What is literature?

Can any book be literature? And if not, what is literature? Or more specifically what is quality literature? These are questions writers, readers, editors, teachers and many others have spent a good deal of time discussing.

There are many books out there that are fun to read with engaging characters, but does that equal literature? Newberry Award winning books follow a strict set of criteria for what is considered "literary merit." But what does that mean for schools, and, more specifically, for student readers? Should schools only allow students to read books that have been determined as literary? Or do trade books have literary value too? In my opinion that is determined by how one defines literary merit. We have many books in our school library that I would not consider to be literature as the characters are flat and the plots are predictable and shallow. But before we begin banishing poor writers from our classrooms, we must remember that these books are many times fun to read for students, and they encourage the habit of reading.

Personally, I believe variety is the answer. We must have many genres and writing styles available to students. Yes, unfortunately, that means the silly little chick books, which I personally cannot stand. Thank goodness we can balance that out with books that contain well developed characters and beautifully crafted sentences and paragraphs. In my experience I've found that most students who adore those shallow books eventually gravitate toward novels with greater substance as they grow as individuals.

Below you will find a short list of some for my favorite books for middle school and high school students:
1. Harry Potter (series), J. K. Rowling
2. The Lightening Thief, Rick Riordan
3. Savvy, Ingrid Law
4. Where the Red Fern Grows, Wilson Rawls
5. The Giver, Lois Lowery
6. Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson
7. Night, Elie Wiesel
8. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
9. Found, Margaret Peterson Haddix
10. Ranger's Apprentice, Book One: The Ruins of Gorlan (Just finished it this past weekend. It was good!)

Ranger's Apprentice

I'm currently reading Ranger's Apprentice, Book One: The Ruins of Gorlan. This is a fantasy YA book that our school librarian has recommended.

The protagonist is a young orphan named named Will. Will has always dreamed of being a warrior, of attending "Battleschool," but when he's chosen to be the Ranger's Apprentice his world is turned upside down. Will always though rangers were weird, social outcasts but he soon learns that they are anything but that. As an apprentice Will trains hard, and he gains much needed self-confidence. He begins to see that his natural skills (climbing and moving quickly and quietly) are necessary attributes for a ranger to possess.

This book is fast paced and exciting. I'm not anywhere near the climax yet, but the tension is building. One of my favorite parts was when they had to face the two gigantic boars. (I won't give away any of the details.) You'll have to read the book yourself if you want to see what happens.

I hope you're finding good books to read this summer. In my next post I'll give you a list of some of my favorite YA books you can add to your summer reading list.

Happy Reading!

Mrs. H.

Learners for Life

William Butler Yeats said,"Education is not the filling of the pail, but the lighting of a fire." Yeats doesn't just want us to fill our buckets (brains) in school; instead, we should continue to learn throughout our lives. School should ignite a fire within each of us and prepare us for the learning journey.

My goal for you in Language Arts is to become skilled, independent readers, writers, and thinkers. I’ve designed this page to assist you on this journey. On this blog, you will find updates and opinions about what I'm reading, book recommendations, reading and writing resources, announcements, much more. What are some things you would like to see on this blog? What types of activities and resources help you to learn?