Thanks for this, John. It’s an exciting and meaningful list, way more valuable than naming specific titles.
I’m a high school English teacher, almost halfway through year 32 in the classroom, and so nearing the very end of my career. I would add this: I want to help students see that literature is a conversation—between readers, and between readers and books, of course, but also between the books themselves. And so, I try to design each course to highlight just that. My sophomores, after working through Frankenstein, are now reading Klara and the Sun. And next week, my seniors will read Tolstoy’s “Master and Man,” and the week after that, “Tenth of December” by George Saunders. In this way, I hope they’ll see that some of the questions Mary Shelley raised two hundred years ago are ones that Kazuo Ishiguro explored two years ago. Similarly, Saunders has plumbed Tolstoy’s icy grounds and seemingly sudden transformations. These parallels can be exciting and enriching to readers not as a literary game but to illustrate that some of the questions then are the same questions now about what it means to be human.
Great looking curriculum! I used to teach Camus's 'The Stranger', Kafka's 'The Metamorphosis' and Hesse's 'Siddhartha' as part of a unit on 'alienation' to my 10th graders, and Shakespeare's 'Othello' alongside Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness' and Miller's 'Death of a Salesman' to my 11th grade Humanities class. The kids found it a struggle - I remember being asked why everything was so dark - but as this was in the 90s, things were a bit different - you could inquire about what it means to be human then.
Thanks for this, Bryan! I think we can (and should!) still inquire about what it means to be human, but between all the standardized testing and the insistence on collecting data, it's tougher to do so now.
These would be great discussion starters in class! If students just finished a book, either independently or as a group, you could look at this list and decide where the recently completed work might fit and why. 😎
The best teachers teach their students how to think - never what to think. A great list - I love that I've read many books matching each of these 25 points. What I lament is that there are so many kids out there who won't even be allowed to tick off #2, much less #s 14, 15 or 16.
Thanks for this post. It really made me think about what books I’ve read that fit the categories. I find that I have lots of examples for the laughter category! Since I have spent my life studying economics, I have plenty for the boring category, too. For many of the categories, I thought it might be nice to have some recommendations. Perhaps you have created subjects for future posts. For instance, take a few at a time to suggest particular books that fit the categories. Alternatively, you could put one at the end of each post with a few suggestions like you currently do with recommendations. Since you asked two specific questions of your readers, I’ll attempt to answer them. First, if it was clear that there were must read books, the must read lists would all be the same. If you look at your list, I doubt you would say that there is one clear book that must be read for any of the items. Second, the first book I read that induced laughter was Catch-22. I read it when I was in seventh grade and it was also the first book I read that I would characterize as not a kid’s book. Good luck finishing your book.
I am a fiction writer who also tries to write poetry. My life from high school to the present ha been dedicated to what is now called "social justice" literature which humans have been composing for hundreds of years.
I have also taught middle school for three years in Chinatown in NYC (Special Ed. English), and Ive taught English/ Language Arts, and Creative Writing for twenty years in Northampton where I received numerous awards in "multiicutural curriculum development" which included bringing in more literature by "minorities" which in real life means most of the world and not only and solely literature from the white United States, England, and here and there a few desingles from Greece,Russia, France, and Germany, in most high schools the latter four books ,usually, are The Odessey (which meets your criteria of adventure and a loooooonnnnggggg book ( to be read, ideally in monsoon season or recovery from an ACL inury; FRANCE. Camus' The Stranger meets criteria for short,and mysterious. Most highschools offer Crime and Punishmennt. by Dostoivski, another novel featuring a killer, or Tolsto's The Death of Ivan Ilyitch, more death, and tops it off with the
someone omitted some of my prelimary reasons for picking books. There is a serious dearth h in most schools of African American writers;usually, it is Richard Wright's FIRST HALF of his autobiography published as Black Boy with the entire second half omitted because his publisher thought it was "too political". It's too bad because for many American students that would have been the only or rare time they encountered an African American pov of politics. But here are some of books I taught for many man years erto educate, entertain and help our sthtudents form themselves into curious, welcomiing, and responsible citizens.
1 Richard Wright's first boo, the short story (6) collection Uncle Tom[s Children, one of the top ten short story collections in our literature. Sometimes I brougtht one or two other Afrcan American short story collections, James Alan McPherson 's Elbow Room, and Toni Cade Bambara's The Seabirds Are Still Alive whose first story has a black woman community organzer not only witness police harassment of a young black driver, but physicall intervenes to prevent possible harm. Both books are full of grace and grit.
I would also introduce students to the CAVE CANEM GROUP black poets started in 1996 to support black students in collleges,particularlh in MFA (Massachustts. They held meetings, group and indivual, hla
what you missed is the importance of having students read novels where the female characterss are strong,intricase and havemore commitments and interest than going to bed with a man. I can count on two hands with fingers to spare the international writers who have this abily,especially men. This would be good t hing. because in our current world in many countries a woman is rape or beaten every biday.( Books that adress this fact and what some women do about it include Sweet Sir by Helen Yglesias,The Bluest Eye and Beloved by Toni Morrison, Eve-Mary by Linda Mccarriston,, Francie Harris,t
In terms of racism towards Asian Americans, in the last few years at least two outstanding books have been published the Vietnamese-American poet Truong Tran's epic The Book Of The Other - a kaleidiscope sea of incidents recording blatantly biggoted convrsaton and physical attacks;. Monica Youn's book similarly explore's a long standing demand an end to vicious attacks on Asians by a country whose leaders have rouses the American publlic withall their propaganda and almost a century of continued war againstAsian peoplesofThePhiillpine,\ and then there's the Native Americans- you can read Diiane Glancy's novel about the removal of the Cherokee and Cree and Chicasaw tribes from Georgia,theCarolina, anFlorida to the dust desolaion of Oaklaoma then follow up with Linda hogans Mean Spirit - wherewhen oil is found in desolaeOaklahoma, theNaiveAmericans are back being opressed. rippedp
Students should read (at least) one book that their teacher is so SO passionate about. Even if these students largely end up rolling their eyes at that teacher, there's something so wholesome, so memorable, about seeing someone deeply love a book, love reading, and teachers should model that.
I dont see any books students "should read". But dontyou think that in the world of literature and reading we should abolish the narrow Calvinist word -should. I know very few books that are absolutely " SHOULD" books. John do you think peope SHOULD read the CANNON so they are always ready to BOMBARD our neighbos and others that we are the best reps of WesternCulture ( and I dont mean Roy Roger and Gene (or is it really Jane Autry?
Thanks for this, John. It’s an exciting and meaningful list, way more valuable than naming specific titles.
I’m a high school English teacher, almost halfway through year 32 in the classroom, and so nearing the very end of my career. I would add this: I want to help students see that literature is a conversation—between readers, and between readers and books, of course, but also between the books themselves. And so, I try to design each course to highlight just that. My sophomores, after working through Frankenstein, are now reading Klara and the Sun. And next week, my seniors will read Tolstoy’s “Master and Man,” and the week after that, “Tenth of December” by George Saunders. In this way, I hope they’ll see that some of the questions Mary Shelley raised two hundred years ago are ones that Kazuo Ishiguro explored two years ago. Similarly, Saunders has plumbed Tolstoy’s icy grounds and seemingly sudden transformations. These parallels can be exciting and enriching to readers not as a literary game but to illustrate that some of the questions then are the same questions now about what it means to be human.
Great looking curriculum! I used to teach Camus's 'The Stranger', Kafka's 'The Metamorphosis' and Hesse's 'Siddhartha' as part of a unit on 'alienation' to my 10th graders, and Shakespeare's 'Othello' alongside Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness' and Miller's 'Death of a Salesman' to my 11th grade Humanities class. The kids found it a struggle - I remember being asked why everything was so dark - but as this was in the 90s, things were a bit different - you could inquire about what it means to be human then.
Thanks for this, Bryan! I think we can (and should!) still inquire about what it means to be human, but between all the standardized testing and the insistence on collecting data, it's tougher to do so now.
These would be great discussion starters in class! If students just finished a book, either independently or as a group, you could look at this list and decide where the recently completed work might fit and why. 😎
The best teachers teach their students how to think - never what to think. A great list - I love that I've read many books matching each of these 25 points. What I lament is that there are so many kids out there who won't even be allowed to tick off #2, much less #s 14, 15 or 16.
Thanks for this post. It really made me think about what books I’ve read that fit the categories. I find that I have lots of examples for the laughter category! Since I have spent my life studying economics, I have plenty for the boring category, too. For many of the categories, I thought it might be nice to have some recommendations. Perhaps you have created subjects for future posts. For instance, take a few at a time to suggest particular books that fit the categories. Alternatively, you could put one at the end of each post with a few suggestions like you currently do with recommendations. Since you asked two specific questions of your readers, I’ll attempt to answer them. First, if it was clear that there were must read books, the must read lists would all be the same. If you look at your list, I doubt you would say that there is one clear book that must be read for any of the items. Second, the first book I read that induced laughter was Catch-22. I read it when I was in seventh grade and it was also the first book I read that I would characterize as not a kid’s book. Good luck finishing your book.
I am a fiction writer who also tries to write poetry. My life from high school to the present ha been dedicated to what is now called "social justice" literature which humans have been composing for hundreds of years.
I have also taught middle school for three years in Chinatown in NYC (Special Ed. English), and Ive taught English/ Language Arts, and Creative Writing for twenty years in Northampton where I received numerous awards in "multiicutural curriculum development" which included bringing in more literature by "minorities" which in real life means most of the world and not only and solely literature from the white United States, England, and here and there a few desingles from Greece,Russia, France, and Germany, in most high schools the latter four books ,usually, are The Odessey (which meets your criteria of adventure and a loooooonnnnggggg book ( to be read, ideally in monsoon season or recovery from an ACL inury; FRANCE. Camus' The Stranger meets criteria for short,and mysterious. Most highschools offer Crime and Punishmennt. by Dostoivski, another novel featuring a killer, or Tolsto's The Death of Ivan Ilyitch, more death, and tops it off with the
someone omitted some of my prelimary reasons for picking books. There is a serious dearth h in most schools of African American writers;usually, it is Richard Wright's FIRST HALF of his autobiography published as Black Boy with the entire second half omitted because his publisher thought it was "too political". It's too bad because for many American students that would have been the only or rare time they encountered an African American pov of politics. But here are some of books I taught for many man years erto educate, entertain and help our sthtudents form themselves into curious, welcomiing, and responsible citizens.
1 Richard Wright's first boo, the short story (6) collection Uncle Tom[s Children, one of the top ten short story collections in our literature. Sometimes I brougtht one or two other Afrcan American short story collections, James Alan McPherson 's Elbow Room, and Toni Cade Bambara's The Seabirds Are Still Alive whose first story has a black woman community organzer not only witness police harassment of a young black driver, but physicall intervenes to prevent possible harm. Both books are full of grace and grit.
I would also introduce students to the CAVE CANEM GROUP black poets started in 1996 to support black students in collleges,particularlh in MFA (Massachustts. They held meetings, group and indivual, hla
what you missed is the importance of having students read novels where the female characterss are strong,intricase and havemore commitments and interest than going to bed with a man. I can count on two hands with fingers to spare the international writers who have this abily,especially men. This would be good t hing. because in our current world in many countries a woman is rape or beaten every biday.( Books that adress this fact and what some women do about it include Sweet Sir by Helen Yglesias,The Bluest Eye and Beloved by Toni Morrison, Eve-Mary by Linda Mccarriston,, Francie Harris,t
In terms of racism towards Asian Americans, in the last few years at least two outstanding books have been published the Vietnamese-American poet Truong Tran's epic The Book Of The Other - a kaleidiscope sea of incidents recording blatantly biggoted convrsaton and physical attacks;. Monica Youn's book similarly explore's a long standing demand an end to vicious attacks on Asians by a country whose leaders have rouses the American publlic withall their propaganda and almost a century of continued war againstAsian peoplesofThePhiillpine,\ and then there's the Native Americans- you can read Diiane Glancy's novel about the removal of the Cherokee and Cree and Chicasaw tribes from Georgia,theCarolina, anFlorida to the dust desolaion of Oaklaoma then follow up with Linda hogans Mean Spirit - wherewhen oil is found in desolaeOaklahoma, theNaiveAmericans are back being opressed. rippedp
Some books that the reader wants to read.
Some books that the reader doesn't want to read.
Some books people told you to read.
Some books people told you not to read.
and on and on and on... And I agree, it's too hard to come up with a definitive list.
Students should read (at least) one book that their teacher is so SO passionate about. Even if these students largely end up rolling their eyes at that teacher, there's something so wholesome, so memorable, about seeing someone deeply love a book, love reading, and teachers should model that.
I dont see any books students "should read". But dontyou think that in the world of literature and reading we should abolish the narrow Calvinist word -should. I know very few books that are absolutely " SHOULD" books. John do you think peope SHOULD read the CANNON so they are always ready to BOMBARD our neighbos and others that we are the best reps of WesternCulture ( and I dont mean Roy Roger and Gene (or is it really Jane Autry?