9th Grade High School Summer Reading

I almost wish I could say for these books what I wished I had said for the 7th grade books. Owen Strachan says best what I felt.

“…the culture of the adolescent is no great thing for art…Much of what's avant-garde and much of what's popular today centers thematically around things like breaking up and setting out in life and handling a cheating lover. Boooorrrriiiinnnngg. These are the concerns of adolescents. This is high school stuff. The true power of art is in its depiction of the deeper realities of life, the stuff that you can't plumb in a text message or a conversation on the bus. It's in showing what it looks like for a man to love his Alzheimer's-afflicted wife, or a lost soul to grapple with question of God's existence, or a father to ruminate on his legacy, or a woman to reflect on her empty nest, or a poet to delve into the causes of war. I could go on. This is the sort of thing that compels the artist to make great art… [adolescents] are consumed by small things. They avoid the great matters of life and trivialize them when they cannot avoid them. Here is hoping for Christians to seize the day and to make a bunch of art that is meaningful and populated with mature people and mature, compelling existences. In a culture that is making art that is both secular and boring, we have a chance to be neither.”

“Of course”, the naysayer says, “…they are adolescents…what do you expect?” To which I would reply, please see Do Hard Things , i.e. I have higher expectations for our teenagers.

I can’t say that, however, for the 9th grade books, because, for the most part, they aren’t trivial. Many of these books tackle the “big ideas”. Evolution, God, war, abortion and others are all discussed very directly here. I “almost wish” they were trivial though because of the way these ideas are put forth.

My first concern is the “adolescent” style in which they are presented. It’s like wading through a cesspool of muck to get to the clear pool of ideas. The filth is disconcerting for books aimed at teens – or at anybody for that matter. I discussed this specifically in the review of Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes.

My second concern is the, almost, absolute unbalanced presentation. These books are perfect examples of the fact that an author’s bias, i.e. worldview, is apparent in their work whether they want it to be or not. The other side of the “big idea” is never presented at all or is a straw man at best.

Specifically, the “Christian” characters are so stereotypical as to be cardboard. Hypocritical, harsh, and simple are modifiers that could describe any “Christian” in these books. It is a reminder to disciples of Christ, but, more than that, it is an assault on the truth of Christianity. Most of these are books that, if read by teens at all; need to be read with parents alongside to provide wise guidance and Biblical answers.

Reviews of the 2008 9th grade books.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (review coming soon)
Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes by Chris Crutcher
Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary D. Schmidt
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Keeper by Mal Peet
A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
Stop Pretending by Sonya Sones
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott