I have no mouth and I must scream was a pretty good read from school, along with 1984
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Ok, I know Heidi was one of them…
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As for me… The Shiloh Trilogy. They are such good books…
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The Tale of Desperaux, which I read in second grade, I think, was a fun read. Although, my tastes have changed so it may not be as good to me anymore. The Lord of the Flies was, and still is, one of the best books I’ve ever read. I adore that book.
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The Great Gatsby, Lord of the Flies, Flowers for Algernon, and my personal favorite Brave New World
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Seventy different fonts-
Oh wait this is about books nevermind
I don’t recall any required literature, it was all pretty low-tier reading material. But on my own time I’ve read all the Sherlock Holmes stories multiple times, To Kill A Mockingbird, Macbeth, and a trillion books on WWII. I’ve also familiarized myself with Hamlet, Romeo & Juliet, Frankenstein, and a few other classics. Nothing Allen Poe though; most of his work gives me a sickly feeling.
I also read the Bionicle books but that doesn’t count does it
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The Giver, by Lois Lowry. We read it in 4th grade. (Which, in hindsight, I had no idea what my teacher was thinking)
I enjoyed the book so much, that I read the rest of the series on my own time.
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I couldn’t have said it better myself! I think it’s interesting that almost everything everyone’s mentioned so far has been a “classic” or one sort or another. I hear a lot of schools are trying to make their curricula more “hip” by including “cool” books that are often below grade level and generally just not that great. But it looks like the books that stick with people are usually those that have survived the test of time.
That rings a bell, but I’m not familiar with it. I’ll have to look into it!
I started reading the Cliff’s Notes of that in middle school…I almost threw up. XD Definitely an important book, just not one that agrees with my constitution. 
Have you tried his Dupin short stories? They were the inspiration for Sherlock Holmes, and I believe are less macabre than some of his other famous works.
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The only assigned school book I can think of is Where The Red Fern Grows. Only I had to read it in elementry school and it was far more traumatizing than enjoyable.
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loved that book, especially the ending
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The ending was beyond depressing.
Don’t get me wrong. It’s a great book. But no 5th grader should have to read that.
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“Animal Farm” and “His Majesty’s Dragon”.
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We’re reading “Slaughterhouse 5” right now. It can be confusing and pretty it’s pretty meh, but it’s SO interesting to read! Like not even in a “so bad it’s good” way". The plot is so bizarre and pretty page turning. It’s hard to describe the charm of this book on me.
OH ALSO. There was a book in fourth grade that we read about a boy who entered a sled race to earn money for his father so he wouldn’t die because of his debts, and I remember the book was like the first time I had ever seen an emotional, deep story that was kind of dark now that I think about it. Does it sound familiar to anyone? Anyone know the title?
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i had to read the westing game in the sixth grade, it was good
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Could it be Stone Fox?
I didn’t have to read this in school but it’s so good if you read it analytically like I’m sure everyone here had to do in school.
I also want to put up Arcadia, it’s technically a play but it had a book form. Does so great stuff with dual timelines.
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Of Mice and Men and The Great Gatsby were both in junior year and besides maybe a book in sophomore year that was okay. I think those two I came to enjoy (OMaM a lot more) a lot out of the many mandated for school reading.
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I’m odd in that I enjoyed my school reading more often than not.
Some standout examples would’ve been Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Orwell’s(infamous) Animal Farm, The Giver by Lois Lowry… You may be sensing a pattern here.
Although there were plenty of non-dystopians as well; The Things They Carried, The Crucible, and Death of a Salesman to name a few. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne also sticks in my head for some reason, despite having somewhat mixed feelings about it at the time.
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Yup. There’s not story like a mentally ill man breaking a girl’s neck and getting shot in the head by his friend.
I don’t think mentally ill is the correct way to describe him. Mentally ill suggests something like clinical depression; he was more likely autistic. And the ending is sort of justified considering much worse was coming for Lenny had he been taken alive. It’s tragic, and that’s what makes it great. I enjoy stories about the failure of ‘the dream’.
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