When it comes to unfamiliar vocabulary, I don't really see it as an issue as long as my child is reading fluently and isn't stumbling over every third word. Honestly, even I picked up a new word while reading *The Little Prince* with my little one 😂 I'm actually looking forward to using it myself 😂
No, The Little Prince isn't some modern celebrity influencer because the book is actually sincere and authentic. It’s not trying to be deep philosophy, but it's such a lovely, heartwarming children's story with more substance than a typical Hollywood rom-com. It stays with you for life, whether that's through nostalgia or just the simple truths it tells.
We get a list from the Department of Education; a few titles are mandatory, and then teachers pick the rest from the provided options. In high school, we organize it by semester, but honestly, I have no clue how they handle it in elementary school.😂
I was actually talking about Anthony Taylor393's attempt to explain King's value 😁 but it just doesn't work; you can't dismiss someone's potential worth just because of the genre they write in. Sure, I think King's big blockbusters sometimes sacrifice quality—especially when it comes to the endings—but he is definitely a talented writer. Take Rose Madder, for example; that's the only book that truly helped me understand the mindset of an abused woman. It wasn't that I hadn't read other books, I just didn't get it before. Then you have Tolkien, who built such a detailed world and passed it down beautifully through generations, or GRRM, whose character depth and heavy themes are incredible... yet all of that gets brushed aside just because there are elves and dragons involved. 😁 Don't even get me started on Gaiman and Kay; their prose is so beautiful it’s lovely to quote even in translation. 😂 But I don't want to sound like I'm just obsessing over fantasy or trying to force it into the conversation. Why aren't books like The Great Gatsby, Marquez (even if I can't stand him 😁), To Kill a Mockingbird, The Canterbury Tales, or Brave New World on the required reading lists? I could go on forever about books that I bet kids would find much more engaging—books that might actually contribute to their personal growth more than some standard stuff from the classics.
There’s really no point in trying to convince anyone or explain myself anymore; I gave up on that a long time ago, though seeing that kind of exclusion still hurts deeply
I actually agreed about the primary school option—it seems like a questionable choice to me, though I guess it really comes down to which teachers end up picking it. Change moves so slowly around here that just getting Adrian Mole added feels like a huge step; at this rate, we'll probably be seeing Harry Potter in the curriculum in twenty years. 😂
By the way, did they ever finally pull that awful war diary from the syllabus?
I don't think anyone actually suggested teaching Lord of the Rings to first through fourth graders, regardless of how much some people here tend to look down on fantasy literature.
It’s less about the word count and more about how broad the scope is—Pinocchio feels like something meant for a second grader. Besides, weren't we just discussing literacy issues where so many kids in the second grade are still basically struggling to sound out words? Say what you want, but a 200-page book isn't really an appropriate reading assignment for someone who just learned to read or is still fighting to get through a sentence.
Come on, they aren't bad movies. They obviously can't beat the books, but they're alright. Plus, if they were on the required reading list, you could tell in half a sentence whether someone actually read them or just watched the movie.😁
I was just thinking about how much I enjoyed reading *Crime and Punishment*, *The Stranger*, *Waiting for Godot*, *The Metamorphosis*, and even that depressing *Werther*. I think those classics really hit home because they tackle such universal themes, which feels different from the stuff people are bashing these days 😁
Susan James said:That's just not true. silentraven6 was actually reading him back in the day, way back in the late 20th century, during elementary school. And he isn't literary trash; it's the movies that are the problem—they oversimplified the entire plot.
It’s not just him, though—it’s me and a huge number of people too. Despite how genres were perceived back then, it became a cult classic. Even if we try our best to be open-minded after that comment about Tolkien, I honestly can't take anything seriously anymore once those movies come up.
It’s honestly a shame that George R.R. Martin wrote within the fantasy genre, given how narrow-minded some people can be about literature. If he hadn't, I'm certain he would've picked up a Pulitzer by now. In fact, if he had just written straight historical fiction, he probably would have won a Nobel Prize. 😛
urbantinker8, I’m still struggling to grasp the fundamental purpose of assigned reading; at least from my perspective, its utility remains entirely elusive. 😁 If the sole objective is to assassinate the classics, it would be far more cost-effective to simply print posters that read "Dostoevsky being stupid" and plaster them all over the school hallways. There is absolutely no need to bother teaching the literature at all. 😁
From what I understand, in elementary school they mostly try to help kids find something they actually enjoy reading, but once you hit middle and high school, the focus shifts to getting through a specific list of "important" works. It seems like that's how it works in pretty much every other subject, too. 😁
I was honestly terrified I might cause a backlash, which was my biggest worry. And looking back, I really don't think it had any impact on whether she'll actually grow to love reading. She isn't exactly a bookworm—not like I used to be—but she does read more than the average person and definitely has a positive outlook on books.
Pinocchio might be fine for third grade, but I honestly don't think most kids can handle a book that thick and heavy when they're only in second grade. Yeah, most kids are still struggling just to recognize letters in second grade. I actually think the reading list is pretty reasonable for that age group. 😁
As for kids who don't read much, look at my experience—I haven't really read to my little one. It’s not that I didn't try; I’ve been attempting it since she was a baby, but she just wasn't interested. Not even a little bit. I mean, maybe we could squeeze in a bit before bed, but otherwise, she wouldn't sit still for more than three minutes, let alone focus on a book. It wasn't until she learned to read fluently on her own and calmed down a bit that she started picking up books by herself. She’s definitely not a voracious reader, but I’m grateful for every single page she finishes. 😁
Well, Linda Price5, I don't think you froze up on reading in general, just on required school reading 😁 I used to skip whatever didn't interest me back in high school, though I wasn't a huge rebel about it. The stuff I did skip? Honestly, I have zero desire to pick those up now. There are other books I regret not diving into during my teens that weren't assigned by teachers. I eventually got around to them later, but I spent so much time thinking about how much I missed out by not reading them when I was 16 or 17. And my list of "great classics" I still need to tackle is incredibly long—so many books, so little time 😁
Well, Linda Price5, I don't think you froze up on reading in general, just on school assignments. 😁I used to skip whatever didn't interest me back in high school, and honestly, I didn't skip much. But for the stuff I did skip? I have absolutely zero desire to pick those up now. There are other books I regret not picking up when I was a teenager—not because they were required reading, but just because I missed them. I ended up reading them much later, and I kept thinking about how much I wished I’d discovered them when I was 16 or 17. Plus, my list of "greatest classics" left to read is still incredibly long. So many books, so little time. 😁
I really want to back up whoever said Pinocchio is a total snooze-fest. My little girl didn't have it for school, but I tried reading it to her about two years ago and it was just painful. It might be an issue with the publishers, though—there are so many obscure words, and to make matters worse, the print is tiny and the text is all crammed together without any indentation or breathing room. Plus, the beginning is just boring. It was boring for me, too, so my daughter and I just gave up on it. Maybe there's a more readable edition out there somewhere.
Peter Doyle2 said:Honestly, you can say whatever you want about parents, but my folks just didn't read to me—and they certainly didn't make a habit of it. I didn't even really discover the local library until I started school; once I did, though, I guess I was checking out new books practically every single week. My husband's mom has enough books to start her own library, yet she refuses to touch a Kindle, so my husband has basically only read one book in his entire life—*The Bourne Identity*, lol. Then there’s my cousin, who was devouring comic books since he was five and read an insane amount of stuff, which meant he absolutely hated every required reading assignment in high school; meanwhile, his younger brother never cared for reading at all and probably hasn't finished a single assigned book in his life. It's funny how two kids from the same house can turn out so completely different. 🤔 Yeah, I'm sure it's definitely the parents' fault if the kids find the classics boring or way too dense. 🙄
Exactly. You have readers and non-readers, and you can't force one to become the other, but there are plenty of kids in the middle who could actually be hooked by a good book if they found the right one.😁
Robert Rodriguez9 said:Like I said before, it wasn't always about everyone getting a grade. In high school, the teacher would just use one or two specific questions to sniff out who actually did the reading and who didn't. If you gave a deep, detailed answer, you got an A. If you showed zero effort, you got an F. Sometimes you could slide by, though. Same thing during class discussions—if you were super engaged, you got an A; if they caught you off guard and realized you hadn't touched the book, you were looking at an F. That was high school for you. Middle school was just the usual, boring busywork.
It was pretty much the same for me, except I could usually hold my own in a discussion even without reading the book, unless they hit me with those really specific details. That's why I say he mostly left me alone and wouldn't grill me with those kinds of questions, except for the occasional time he decided to mess with me. 😬 He was actually a great guy—really gentle and poetic at heart. Since I absolutely loved Baudelaire and was reading poetry well beyond the required reading list, he’d usually let me off easy. 😍