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I would agree with The Book Thief. I think also possibly, The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy - again some difficult subject matter, but some beautiful writing.
I teach high school English, and I love the novel Middlesex, but I cannot imagine the furor it would cause should I try to teach that in my clasroom!
One title that instantly comes to mind is Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible - which may generate more "controversy" from the mere fact of its too-adult nature and themes than from its comparison to TKAMb ... I'd say keep Lee's fantastic, time-tested classic ... Why try to "fix" what's not broken?
I am a high school English teacher too, and I have had parents challenge my lesson on this book. These parents have never READ the book and I therefore, continue to TEACH it.
I will, however...think of replacing this novel with THE HELP! THE HELP is an excellent book!
To Kill a Mockingbird should never be taken off the reading list. However, an excellent novel might be "A Time to Kill" by John Grisham.
How about John Grisham's "A Time to Kill"?
Loved this book - why would it be taken off - history is history -can't change it.
great literature stands the test of time. This certainly does. What is the arguement for removing it? Add more books, if you like. Less is NOT more. More is more.
I teach high school English, too, and the problem with adding more books is that there is less and less time to teach novels what with everything that has to be taught in the year, which, in itself, just seems to be increasing. It sucks, but government regulations require we teach more than just literature. However, on that note, I am planning teaching TKM next semester. The flip side is that it may be the only novel my regular students from cover to cover.
We placed TKAM at the tenth grade level, although many schools put it at ninth or even lower. It isn't too long and tedious a read for younger students, nor does it contain objectionable material for the average reader. Secret Life of Bees is similar, but roughly twice as long. Middlesex would create useless problems with self-appointed censors. The Road would be a rough equivalent to TKAM in terms of length and reading difficulty level--but wouldn't have much thematic relevance for the kids. It's an interesting book, but more-or-less shallow. The Book Thief might be a successful substitute for Mockingbird, but The Help definitely would not.
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Ann
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Aug 20, 2011 11:43AM
I would agree with The Book Thief. I think also possibly, The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy - again some difficult subject matter, but some beautiful writing.
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I teach high school English, and I love the novel Middlesex, but I cannot imagine the furor it would cause should I try to teach that in my clasroom!
One title that instantly comes to mind is Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible - which may generate more "controversy" from the mere fact of its too-adult nature and themes than from its comparison to TKAMb ... I'd say keep Lee's fantastic, time-tested classic ... Why try to "fix" what's not broken?
I am a high school English teacher too, and I have had parents challenge my lesson on this book. These parents have never READ the book and I therefore, continue to TEACH it.
I will, however...think of replacing this novel with THE HELP! THE HELP is an excellent book!
To Kill a Mockingbird should never be taken off the reading list. However, an excellent novel might be "A Time to Kill" by John Grisham.
How about John Grisham's "A Time to Kill"?
Loved this book - why would it be taken off - history is history -can't change it.
great literature stands the test of time. This certainly does. What is the arguement for removing it? Add more books, if you like. Less is NOT more. More is more.
I teach high school English, too, and the problem with adding more books is that there is less and less time to teach novels what with everything that has to be taught in the year, which, in itself, just seems to be increasing. It sucks, but government regulations require we teach more than just literature. However, on that note, I am planning teaching TKM next semester. The flip side is that it may be the only novel my regular students from cover to cover.
We placed TKAM at the tenth grade level, although many schools put it at ninth or even lower. It isn't too long and tedious a read for younger students, nor does it contain objectionable material for the average reader. Secret Life of Bees is similar, but roughly twice as long. Middlesex would create useless problems with self-appointed censors. The Road would be a rough equivalent to TKAM in terms of length and reading difficulty level--but wouldn't have much thematic relevance for the kids. It's an interesting book, but more-or-less shallow. The Book Thief might be a successful substitute for Mockingbird, but The Help definitely would not.
