Lord of The Flies

[NewLife4Me]

My dd is y7 and came home telling us the next book they were reading at school was this.
Dh said great it's a good book and both he and I said we'd read it at her age too.
So we thought to buy it for her so she had her own copy, but when I found it on Amazon there was also listing for GCSE workbook for 1-9.

So is this a GCSE book and has dd likely got the wrong end of the stick or would they start so early.

I'm sure we were the same age when we read it.

i read it for GCSE along with to kill a mockingbird and macbeth.

but i don't see why you couldn't read it earlier

A book studied as a set text for gcse will be studied in a different way/greater depth than the same book studied in year 7.

My dad studied Macbeth in year 8 wheras I did it for A Level. But she was studying Zit in the context of the KS3 curriculum not a gcse/a level syllabus.

We read it before O Levels, along with To Kill a Mockingbird, so I think it's fine at this age.

My dd studied Macbeth not my dad!

Ah, I get it. But won't they be sick of it by GCSE even if they are doing it for KS3 curriculum? It seems a long time to study one book, even if they do vary the depth of understanding at different levels.

My ds did it in year 8

They will probably study it for half a term at most at KS3. And depending on which exam board the school uses it might not even be a set text on that board. Or the school might choose to use a different one (you have to choose ftom a list which chsnges every so often anyway)

Its on the common entrance syllabus for Year 7, DS did it then and really liked it. He has studies lots of different books since many of which are GCSE texts, it's all good preparation.

Lord of the Flies is set for AQA but not OCR. But even if you do AQA there are 9 other options the school could choose from.

Thanks, that's good to hear. I didn't want to order it if she had obviously got the wrong end of the stick.
It sounds logical now.
I saw the study book and thought she must be wrong
Better give her more credit for listening.

Are you happy for your child to be reading a text like that at her age? What about all the sadistic violence and rape imagery?

DS was advised by his English teacher to read it when he was in year 5 for their 'Challengers Club' /G&T group.

I think LotF is one of the most disturbing books I've ever read.
I read it as a teenager, and have had no wish to revisit it.

DD1 studied it for GCSE last year, and I didn't even re-read it then (I would have read her set book otherwise to be able to discuss it with her).

Generally with books you can discuss them at different levels. So a discussion in y7 will likely be at a lower level than in y11.

There's a brilliant section where the fire takes over and y7 really get the personalisation.

A lot of the deeper and more disturbing connotations go over the heads of Y7 (and some Y10/Y11). Much is implied, but not explicitly stated as that reflects the levels of understanding/denial in the boys themselves.