I came across an article on Book Riot recently called High School Reading, 2.0. I thought it was really interesting to see what other people would like to see used in high school classrooms. I thought I would share a few of my picks!
Maus by Art Spiegelman (Goodreads)
This was actually used in my World History class.
It was a really interesting book. It’s a graphic novel so it was an entertaining book to read. It also gave us an insider’s look at the horrors of concentration camps, the Holocaust, and living with the consequences. Sure, we could have read text books or other books that would give the same information but there was something different about reading it from such a personal perspective.
The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet by Bernie Su and Kate Rorick (Goodreads)
This would be a super fun tie in to reading Pride and Prejudice. I know for me it made reading P&P so much easier and interesting because I could relate to the characters more.
It could be useable for an English class to compare P&P and LBD. A screen writing or film class could use it as well and talk about the changes that were made and why they might have been made. A communication class could even talk about the book and all the social media elements within the story and online presence.
What books would you like to see used in school classrooms?
I have to admit, the first time I saw Maus at a bookstore, it sounded terrible to me. All I could think of was, “A comic book about the Holocaust? Seriously?!” But after reading this post and another review of it, I’m intrigued. I’ll definitely have to try it out some time.
Stupid HTML tags. 😛
I know it sounds weird but it really works!
Ah… I didn’t like Maus all that much. I think it was just the fact that the author portrayed the father as a crazy person and I didn’t like that they made it seem like Holocaust survivors were people to be pitied. By that, I mean that it made these people seem so pitiful when I personally feel as if they should be respected.
I saw the story as more of an internal view of the events. The Holocaust obviously affected the author’s parents and he was just describing what it was like to live with them as well as telling their story. To me it was interesting to hear a different side to the ‘story’.