It’s back-to-school time! As teens across the country head to English class, they’ll surely be assigned a reading list. Here are five books that should be on it, but probably aren’t.
- Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. This graphic memoir about childhood in Iran might expand some minds about just what constitutes a good book. But who cares about that? It’s a gripping read.
- Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey. It’s a quintessential American story of rebellion that resonates with young minds.
- Hiroshima by John Hersey. A small, powerful, and moving book with huge emotional impact.
- To The White Sea by James Dickey. A story of survival, the frozen beauty of nature, and the terror of war, in which the protagonist is far more (or less) than the heroic World War II bomber gunner the reader meets at the beginning of the book.
- The Stand by Stephen King. Compelling and fast-paced, this post-apocalyptic epic by the master storyteller is a great intro to long fiction. If more kids tackled it, they’d learn not to be afraid of doorstop-size books.
What books do you wish had been assigned in school? Tell us about them in the comments section below!
