Why do schools not read anything bloody cheerful ?

[Howlongtillbedtime]

I really think teens would be engaged with reading a wee bit more if they ever read a positive book.....

So far my son has read
Holes

Maggot moon
Of mice and men
Never let me go
Jekyll and hyde

And that is without the poetry and the Shakespeare.

Where is the uplifting or at the very least slightly bloody cheerful stuff?

Both my boys struggle with English which may cloud my judgement but surely we can have something a little more sodding positive !!!

The wasp factory is bloody great!

You're showing your age OP (my age too). Agatha-Christie is so formulaic. Hitchiker's was never highbrow. I'm thinking now that your point may be why I quite like non-fiction. I'm currently reading a Dervla Murphy book...

DD gets a lot of ... I dunno, early proof young adult books. The school librarian handed them out like sweets. And even none of those were truly upbeat.

People always love a good whinge about books and literature studied in English.
Whatever we choose, we can't win.

Complaints I'm aware of:
"Romeo and Juliet isnt appropriate because it encourages children to disobey their parents"
"Gothic literature is promoting devil worship and satanism"
"Harry Potter is also satanic and too concerned with the occult"
"My child doesn't like Shakespeare so why are you doing A Midsummer Night's Dream?"

The other thing to consider is that a lot of popular literature and canonical literature is based on a problem or a conflict and the struggles of the character. A lot of young adult literature is also by far more depressing than what's studied in class.

Op I agree, if the kids don’t find what they’re reading engaging then they’re just going to see it as a chore rather than a pleasure.

I remember having to read Adrian Mole for GCSE and being so bored because I’d read it as a much younger child and wanted something more challenging.

@Wearywithteens I don't think there's a gap at all. Brandon Sanderson, Patrick Rothfuss, Jay Kristoff. There are loads of talented YA fiction writers who don't make everything depressing.

My DDs enjoyed parts of the GCSE literature syllabus, but not others. DD1 did English Iit A level and although one of the themes was Tragedy, they did read more widely - for their coursework they had more choice about what to read and one of the available books was a compilation of Ray Bradbury short stories. Angela Carter was also an option - DD1 chose this and yes, I know it's grim in places, but it's also feminist and subversive.

DD2 is now in Yr12 and isn't doing English Lit - she didn't fancy Tess - and guess what? They're doing comedy... The Importance of Being Ernest and Twelfth Night.

I am honestly not against literature.

This is why I want to encourage a love of reading.

But reading miserable bloody books while you are also probably at most angsty and miserable is not always a good mix.

And I say this as someone who actually loved mis lit as a teen and adolescent.

However a lot of the teens I now see are little balls of anxiety and borderline depression and I am wondering aloud wether the odd cheery book would help.

Reading for pleasure is different from reading this study texts though.

In a class of 32 you'd be pushed to find a text that everyone would want to read for pleasure and everyone would enjoy equally.

The best texts I taught in terms of student engagement last year were both tragedies by Shakespeare actually. I love teaching Shakespeare but the students were amazing and engaged in a way I hadn't predicted. It makes me glad I didn't choose my texts based on what I think would be popular.

Completely agree, and I would say the same for drama on the whole too, particularly at GCSE and A Level.

ds is doing the boy in the striped pjamas. a nice bit of doom and gloom what with auswitch just over your back garden !

My son did Danny champion of the world, Harry Potter in year 7 and something I can’t remember.

lola my argument would be , cant we have a mix of genre ? Do they really all need to be so bloody miserable?

5 years at least of misery cant bring about a love of reading surely ?

I’ve just finished saying to dh why does the mother die in every book aimed at pre teens. I am very into books, I can read for hours, am in book clubs in real life and online just to set the scene. But one more story of a kid getting bullied, beaten and then his mother dies and I’m giving up! Looking at you Micheal Morpurgo.

Norfolk
There are many reasons to dislike Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. It being morbid wouldn't be one.
Much bigger issues include:
The fact Bruno would never think it was pronounced "out with" because it makes no sense in German
Bruno and Schmuel would never have been able to come into contact
A whole load of historical inaccuracies
The fact we are expected to feel sorry for Bruno
The fact it almost always covers terrible teaching activities about drawing a map of the camp, writing letters from a concentration camp etc.

OP
Even in the ones that are more miserable there's usually interesting, non miserable themes.
Eg Romeo and Juliet leads to everyone dying, but it's really interesting for exploring gender roles, attitudes to family, changing family relationships, how characters can be opposites of each other, religion and spirituality. There's loads of non depressing things to explore.

People struggling and suffering run through loads of literature, just in different ways. There's some brilliant protest poetry and spoken word, but it means dealing with complex social issues which might be depressing.

Good texts are good texts (but Holes is absolutely a terrible text and makes me want to stab myself in the face).

Fucking hate Boy in Striped Pyjamas. When I am PM it will be banned.

There is a lack of fantasy, adventure and sci-fi too. I know they aren't to everyone's taste but I am sure that they could be discussed and dissected- the era in which they were written, allegory, etc. Then again maybe that would just kill the enjoyment of them too. Maybe it is so gloomy to make a Shakespeare comedy seem like light relief.

@Smarshian ditto! I didn’t pick up a book for 4 years after and when I did it was a YA novel that was all the rage. I did my dissertation on 2 Austen novels and 15 years later I still haven’t been able to look at my copies with fondness.

I now read pretty much every day but stick to mysteries and trashy romance novels (the shame!).

I think there should be some variation from the death and tragedy that seems to make up the syllabus. DH remembers reading The Hobbit in school (20 odd years ago) after years of giving up on the “boring” books. It made him remember that reading can transport you to a different world and be completely enthralling.

Ive introduced reading half hour in my house as screens were driving my up the wall! Everyone in the living room reading for half an hour. Including me and dh. Then they get ready for bed and we read to them. Mine are juniors. With seniors make it an hour!

I agree!

I realise the books have to be suitably challenging, especially for gcse and a level, but funny clever books exist too.

thebrockmans
They are allowed the scifi classic that is war of the worlds.

It is shit
All teachers I have asked think it is shit

And it is innocent way uplifting or positive.

Innocent = in no way

Stupid fat fingers !

I thought the wasp factory was funny! Albeit in a very dark way!
Agree it shouldn't be all doom and gloom at that age - or perhaps any.
Literature can be quality without it being too serious or depressing.

Serious themes are worthwhile. Is why.
People hand fed on Harry Potter and similar derivative drivel cannot cope, I imagine.

And they all lived happily ever after. 😇

Those sneering at Agatha Christie - The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is on the list of set texts schools can choose to teach on the AQA English Literature A-level syllabus. Lovely bit of unreliable narration and all that. The success of Christie’s formulaic novels is worth investigating and they form an important part of the crime genre. Just because a writer is popular, it doesn’t mean they aren’t ‘good’ or that they have nothing worthwhile to add to literature or our understanding of genre and context.

Such snobbery.