Tagged: book recommendations

The Sword of Shannara

The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks

Truisms, my young friend, are the useless children of hindsight. There was a time–about five years ago–when only a few of my students had heard of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. Of course, all that has changed with Peter Jackson’s magnificent movies. Now all of my students are familiar with the story, and many of them have read the books. If you haven’t read them yet, buy them immediately–they’re that good (and so much more satisfying than the movies, which I also happen to love). But...

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

Of all the books that have been read in my classroom over the years, one continually grabs the attention of my students and keeps them interested from page one: Ender’s Game. Maybe it’s the non-stop action; maybe it’s watching Ender try to rise through the ranks of the battle school; maybe it’s the threat of the Buggers returning to make war on humanity. I think it might just be that they like Ender Wiggin so much, they want to see how far he can go. The book takes...