[arnyk]

I think alot of my high school science books were Addison Wesley, or Nelson (I live in Canada).

[hmx9123]

I had two HS texts in two different chemistry classes.  One was Addison-Wesley, and I thought it sucked.  It dumbed down the chemistry to the point where it made no sense half the time and in some cases, it was just plain wrong.  My second book was a first year college chemistry book that served its purposes very nicely.  You certainly don't have to waste your time with wave functions when you first start out, but that can easily be skipped in the Pauling book.  I'd rather suggest specific chapters of the Pauling book to read than to suggest a poorly-written HS book.  If you have a good HS book, then fine.  Otherwise, I'd start out with a General Chemistry college text.  I suggested Pauling because it was cheap.  Of course, I bought my Zumdahl text for $2 used, so that was cheaper.

[P-man]

I just finished Grade 7, arnyk. I just got this book called The Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments. I think it talks about the basics. Otherwise, I have the Firefly Science Encyclopedia. It's great. I'm learning lots of stuff from it. It's just when you guys are talking, sometimes it's a little complicated. But I mostly get the big picture.
I'm trying to learn more over the summer and next year so I can have a head start in High School.

P.S. I'm leaving on Thursday for camp. I'll be away for a month, away from the internet, so don't expect me to reply. I'll be reading tons on chemistry, though.

[hmx9123]

If you're only in 7th grade, you should have no problems with things when you get there.  For a 7th grader, you understand a lot; for a 35 year old, you could use some work.  You'll probably have a great time with chemistry when you get to high school.  Good luck!