In this year’s round of “Refreshing the Canon," we would love to hear which titles you would KEEP on your summer reading lists—classics that you as librarians and educators believe should still be taught in schools.
In this year’s round of “Refreshing the Canon,” we would love to hear which titles you would KEEP on your summer reading lists—classics that you as librarians and educators believe should still be taught in schools.
Last May, SLJ editors, in conjunction with members of NCTE’s Standing Committee Against Censorship and the Orbis Pictus Award committees, created 18 read-alike lists for summer reading staples, such as Lord of the Flies and Little Women. Inspired by our Reinventing Summer Reading survey that asked which titles educators would remove from the often stale lists, we joined forces to select 141 titles that can reinvigorate the “canon,” or books considered classics by U.S. educators.
For 2023, we’d like to turn that question on its head. Which books would you recommend remain on these time-honored lists? Log your responses on this form.
In May, we will share those results, in addition to multi-modal suggestions—including nonfiction, graphic novels, documentaries, and more—for your classrooms and libraries.
We look forward to reading your responses!
I recommend keeping The Great Gatsby and Great Expectations. Both exhibit extremely skilled and complex writing and plotting; learning to comprehend these characteristics of literature will be valuable in building skill for the young reader. For each, the author's moral position needs to be dug out, over the course of events whose meaning isn't obviously apparent at first.
Secondly, the themes possibly are more relevant now than when written. Which characters are worthy of love and respect and which have worldly position but lack something, even genuine humanity? How does the protagonist or narrator learn where to place value, regardless of society's dictates.
For summer reading I recommend The Outsiders by S.E Hinton, The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald and Good Omens by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett. They are great stories with great messages and perfect for 12 and up
Speaking of Great Expectations have you read the Outsiders.
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