What was your Favorite Book you Read in School?

It may surprise you to know, but I hated reading in school. That is, I did, until I decided to read the Harry Potter books before the release of The Deathly Hallows. After that, I became a reader. There are a couple of exceptions, but most required reading was boring or felt pointless. It makes me wonder, what are your favorite books or least favorite books you read in school?

Reading Books you Have to Read

I’m not against public schooling, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have ideas for how to change things for the better. In my opinion, too many people grow up disliking reading and never read another book after high school because the American public education system made them hate it.

Why are we making all high school freshmen read Romeo and Juliet? Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Shakespeare, but 14-year-olds just don’t care about Romeo and Juliet. Forcing people (especially kids) to read stuff they don’t like either makes them hate the thing or just feel latent guilt regarding reading for not reading what they were assigned. How has this not occurred to the people in charge of education in the United States? If it has, I bet there’s too much bureaucracy in the way to change things any time soon.

Why are so Many School Books Boring?

Books assigned in grade school, middle school, and high school tend to be way too boring or frustrating. Too many of the books feel pointless to pre-adolescent and adolescent minds. Trust me, unless a student is an active reader already, they do not care about metaphors in The Grapes of Wrath, nor will they believe that the author put those metaphors there on purpose. Most students just want to finish reading so they can answer the reading questions they were given. And this goes for all other books assigned in school, at any grade level, not just Grapes.

I felt the same when I read All Quiet on the Western Front. I didn’t think there was any hidden meaning. Most of my classmates felt the same, too. “Classic Literature,” nine times out of ten, just feels like being forced to read about sad stuff that happened a long time ago. Kids don’t derive meaning from books they need to read for a grade, unless they are already readers, so why don’t we focus on encouraging reading by giving kids choices?

What I Had to Read in School

While I did enjoy a few of these, most of the books I had to read were the same ones everyone else had to read. Hearts by the ones I liked.

Students Should be Given Reading Choices

I’m a major proponent of getting our public education out of the industrial age and letting kids/young adults have more choices. Instead of giving every student the same assignments all the time (especially for reading), I think students should have lists to choose from, or be able to select something they want to read and ask if it can qualify.

I had a class in college that focused on Science Fiction and Fantasy. We had to read three novels before the end of the semester. The only qualifications were, the book had to win either the Hugo or the Nebula award. That’s it. I picked Ender’s Game, Dune, and Speaker for the Dead. All three of these become three of my favorite novels of all time.

Let Students Read what they are Interested in

The Harry Potter series was THE THING when I was in middle and high school. While I had no desire to read it at the time, I would have picked it in a hurry over Huckleberry Finn, which I still hate. Tom Sawyer was better.

Sure, a teacher can’t have reading questions prepared for every book, but that’s why we should get rid of reading questions! They’re terrible. We should test reading comprehension in students by assigning them to write a certain amount of words, bullet points, or pages about what they remember. Or, have them write reading questions of their own and answer them themselves. Imagine how much more interested kids would be if they chose the books they wanted to read. Kids could learn together by forming in-class book clubs to talk about the books they chose in common. Even if younger students only have three books to choose from, they still get a choice.

Support the Blog: Buy Withered Kingdom!

If you enjoy reading my blog, you would make my day by buying my fantasy novel, Withered Kingdom. It’s the start of a series about an angel trying to restore his memories from his past life and find peace in a world caught up in a magical war. I plan to publish a sequel very soon!

What Were your Favorite Books in School?