It has been a long time since I was in high school but from what I remember the novels we studied in English class were all by white men. The single exception to that was Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird. We would read some other women in our textbooks that were basically excerpts of longer works or poems.
What Would I Choose To Teach High School Students?
I’m not a teacher but I think the following books would be better than the ones I remember reading.
Classics of English Literature
I remember reading Shakespeare and Dickens. I love Shakespeare but Dickens bores me to tears. I’d keep the Shakespeare and add in:
Full disclosure – I’ve never read Frankenstein so I don’t know if it is any good but it is foundational to a lot of novels coming later.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Austen is as much of a English classic novelist as Dickens. What was that? Boys won’t like reading about balls and engagements? Girls have been forced to read about Miss Havisham languishing away in a room because *gasp* a man didn’t want her. It’s time to give ol’ Great Expectations a rest.
Balance Out To Kill A Mockingbird
I love that book but now that we’ve read the story of southern racial relations from the point of view of a young white girl, let’s look at the other side.  I propose:
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
It isn’t exactly the same time period but the narrators are about the same age. Besides, it is in verse and you know English teachers love that.
Throw Out Moby Dick
I do hate that book. I read every page of it but if I was teetering on the edge of not liking reading, that experience would have pushed me right over into book hatred. Why do we make kids read these books that are so boring? Let’s give them books that are interesting and yet still full of teachable moments. Once we don’t have to analyse all the symbolism in Moby Dick anymore there is plenty of time.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
This is the story of a Native American teenager who decides to go to school outside of the reservation. This makes him an outsider to the people at his all white school and his peers on the reservation.
Parent Complaining Points – This is one of the most protested books around. It talks about masturbation. Oh my gosh! I bet teenagers would have never heard about that if they hadn’t read this book.
A Time to Dance by Padma Venkatraman
A teenage Indian dancer loses a leg in an accident. This is also written in verse and will teach kids about life in India.
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
This is a book about abuse and neglect and bullying. There is a lot to talk about here.
The Shadow Speaker by Nnedi Okorafor
This is a nice introduction to fantasy set in Africa.
Parent Complaining Points – Oh I’d be run out of town for this one. One of the supporting characters is a women with two husbands. Polyamory in a school book! How dare we? It isn’t suitable for children. Of course they learn about the patriarchs and all their wives in Sunday School but that’s so different.
This Side of Home by Renée Watson
Twins are dealing with growing up and growing apart as their neighborhood is gentrified beyond recognition.
I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai
Let’s get some nonfiction in here too. Read this book about girls fighting to go to school so the kids feel bad every time they complain about having to do their schoolwork.
My classroom library for books not on the syllabus would have Daniel Jose Older and Alaya Dawn Johnson. There’d be copies of Ms. Marvel of course.
What would you have in your dream high school English classroom?
I love this whole concept! I couldn’t agree more, especially with Great Expectations. I was so excited to see Brown Girl Dreaming on your list! I LOVED it. I had never thought to put memoir into poetry but she is so amazing at it. I’ve heard that about Moby Dick too. From my dad, actually. He hated it too, except the first page. He said the first page described what’s like to feel the sea in your soul the way he does, so it’s the only page I’ve read of it. And Pride and Prejudice is awesome, I love that book.
People gave me crap for putting Disney princesses movies on to watch with my son and I couldn’t understand why. But that’s it. We tell them at such a young age to not be interested in girl protagonists. He watched it anyway. The Little Mermaid, Tangled, Brave and Frozen. All girls who didn’t need men to save them and did a little saving themselves. Okay, Ariel did need Eric once, but after she saved him twice!
My stepdaughter has autism and believes in strict gender separation in media. There are boy movies and girl movies in her world and she will not tolerate anything she feels is a boy movie or show or book or song. It drives me nuts. A good story is accessible to everyone.
Great list. I’ll have to read Brown Girl Dreaming. I’ve been interested in replacements for To Kill a Mockingbird ever since Harper Lee’s estate decided to make the mass paperback edition more expensive for school districts to buy.
Brown Girl Dreaming gives you a wonderful sense of place and time. She grew up in the North and in the rural South.
Thankfully I never read Moby Dick.
I could still rant about how much I despise my teacher for making us read Moby Dick. Sorry a bunch of kids in the Midwest are super stoked about reading a million pages about the anatomy of a whale and whaling culture.Still bitter about it….I also never actually finished it so I probably don’t have as much room to complain lol.
Moby Dick Haters Unite!