Teen Gothic Books

[merlehaggard]

Hi, my 12 year old daughter (year 8) has been told by her English teacher to read a Gothic book over the half term. She hates this kind of book and is struggling to find anything to read. She is top set so would have quite an advanced reading age. Any ideas of any Gothic teen books? Something not too dark and ideally more modern day - if such a thing exists! Any ideas?

merle:

Well there's all sorts aren't there and it is Halloween over half-term:

Classics like Stoker's Dracula or Shelley's Frankenstein.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte is also classed as 'Gothic' and may be more appealing to a girl.

Book Trust has this web page: www.lancaster.ac.uk/beyondtwilight/profiles.php - for gothic reading beyond the predictably popular selection of TWILIGHT novels.

and this for Halloween: www.booktrust.org.uk/books/teenagers/booklists/182/

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Try something from American Gothic literature:

Henry James' Turn of the Screw

if you can bend the assignment - a lovely read in this age group is Edgar Allan Poe's wonderful poem: The Raven. The cartoon The Simpson's even paid tribute to it: www.teachertube.com/video/the-raventhe-simpsons-version-251203

A great Edgar Allan Poe short story is The Cask of Amontillado: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cask_of_Amontillado

And of course the classic short-story by Washington Irving: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

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There are more modern versions of Gothic (sometimes classed as Horror) literature.

for example: booksforkeeps.co.uk/issue/184/childrens-books/articles/ten-of-the-best/ten-of-the-best-gothic-novels

HTH

This may have been mentioned on one of the previous links - but the Picture of Dorian Gray is a very short novel, and is easy to read.

jeee

no it wasn't - but it's brilliant as well - a very good read!

Thanks very much for your replies. I'll get her to look into these options.

Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey, her take on gothic literature of the time is great if you're not into monsters.
Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is really quite short.
Agree that Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gary is a great novel and also quite short.
None of these contain anything scary. M.R. James' ghost stories are short stories so she could take them in small chunks.
Bram Stoker's Dracula is a brilliant read with Mina Harker being an excellent strong female, highly recommended.

Bram Stoker's Dracula is a brilliant read with Mina Harker being an excellent strong female, highly recommended.

Really love Dracula, but I thought Mina Harker was wetter than a whale's wedding tackle. I had to keep reminding myself that it was a book 'of its time' and that actually she probably was quite spunky by the standards of those days.

Sorry, I'm getting her muddled up with Lucy. Mina is great. Lucy - less so.

But a good book none the less!

The Woman in Black is wonderful and not too long but it is pretty scary.

Try audible.co.uk for a talking book - maybe she can listen to one of the classics during her down-time/bed-time ... being told a story rather than having to read it, is one of life's true pleasures ...