Reply to Cooper 7th Grade Book List

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My kid just started 7th grade at Cooper and he's not in AAP. The book list from his English class contains about 40 books. I looked at the books and was shocked to see that none of the books are classics. There's no Tom Sawyer, To Kill a Mocking Bird, Great Expectation or Oliver Twist, which in my mind, are great books for this age, even though the language might be different. (I'm a 50-yr old immigrant who speaks English as a second language, for background)

The first 5 books are: 
1. A good kind of trouble, by Lisa Moor Ramee, keyword when I searched county library catalog suggests BLM; 
2. All American Boys by Brenan Kiely and Jason Reynolds, library catalog keyword racism; 
3. Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed, keyword Pakistan/family
4. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz, keyword homosexuality
5. Blended by Sharon M. Draper, keyword black father white mother

[b]While I personally hold nothing against the topics above, when did English class become a brain washing course with hidden agenda? [/b]Why can't the kids simply learn the beauty of the English language, and be inspired by the great minds, even from a complete different time?  Or am I living in such a sheltered life that the topics are prevailing way of life now? Shouldn't all the current events be part of civics class?

I don't know if the list is specific to his class or to Cooper, but my question to the wise readers here--what should I do? Tell my kids not to read these books which means going against the school? Or ask for an alternate list?

[/quote]

:roll: to the bolded.

DS is in 7th grade at Longfellow. The only book the teacher mentioned at back to school night was Outsiders. I hope he enjoys the meatier topics. His current "reading" preference is listening to Star Wars books on Audible so I'm looking forward to him being assigned some good stuff.[/quote]

PP was a little limited in their "keyword" listing here --she only pulled out one out of a list of 20 or more subject headings for each book--when I search the Fairfax County Public Library it has a list of subjects associated with these books and none of the ones she identified are the primary keyword--you have to search down.  Here's just a small sampling:

1. A good Kind of Trouble:  The top ones are African Americans, Fiction, Juvenile Fiction, Sisters, Identity(Philosophical Concept), Black Lives Matter Movement,  and a whole bunch of others.
2. For All American Boys the list includes Teenage Boys, African Americans, Biography and Autobiography,  Nonfiction, History, Families and a whole bunch of others before you get to Racism and things like  World War II, Military, and United States.
3. Amal Unbound, the first subjects are: Conduct of Life, Courage, Families, Indentured Servants, Pakistan
4. Aristotle and Dante Discover the secrets of the Universe, the first subjects are: Teenage boys, Gay Teenagers, Mexican Americans, Families, Friendship, Brothers
5. Blended, the subjects include: Stepfamilies, Families, Romance, Documentary Films, Music, Teenage Girls, Sisters, Ohio, Divorce, Fantasy, Racially Mixed People and a ton more.

Basically OP has selected a few books from a list, taken a long list of subjects, had to click the "more" button to find the long list that included her single keyword items, flagged the word she finds as part of "an agenda" that is "brainwashing" but at the same time says "I have no problem with these" "the books look interesting etc"  as if she's trying to sound reasonable.  
I mean no one should find it surprising that readings are going to touch on life experience--that's kind of a key point of young adult fiction--to get kids thinking about their own and others' lives and what they mean.

What's [b]your[/b] agenda, OP?[/quote]

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