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What are your teens required to read?
Jessica
Apr 16, 2011 05:27PM
I'm really curious about required reading at the high shool level these days. Is it still all Harper Lee, F. Scott Fitzgerald & Shakespeare? Or have more moder authors made the cut?
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Oh gosh, here we go. Well I'm a sophmore and for last year's reading we read the following :
1. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
2. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
3. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
4. A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnally
5. Odyssey by Homer
6. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare.
7. Night by Elie Wiesel
8. Maus by Art Speigelman
...and our summer reading for this year is:
1. Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin
2. A Seperate Peace by John Knowles
3. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
So far I know that we will have to read these for this year (based on past years and the ever steady curriculum at my high school):
1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
2. Julius Ceaser by William Shakespeare
3. Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
4. The Lord of the Flies by William Golding
5. Our Town by Thornton Wilder
...granted I'm in honor's so it could vary but that's what I know so far.
Oh and my sister, who graduated just this year told me to add these on:
1. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
2. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
3. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
4. Puddn' Head Wilson by Mark Twain
5. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
6. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
7. Tears of the Tiger by Sharon M. Draper
8. Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
9. Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand
10. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
11. Billy Budd by Herman Melville
12. The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
13. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
14. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
15. Anthem by Ayn Rand
16. Stuck in Neutral by Terry Trueman
17. Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
18. Animal Farm by George Orwell
19. Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
20. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
21. Hamlet by William Shakespeare
22. Euripedes by J. Michael Walton
So to answer your question, yes, some modern authors have been included by mostly we stick to the classics. I hope this helps.
1. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
2. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
3. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
4. A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnally
5. Odyssey by Homer
6. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare.
7. Night by Elie Wiesel
8. Maus by Art Speigelman
...and our summer reading for this year is:
1. Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin
2. A Seperate Peace by John Knowles
3. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
So far I know that we will have to read these for this year (based on past years and the ever steady curriculum at my high school):
1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
2. Julius Ceaser by William Shakespeare
3. Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
4. The Lord of the Flies by William Golding
5. Our Town by Thornton Wilder
...granted I'm in honor's so it could vary but that's what I know so far.
Oh and my sister, who graduated just this year told me to add these on:
1. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
2. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
3. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
4. Puddn' Head Wilson by Mark Twain
5. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
6. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
7. Tears of the Tiger by Sharon M. Draper
8. Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
9. Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand
10. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
11. Billy Budd by Herman Melville
12. The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
13. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
14. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
15. Anthem by Ayn Rand
16. Stuck in Neutral by Terry Trueman
17. Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
18. Animal Farm by George Orwell
19. Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
20. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
21. Hamlet by William Shakespeare
22. Euripedes by J. Michael Walton
So to answer your question, yes, some modern authors have been included by mostly we stick to the classics. I hope this helps.
I'm a High School Freshman, and this year we have had to read Lord of the Flies, Animal Farm, Romeo and Juliet, the Odyssey, and of Mice and Men.
I do know that in Sophomore year we will read To Kill a Mockingbird and The Catcher in the Rye, and Hamlet, among others. However, after this, the books read in class depend on the class you take, for my school follows the IB program, which has varying levels of difficulty.
I do know that in Sophomore year we will read To Kill a Mockingbird and The Catcher in the Rye, and Hamlet, among others. However, after this, the books read in class depend on the class you take, for my school follows the IB program, which has varying levels of difficulty.
I didn't read any of the traditional stuff in school (besides Romeo and Juliet, The Odyssey, Of Mice and Men, and Huckleberry Finn), I'm barely reading books right now that people tell me they read in school (To Kill a Mockingbird, A Tale of Two Cities).
A majority of the stuff I had to read throughout high school were short stories, and students still complained, I got out of school three years ago so I don't know if anything has changed but most of my English teachers had projects on the side so it was like they couldn't focus on class.
A majority of the stuff I had to read throughout high school were short stories, and students still complained, I got out of school three years ago so I don't know if anything has changed but most of my English teachers had projects on the side so it was like they couldn't focus on class.
The public schools here have pretty well cut the traditional books from the summer list. 12th grade can read Pride and Prejudice or Rebecca and To Kill a Mockingbird is on the 10th grade list but more common anymore is John Grisham, Mary Higgins Clark, Harry Potter and Rick Riordian's books.
What do you mean by "modern authors?" If you mean modern literary fiction, there's very little. A few schools in my area have started using whatever novel series happens to be popular--Twilight even made an appearance.
I mean, if it gets kids reading, it's great, but really?
It kind of hurts my English major's heart to see the classics so under-appreciated both by students and in curriculum.
I mean, if it gets kids reading, it's great, but really?
It kind of hurts my English major's heart to see the classics so under-appreciated both by students and in curriculum.
I'm a sophomore in college, but for my high school we read Romeo & Juliet, The Odyssey, a bunch of mythology, To Kill a Mockingbird, Frankenstein, The Scarlet Letter, The Kite Runner, Picture of Dorian Gray, Crime and Punishment, Hamlet, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Awakening, and some more that I can't remember!
I'm just about to finish my last year of college and to be honest we haven't really read any classics yet which is such a shame! We did read a little of Homer's Odyssey, Don Quijote ect. in ancient history. We'll be reading Shakespeare in English later this year, but we mostly tend to read Danish literature (Yes, I'm from Denmark). So to see how much literature and classics you've all read are will be reading for school I can only envy you.
Wow that is really interesting! I went to high school in New Zealand and the most I read (from my school set texts) was 3 a year. The Odyssey for classics. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close for English. The Crucible for Drama. We never got reading lists. We just studied a book in class. Our exam was centred around one text. It changes each year but that year for English we did poetry (2 poems), film and novel. I read a lot more in my own time but I was always disappointed that we never had to read more for school.
Once I actually looked up reading lists from American high schools haha and over the years I have complied myself a nice list of books to read.
Once I actually looked up reading lists from American high schools haha and over the years I have complied myself a nice list of books to read.
I teach at a Christian school and while most of what we read is short stories these are some of the "not textbook books" my kids are reading.
Macbeth
Romeo and Juliet
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Cyrano de Bergerac
The Scarlet Letter
When I was in school we read more novels and plays I remember.
Romeo and Juliet by: William Shakespeare
Things Fall Apart by:Chinue Acabe
Whuthering Heights by: Emily Bronte
The Old Man and the Sea by:Ernest Hemingway
The Taming of the Shrew by: William Shakespeare
Othello by:William Shakespeare
The Scarlet Letter by: Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Grapes of Wrath by: John Stienbeck
A Streetcar named Desire by:Tennesse Williams
The Glass Menagerie by: Tennesse Williams
A Doll's House by:Henrik Ibsen
Macbeth
Romeo and Juliet
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Cyrano de Bergerac
The Scarlet Letter
When I was in school we read more novels and plays I remember.
Romeo and Juliet by: William Shakespeare
Things Fall Apart by:Chinue Acabe
Whuthering Heights by: Emily Bronte
The Old Man and the Sea by:Ernest Hemingway
The Taming of the Shrew by: William Shakespeare
Othello by:William Shakespeare
The Scarlet Letter by: Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Grapes of Wrath by: John Stienbeck
A Streetcar named Desire by:Tennesse Williams
The Glass Menagerie by: Tennesse Williams
A Doll's House by:Henrik Ibsen
I'm in high school and we're not required to read any book. We read short stories and poems for literature class and English literatrure class and we only read one book lat year which was GEI ONI (Israeli fiction) and that's it. Next year will probably read some actual world classics.
Guess what, In my high school we don't read books. I can't even base that to the fact that we are Arabs and most of us don't master the English Language since we don't read Arabic books either! Our reading consists of two page articles we take once a week. It really breaks my heart to see that we are very well behind in the educational system.. I'm a sophomore in High school and most of people my age haven't read a book.
