contemporary YA literature

Them’s good eatin’ words

This is my Monday post that turned into my Tuesday post that turned into my Wednesday post. That’s my week!

The original post was inspired by a post-rant by fellow blogger Gabrielle Prendergast about how high school kids hate to read the books their teachers assign to them. The rant wasn’t about the kids, it was about teachers who refuse to believe that no good literature has been written in the past 40 years and are stuck in Steinbeck mode.

She was inspired by a page of tweets by kids about having to read The Worst Book Ever. Some of these “worst books ever” include Huckleberry Finn, The Great Gatsby, and (gasp) To Kill a Mockingbird. Personally, I don’t know how anyone can’t fall in love with TKAM, but that’s me.

Worst Books Ever? Okay, so kids are prone to hyperbole. What’s new. The response from the adult community was mostly sympathetic, thought. They reasoned that students “hated” the books simply because they were assigned to read them by their teachers. This reading is interfering with life, love, and entertainment. Plus, high schoolers like to assert their independence.

I have always loved reading, but I can think of at least three books I never read in high school simply because my social life was more interesting to me at the time (Grapes of Wrath, Johnnie Get Your Gun, and The Scarlet Letter). I did slog through Moby Dick for the sake of my inspiring student teacher senior year, but I wasn’t of it at all until 8 years later when I read it again.

I don’t think it’s imperative that kids love everything they read in school. As a matter of fact, being able to intelligently discuss why you didn’t like something is just as valuable as discussing why you did. That’s called critical thinking. But I do agree with Gabrielle that teachers should expand their repertoire of books and not just depend upon the old stand-bys.

That said I have to come to the defense of public school teachers for a moment. I’ve taught in public high schools before. Unfortunately, schools can’t always afford to buy new classroom sets of books.  Many years ago I taught at a rural school where the other English teacher and I had to organize our lesson units together because there were only enough copies of paperback books for one class. As well, sometimes we were handed a curriculum that specified by the district which books we had to teach. Imagine my dismay when I was required to teach The Scarlet Letter. Oh, the irony.

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I’m a fan of class discussion. I’ve had some really interesting, enlightening, and entertaining ones. So, I like the idea of everyone reading the same book. I’d love to hear from public school teachers about more recent fiction they’ve incorporated into their class. Some socially relevant contemporary fiction that comes to my mind:

Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian – Sherman Alexie

The Fault in our Stars – John Green

Split – Swati Avasthi

The Book Thief – Marcus Zusak

Little Brother – Cory Doctorow

The Adoration of Jenna Fox -Mary Pearson

The Book of Fred – Abbi Bardi

Thirteen Reasons Why – Jay Asher
Wintergirls – Laurie Halse Anderson

And look, I managed to stay mostly clear of speculative fiction!

Feel free to cop to those books YOU didn’t read in high school.