What book should be REQUIRED reading for everyone?

to read at school

To kill a mocking bird is a hard book to read i dont think a young adult would grasp it.as a mum to a 14 yr old it should not be part of the course work for yr 10 or 11. as for romeo and juliet my daughter has just done this for her sats exam and found it hard but enjoyable,any other mums with a view?

I won't give you a book suggestion, but I will give you a suggestion: no boring books, like half of the books you listed up there. (Lord of the Flies not included; its a good book)

I think a major reason kids today aren't big readers is because of this. They've been fed all of these books from school that just plain suck, but they assume that because the teachers chose the book, it must be a good one. (Why would they chose a bad book, right?) Well, then it ends up being a horrible book, and they basically say, "well if that's the best books have to offer, screw that."

Trust me I'm 16 and I remember this all too well. It wasn't until I looked around on my own that I got into reading.

Oh! I remember a book that everyone in my class really liked: Shattering Glass by Gail Giles. Good book, look it up on Amazon. Also goes great before or after Lord of the Flies.

jay said:

Undoubtedly. It’s not in a dire situation, so it’s pretty much fine.
Hell, some of the best fiction is taught in the “History” class anyway.
I just oh-so totally don’t buy the “I know a low of people that were turned off to reading” *because* of required reading. This holds as much merit as one not listening to music because of the sonic scars one has due to repeated “Mary Had a Little Lamb” renditions during kindergarten or forced Beethoven on the piano at age 10.
Or “I refuse to balance my cheque book because I hated algebra in school”.
Typical *Excuse* instead of a *Reason*.

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Oh, I'm with you there.

A lot of it is that people expect so much out of teachers yet the teachers have limited means to do it.

cajunmama said:

Oh, I'm with you there. A lot of it is that paople expect so much out of teachers yet the teachers have limited means to do it.

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This is the Culture of Compensation: no one wants to act for themselves. If they don’t want to read, most assuredly it’s others’ fault.

A book I recently read, and one I think would work well in a class room (and there’s DEATH in it, since that’s all that some think makes a non-“suck” book) is Lionel Shriver’s _We Need to Talk About Kevin_.
Cajun, here’s a quote you may appreciate from it having to do with school teachers:

“This dual role of scapegoat and savior was downright messianic, but even Jesus was probably better paid.”

jay said:

This is the Culture of Compensation: no one wants to act for themselves. If they don’t want to read, most assuredly it’s others’ fault.

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You got it, buddy.

“This dual role of scapegoat and savior was downright messianic, but even Jesus was probably better paid.”

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I've got to tell this to my sisters (both teachers) and my teacher friends!!

short list of highschool required reading

Lord of the flies
Catch 22
Franny and Zooey
The Sirens of Titan
Miss Lonelyhearts
Brave New World
1984
A Clockwork Orange
Do Androids dream of electric sheep?


I would give an entirely different list tomorrow, most likely..these seem to be mostly short, snappy easy to read and a little subversive, which kids need these days...force feed them skepticism, i guess, and cater to the moony romantic moodiness without completely indulging it...miss lonelyhearts might be a bit of a stretch, but i love it too much to leave it out..

JRakovan said:

Lord of the flies
Catch 22
Franny and Zooey
The Sirens of Titan
Miss Lonelyhearts
Brave New World
1984
A Clockwork Orange
Do Androids dream of electric sheep?

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Lord of the Flies... loved it; one of my favorite books
Catch 22... don't remember it. Was it humorous?
A Clockwork Orange... another of my all-time favorites
Everything else... never heard of 'em. Guess I have some reading to do

I think there'd be a tough time getting ACO approved for teenage readers. Plus the fact that it will encourage them to watch the movie which is going to be deemed inappropriate by some group who will inevitibly ask: Won't somebody please think of the children!?

That said I read it in my last year of Highschool. But I picked it as part of an independent study project, it was not part of the curriculum and it took some convincing of my teacher. I tolchoked her real horrorshow a few times and she saw it my way.

ruby said:

To kill a mocking bird is a hard book to read i dont think a young adult would grasp it.as a mum to a 14 yr old it should not be part of the course work for yr 10 or 11. as for romeo and juliet my daughter has just done this for her sats exam and found it hard but enjoyable,any other mums with a view?

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I'm 43, and I just read this book for the first time a few years ago, and I absolutely loved it. I wish it would have been required of me in school, but I do think most 10-year-olds would be a bit young to grasp all the lessons in the book.

It's been more than a few years since I was in school, but I seem to remember that those kids who liked to read in the first place did not grumble nearly as much about required reading. Those who didn't enjoy reading anything grumbled constantly.

I can't ever remember not liking to read and I pretty much read everything I could get my hands on, even completing additional book reports for extra credit. We had a suggested reading list and you had to pick books off that list for your reports but I remember it being quite a good selection.

I think liking to read starts way before the "important" books. It starts with being read to as a child and learning to love stories. It starts with silly things like "Green Eggs and Ham" and hopefully builds from there.

I didn't always like the books I read, but I learned something from each one, even if I didn't like it.

ruby said:

To kill a mocking bird is a hard book to read i dont think a young adult would grasp it.as a mum to a 14 yr old it should not be part of the course work for yr 10 or 11.

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**[the below is NOT a crit based toward Ruby and/or her child, just going off of what she posted]**
I pondered over this one a bit last night, and while I’m not sure what grade I read it in, I’d be a bit surprised if the overall themes can not be grasped –if taught well- by nearly anyone. Most especially if they seemed to enjoy “Romeo and Juliet”(!)
Aren’t 10 and 11 year old reading stuff like _The Bridge to Terrabithia_ (sp?) and _A Separate Peace_, _I Am the Cheese_ and/or whatever has replaced those once-staples?

Yes, some of the larger themes in ‘Mockingbird’ are complex, and this is where the teacher (and gawd forbid parents) comes in: discussing the material. One *can’t* just assign the chapters and then give a brief outlook in a monotone. Make the book (any book) fun, engaging. Make the characters and themes come to life. Boo Radley is a great, almost mythical, character, the two children are engaging and interesting. Atticus may seem a bit stodgy, but that fits. And more than likely every kid has by now seen (at least on television) what the inside of a courtroom looks like, which was unheard of just a few years ago, so imagination doesn’t even need to be used in that area.

What I *wouldn’t* encourage is recommending the movie, especially an in-class viewing.
Although it’s a pretty faithful adaptation, I think reading is taking a huge and violent hit with the Gateway to Hollywood Effect.
Literacy is dying, but let’s not yet push it over the cliff. Assisted suicide, sure. Assisted imagination, no.

JRakovan said:

...miss lonelyhearts might be a bit of a stretch, but i love it too much to leave it out..

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Pretty nice (and certainly interesting) list, JR.
Miss L is quite simply one of the greatest achievements in literature. And yes much of it will be lost on the young reader but an important work nonetheless.
If they liked it they can look forward to re-reading it in the future.

ions said:

I think there'd be a tough time getting ACO approved for teenage readers.

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Some schools use it already. I think I had it some years ago…(or maybe it was a summer reading list where we have a selection to choose from, but regardless, it was ‘approved’ by someone)…

Plus the fact that it will encourage them to watch the movie

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I can’t see any basis behind a “fact” that a book, written to be a book and only a book, “encourages” film watching.
[Yes, the unfortunate consequence of it being a “cult” movie and Kubrick a respected filmmaker may sway many, although I *very* much doubt they’d be so quick to watch “Lolita” after reading the novel…]

And this is one of the many, many (many, many) problems with those nursing on the Harry Potter books. I have little doubt that in due time some will be wondering why there is no Boo Radley video game (place as many carved dolls in the trees before time runs out!); no Stephen Spielberg special-effects extravaganza in which Lenny *saves* all the bunnies in the galaxy; no Play-Doh set (with special, limited edition Piggy figure) to make a variety of conches of all size and colour; and, of course, the Saturday morning animated Jane Austen’s Action Adventures.
All of which are more enjoyable while sporting Holden Caulfield Under-Roos (don’t worry they come in “adult editions” too)

All that said, any number of other books by Burgess could and should be placed over _A Clockwork Orange_. _Nothing Like the Sun_ easily surpasses it.

DakotaDreams said:

It's been more than a few years since I was in school, but I seem to remember that those kids who liked to read in the first place did not grumble nearly as much about required reading. Those who didn't enjoy reading anything grumbled constantly.

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Well stated.
This is just simply the way it is. One would hope kids are pretty much **already** introduced to reading by the time the get to these kinds of books we’re mentioning.
If not, their lack of interest is hardly the fault of a Charles Dickens.
And while possibly a few up-to-that-point-disinterested students will have some kind of epiphany upon reading a certain book, this is probably becoming statistically insignificant.

I didn't always like the books I read, but I learned something from each one, even if I didn't like it.

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Exactly. I touched upon that earlier. An assignment **does not** mean “you MUST love this”.
But this also seems to be something that is lost on people, and it surfaces all the time whenever anyone writes something stating they didn’t like whatever: it’s deemed as “negative”. Which just means being “positive” is simply acting blind, which is also telling as many can’t even state _why_ they “love” something (“I, uh, you know, I just do!”).
Which is sad.

jay said:

I can’t see any basis behind a “fact” that a book, written to be a book and only a book, “encourages” film watching.
[Yes, the unfortunate consequence of it being a “cult” movie and Kubrick a respected filmmaker may sway many, although I *very* much doubt they’d be so quick to watch “Lolita” after reading the novel…]

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Well the basis of the "fact" was that you could count on a good 90% of the students in the classes I was in would ask "is there a movie?" when a new book was assigned. In fact, it's a fact that a lot of people I know won't read a book if the can just watch the movie. Not defending such behaviour in any way but it happpens.

Plus the fact that most boys will sprint to see a movie they know is gonna be filled with nudity, sex and violence.

One of the lit teachers in my high school for his notorious test questions. He told you up front if there was a movie of the book and that he'd seen it, told you that some stuff was left out of the movie and that stuff was going to be on the test.

ions said:

Well the basis of the "fact" was that you could count on a good 90% of the students in the classes I was in would ask "is there a movie?" when a new book was assigned.

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Well, this isn’t a “fact” that an assigned book “encourages” a film viewing but merely proof in my loose critics of students and the Hollywoodisation on “literature” and/or the Death of Reading.
Glancing at several other threads with posters actually lambasting such novels as _Frankenstein_ and _Dracula_ because it doesn’t live up to their MGM-influenced thoughts is continued proof.
And while I *do* have suspicions that much of what goes on in your school is pretty much the template for many schools, stating personal “facts” against the spectrum of All Schools isn’t great style and not necessarily ‘factual’.

In fact, it's a fact that a lot of people I know won't read a book if the can just watch the movie. Not defending such behaviour in any way but it happpens.

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I totally don’t doubt that it happens. And I’m really not one to go defending the General Public…but I guess I just hope that it’s not quite at this point. Yet.

It really is a scary situation. Even with da Vinci Code, people that wouldn’t normally read picked it up after Tom Hanks was announced as the lead. They so totally don’t want to have to create _anything_ in their minds, but now that they can picture him their hollow lil’ heads, so, “oh, I can *so* picture Tom Hanks in this story”.
I shuddered hearing that exact quote (in a bookstore). Thankfully I restrained myself and didn’t pummel her with a pile of books.

Plus the fact that most boys will sprint to see a movie they know is gonna be filled with nudity, sex and violence.

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Yeah…gotta love seeing nekkid breasts…during a rape/assault scene.

cajunmama said:

He told you up front if there was a movie of the book and that he'd seen it, told you that some stuff was left out of the movie and that stuff was going to be on the test.

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jay in front of the classroom upon hearing this question:
“Hmmmm, maybe there is a movie.
Maybe I’ve seen it, maybe I haven’t.
Maybe the movie -as they generally are- is very different than the novel we are about to read.
Maybe I’ll twist some question(s) on the exam to see if you’re just relying on movie knowledge. (and Cliff’s Notes skimming).
[holding up the book]
This is an English class, kids.
Welcome.
You want film class? That has to wait until University.
Lets have some fun in the meantime.”

And then a student’s cell phone goes off and my head explodes (like the chap in “Scanners”) and students applaud.

jay said:

jay in front of the classroom upon hearing this question:
“Hmmmm, maybe there is a movie.
Maybe I’ve seen it, maybe I haven’t.
Maybe the movie -as they generally are- is very different than the novel we are about to read.
Maybe I’ll twist some question(s) on the exam to see if you’re just relying on movie knowledge. (and Cliff’s Notes skimming).
[holding up the book]
This is an English class, kids.
Welcome.
You want film class? That has to wait until University.
Lets have some fun in the meantime.”

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TOUCHDOWN!!!!

i only suggested a clockwork orange because i was under the impression we were talking required reading for high school students

for grown ups, read 'darkness visible"

JRakovan said:

for grown ups, read 'darkness visible"

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Interesting pick. I’ve read the Styron (subtitle _A Memoir of Madness_)...but did you mean Golding’s book of that title? That one I haven’t read.
j

I think Native Son by Richard Wright. It's a magnificant book about prejudice in the early 1900s.. and it's not doing the stupid race card crap saying "Grr..white people are bad"

It's a really interesting view into things back then.

The Jungle- definitely one to read-also has some good cross-curricular value to it. You could do a joint lesson with the history dept.

This weekend I read a mystery novel that left so many plot elements open my pet giraffes could have endlessly jumped through them. As I guess this is a semi-popular writer (in Norway), popular enough to get translated to English, this had me thinking about this theme we discuss here.
So it is here I would like to retract my defiance at the thought of a (say) Stephen King being “taught” in school. I now think he should be mandatory reading.

But based solely on the fact, and reading damn near every review and commentary on this sight (as always, there are exceptions), that people clearly need to be taught what is bad writing/storytelling.
There seems to be some biological trigger missing in this regard.
Yes, many parents scold a baby for putting everything in sight into their mouth. But overall, without such a vocal deterrent, more than likely baby will comprehend “hmm, wood/cigarette butts/you-name-it doesn’t taste good.”
Apparently the developing mind still can not differentiate between –for example- a good metaphor and an appalling one.

[I touched on this briefly with Still_I_Learn in a private mail and she expressed an interest for it to go publicly. I think it fits well here.]

People simply do not know what “bad” is.
And therefore how can one really think something is “good”?

I’m sure everyone here would hope that their significant other “loves” or likes them because of certain aspects. Those aspects, be it simply physical, are established in contrast to others.
There is no beauty is there isn’t ugly.

Thinking back to when I was the ‘sufferer’ (as suggested by some) of Required Reading, the only thing that sticks in my head as a lesson was a sheet of paper with definitions. “Protagonist” “Antagonist” “Foreshadowing” and the like.
But it was never pointed out the craft of how these are used.
And sometimes the best example of something is how *not* to do it.

Maybe with this new application future generations will be able to actually compose words on why they like (or “love”) something instead of “I dunno, I just do!!”

j