DOCUMENT RESUME ED 394 121 CS 012 403 AUTHOR Phelan, Patricia, Ed. TITLE High Interest--Easy Reading: An Annotated Booklist for Middle School and Senior High School. Seventh Edition. NCTE Bibliography Series. INSTITUTION National Council of Teachers of English, Urbana, REPORT NO ISBN-0-8141-2098-9; ISSN-1051-4740 PUB DATE 96 NOTE 126p.; Prepared by the Committee to Revise "High Interest--Easy Reading." For the Sixth Edition, see ED 323 517. AVAILABLE FROMNational Council of Teachers of English, 1111 W. Kenyon Road, Urbana, IL 61801-1096 (Stock No. 20989: $8.95 members, $11.95 nonmembers). PUB TYPE Reference Materials Bibliographies (131) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC06 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Adolescent Literature; Annotated Bibliographies; Athletics; Biographies; Family Life; Folk Culture; Friendship; *High Interest Loh Vocabulary Books; Middle Schools; Poetry; *Reading Interests; Reading Materials; *Recreational Reading; Secondary Education IDENTIFIERS Historical Fiction ABSTRACT Serving as a resource for students, teachers, librarians, and parents, this seventh edition of the National Council of Teachers of English's bestselling booklist for adolescent readers contains over 300 concise annotations. A group of teachers looking specifically for high interest books chose the titles from hundreds published in 1993 and 1994. The titles in the booklist are organized into 19 categories: Adventure; The Animal World; Biography; Dealing with Death; Family Life; Fantasy; Folklore and Legends; Friendship; Growing Up; Historical Fiction; History; How-to Books; Issues of Our Time; Mystery; Poetry; Science; Society; Zports; and Supernatural. An appendix of award-winning books and a directory of publishers are attached. (RS) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * from the original document. *********************************************************************** I'SSION TO REPRODUCE AND iEMINATE THIS MATERIAL AS BEEN GRANTED BY /1. ) )6'1 'HE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES %FORMATION CENTER (ERIC) U S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Eoucanonal Rosoafen ancl irnormoment EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) C/This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it CI Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality Points of view or opinions stated en this document do not necessarily represent 3atri6a: Phelan, Edit.or, official OER1 position or policy Atid. ,the, :ortipi,ittee*Aeyi*Ihgl.i'.f0.tekettkaY'R,egding,:1 High Interest Easy Reading 3 NCI E Editorial Board: Pat Cordiero, Colette Daiute, Hazel Davis. Bobbi Fisher, Brenda Greene, Richard Luckert. Aileen Pace Nilsen, Jerrie Cobb Scott, Karen Smith. chair, e.s offiew. Dawn Boyer. ev officio NCTE Committee to Revise High InterestEasy Reading Patricia Phelan. University of San Diego. chair Judy Beckman, Univer .ty of Northern Iowa Anne M. Bingley, Vista High School. Vista, California Sharon Boyette. Bell Junior High School. San Diego. California Meilean Chan, San Diego Unified School District, California Cynthia Hedges. Point Loma High Schotil. San Diego. California Carol Jago. Santa Monica High School, Santa Monica, California Brady Kelso. Scripps Ranch High School, San Diego. California Made Ion McGos% an. Grossmont High School District. El Cajon. California Susan Thompson. Crawford High School. San Diego. California Christine Wells. El Capitan High School, Lakeside, California Charlene Williams, Slater Elementary School. Fresno. California Claudia Williams. Jackson-01in High School. Birmingham. Alabama Warren Williams. Chula Vista Junior High Schokil. Chula Vista, California Daw it Boy cr. NCTE staff liaison 2ND2Bibliography Series 4 High Interest Easy Reading An Annotated Book list for Middle School and Senior High School Seventh Edition Patricia Phelan, Editor, and the Committee to Revise High InterestEasy Reading of the NatUmal Council of Teachers of English National Council ol readiers of English IIII W. Kenyon Road. L'rhana. 61S(11 1096 Nlanuscript klitor: Jane !1 Cuiran Production Fditor Peter I-Lel CO\ %Did Interim Design.i'oin Is.m.;ics tor EGK Design NLII. Stock Number :2(Nst) ;()5I) 1996 h the Natwnal CoLukil ol leachei . of hnglkh. All tight, re.ened. Printed in the'lilted State. of America It 1, the polic) ot NCH.. in 1k tiurnak and other publications to pro\ ide it forum tot the open discussion ol idea, concerning the content and the teachmg of English and the lan- guage art. Public* accorded to an particular point olley, does mit impl endorse- ment b the I Acktitoe Commutee. the Board ol Dnector.. or the membership at large, ccepi It amiiiuncements ot pi iii k% here su.:It endorsement is clearl Teethed. ISBN II 8 I-1 I209s it ISSN Hi:SI-474o About the NCTE Bibliography Series The National Council of Teachers of English isproud to he part of a process that we feel is important. It begins when an educatorwho knows literature and its value to students and teachers is chosen by theNCTE Executise Committee to he a hooklist editor. That editor thenworks with teachers and librarians who rev iew. select, and annotate hundredsof new trade boiks sent to them by pub- lishers. It's a complicated process. one that can last three orfour years. But be- cause of their dedication and strongbelief in the need to let others know about the good literature that's available, these professionalsvolunteer their time in a way that serves as an inspiration toall of us. The members of the committee that compiled this volume are listed on one of the first pages.and we are grate- ful for their hard work. In our bibliography series are live different hooklists.each focused on a par- ticular audience, each updated regularly. These areAthvnturing with Books (pre- K through grade 6). Kaleidoscope (multiculturalliterature. grades K through 8). lino. Reading (middle school/junior high). BooksJOr Km (senior high), and High InterestEasy Reading (middle school, junior/seniorhigh reluctant read- ers). Together. these volumes list thousandsof the most recent children's and young adult trade books. Althoughthe works included cover a sv ide range of topics. they all have one thing in common:they're good hooks that students and teachers alike enjoy. Of course, no single book is right for es ery one or every purpose. soinclu- sion in this booklist is not necessarily an endorsementfrom NCTE. However. it does indicate that the professionals who make upthe hooklist committee feel that the work in question is worthy of teachers'and students' attention, whether for its intormatise or aesthetic qualities. On theother hand, exclusion from an NCTE hooklist is not necessarily a judgment on thequality of a gis en hook or publisher. Many factorsspace. time. availabilityof certain hooks, publisher participationmay' influence the final shape of the list. We hope that you will find this hooklist a useful resourcein discovering new titles and authors, and we hope that you will collectthe other hooklists in the NCTE series. Our mission is to help improve the teachingand learning of En- glish and the language arts, and V% e feel the qualityof our hooklists contributes substantially toward that goal. We think y ou w ill agree. Dawn Boyer Director ot Acquisitions and Des elopment inPublications National Council of Teacheis of English Contents Mlle to the Reader ix I.Adventure 2. The Animal World 4 3. Biography 4. Dealing with Death 16 5. Family Life 20 6. Fantasy 24 29 7.Folklore and Legends 32 8.Friendship 9. Growing Up 36 41 10.Historical Fiction 45 1 . History P. Flow-to Books 55 58 13.Issues of Our Time 14. Mystery 65 15. Poetry 68 16. Science 70 17. Society 78 18. Sports 83 19. Supernatural 88 Appendit: Award-Winning Boak.s 91 Direr wry ofPub/Wier% 99 eluthar Inde.t 103 Subject bulev 106 rifleIndex 111 Editor 115 Note to the Reader Reading for pleasure results in both enjoyment and success.Reading brings enjoy mem by allowing you to think about new ideas, goplaces you have nes er been, consider problems from a different perspective. meetfascnating people. have adventures where vou are always the vs inner, and evenlive in a different time and place. Reading also brings successin a subtle way; the n;ore you read. the more improvement you will discover in yourwritii,g style. spe!ling, and grammar skills, and in your vocabulary.This success ewes v, nh no conscious effort, no assignments or book reports, because just reading what you enjoy will have these results for you. The more von read, the morepleasure and success you will achieve. A recent surv ey of teenagers ( Mellon 1990) show s theyread in their spare time for two main reasons: entertainment and information.One young man said. "I like reading science fiction and mystery. because you neverknow what's going to happen." Some said reading "takes you toother places ...helps you to solve read for infor- problems ...makes you feel better when you are sad." Others mation when they are interested in satisfying their curiosity'. Many. teenage readers rely on the recommendationsof friends Vs. hen choos- ing what books to read. In addition to your friends. you can useHigh hilere.si bISReatibil: as a reference to find good hooks to read.Here are books. both fiction and nonfiction, published in the years 1993 and1994. Publishers sent books to our committee, and we selected books ofhigh interest to teen readers. Each book was read by two or more committeemembers, who then wrote a short annotation describing the hook. We have arrairted these threehundred tities into nineteen chapters, each indicating a central idea ortheme, such as "Adventure." "Dealing with Death." "Sports." and "Science."The chapter titled "Iues of Our Time" includes hooks that consider such Lontroversialsubjects as violence, bigotry. and child abuse. You w ill also lind"Fantasy" and "My stery.- books lhout famous people. "How -to Books," and many more. Within each chapter. entries are arranged alphabeticallyby the author's name ( or by. title in the few cases ofbooks listing no author) and also include the title, the publisher and year of publication.