THE CANON VS. YA LITERATURE By Juliann Little

The Classics  The three most taught books of 2010 in high school English classes were:  The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn  The Scarlet Letter  To Kill a Mockingbird  Why do we teach the classics?  Tradition- easy accessibility, lesson plans already created, to study the classics of the time  They’ve stood the test of time  To introduce our students into adult literature—give them culture  They challenge students and stretch their thinking  Students learn to gain greater insight and experience “depth”

Why not the classics?  Donald R. Gallo- “How Classics Create an Aliterate Society”  “Why was I supposed to care about a Puritan woman who got pregnant from having sex with a minister” (Gallo 33)?  “The classics are not about teenage concerns! They are about adult issues. Moreover, they were written for educated adults who had the leisure time to read them. They were also, not incidentally, written to be enjoyed—not dissected, not analyzed, and certainly not tested” (Gallo 34).  Students get overwhelmed and turn against reading  Students who don’t understand may fall behind

Pros for YA Lit  The students can better connect to the characters, helping them feel “normal, comfortable, and understood” (Gallo 36).  Provides a new accessibility to teaching difficult concepts, themes, and literary techniques  Increases student interest and desire to read  “High school AP students who love reading will love a good YA novel just as much as they love a classic, and they will get just as much out of it” (Crowe 126).

Using Them Together  The best solution is to use YA literature to introduce themes, ideas, concepts, and to get students “hooked” on reading  Use YA literature to scaffold, preparing the students effectively for the canon  Use YA literature that pair with the classics  “I’d like to see ‘the love of reading’ listed as the number one goal of the English curriculum at every grade in all school systems” (Gallo 35).

A Few Examples…  The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn  The Watsons Go to Birmingham 1963  1984 or Fahrenheit 451  The Hunger Games o The Grapes of Wrath o All Together Now  The Tragedy of Julius Caesar  Killing Mr. Griffin