Regardless of the ins and outs of these arguments and the protests they've provoked, it got me wondering what are we actually trying to achieve when we make our teenagers study literature. It's great if it gives them a lifelong love of books, but we don't get them to study maths so they have a lifelong love of doing sums. It's important for kids to be able to read, but studying novels goes far further than providing the tools to be able to fill in job application forms as adults. What do we learn from novels?
I confess I didn't like English Literature much at school. It was my best subject academically and I have always adored reading, but I didn't like the deep analysis of the books. To me, the subtext of the books were either obvious or by over-analysis ruined the magic of the story. However, I do think it taught me some important things. Novels help us to learn how to read people - to understand motivation and emotion, right, wrong and the complex shades of grey in between. We become more sympathetic, well-informed and have a greater understanding of the struggles and joys of life in both our own culture and others. We learn to be imaginative and to question our own beliefs and morals.What do you think we learn from literature?
With that in mind, which books should our teens be reading? I don't think it matters whether a book is American, British or from any other country. Humanity is humanity. While I think it's great to learn about our British heritage of literature, if children love reading they have a lifetime to do it - the important thing is to inspire them in the first place. Having said that, I think perhaps it is time for Of Mice and Men to take a back seat. 90% of children study it now. I studied it over a decade ago, and my eldest sibling five years before me. It's a wonderful book, but there are other wonderful books out there too.
I'm aware that books need to have content and language that challenges but that is appropriate for reading aloud in a class of 15 and 16 year-olds without being too long. For this reason some books I think would be great, wouldn't work - stuff by Stephen King and Lionel Shriver for example. But here are my suggestions for just a few books that would make good studies - good snapshots of the world, coupled with good writing:
- The Fault in Our Stars - John Green
- A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
- One Day - David Nicholls
- Holes - Louis Sachar
- Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier
- Lord of the Flies - William Golding (this is studied by some students I believe)
- 1984 - George Orwell
There are tonnes more, although I'd have to read any of my suggestions to check the language! What books would you suggest children might benefit from studying at school? Modern and classic literature included!