College-Bound Reading List

I have found that there is no single list for college bound students. Some books are on all lists and some books are on one list but not on another. In general, this means that you can compile your own list. Don't worry if you object to a specific book which is on a single (or even more) college bound lists. Just don't include it. If it is a book like Machivelli's book, The Prince, I make sure that they understand what it is about and what Machivellian refers to. We watched an episode of Great Books about it. But they haven't read it.

Unless your kids are great readers (and mine are not), then it is impossible to read every book on any college bound list. Exclusion of a particular book will NOT keep your child out of college nor does it indicate that your child is doomed. Further, there are many books which cover the same material (Have you noticed how many doom-and-gloom books there are on college recommended lists?) in different stories. For example, my kids like science fiction. Even though this isn't "classical" material, some of it is becoming classical as time goes on. Further, it introduces the same themes as the themes of other books in more coherent language.

Reading...and reading as much as possible...is the key in our family with as much variety as my kids will handle. With that in mind, here is the Reading List I put together for our kids. Enjoy.

First, the Abbreviations:

TITLE Abbreviations:

Abbreviation	Description
Cald	Caldwell Awards
Col	Recommended on a college bound reading list
+	Recommended on more than one college bound reading list
Read	Reading Group recommendations which could appear on College bound reading lists
Pul	Pulitzer Prize

Genre Abbreviations:
Lit=literature, H=historical fiction or in pleasing narrative form, Play=play, Bio=biography, Phil=philosophy, F=fantasy, SF=science fiction, E=ethnic/multi-cultural

Abbreviation	Description
Lit	Literature
H	Historical fiction
Play	A play/stage production
Bio	Biography
Phil	Philosophy
F	Fantasy
SF	Science Fiction
SS	Short Story
Ref	Reference
E	Ethnic/Multi-cultural

Numbers & A-F   /  G-Z