My rising fifth grader just received his summer
reading list.
Three of the six books rate high on the "read this if
you really want to be depressed" scale.
I'll reserve judgement on the other three although "child
separated from family" describes two of them and the third
starts with a friendless kid.
Not a good list for a child struggling to
comprehend relatively simple concepts
like why a kid might be scared of thunderstorms.
The pretty image at the top comes from
a book about a girl whose mother
gets breast cancer so they'll probably
have to sell their home.
Bud, Not Buddy is about an orphan
who endures horrible abuse.
Among the Hidden describes
a dystopian future where the
protagonist's existence is illegal
because he's a third child
(should be balanced by a
dystopian future where everyone
has as many kids as they want
but there's no clean air or water . . .
but I digress).
The Music of the Dolphins
snatches a girl from her
family (so what if they're
dolphins?)
I'm sure these books are
well written. But why are
we piling angst on 5th graders?
Sigh. If anyone has experience
with these books and can
suggest which might work
for a boy like my son
whose emotional
turmoil mostly comes
from the cup lid not
matching the cup or
having an unexpected
change in schedule, and
who wants everyone
to be happy and doesn't
understand why they're
not,
please let me know!
-Spectrum Mom
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