What books did they make you read in school?

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Trigger11, I had to read The Great Gatsby intead of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest in grade 11 because I'd done my book report on it earlier in the year. Worst mistake I ever made.


Oh yes, and in drama in grade 8 we had to read A Christmas Carol and scenes from a book called Scenes for Young Actors.

I have read just about everything over the course of my school years. I was an advanced reader and was reading Steinbeck and Hemingway when I was in the fifth grade. I really didn't read a lot of children's books.

The books that I was required to read for school are burried in my memory under an avalanche of books that I read of my own volition. The only two books that have managed to crawl their way out of said avalanche are "A Cue for Treason", and "The Crysalids".

When I was in school Catcher in the Rye was banned.

The books I remember being required to read are: (in no particular order) The Odyssey, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, To Kill A Mockingbird, A Separate Peace, Of Mice and Men, The Old Man and the Sea, The Scarlet Letter, Where the Red Fern Grows, Catch 22

Oh yeah; I also had to read Death of A Salesman in grade 12 and we watched the movie too.

I can't even remember half of what I read! But here's some of the ones I do remember:

Elementary School
Bridge to Terabithia
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Charlotte's Web
Old Yeller
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing

Middle School
Beowulf
Flowers for Algernon
Maniac Magee
Secret of Nimh
The Outsiders

High School
Romeo and Juliet
The Odyssey
The Pearl
To Kill a Mockingbird (twice)

Yeah, this isn't nearly all of them and we read stories from those giant literature books as well.

The Kite Runner

In no particular order: Island of the Blue Dolphins, Sarah Plain and Tall, Number the Stars, Bridge to Terabithia, The Giver, Tuck Everlasting, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, A Midsummer Night's Dream, All the Pretty Horses, Great Expectations, The Outsiders, Dandelion Wine, From the Mixed-Up Files of Ms. Basil E. Frankweiler, The Indian in the Cupboard, The Sign of the Beaver, Hatchet...

I remember billions of other books I read in school, but I can't remember which ones we had to read for class and which ones I read by myself.

To Kill a Mockingbird
Z for Zacharia

loads of WWII related stuff.

thats all i can remember.

Oh yeah; in grade 4 or 5 we had to read Skinnybones, by Barbara Park.

I liked to read from the time I was 8 on:
Anything by John Steinbeck, especially Grapes of Wrath because it reminded me of my own family history.
Lolita, Tropic of Cancer, and Lady Chatterley's Lover, which were not assigned reading but upon which I gave book reports in the late 50's and early 60's. Still brings a smile remembering the shocked faces!
Science fiction, westerns, almost anything except ladies romance.
Books that where assigned reading:
The Scarlet Letter in 9th grade; this book more than anything else convinced me that organised religion was not for me. It angered me intensely, the injustice done to the woman while her snively lover did nothing to defend her!
Mein Kampf, because I was interested, although it was very tedious.
Children's books: Charlotte's Web
Stuart Little
The Little Engine That Could; this was the very first book I ever read, and it stuck with me all my life. You can do it, don't give up!

Oh, yeah!


For a summer reading assignment etween grades 7 and 8 I chose tom Sayer out of a list of books we had to choosefrom...


Once in grade 7 fr some other assignment we had to pick a book to read and I hose The Nancy Drew Files: Hit and Run Holiday. During a siilar assigment earlier that school year, the teacher just handed us out any book at random and i got a boring book called Outcast of redall... and we had to write journals on it! For a multiple-project readingthing in grade 8we had a list of books to choose from and I chose The Girl Death Left Behind off the list... because I had already read it, so less stress for me!

i would't read the books they gave me high school insted i left class and made a camp in the school grounds lol they didt like that so they sent a teacher out to bring me back in school......yeh that did't really work i read a couple in nursery i think

Webster, please tell us the whole story of that, in great detail!


There are so many books I forgot as well! The Egypt Game in grade 6, Veronics The Showoff in grade 3 or 4, Henry Huggins in grade 3 only she only read it to us for fun, 1812 in grade 6, Freckle Juice in grade 3!