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Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Writers lists of Must Read Books for Children

Interesting! Some of the lists strike me as pretentious. Actual children might be ruined for life for being forced to read these books. I think they're overly broad with respect to "children". Most of these lists are really geared toward teenagers. I can't imagine asking an actual child to read Paradise Lost. Vanity Fair? It's a good book, but required reading for kids? No. Gotta dsiagree with that one. Ulysses? Is that writer on crack? For cripes sake, you need a PhD to "get" this book. Look, we want to create people who are excited and eager readers and you don't do that by force feeding them Joyce or Eliot. Lyrical Ballads? Oh, please. Maybe I'll come up with my own list. What's yours?

Read more at www.slv.vic.gov.au/serv...

Comments:
Carolyn, it says "before they finish school" -- so obviously they mean children and teens.

But still -- Vanity Fair? Paradise Lost??? Ulysses????

We read To Kill a Mocking Bird at school, Lord of the Flies (twice! and I hated, hated, hated it each time!), The Wave (didn't like that one either, but it nicely reveals Nazi machinations) & some of Poe's short stories. Can't remember if we read any more classics of British or American literature.

Sandy,
still in correction hell
 
Hitler's War and Dr.Phil's book about losing weight.
 
Interesting list. I did see that they seemed to conflate childen with teens, but the title is so misleading. Dr. Phil's book about losing weight might be an interesting read. I'll have to check it out.
 
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