Calling KS3 English teachers...

[Bobochic]

Is Agatha Christie taught at KS3?

[DoctorDonnaNoble]

Extracts are in my year 8 Detective Fiction unit

[Bobochic]

Thanks. Anyone else?

What would you think of Year 8s reading And Then There Were None?

[RhodaBull]

The perfect time to start reading Agatha Christie! I was obsessed with detective fiction at this age.

Ds enjoyed And Then There Were None (and recent tv adaptation was v good) and Murder of Roger Ackroyd. In fact I read a while ago someone claiming that for a view of (mainly) inter-war English social history there is nothing better than a bit of Agatha Christie. None of this "we're all pals upstairs and downstairs" rubbish portrayed in Downton Abbey - often the staff are nameless at worst and at best sighed about and treated rather shabbily. There is also a very positive image (if rather veiled) of homosexual couples: robust tweed-clad ladies or returned-from-the-colonies gentlemen with "native" in tow.

[DoctorDonnaNoble]

Oh yes, the clearly lesbian couples that everyone in the village just accepts. I believe there's one Poirot story where two 'friends' who live together results in an attempted murder. Wish I could remember which story.
We will be using the opening of The Body in the Library.
Roger Ackroyd is one of the most beautifully plotted stories around.
Why would there be a problem with year 8s studying Agatha Christie?

[RalphSteadmansEye]

Not studied at KS3 here, but I also agree she's probably the first adult fiction that students move onto reading by choice - her or Terry Pratchett.

Can't see a problem with 11/12+ reading her.

[Bobochic]

There is no problem - it's just a question to establish whether it's usual.