years, The Salem Years, and The Williamsburg Years. If you happen across any of her books, you could assume that they are appropriate for your school. I have not found any of her books that aren’t. The Lily books are great for grades 5 and up and the other sets for grades 6 and up.
Sisters in Time is a series written by various authors. It is historical fiction for different time periods. Sarah’s New World is a Mayflower adventure, and Anna’s Fight for Hope is set in the Great Depression time period. There are a number of other titles, too. In a way, it is similar to the Dear America series, but with a Christian focus. These books are good for grades 5 and up. (Shelving Note: We shelve these books together as a series rather than shelving them individually by author.)
A number of years ago, Jeanette Oke turned out book after book. The books were meant for Christian adult readers, but older students began reading them from their parents’ libraries and we got them in the library. The series Love Comes Softly has been also turned into TV movies which come on fairly regularly. (Side note – The movies have little to do with the books. I have tried to watch them, but give up when they leave out my favorite parts of the books!) This series is about a family and their experiences in covered wagon days. Oke also wrote a series called The Canadian West (my personal favorite), a four-book series about a boy named Joshua – Once Upon a Summer, The Winds of Autumn, Winter is not Forever, and Spring’s Gentle Promise. Oke also wrote a number of stand-alone books that do not have sequels. All of these are appropriate for junior high and above.
Kay D. Rizzo is an Adventist author who has also written a number of books. One very popular series is the Serenity series which may still be in the ABC stores. This would be good for junior high and up. Most of her books are written for high school age students.
Gilbert Morris began writing the House of Winslow series and just kept on writing sequel after sequel. I THINK the last one was # 40, but there may be even more. On top of that, he writes other historical fiction as well and has other series books. A few years ago someone donated about 30 of these books to our library. We weren’t sure if the students would read these or not, so we just put them out on a table to see what would happen. The books were just the thing for our higher readers in junior high and we eventually did process them for the library. These books are adult reading level.
I’ll continue this theme next week. If you have any ideas for books from a local Christian book store, I would be happy to consider including your ideas in here, too.
Have a great week.
Audrey
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