Smart books for smart kids?

I'm a schoolteacher working with some very bright kids.
The regular curriculum doesn't always stimulate them. To help out I'm building a little library to lend to them. The idea is to kick-start their intellects. Ages are 11-17.

So far I've got:
Animal Farm by George Orwell
As I walked out one midsummer morning by Laurie Lee
Holes by Louis Sachar

What else? What worked for you?
Thanks

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

I really enjoyed studying that in Year 10.

Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah was pretty eye-opening when I was in a younger year.

And, because I'd kick myself if I didn't:

Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban (etc) by J.K. Rowling

Hope my suggestions are useful...

Borges blew my mind around that age. The earlier Umberto Eco stuff too, like The Name of the Rose and Foucalt's Pendulum.
Ditto The Illuminatus Trilogy, but you'd maybe run into trouble from concerned parents with that one.

The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence made a big impression on me in high school. I would highly recommend it.

Before posting this, I just checked to see what Wikipedia has to say about it and see that a movie version is in production -- I don't know if that is a plus or a minus for your purposes.

Strangely enough, the books I remember liking were mostly from school. But your curriculum may vary, so here goes:
Their Eyes Were Watching God, The Chosen, A Separate Peace, The Color Purple from tenth grade.

Watership Down is one of my favorites, and about right for your age group.

Oh, and also Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Leguin and Kindred by Octavia Butler.

I suppose there are some things in those books that might be ``objectionable'' to today's parents, but I read most of these for school.

That's a wide range. A smart 17 year old could probably handle most of the books in the Metafilter collective library. For the younger end of the range, I'd suggest any of Jack London's adventure books, Edgar Allen Poe and John Steinbeck. Lord of the Flies seems like a gimme. I'd think 1984 speaks more to that age than Animal Farm, especially as they are lucky enough to witness most of its predictions coming true. Preteens are very self-aware and seeking their identities. Self Reliance, Walden and other similar works would probably hit your demographic well.

When I was a freshman in high school, I was in the accelerated English class (as was everyone else here, I'm sure). I was looking forward to being assigned Shakespeare and Henry James and Jane Austen--which I was--but we were also assigned Ender's Game and the first two books in the Magician series by Raymond E. Feist. The lesson being that we shouldn't be ashamed to read "genre" books, that they can have as much literary value as the classics. So I say throw in some Fahrenheit 451 and The Hobbit. Mix it up and see what they go for.

What juv3nal said.

Also, Daniel Pinkwater might be good for the younger end of that range. I'm thinking especially of Alan Mendelsohn, Boy From Mars and the Snarkout Boys books. Ooh, almost forgot about Young Adult Novel, which always seemed to be of a piece with Don't Care High by Gordon Korman and The Obnoxious Jerks by Stephen Manes.

How about the Dark Materials books by Philip Pullman, if the parents will let you get away with it?

What sort of length are you looking at? I was wondering about biographies for the older ones. There are some wonderful ones such as Jenny Uglow's Lunar Men and Claire Tomalin's Mrs Jordan's Profession. Both are long, though, and also of particular UK interest - I don't know what country you're in.

Or poetry - Philip Larkin?

How I Live Now, by Meg Rosoff

Personally, I chewed through the Conan books when I was a kid. While I read lots of more brainy stuff too, I worry about it books for bright kids, and indeed when people start talking about bright kids. I went to a very elite grade school. You did need to test in, but siblings didn't (I was one of those). It was an amazing intellectual environment--the best school in Cambridge, MA--but none of us knew it; we thought the whole world was intellectual. And not everyone was smart per se. Certainly the smartest kids weren't singled out in any way. I think this was a great environment.

Today's pampered and congratulated children, all of whom are bright and above average going from event to event and reading books for smart kids... well, they just creep me out somehow.

Black Like Me really affected me in my late teens. It's an interesting read and also very well written. You might want to stay away from it for the younger kids because of racism (duh) and sexual content, but it's a definite read for anyone able to handle the material.