I love Anne of Green Gables. The book is a classic and always brings a smile to my face listening to Anne ramble and tears to my eyes when the end draws near. My wife and I were watching the movie version and, afterwards, my wife turned to me and said that I should read the book to the class. Which made me think, 

Is this a book that I would read to my class in today’s day and age? Would they actually be interested? 

Should we force children to read/listen/work through classic literature as part of the school day, whether as a read-aloud or book study?

So, first of all, I guess the first part of this would be to ask what we mean by the classics?

For children’s literature, my idea of the classics include books like The Secret Garden, Treasure Island, Anne of Green Gables, The Phantom Tollbooth and others along those veins published 20 years ago and prior. Wikipedia has a good list of books from the 18th, 19th and 20th century, which lists books that are still used in schools. I myself have read Little House in the Big Woods to my class, usually at the beginning of the year or for a pioneer. And while I love the book, I find that I have to do a lot of editing as the students start to lose focus in the longer, more drawn out detailed parts.

So do we continue to try and read this books to children? 

The one side of the issue would say, “Yes”. That children need to be exposed to books that are considered high-quality narratives that have defined literature; that these books give them access to words that people don’t use in everyday speech, exposes them to proper sentence structure and correct grammer. The writing is more detailed and strengthens reading comprehension, stimulates thinkings, evokes ideas, creates mental images and engages the emotions. They would also say classic literature has endured over time for a good reason, has universal meaning and explores the human condition in ways that Spongebob Squarepants does not. In fact, they would point out the proliferation of books sold by groups like Scholastics which seem to focus on selling brands and series to the detriment of good literature, as speaking to their argument. These days kids are so immersed in videos and flashes of information that unless you are reading longer, more descriptive passages, they are going to have a much harder time understanding what they read and hear in school. 

The other side would say that a lot of these classics perpetuate values and ideas that are outdated. These books contain too much detail and outdated verbiage that drive kids away because they don’t understand or get lost in the expansive illustrative details. How do we maintain a child’s interest in a story that has no relevance to the 21st century child? More modern books speak more to the angst and lives of the modern child with situations they are more likely to relate to. In speaking about a modern day authors effect on students, one teacher writes, in discussing the works of Walter Dean Myers, “Of course they loved Meyers - at night, they heard the gunshots he wrote about. They told me so when I asked about homework. On weekends, some of them visited brothers or cousins on Rikers. Doritos were breakfast. And, often dinner.”

These modern day situations are what students relate to. It is part of their world now and not unattached from their realities like the classics tend to be. Afterall, proponents for not having children forced to read the classics would say, shouldn’t we encourage children to read what excites and interests them? Shouldn’t we foster a love for reading? We should be pushing young readers to try new genres, to explore a variety of authors. To use their imaginations to build worlds in their minds. Not stunting their comfort in reading through literary texts that might not be relatable to them yet. Do we chance having children driven away from a love of reading because we force on them books that we think are good for them?

I would say that I am in the second camp in many ways. I believe that we need to find the modern day classics and bring those to our children and students. We need to have literature available that will excite, captivate and encourage children to want to explore more. And in those explorations, if they come across “The Hobbit”, they may discover that they love the language and the ideas that come through. I would say good for them. Given a choice between reading “Treasure Island” or “Holes”, however, I know that my students are going to enjoy “Holes” more. While “Treasure Island” may be a classic and written as a boy’s adventure book, “Holes” brings in situations and characters that children can relate to and understand. I am not saying that children should never read the classics but maybe, as a lot of adults do, they will discover them later in life and be more rewarded through a better understanding of life and the context these great classics live in. 

So, while we may long to have the literature we grew up and loved brought to another generation, maybe those are longings from behind rose-tinted glasses. Teaching has always been a balance between what we want to do and what is good for our children. While I would love to draw them away from, and often tear my hair out at the books I find for sale in the Scholastics Book Club forms, the fact is, these books get my kids reading. It is what interests them. It is what they pick up. Choosing books for my class needs to take this into consideration. So I will continue to hunt for those modern classics to use in the class for book studies and read-alouds that are engaging and relevant but also make students realize that there are more things out there than the Captain Underpants/Squarebob genre of books that are placed prominently in front of children’s eyes.

What do you think? Are there Classic books that you have found kids love? How do you make it engaging for them?

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