K, so my daughter, who is 13, and in year 9, has been given the "100 best (adult) books ever" list from waterstones from which choose her reading books for the term. It's insane.
Whilst the usual suspects are on there - lord of the flies, to kill a mockingbird, catcher in the rye, 1984, pride and prejudice, etc - there are some SERIOUSLY grown up books on there which I think are not only inappropriate for her to read but could impair her enjoyment of those books later.
American Psycho. The Bell Jar. What we talk about when we talk about Love. Trainspotting. Primo Levi's "if this is a man." I mean, it's a GREAT list, of GREAT books, but wtf? She's 13!
I think her teacher is just being lazy. There must be a better list for able 13 year old readers, which takes into account that just because they are good at English they are still not ADULTS and not ready to read luridly sexual violent or existentially mindbending books.
What do you think?