January
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“So, why do we read this book?” by Christie McDonald
As my grade ten class closed their copies of To Kill a Mockingbird, one of my students shot up her hand and asked the perennial question: “So, why do we read this book?” It’s a question I get asked every year, but this time I was ready for it. Sort of.
My grade ten students are delightful. They’re inquisitive. They’re readers. They love to debate. A quick poll told me that they all enjoyed the book – more or less. They thought it was still relevant – more or less. They’ll remember Scout and Atticus – maybe not forever, but still… Despite all that, they still wanted to know why we were reading something so, well, old.
In her Salon article “What makes a book a classic,” Laura Miller decides that not only is the question almost impossible to answer, it’s also “mostly pointless.” Nevertheless, my students and I had a lot of fun trying to decide what modern books should be introduced to high school classrooms. We used the criteria Miller pulled from a Goodreads discussion (the book should have stood the test of time, be filled with eternal truths, captured the essence of its time and place, have something important to say, etc) to create our own list of “classics” – or at least books that have the potential to become classics. (You can read more of Miller’s article here: http://www.salon.com/2014/01/30/what_makes_a_book_a_classic/)
This was a truly worthwhile exercise because it allowed students to consider not only what makes a book worthy of study, but also what makes a book like To Kill a Mockingbird important. Important enough to continue to show up on school syllabuses, at any rate.
I’d like to think that good readers will find these “important” books on their own, but let’s face it, it doesn’t always happen. I consider myself a good reader and I have been a voracious one all my life, but even I have gaps in my personal canon. For example, I haven’t read every Jane Austen book, or Eliot’s Middlemarch. And I don’t think it’s just pre-20th century novels that should be considered classics, either. There are lots of modern classics I’ve never read, too; Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead and Jeffrey Eugenides’ Middlesex have been waiting patiently on my to-be-read list forever. So many great books, so little time left in my reading hourglass.
All teachers who care about reading will understand the deep desire we have to introduce our students to really great books. I have cultivated a culture of reading in my class and despite the fact that my school has an excellent library, students (even those whom I do not teach) find their way to my classroom to borrow books from my shelves. There’s a lot to choose from including everything from Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood (a book I always talk about when I talk about To Kill a Mockingbird) to Stephen King’s It (a book I loaned to a grade ten student a couple years ago after he told me a book had never frightened him. Ha!) S.E. Hinton is a popular book for reluctant readers and I happily hand out copies of That Was Then, This is Now to all the students who claim the only book they’ve ever liked was The Outsiders. I’m happy to pass on Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn or Frances Hodgson Burnett’s A Little Princess to anyone I think will enjoy them. So, lots of classics, yes – but lots of Sarah Dessen and Simone Elkeles and R.L. Stine, too.
I asked one of my students why she thought so many students came to me for books and she told me it was because I had “just the right amount, not too overwhelming.” And because “you can talk about them.”
There is something so personal and intimate about having a book conversation with a student. Readers share a common language. When I can look a student in the eye and say “read this” and they do and they love what I’ve suggested, well, that makes being a teacher the most rewarding job on the planet. More than anything, I want to give my students the gift my parents gave to me: a life of reading.
So, why is To Kill a Mockingbird still in the classroom? For me, the book has a lot to teach us about tolerance and family and cruelty. I tell my students that I read so I know I’m not alone and I feel better knowing Atticus Finch exists. Will their lives be less meaningful if they haven’t read the book? Perhaps not, but I think that Mockingbird remains one of those quintessential coming of age novels, and should be read as a rite of passage. Maybe the only thing they’ll ever remember about the book is how much I love it, but that’s okay, too.
As much as I love Lee’s book, though, I loved the fact that my students felt comfortable enough to offer their favourite books for scrutiny even more. If I can play even a small part on their journey to becoming life-long readers, I am happy to oblige.
Here’s are a few of the titles my students suggested:
The Art of Racing in the Rain – Garth Stein
The Book of Lost Things – John Connolly
Thirteen Reasons Why – Jay Asher
The Book Thief – Marcus Zusak
The Perks of Being a Wallflower – Stephen Chbosky
Freak the Mighty – Rodman Philbrick
The Hobbit – J. R. R. Tolkien
Christie McDonald teaches English, Writing and Journalism in New Brunswick, Canada. She’s passionate about the written word and when she isn’t reading, she’s helping out with her school’s newspaper and yearbook. She is also one of the founding members of The Write Stuff, a writing workshop and literary arts magazine for students. She blogs about books at The Ludic Reader (theludicreader.wordpress.com). Follow her on Twitter @theludicreader or Facebook ‘The Ludic Reader’
I love this post. Makes me want to teach high school. Excited to read the books on your list. Thanks.
Teaching high school is awesome, especially when you are lucky enough to teach at a school where you are well-supported by staff and administration. Thanks so much for commenting on this post.
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Middlemarch is a good book, but not a classic. As for Austen, as long as you have read S&S, P&P, and Persuasion, and maybe Emma, you are good.
A good friend of mine organized a Middlemarch re-read last summer and I signed up to do it…but although I bought the book I didn’t even crack its spine. 🙂
Unless you have lived for a while in a small town, you have not missed much. I went to Middlebury College for undergrad and had at least two professors misspeak Middlemarch/Middlebury in class…
I also teach TKAM, although at the ninth grade level. One reason to teach it is for perspective. The narrator is looking back and reflecting on personal history from an adult viewpoint and how that changes everything. Also there is the way of telling the story, the craft: diction, pacing, setting, chacterization. I also believe students need to understand the impact and influence of TKAM. There is a documentary about the book. I think it’s called Hey, Boo. It really complements the unit understanding of the “why.”
Thanks for the thoughtful response to my post. I agree that one of the many things that makes TKaM so much fun too teach is the fact that the story is told from adult Scout’s pov. Obviously, despite her precociousness, Scout isn’t that insightful. I have heard of the documentary, but haven’t seen it. I should try to get my hands on a copy.
It features Alice who is 99+ and has great insights on her famous sister.
I just got HEY BOO from my public library and I look forward to watching it this weekend.
One of my favorite books ever. I can still remember our 10th-grade English teacher working with us on this book (and that’s more than 3 decades ago). For starters, he had us go home and read the first few chapters. Then when we returned to class, he gave us a pop quiz. A ridiculous, to us, quiz, asking for the peskiest details (I seem to recall ‘what was the name of the snowman?’ or the like). Groans went up all around the room as we took the quiz, and lots of “jeez!” and “sheesh!”
When he collected the papers, he asked us how we thought we’d done after reading off the answers. It was pretty clear we all flunked, and somebody pointed out how stupid and picky the questions were. Then he dramatically tossed the quizzes in the trash (sorry, no recycling bins in those days!).
Then he explained the point of the quiz: To show us that even though we’d done the reading, we hadn’t really, truly attended as we read. We skimmed the story, snaring plot points. He put it much better than this, though. And told us to go home and reread those chapters. Which we did, and we all aced the quiz the next day, though of course that wasn’t the point. We were amazed at how much we’d missed by not truly attending to the text as we read, and we read the rest of the book with much closer attention, noticing subtle elements and things such as foreshadowing and symbolism and the like–skills we’d take with us to everything else we read, too.
And we never forgot his dreadful pun, either…”Did you know they made a ‘To Kill a Mockingbird” board game? Yeah, yeah, it’s true. It was put out by Milton Boo-Radley.”
Sounds like we are of a similar vintage. I think when a book bears up under repeated scrutiny, it’s a book worthy of reading/discussing. I let me students read the book on their own, too. I gave it to them six weeks before we started ‘talking’ about it…and also gave them a pop quiz. I really just wanted to know that they’d read it – sort of – so that when we started talking they wouldn’t be in the total dark. I just thought of my own book club; it’s no fun if I haven’t read the book.
I’ve never heard that joke – it’s funny though.
Thanks so much for sharing your memories of the book.
Oh, what a wonderful teacher! The furthest thing from teaching to the test! hank you for encouraging teaching honking and AWRENESS.
Fantastic article. Teachers like you make my heart happy. Thank you for reading, teaching and writing this thought provoking article. I enjoyed reading about this important subject. Important not only because of art appreciation purposes, but also for creating sublime art. Although you may know me as a picture book author, my background is in architecture, and as an architect I’ve often pondered what makes good art in general. I think literature is also a form of art. And I often admit what I know about writing, I learned in architecture school. So back to the subject you addressed in your article, to quote one of my architecture professor’s,
” We study the classics to see what makes them that, and how we can learn from them to strive in creating universal and timeless art…”
Again the article you wrote is incredibly important as you bring out so many teaching opportunities for students to read, Thank you for writing it and also thanks for posting. Best.
Mina.
Thanks so much. I really believe that the greatest thing I can offer my students is my passion for books. So many kids get to high school and have lost that love for reading that they had as a kid and if I can re-ignite that interest, that’s a good feeling. Of course, those kids are way more reluctant to dig into a book like TKaM because it’s tough going at the beginning, right? Avid readers will sail through the dry beginning and get into the meat of the story with less difficulty, but I want everyone to read and enjoy the book. That’s the goal, anyway.
I think your architecture professor’s quote is true for literature – those universal themes are what connects us humans.
I am 17 and I am from morocco. I loooove books a lot but unfortunately english ones are not available in my country and I hate to read on my phone. but I was fortunate enough to read The perks of being a wallflower because it truly deserves to be a classic and I consider it my favourite book ever. it captures the restlessness of teen age perfectly and I JUST FIT IN FOR ONCE ( i dont know if that makes any sense but if Charlie Sam and Patrick were real I would have done everything to be their friend). So yeah I love books and If you could help me I would be grateful.
great book! my favorite!
I love it, too! Obviously. 🙂
Great post, Christie! TKAM is on my list of books all students should read before they leave high school. (The others are A Day No Pigs Would Die, The Outsiders, Huckleberry Finn, and honorable mention/play Our Town.)
Be still my heart. As soon as we finished TKaM, we read Our Town. LOVE that play and it doesn’t matter how many times I read/see it, Emily’s trip back to her 12th birthday makes me cry every time. Thanks for commenting!
May I be so bold as to recommend you next assign your students William Faulkner’s Intruder in the Dust, a more nuanced and relevant work on the same themes; race, law, justice and the American character’s love of violence?
Hmmm. I’ve never heard of that book. We definitely don’t have it at our school. I will have to track down and read a copy. Thanks for the suggestion.
As well as TKAM our 14/15 year olds study ‘Of Mice and Men’ someone always ends up with the copy that has ‘George kills Lennie’ scrawled on the inside cover. Kids are brilliant.
We normally use Steinbeck’s novella in grade 12 with students who have opted out of university and don’t need the academic grade 12 credit. It’s a great book, though.
As a student myself, I actually really enjoyed reading this book when I was in 10th grade. It was one of my favorite books that I got to read. Such a great book, I had to get my own copy. My teacher actually gave me a copy because I liked it that much. And I’m not much for older books, but this one really got me. It gave insight on racism and how strong it was back then. It was all in all a very good book once you got past the language and who everyone talked back then. As for your students books that they chose as their favorites. I’ve read a couple of them. I personally love Thirteen reasons why. That is also one of my favorites. It really grasp the concept of how many young people go through problems and how they deal with those problems. It’s a very well written book that really gets to you in the end. Needless to say in that book, I bawled like a baby. The Book Thief, now that book. I LOVED IT. I hated it for many reasons, but I really loved it at the same. It’s a very good book. I still like to image that Liesel and Max would have gotten together minus the age difference, but that’s just me being the hopeless romantic I am. Your students picked some very good book choices.
I just being realizing that this books is something common for kids of 10th grade on your country. In mine, those kinds of books are not just common. I started knowing about books when i was in high school, even more in college. Because i have a subject about World Wide Literature. But here teachers don´t just ask us to read books. We can do it if we want. Which it was somethings i was always expecting from them.
I have always discover my own books. Specially when i start using Internet. So Christie, recieve my congrats. I awsome what you do and how you encorauge others to read.
I might get as a freak here because i haven´t read this book but it is on my To Read list for sure!
Thanks for sharing!