*Top Ten Tuesday* Books I Was Assigned to Read in School

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Joood - Hooligan of Platypire reviews bossed me into doing this, so I guess this is a thing I do now. 

This week’s theme is books I was assigned to read in school. This challenge may be rough for me as I attended my 20 year high school reunion a couple years ago, so it's been a minute since I was in school, and let's face it, my memory is just not what it used to be. So with that in mind, here are the books I remember having been assigned to read in school. 

The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen 

I am pretty sure this book started my obsession with WWII historical fiction. 

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

If The Devil's Arithmetic didn't start my obsession with WWII historical fiction, then Number the Stars did. 

Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

I'm pretty sure most American school children were assigned to read this book. 

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

I don't remember a whole lot about this book, but I remember I didn't enjoy reading it. 

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

So I might actually be confusing this book with another book with a yellow cover, because the book description for this does not ring any bells for me at all. The book I'm thinking of had a kid who grew up in a converted barn, and I think he had younger siblings who were twins and I think they were toddlers. 

The Giver by Lois Lowry

I remember really liking this book as a kid, but I also know I didn't realize the ending was a cliffhanger at the time. I honestly assumed that Jonas and the baby were dead, until I read the rest of the quartet a few years ago and found out I was wrong. 

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell

This is a book I know I read, but I'm not 100% sure that it was assigned reading for school. However, it has similar themes to Hatchet, which is one I know I wouldn't have picked up on my own, so I feel fairly confident that it was assigned reading. 

The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane

This was a book we read for English class my freshman year of high school. I didn't like it much, but I at least understand why it was assigned reading because it's about the Civil War. 

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

This book was assigned for my English class junior year, and I hated it when it was assigned for class, which is crazy, because I'd read it on my own sophomore year and really enjoyed the story. It's also possible some of my dislike for the story junior year is tied to my dislike of the teacher. 

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

So we really only read The Lottery and not any of the other stories in this collection, but it was a story that really left a mark on my psyche (because it's all I could think of for the tenth book in this post). 

It occurs to me that my school assigned reading was somewhat Holocaust heavy, but that may just be that those books made a bigger impact on me, so the fact that they were assigned reading became more of a core memory than other books that were assigned. What books were you assigned to read in school? Have you read any of mine? 

If you're stopping by from the linkup, please be sure to drop a link to your post below so I can stop by and check out your list. 

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