Readicide

     A book should be defined by the writing craft and plot, not how many weeks it has been on the best seller’s list, not when it was written, or not if over the years it has been deemed a “classic.” So you ask how to determine what books should be taught in school. Well, I think they should have an award given to a book of every genre each year that the people vote on. It would be like the people’s choice awards of books. Then schools could take some of these books along with what the feel are the best and most important literary works for students to read. This would provide students with a variety of good books. Plus, even if a particular book was not a student’s favorite, with the variety in genre they are bound to enjoy at least one of the books they have to read. I think this is the best system because right now kids in school only are getting exposed to literary works, and therefore judging all books on their experience with these works. It’s also very important to expose kids to other genres so they can get inspiration for their writing, and just see different writing techniques. I believe a person can’t make a blanket statement abou8t reading or a specific genre before they have really dipped into it and let themselves explore it with an open mind. I think all books of all genres can be relevant in our lives, even one’s written many years ago, teachers just have to make sure they focus on the underlying themes and help us to relate them to our lives. This way students will feel what they are reading is important too and care about it. Because the moment we feel that reading a book is pointless and we don’t care about the story or what the author is trying to convey to us, we are doomed.