A Modern Reading List for High School?

[John Cole]

I read it. Get rid of the crappy short stories, The Lady or the Tiger and The Most Dangerous Game. Make sure that you read aloud the final couple pages of Omelas; it will hit them harder if you do. Add Chekhov's The Lady with the Dog and teach it as a love story; make sure you look at how Chekhov uses details.

By all means, use Ender's Game. It's perfect for hs kids. Also, you might bring up ideas about how the book looks at "special education." Did you know that Card's son requires special needs?

I would add Maus I, a superior graphic novel without the moralizing. This renders what inhumanity does to people as well as anything.

Don't be afraid of The Dead, but take it slow. I was surprised to find out that some of my blandest students found it the best story of the semester. Araby is best seen as a little boy's story first; he's got a crush on a girl, and his romantic imagination produces wonderful melodrama. But he never really sees the object of his affection--merely her image throughout the story. Note how Joyce uses sight throughout. You could have the kid track the references to sight throughtout the story. Note that the story ends with tears. It's funny and sad.

I think you will love The Things They Carried.

[SoloAJ]

John Cole,

I really enjoy The Lady or the Tiger, though mostly because I think it can elicit some form of easy discussion among people. I think if I ever taught it, I would have to really TEACH it, with some ideas of gender roles and the kids' life experiences that influenced their interpretation of the story. The Most Dangerous Game I liked when I read in middle school. It may not be strong, but its a fun little one I guess. Shrug.

I did not know that about Card's son. And a good bit of insight you gave me.

I haven't read Maus. I have heard only good things and would love to read it. If I get my hands on it, I think it could easily become something I teach in my classes, if given the opportunity.

Thanks for the refresher/quick rundown of Araby. I seriously haven't read it since around sophomore year of high school. Maybe I just wasn't all that into it. I remember that we got put into groups and everyone was assigned a story from Dubliners. I got The Dead and that is why I fell in love with that one.

Thanks for the article too. I have only gave it a once over thus far, but I appreciate it a lot.

[SoloAJ]

Tigermoth,

To be honest, I'm not really all that sad about my list in terms of "dead white men." I chose the works I did, so far, because of what I think they have to offer to the students as growing individuals. I think there is an awful lot to pull out of the stories. Admittedly, some of the works are there because of their literary impact, but I tried to include things to make them interesting.

Hamlet + R&G Are Dead.
Odyssey + OBWAThou (This one I'm really excited about for some reason. Honestly, I think I was 20 years old when I saw OBWAThou (with a vague recollection of Odyssey) and I was really flattened by just how .different. the movie was. Midwest bubble definitely sheltered me from anything that was so rich in what I have heard referred to in the movie as a "southern pride."

DB, you're giving me an awful lot of reading material at once. I can't tell if I'm excited or whelmed.

[dcasper70]

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10 little indians

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Awesome!

I'd love to see Carnegie's 'How To Win Friends And Influence People' in the hands of high schoolers.

[SoloAJ]

dcasper, I have not read that. Why do you think it would be good for high schoolers? To turn them all into future businessmen, yes? [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[dcasper70]

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dcasper, I have not read that. Why do you think it would be good for high schoolers? To turn them all into future businessmen, yes? [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

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No. It's not a business book at all, more of a 'people skills' book. Also, amazingly easy to read.

15 and 16 year olds are going through difficult times socially. Even if 25% of the ideas in this book make it into their repertoire, they will greatly benefit in the long run. Go read a few chapters at your local bookstore, I'm sure you'd agree.

From Amazon:
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Financial success, Carnegie believed, is due 15 percent to professional knowledge and 85 percent to "the ability to express ideas, to assume leadership, and to arouse enthusiasm among people." He teaches these skills through underlying principles of dealing with people so that they feel important and appreciated. He also emphasizes fundamental techniques for handling people without making them feel manipulated. Carnegie says you can make someone want to do what you want them to by seeing the situation from the other person's point of view and "arousing in the other person an eager want." You learn how to make people like you, win people over to your way of thinking, and change people without causing offense or arousing resentment. For instance, "let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers," and "talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person."

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The only problem I have with this book is that I didn't read it sooner.

[Peter666]

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"Don Quixote," "Robinson Crusoe," "Pride and Prejudice," and "Crime and Punishment" should all be required reading for 9-10th grade. "Romeo and Juliet" would be a good start for Shakespeare, and I would save Hamlet and the other plays for later grades.

Also, something by Stephen King would stimulate them enough to get them into the habit of reading.

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You can understand why I wouldn't include the first few books you listed, yes? Granted, I actually haven't read any of those in their entirety. As for Romeo and Juliet, obviously it coudl be included. But since I'm supposed to hav ea list of around 10 (manageable to teach), I just stuck with Hamlet, which is my favorite.

Oddly enough, I was wondering about On Writing by Stephen King. I haven't personally read it yet, but from what I understand about it...it would be something a little different from your typical high school book material. In this way, I think it would be a good choice for the list.

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Is it the length? I found both those novels to be very accessible content wise, so perhaps an abridged version would be helpful. Since they are both considered the first novel and first English novel by many authorities, I think it would be a disaster not to have taken a look at them in highschool. The latter two are a little more difficult, but if students can comprehend Shakespeare, they should be able to comprehend most prose. I found "Crime and Punishment" to be a quick read, which is why I would include it, and it would be a great introduction to Russian literature.

Also, "Animal Farm" would be great, followed by 1984.

"On writing" would be a good and interesting choice, along with something by Hemingway, which King touched upon in the book.

I think "the Dead" may be a little too dense. Same with anything by Conrad. I remember "Heart of Darkness" being on my reading list. While the novel is short length wise, the prose is difficult to get through. It is definitely something for advanced readers.

[diebitter]

The Old Man and the Sea - Hemmingway

A beautiful little story showing how simple words and straightforward writing can be very, very powerful.

[knowledgeORbust]

Let me preface this by noting that I'm 21 and in college now. I'm only going to comment on the one's I've read. I don't really know what I'm talking about, but I'm somewhat close to the high school age and still act like a little kid - so maybe I can help you get in their heads a little.

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The Great Gatsby

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Gatsby worked great in my 11th grade class. Everyone seemed to like it and was pretty involved. As you mention, it's practical stuff for HSer's. I re-read it post-HS as I'd only read 1/2 in school, liked it, and allllmost sent an annotated copy of it to my former English teacher as a nice gesture/sign of respect, but thought it was too weird [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

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(3) Hamlet

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As you say, kids tend to hate reading Shakespeare in high school. You'll only get involvement out of the most avid readers/students. Shakespeare is among the absolute best in literature, kids should get some exposure to it, but I agree that you should keep it limited. FWIW, I both respected and disliked all of the Shakespeare I read in high school, and probably read 1/5 of the plays we were assigned and 0/15 sonnets.

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(6) 1984 / Brave New World

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I was supposed to read 1984 in 10th grade English but I'm a massive slacker and did not. It was, however, one of the few books that my classmates seemed to thoroughly enjoy/talk about.
I just read Brave New World a couple of months ago and found it to be great. I think it's a good choice and will provide some serious perspective about what the "real world" is like. Obviously when you're in high school, you don't know much or anything about the real world or society in general; and this book offers some excellent commentary on society, general conditioning, authority, drugs, and other stuff that high schoolers can benefit from. It's a short, fun read and I wish I'd have gotten to it earlier.

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(8) Glance through the Odyssey and watch O Brother Where Art Thou

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Fun idea. Such a good film. You know 90% of students won't even open the book, but I still think like this idea. Also, students will dig you for assigning them a movie.

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(9a) The Things They Carried

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Ugh. I cracked this one in 9th grade and couldn't get passed the first few pages. As great as the book is, you will not get a very good response from a typical high school class. I'd personally stick to practical learning material - expanding students' perspectives is great, but this book is really hard to relate to or even get involved in at all as a HSer.

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(10) Freakonomics

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Excellent idea. I read this one as a Sophomore in college and really learned a lot. As silly as it seems, this pop-culture book really enhanced the way I looked at the world. It's based in reality, is somewhat fun, and there's a lot HSer's can get out of it. I bet this one will get a very good response.


Gonna' browse through some other responses now [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[mflip]

Well, I just graduated so I'll try to give a few suggestions. I'm having a hard time remembering everything that was on my reading list for High School but I'll make a list of ones that I can remember.

The Great Gatsby
Beloved
Fifth Business
A Handmaid's Tale
Hamlet
Romeo & Juliet
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Macbeth
Julius Caesar
Catcher In The Rye
Oliver Twist
The Outsiders

I thought the first four were really good and led to good classroom discussion. There was quite a bit of Shakespeare and I honestly haven't decided whether all of it was necessary but I didn't really mind it. I remember a lot of people enjoyed reading The Outsiders which was read in Grade 9. I agree that adding something by Stephen King would most likely be interesting for the students but I don't have any specific suggestion for which one. It seemed like a lot of teachers chose novels which had movie versions so that they could show the movie after finishing the book and do comparisons.

Edit to add: I read Freakonomics recently and really enjoyed it and think it would work well in a classroom.

Edit 2: Forgot to put To Kill A Mockingbird on the list but everyone really enjoyed that as well.