You're an English teacher...what books do you have the students read?

Cafe Society
1

Let’s say that instead of your current career choice, you instead went on to become a high school English teacher. In a moment of pure awesomeness, the school board has said that, due to your excellent years of service, you can assign any book(s) you want to your students to read, regardless of content, price, availability, etc…As a bonus, all of the parents have agreed not to complain one bit about the books, because every student you have taught ends up with a huge love affair for books, and does better in all their other classes, and never cause any more trouble.

So, given this free reign, what would you have them read, and why? Let’s assume it’s an 11th or 12th grade (your choice if it’s AP or not,) English class, and that you are expected to assign papers, homeworks, and so forth on the content, meaning, etc… on the books.

Myself?

First up, World War Z - Max Brooks. For the few that might not know about it, it’s about a fictional future zombie apocalypse, told in the style of many first-person interviews. From soldiers, to politicians, to doctors, all the stories have their own feel as if they really were written (well, told,) by a different person. It makes one feel like this war actually did happen.

Brave New World - Aldous Huxley. A classic “sci-fi” book that is still a good read today. Many things to think about with this book. The implications of a class society, and is it such a bad society, if everyone is programmed to be ok with it? Lots of great discussions to be had in class with this one.

Animal Farm - George Orwell. Yeah, it’s one of those books that most everyone reads at some point in high school, but, unlike most of the other books, this one is actually quite good and worth reading. Odds are, the students will be learning about Communism/Marxism in their history class(es), so it will help give them more background in that, as well as give them nice things to compare the book to.

That’s it for now, but I’ll think of more.

2

How many books does a high school english class tend to assign? Ideally, I’d like to have them read the original Horatio Hornblower trilogy (Beat to Quarters, Ship of the Line, and Flying Colours), so they can analyze all the different character comparisons and relationships that get drawn in the book (ie: Hornblower vs. Bush, Hornblower vs. his superiors in the three books, El Supremo, Admiral Leighton, and Comte de Gracay, as well as comparing those three to each other, Maria vs. Barbara vs. Marie and Hornblower’s feelings and behaviors towards them), the symbolism of different objects in the books (such as Hornblower’s sword, or the different vessels he commands in the books), and of course the ever-entertaining analysis of Hornblower himself.

Other than that? I dunno. Death of a Salesmen. Make the brats suffer like I have.

3

Night Watch by Terry Pratchett
The Hobbit by Tolkien
Dune by Herbert

I was assigned those last 2 when in high school lit, and I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything. They are great works to go over in great detail in classroom discussions. And Night Watch is just a great story with great advice for life.

4

What course am I teaching? World Lit, American Lit, Modern, Classical, etc?

If I was doing a genric “Lit” course, it would probably include something Greek…either a play or one of Homer’s epics; something from Shakespeare, something from the 1800s…like * Frankenstein* or Huckleberry Finn, something early 1900s…like maybe All Quiet on the Western Front, something “modern”–probably Stranger in a Strange Land…

5

I don’t think most high schools have different types of lit. classes. Most just have an English class for each grade, which is generally a combo of reading and essay/composition, and then a few extra classes, like a creative writing, maybe a Shakespeare, possibly an American or European literature class, but probably not much more than that. I doubt they’d be as specific as Classic Literature, World Lit, Modern, etc…

6

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
Don Quixote for the many references you’ll understand later
The Last Book in the Universe by Rodman Philbric, because I liked it

and I want to add that my senior English class read Brave New World. I loved it, I’d teach that too.

7

Hmmm…if the focus is on writing, as it probably should be in a basic course…then the Lit selections aren’t critical. I might be inclined to provide a summary of 2-3 alternatives per assignment, and let the class vote on which they’d like to read.

I’d be prefer to teach something a little more particular, like 20th Century Drama, but that may be more appropriate for a college course…

8

The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner. What a great way to introduce contemporary writing styles – and much more readable than, say, James Joyce (to a high schooler at least).

Catch-22 because it’s a satirical masterpiece (IMHO).

Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead back to back. (and sometime during that module, I’ll show them the movie version starring Tim Roth and Gary Oldman)

To Kill a Mockingbird simply because it’s perfect.

Oh yeah, and if there’s time enough for another book, I’d throw in A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving.

9

This is (pretty much) what I want to do with my life :smiley:

I’d start off with selections from Chaucer’s tales in translation, and some medieval lais. Then choose a Shakespeare play, with some poetry by Wyatt, Surrey, Sidney, Marlowe…

After that? An excerpt from Milton’s Paradise Lost, scenes from a Restoration drama, a 19th century novel (maybe something by Wilkie Collins or Charles Dickens), and something by Ernest Hemingway–possibly A Farewell to Arms–with 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 to finish up.

We’d have to move fast, but it’d totally be worth it.

10

Watership Down and Gone With the Wind. We will also read The Haunting of Hill House and The Shining, back to back. Possibly Jane Eyre, though I foresee some problems getting the boys into it.

11

I’d have them read The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Heinlein. I read this book and really, really wished my english teacher had picked something like this. We could discuss politics, revolutions, propaganda, sosial customs etc.

Then, for a fun exersice, I’d have them each choose their favorite page, and rewrite it in standard english :wink:

Then, for contrast, Our man in Havana (Greene? keep forgetting who wrote this.)

Then, Monstrous Regiment by Pratchett.

12

This one did happen in my AP English class, and as far as I’m concerned it was the only bright spot in the curriculum. I would leave out the movie though.

My choices, choosing only books that I was not taught in any English class, would include:

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. Some were taught this, but I was not.

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. Headrush hit the nail on the head again here, but it’s worth repeating.

The Stranger by Albert Camus. Most people I know have never heard of Camus. I think Camus is in the same category as Kafka: you just have to have read something by him. My AP class read The Plague, but I think The Stranger is a much better choice.

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky. I know, the students would probably hate me, but I can always threaten them with War and Peace.

Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev. I seem to have a bit of a soft spot for Russian literature, but this one is much easier going than The Brothers K and both of them are great and largely unheard of.

I would suggest Crime and Punishment as well, but I’ve already got one Dostoevsky and two Russian lit. Enough torture :). Authors I’d like to include but haven’t yet met a book of theirs I like enough (this is the fault of my not having read much): Franz Kafka, Leo Tolstoy.

Edit to add: Books that are worthy but that I was taught in English class: Brave New World, To Kill a Mockingbird, 1984, Heart of Darkness.

13

Hamlet
Huckleberry Finn
Selected poems by Emily Dickenson
Selected stories by Edgar Allan Poe, including “The Black Cat,” “The Cask of Amontillado,” “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “Murders of the Rue Morgue,” and “The Purloined Letter.”
“The Lady or the Tiger” by Frank Stockton
Cyrano de Bergerac
“The Mysterious Stranger” by Mark Twain
McTeague by Frank Norris
Catch-22
Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Sot-Weed Factor by John Barth (this will push the parental complaints angle, of course).
Davy by Edgar Pangborn
Replay by Ken Grimwood

14

Frankenstein
Slaughterhouse Five
MacBeth
1984
Brave New World
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
The Prince

All books that deal with power, it’s acquisition, use, and abuse. Forewarned is forearmed.

I’d throw in David Copperfield so that they’d know what character is about, but it’s probably too long. Which means they’d go directly to the Cliff’s Notes.

One Hundred Years of Solitude is also too long, and too dense for most high schoolers, but I’d love to fit that in, too.

15

My high school did. I took a creative writing class and a world literature class my senior year. Freshman and Sophomores had “English” but then Juniors and Seniors had quite a few choices.

Me, I would never assign crap like All Quiet on the Western Front or A Separate Peace…ugh that stuff is just the epitome of dreary English-class-assigned reading–the kind of stuff that makes kids not enjoy reading and live out their adulthood without ever completing a single book for their own enjoyment.

16

I would probably concentrate on books that would make the kids think reading was a viable way to entertain yourself on purpose. Many kids don’t see it that way. So I’d focus less on deep, meaningful works that can be dissected and analyzed and more on things that were legitimately good books, but also engaging to read.
A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin. Probably they’d all go read the rest of the series on their own since it kind of sucks you in.
Something from Pratchett’s Discworld series, definitely.
Dune is a good one. Or possibly something by David Brin or Isaac Asimov.
I’d have to think about this.

17

I would start off with The Three Musketeers just to show everyone that classical literature can be fun, engaging, and funny! Then I would move on to stories that are really old but relevant to today’s modern culture; stuff like Oedipus, but I would throw in Lysistrata for comic relief again. Catch 22 possibly (homework would be making them write a list of all catch-22 situations they saw in the book, and maybe an essay on one in real life), and maybe indulge my love of Jane Austen with one of hers, and then throw in a movie to make it come alive.

My intent would be not to bore anyone to death. I’d maybe have people act out short scenes for extra credit. Also I would have a shelf of other classics that people could check out and read at their leisure (cheap ones, since I know people are bad at returning books) and take shorts tests over for extra credit.

I was an English major for undergrad, but I didn’t read half of the books assigned in high school because they were so deathly dull. I don’t want to put anyone through that.

18

The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress - Robert Heinlein
Ringworld - Larry Niven
Soul Music - Terry Pratchett
One Hundred Years Of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Deathbird and Other Stories - Harlan Ellison
4 books of their choice, so long as the book meets a minimum page requirement and has been banned by at least 1 school district in the state.

I sorta do this kind of thing with my AP Euro and American Government students. Their booklist is quite…eclectic. :smiley:

19

One of the profs in the Masters in English program I’m in handed out a “Top 100 Books” list, said if we had those books we’d have a start on a good classic library.

Depends on the age of the students. For kids (pre-middle school) I’d recommend Huckelberry Finn, Tom Sawyer, Robinson Crusoe, Gulliver’s Travels, Moby Dick. For high schoolers, **Nineteen Eighty-Four, Tale of Two Cities, Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Lady Chatterly’s Lover ** (yep, sure would!) Catch 22 and Catcher in the Rye. For undergrads in college, The Handmaid’s Tale, Beowulf, Illiad, Odessy, Ulysses, Middlemarch, Jane Eyre, Nicholas Nickelby, Mason & Dixon.

This is based on being able to hold the reader’s attention. Pre-teens (boys and girls) love adventure; teen-agers will devour books that have “good parts” in them, and college students like to be socially and morally outraged, and general wierdness.

I didn’t include Shakespeare because I firmly believe The Bard should be seen and not read. But that’s just me.

20

Here in North-By-God Kakalak, there are different literatures for different grades in high school. Freshman level is “intro to literature, i.e. catch-all”, 10th grade is World Lit with Julius Caesar thrown in, 11th is American lit and 12th is British lit. I’m breaking my selections down by those categories as well.

9th Grade
“The Lady or the Tiger”–get them arguing about literature. Oh yeah.

Dune–there’s so much in this book to talk about it’s not even funny.

To Kill a Mockingbird–it’s just a great book

10th Grade
This Earth of Mankind by Pramoyeda Ananta Toer–two reasons: a. no one ever talks about Pacific Island nations and b. it’s a good book, dammit! I might assign the sequel as extra-credit reading for the people who absolutely must know what happens to Anneliese. :frowning:

A short story or two by Kafka–definitely gives an interesting twist on modern life

Something by Ama Ata Aidoo, probably Anowa to give another view of the slavery issue

A modern translation of The Inferno because it’s got some great punishments.

11th Grade
Linden Hills by Gloria Naylor–this ties in with 10th grade’s reading of Dante. It’s a modern version of the Inferno set in a rich black neighborhood.

Borderlands/The New Mestiza by Gloria Anzaldua–I’d probably do selections from this to introduce the idea that America is more than just black & white.

The Damnation of Theron Ware, or Illumination by Harold Frederic–I challenge anyone to find a teenager who has not been in Theron Ware’s position, trying to fit in and failing miserably.

12th Grade
Frankenstein–learn the real story, not that Hollywood crap.

Anything by Oscar Wilde–he’s my dead gay boyfriend.

Selections from The Canterbury Tales–definitely “Miller’s Tale” or “Reeve’s Tale”

The Mabinogi and Alan Garner’s The Owl Service and Evangeline Walton’s Island of the Mighty back-to-back–give some background into the mythology of the Celts