Alongside my daily standard 55-minute science class, I'm running a 30 minute intervention literature class - four times a week - for my middle school kids. I just got permission from my administrators to focus on science fiction and fantasy! Since many of my kids have terribly poor reading skills - enough that I need to give the class an alternate way to experience the story - I've decided to turn to escape pod for good stories.
So... any of you want to recommend any of the stories here for my middle school kids?
I'm looking for:
• Themes appropriate to 12 - 13 year olds.
• Presence of non-white characters (I teach in East Oakland). This isn't necessary for every story, but it's a real plus.
• Presence of non-male main characters. My class is roughly split and I want to make sure all my kids are represented in the fiction. This also isn't necessary for every story.
Thanks in advance. I'll be sure to post here and let you know what my kids make of the stories you recommend.
I'll also post later to let you know what they thought of The Cold Equations (I played them the Drabblecast version). It was... interesting.
